Favourite Film Themes ?

[Kotowboy]

What are your favourite Main Themes from a film ?

A few of mine are :

1. Back To The Future - Those first 3 notes get me every time.

2. The Wrath Of Khan - Exciting, sweeping, rousing. I love it. No other Star Trek score comes close apart from maybe The 2009 "Enterprising Young Men" theme.

3. Inception - Jam Packed with great themes. Not least Mombasa and Dream Is Collapsing.

4. Jurassic Park - Main theme is great. Actually both the famous ones are.

5. Jaws main theme - Simple but classic.

[Adami]

Revenge.

Oh you mean musical themes?

Even though I'm not the biggest fan of the movies, it's really hard to top just about any Star Wars theme.

[Kotowboy]

Revenge.

Oh you mean musical themes?

Even though I'm not the biggest fan of the movies, it's really hard to top just about any Star Wars theme.

As a Trekker - I obviously don't like the Star Wars themes.

[ChuckSteak]

You mean soundtrack, original scores?

[Kotowboy]

You mean soundtrack, original scores?

Yes but I was thinking the Main Themes. Like the minor 2nd motif in Jaws for example.

[Phoenix87x]

Terminator/Terminator 2

Batman 89

Empire strikes back- imperial march, asteroid field theme

Blade runner

[Kotowboy]

Tron Legacy by Daft Punk.

[ChuckSteak]

Oldboy, Kill Bill, The Godfather, Intouchables, etc.

Special mention to Bernard Herrmann in Cape Fear, Taxi Driver, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Day The Earth Stood Still, North By Northwest, Psycho, Vertigo, etc.

[Kotowboy]

Oh Yeah THAT Cape Fear theme is awesome.

And covered amazingly well by Fantomas on The Directors Cut album.

[BlobVanDam]

Revenge.

Oh you mean musical themes?

Even though I'm not the biggest fan of the movies, it's really hard to top just about any Star Wars theme.

As a Trekker - I obviously don't like the Star Wars themes.

Is there some rule these are mutually exclusive that I'm unaware of?
The Star Wars theme is one of the all time classics, but basically everything by John Williams is.

But I also love Jerry Goldsmith's Star Trek theme from TMP too! Horner's work on TWOK is also great, but I prefer the Goldsmith stuff.

Definitely agree on BTTF. Silvestri has such a distinctive style that's a little off beat, which makes that theme so memorable. Every single short motif in those movies is instantly recognizable.

And let's not forget the Terminator theme. A film theme identifiable from its rhythm alone.

And also Beverly Hills Cop. Always loved that one. Used to play it on keyboard all the time.

[Cool Chris]

I love simple film intros. Think:

Rocky: The fanfare, the name ROCKY scrolling across the screen, and the film starts.

Godfather: The music over the title card, fades as we fade in to Bonaserra (sp?).

Fargo: Lovely theme as the scene fades open in the snow.

I know these scenes represent just a snip of the actual theme, but they open the movie so wonderfully. Did I miss the point of the topic? My bad. 

[Jester]

1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula
Star Wars - Imperial March
Rocky - Gonna Fly Now
Top Gun - Take My Breath Away
Inception - Dream is Collapsing
Highlander - Princes of the Universe
The Thirteenth Floor - Erase/Rewind
The Crow - Burn
Purple Rain
Risky Business - The Dream is Always the Same / Love on a Real Train
Xanadu - Magic
The Breakfast Club - Don't You Forget About Me
Body of Lies - Bird's Eye
Romeo + Juliet - #1 Crush


Cheating a bit, but
Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (alternated theme by season and all were great)

[Kotowboy]

Revenge.

Oh you mean musical themes?

Even though I'm not the biggest fan of the movies, it's really hard to top just about any Star Wars theme.

As a Trekker - I obviously don't like the Star Wars themes.

Is there some rule these are mutually exclusive that I'm unaware of?
The Star Wars theme is one of the all time classics, but basically everything by John Williams is.

It was a joke... But Ths Star Wars theme doesn't move me in any way. His Indiana Jones & Superman scores were better imo.

[Polarbear]

1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula
Star Wars - Imperial March
Rocky - Gonna Fly Now
Top Gun - Take My Breath Away
Inception - Dream is Collapsing
Highlander - Princes of the Universe
The Thirteenth Floor - Erase/Rewind
The Crow - Burn
Purple Rain
Risky Business - The Dream is Always the Same / Love on a Real Train
Xanadu - Magic
The Breakfast Club - Don't You Forget About Me
Body of Lies - Bird's Eye
Romeo + Juliet - #1 Crush


Cheating a bit, but
Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (alternated theme by season and all were great)

Too many to count but that is a great list!

Also:

Jackie Brown - 110th Street by Bobby Womack
Blade Runner - Vangelis
Miami Vice - Crockett's Theme by Jan Hammer
Tron: Legacy - Daft Punk

[Kotowboy]

Is Hateful Eight Tarantino's first film with an actual score instead of just using songs he likes from the 70s ?

[Polarbear]

Is Hateful Eight Tarantino's first film with an actual score instead of just using songs he likes from the 70s ?

Can't remember if Inglorious Basterds had a score. If not, then Hateful Eight is probably the first..

[Cool Chris]

List

As great as all those are, some of them are the "main theme" of their respective movie, which is what Kotowboy asked. Not to be nitpicky....
(edited for accuracy)

Superman is a great pick. I remember Donner saying he wanted something that announced "SUPERMAN" which the theme does. DUN-DA-DUN.... SUP-ER-MAN....

