Best Film Composer?

I'm amazed only one person mentioned Howard Shore, composer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy score. Right now those three are my favorite scores.

I'm a big epic-movie soundrack collector. My favorite scores per-composer are:

John Williams:
Star Wars (all 6 movie scores, even if the 3 new movies sucked)
Jurassic Park
Schindler's List
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

James Horner:
The Mask of Zorro
The Rocketeer
Glory
Sneakers
Star Trek II, The Wrath of Khan
Apollo 13
Braveheart

Danny Elfman:
Beetlejuice
Mission Impossible
Batman
Batman Returns
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

Jerry Goldsmith:
The Ghost in the Darkness
The Mummy
First Knight
Total Recall

James Newton Howard:
The Fugitive
Waterworld
Dinosaur

Thomas Newman:
Finding Nemo
Road to Perdition
The Green Mile
The Horse Whisperer
The Shawshank Redemption

Alan Silvestri:
Back to the Future (all 3 movie scores)
Forrest Gump

Hans Zimmer:
Gladiator
Crimson Tide
The Lion King
The Power of One

There are many others, But I think these are the ones I listen to the most frequently. Especially Lord of the Rings. Absolutely spectacular.

Keep posting.
 
For me, I'd definitely go with John Williams, the master of leitmotif...

*EDITED after i went back and read someone say Ennio Morricone...

Morricone is leitmotif master as well...I'm pulled to also add Zimmer and Shore and Elfman...but Williams will always be my top. For all those musicians out there, remember playing the Indiana Jones Theme for the first time in concert band?
 
John Williams

Extremely versatile and manages to actually alter a viewers mood. Not what works for most film conoisseurs as manipulation is a no go for some in movie music, but I believe he does it subversively. You don't even realise what the music is doing till it's over....
 
David G. Smith said:
BTW, some of my favorite soundtracks have been composed and performed by Tangerine Dream. I love the "Risky Business", "Sorcerer" and "Star Man" sound tracks. Kind of dated, but were cool in the day. The "Sorcerer" sound track album was the second soundtrack album I ever bought, after "2001".
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Good call. I'm probably still one of their biggest fans. I think I have just about everything they made from post-Electronic Meditation to somewhere around '95 where the father/son sound wasn't doing it for me.

They pretty much created a whole sub-genre of sountrack music. Along with Kraftwerk, they paved the way for much of the Dance/Techno/Hip-Hop sounds of today.
 
Bentrandom said:
I'd love to work with either Howard Shore or Clint Mansell. Probably more Clint considering I don't forsee myself really doing large sweeping epics.
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Finally someone mentions Howard Shore!

Ok, his Lord of the Rings stuff is amazing, but don't forget all of the years he worked with Cronenberg (even up to Crash). He makes some really interesting choices with dissonance and tension at times. Some of his music for those films was almost atonal, which mixes really well with the master of the bizarre.
 
Oh man, I forgot to mention Morricone.

From spaghetti westerns to The Mission and The Thing remake... outstanding.

Goblin had some cool stuff in all of those Italian giallo pics thanks to Dario Argento, and let's not forget their part in the original Dawn of the Dead.
 
I've got to go with Ennio Morricone. I love the old Sergio Leone films and the soundtrack plays a huge part since the dialog is limited. Williams and Mancini have also done some great things but Morricone tops my list.
 
i think it would depend on the type of film..as some composers are better at certain types of films..

i would choose VANGELIS , as he wrote my fave film soundtrack..1492:conquest of paradise
although he isnt on the list.
 
androoow said:
i would choose VANGELIS , as he wrote my fave film soundtrack..1492:conquest of paradise
although he isnt on the list.
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I'm a big Vangelis fan, but as a whole that's one of his weaker soundtracks, minus a few tracks. It's like a mixture of "The Bounty" and "Ignacio."
 
CallaghanFilms said:
...John Williams
James Horner
Hans Zimmer
Jerry Goldsmith
Danny Elfman
Thomas Newman
Ennio Morricone
Elmer Bernstein
John Barry
or
James Newton Howard...
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Looks like one of these maestros may get bumped in a few years time...

...To make room for Chris Hurn
♪♪ http://chrishurn.com/ ♪♪
 
reflex said:
I've gotta go with Graeme Revell. I just love what he does.

graeme_revell_001.jpg
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I love Graeme Revell. I think he's capable of WAY more than he has presented. He never gets the chance to work with much. He seems to be the composer for action flicks. He needs a film he can really sink his teeth into. I loved his score for "The Crow" and "Dead Calm". They showed some of his brilliance.

My personal favorites list would go (in no particular order):

John Williams
James Horner
Bernard Herrmann
Henry Mancini
Danny Elfman
Maurice Jarre
Graeme Revell
Vangelis
Elliot Goldenthal
Jerry Goldsmith
Trevor Jones
Ennio Morricone
 
Looks like one of these maestros may get bumped in a few years time...

...To make room for Chris Hurn
♪♪ http://chrishurn.com/ ♪♪
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Aw, Thanks Callaghan!

There are so many greats out there, but my favourites are:

Danny Elfman
Hans Zimmer
John Williams
and Thomas Newman

Been listening to a lot of Danny Elfman recently, I love his stuff, especially for spiderman & batman. Sucks that he's not doing spiderman 3.

-Chris
 
Huh. I read through this whole list, and not one person mentioned Craig Armstrong. Some of his stuff is a bit cheesy (but generally suiting the movie), but the man knows how to stir up some strings.

For the right movie, I'd also pick Cliff Martinez in a heartbeat.

Out of the list posted, I'd have to choose James Newton Howard. He's got a lot of great work behind him, but in my opinion Unbreakable is an absolute masterpiece.
 
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