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What are some of the FILM composer's best and worst final scores before their death?
Obviously, you can go out on a 'dud' of a movie that nonetheless has a good, or okay, score. Goldsmith's LOONEY TUNES would be such an example -- a fairly middle-of-the-road score for a forgotten movie. Vice versa, it's hard to beat Bernard Herrmann's TAXI DRIVER -- wherein both film and score are considered classics.
Michael Kamen's BACK TO GAYA and James Horner's THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN were both disappointments to me, both films and scores. But things like Ron Goodwin's VALHALLA, Korngold's ESCAPE ME NEVER and Rozsa's DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID are pretty good. I have like a million of other examples of both good and bad final scores, but I want to hear from you first.
I don't really consider "The Magnificent Seven" as Horner's final score. I mean, he just wrote a couple of themes before the film was even shot. Franglen later adapted those for the film. So Horner's final score is either "The 33" or "Southpaw".
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If pressed, TAXI DRIVER may be my favorite score of Bernard Herrmann, and since he is one of my all time favorite film composers, that's high praise. Ironically, one could make an equally valid case for Bernard Herrmann's first score, CITIZEN KANE. So as far as first and last scores go, Herrmann has secured top spots. :-)
LOONEY TUNES - BACK IN ACTION I consider neither among Goldsdmith's all time greatest works, nor is it a dud in any way, it is a highly energetic, fun pulsating score. It's just the competition in Goldsmith's output is vast.
Leonard Rosenman's final score JURIJ is certainly among his finest works, even though both film and score are practically unknown. Still, this score is extraordinary, an amalgam of the best of Rosenman's lyricism and modernism into one very musical score that plays well on its own. (In fact, I've never seen the movie.)
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LOONEY TUNES - BACK IN ACTION I consider neither among Goldsdmith's all time greatest works, nor is it a dud in any way
I was talking about the film. The score is okay. Neither particularly good nor particularly bad. But for such an iconic composer, it's a bizarre project to go out on. In terms of "subjective" final scores, I consider THE MUMMY to be it (also my alltime favourite by him, as it happens).
Yeah, I was agreeing with you actually, not disagreeing. :-)
For me, the last truly "great" Goldsmith feature film score was STAR TREK - NEMESIS, which happens to be his penultimate work.
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Well, Taxi Driver was pretty damn good. Herrmann's first and last: Citizen Kane and Taxi Driver.
I, also, have never warmed up to Barry's Enigma.
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"Also, shouldn't Horner's last score be Living in the age of airplanes? (which is bloody fantastic!)"
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I personally consider it to be his swan song. "Southpaw," "The 33" and "Magnificent 7" were all competent but forgettable efforts. But his love of flying unleashed a flood of imagination and euphoria for "Living in the Age of Airplanes," which I consider one of the gems of his career---buoyant and soaring, beautifully orchestrated, with almost a complete lack of the "Hornerisms" that drove so many of us nuts.
Speaking of airplanes, Alfred Newman's final score, for "Airport," was one of his best, particularly the main title theme which I've listened to a thousand times. (The version conducted by Charles Gerhardt is perfection.)
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Two fine scores for new versions of silent films:
Roy Budd’s Phantom of the Opera
James Bernard’s Nosferatu
Mancini’s Son of the pink panther good as well
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