[Chino]

Hot Rod - Mainly because that soundtrack is Europe's greatest hits.

[Kotowboy]

Hot Rod - Mainly because that soundtrack is Europe's greatest hits.

Hilarious film too.

[El Barto]

Airplane! Anybody that can listen to the main theme without cracking up and/or replaying the red zone/white zone shit in their head is just dead inside.
As a complete score, Animal House is about as good as it gets. Every second of every scene is perfectly themed. Bluto peeping on Mandy getting undressed is Bernstein at his finest.

[Jester]

List

As great as all those are, none of them are the "main theme" of their respective movie, which is what Kotowboy asked. Not to be nitpicky....

Superman is a great pick. I remember Donner saying he wanted something that announced "SUPERMAN" which the theme does. DUN-DA-DUN.... SUP-ER-MAN....

none?  I beg to differ.

[hefdaddy42]

Most of John Williams' main themes.
 
The LOTR films.

Various others.

[TioJorge]

Mine were already named but I'll give some more love cause DTF:

Inception
Terminator/Terminator 2 < Probably my absolute favorite...give me the goosebumps every single time. The apocalypse feels are real.
Tron Legacy

[Kotowboy]

[faizoff]

All of those mentioned already in the thread. To add to the list, Sicario had an amazing brooding, pulsating beat of a theme throughout that add an amazing dimension to the movie.

Mad Max Fury Road has one of the best soundtracks anyone could ask for, fit the movie like a glove

The Bourne movies (at least first three) have very memorable themes.

Trent Reznor's stuff with the Fincher movies is some of my favorite modern movies music.

I also enjoy the themes of most comic book movies, Marvel and DC have great stuff. Hans Zimmer stuff particularly is fantastic.

[Kotowboy]

Yes I enjoyed the first Avengers movie score.


Also Alan Silvestri - but he didn't score Age Of Ultron.


Also just remembered that I liked Prometheus' score. I was a bit chicken going into the movie as I'm not into horror really. But when that score played - with the Lydian kinda score

- I knew it wasn't going to be too bad. Then I watched Mark Kermode's review of the movie and he said the score was kinda upbeat too .

I was expecting a kind of dark pulsing fast score - sorta like the theme over the beginning of "Event Horizon" - you KNOW that's gonna be a horror film

I actually love Event Horizon. Paul WS Anderson's only good movie imo.

[Adami]

As pointed out in that well made video, Marvel does not really have good scores or themes.

Dr. Strange was the lowest for them since the dude just copied his Star Trek theme. I hope this improves in the future. The Sam Raimi Spiderman movies had some great stuff.

[Kotowboy]

I've heard the comparison video on Youtube and I wouldn't say they're identical... similar intervals maybe ?

I was expecting the Star Trek score *VERBATIM* but I had trouble hearing it in all honesty.



- - - -

Ok I went back and listened and I do hear it. But as that video pointed out - sometimes directors use temp scores and then they ask the composer to make something like it.

He might have got a note like - the 2009 Star Trek theme works great here - write something very similar.

[Adami]

Same composer, super similar theme. I can't brush it off. I was actually distracted by it during Dr. Strange

[Jester]

Terminator/Terminator 2 < Probably my absolute favorite...give me the goosebumps every single time. The apocalypse feels are real.

Nice.  The only reason it didn't make my list because I already had too many.  It reminds me of songs that were written for a movie, but weren't used.
Ra - Genocide

I think there have been a couple of Terminator themed songs, but that's the only one I can remember right now.

[BlobVanDam]

As pointed out in that well made video, Marvel does not really have good scores or themes.

Dr. Strange was the lowest for them since the dude just copied his Star Trek theme. I hope this improves in the future. The Sam Raimi Spiderman movies had some great stuff.

That's a shame. I actually really like Giacchino's Star Trek '09 soundtrack, including the main theme which I find very memorable.

[Adami]

As pointed out in that well made video, Marvel does not really have good scores or themes.

Dr. Strange was the lowest for them since the dude just copied his Star Trek theme. I hope this improves in the future. The Sam Raimi Spiderman movies had some great stuff.

That's a shame. I actually really like Giacchino's Star Trek '09 soundtrack, including the main theme which I find very memorable.

It must have been memorable because I kept thinking that I'd heard it before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6tls9g-CX8 (no spoilers or anything)

[Rattlehead]

Escape from New York/Escape from L.A.... easily one of my favorite main themes since I was a kid.

[BlobVanDam]

As pointed out in that well made video, Marvel does not really have good scores or themes.

Dr. Strange was the lowest for them since the dude just copied his Star Trek theme. I hope this improves in the future. The Sam Raimi Spiderman movies had some great stuff.

That's a shame. I actually really like Giacchino's Star Trek '09 soundtrack, including the main theme which I find very memorable.

It must have been memorable because I kept thinking that I'd heard it before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6tls9g-CX8 (no spoilers or anything)

Geez, same key and progression and sound. I would have picked up on that instantly too.

[bundy]

Another fan of Bernard Hermann (Vertigo is my favourite Hermann score) and Vangelis (besides Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire and The Year of living Dangerously are also terrific).

I'm a big fan of Westerns and among my favourite themes are The Big Country, The Magnificant Seven and Shane.

Speaking of Westerns.... my favourite film theme has to be Ennio Morricone's The Good, The Bad and The ugly. The themes from A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More are also among my favourites.

Gotta mention Italian band Goblin as well. Their soundtrack to Suspiria is stellar.