It seems he did quite a few. He was King Of The Desert movie, somewhat (how Flight Of The Phoenix got away from him, I'll never know). Here are the ones I know of (feel free to add or correct me).
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975) THE MESSAGE (1976) MARCH OR DIE (1977) LION OF THE DESERT (1981) MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME (1985)
The poster/cover for TMWWBK is sandy/dusty enough to qualify, Bill. Plus, Tadlow include it in their 'MJ Desert Films' overview in the booklet for MAD MAX 3.
Looking over his filmography, I'm trying to gauge when I would have first gotten into Jarre's film music scores. I loved the music from JESUS OF NAZARETH, when I watched it as a kid, shown on telly late 70s, but I wasn't aware of the name/LP thereafter. This would be just before I started getting into film score LPs via Williams and STAR WARS, SUPERMAN, CE3K etc. I certainly saw other films he'd scored - mainly on telly - but never chased up any LPs. I think it would have been 1985 - aged 20 - when I saw the films (and bought the scores to) WITNESS, MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME, THE BRIDE and ENEMY MINE* in the cinema. MY God!! What a Four Score Collection run that was!!! In-Cred-Eeb-Lay!!! And I love them all, but MM-BT shone above them all as his Masterpiece. Even though I loved the 25 minute score presentation afforded to me on the LP, I was gutted so much music was missing from it. That Thunderdome Fanfare!! My Oh My! I'd say it's still my Number One Fave score by him (although MOON OVER PARADOR can't be beat when I fancy a dance).
The march from LION OF THE DESERT is positively righteous. Maybe Jarre's greatest. Similar in effect to Goldsmith's UNDER FIRE march, but even more emphatic.
MAD MAX: BT is probably Jarre's most ambitious score. Huge orchestra, Aborginal instruments, choir, Ondes Martenot, organ, gamelan percussion...it's also probably Jarre's most "married" score in how passionate it is in supporting every frame of the film. I group it with Bernstein's HEAVY METAL and Elfman's BATMAN as the greatest "comic book" scores of the 80's.
Here are the ones I know of (feel free to add or correct me). What's yours?
Besides writing for at least a half dozen Westerns (likely all of them have sand), Jarre also scored a number of films set in Africa. Not having seen them, they might also have scenes of sand:
The Big Gamble (1961). filmed in Côte d'Ivoire Una stagione all'inferno (1971) aka "A Season in Hell". shot in Kenya Shout at the Devil (1976). set around German-occupied territory in/near Zanzibar (?)
Jarre's final feature film I Dreamed of Africa was filmed in Kenya (as had been Gorillas in the Mist), but these were set on ranches or in mountains so they aren't desert scores.
... but there is another David Lean film with sand : A Passage to India
Does Jarre's TV Robinson Crusoe have enough sand for you, too?
: A Passage to India
