Great Films with Bad Scores.

Jim Brennan

Jim Brennan

VHS Member Old Skool
Just watched Witness, and the story and cinematography still hold up great for me after all these years. But that music...ugh.

Any other flicks that you love, but hate the music?
 
Ladyhawke...an absolutely hideous disco score to an otherwise fine little movie. Conversely, Conan the Barbarian has a far better score than it deserves.
 
Yeah I'd agree wuth Ladyhawke.

Conan was the fist soundtrack I ever bought. I used to love Basil Poledouris until I noticed many of his scores sound so similar. Sort of the Ramones of the film score.

Another example for me is Manhuunter. Very tense film, very bad soundtrack.
 
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Raindrops keep falling on my head just didn't work for me. Especially in such a good film
 
It's almost unfair to use many 80's movies since the music was so godawful. Don't get me wrong there was a lot of great music in the 80s, but specifically, cheap scores, read as "knockoff music" in particular really sucked painfully bad. Synth/drum/saxophone tracks in particular. That's the great thing about orchestral scores, they're in a realm above pop scores. Sure they're still dated, but so what. Even the most bombastic orchestral scores of the distant past have a special place and context... but 80's cheeze scores, imo will never be considered retro cool.
 
I heard there was a big flap over using "Raindrops" Either Bill Goldman, or George Roy Hill (or both) hated the song, and vocally protested it being there.

Totally takes me out of the movie.
 
Jim Brennan said:
Another example for me is Manhuunter. Very tense film, very bad soundtrack.
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Maybe Michael Mann just has really bad taste in music. Just watched the Insider last night and thought the same thing. and Thief has some really bad music too.
 
Not so much the soundtrack, but I've noticed Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz have VERY aggresisvely mixed sound design, bordering on annoying. Lots of loud whooshing and booms and just overall noisily mixed. It fit Shaun more than Hot Fuzz, but I wish he'd dial it back just a little sometimes as it gets obnoxious.
 
But Dune isn't a great fllm, and the score (which i actually don't mind), is the least of it's problems. Lynch nailed the design of the world, and the cast is pretty good, but there's too much narrative in the film and not enough drama. It's a bunch of plot points jammed together into 2 hours.
 
Yeah, I saw Due at some big theatre in Times Square when it came out and I was horribly disappointed. I don't remember the music, I just remember I hated the movie.
 
The only score with synth that ever really worked was A Clockwork Orange. And yeah, Inagadadavita in Manhunter felt really out of place.
 
Batutta said:
But Dune isn't a great fllm, and the score (which i actually don't mind), is the least of it's problems. Lynch nailed the design of the world, and the cast is pretty good, but there's too much narrative in the film and not enough drama. It's a bunch of plot points jammed together into 2 hours.
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I know man, it was a dumb joke. Dune isn't a great film but it's a guilty pleasure. The music? Brian Eno and Toto? :)

How 'bout this--The Truman Show. I think it's a good film made worse by an overly repetitive theme played over and over.
 
Although it's considered a classic, I always hated the theme to The Third Man...that Mandolin or whatever it was annoyed the F%(*&* out of me...
 
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