13 Favorite Movie Soundtracks

            I have always collected movie soundtrack albums. They often evoke the film, but occasionally they reach dizzying musical heights on their own. There are a few that I replay so frequently that I am glad I live alone. Here are a few of my personal favorites. 

            (13) Trouble Man (Marvin Gaye) Coming off truly one of the greatest albums of all times- What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye wrote, composed, conducted this incredible soundtrack score for the Blaxploitation film Trouble Man starring Robert Hooks. The jazzy, soulful orchestration, with evocative sax, drums, synthesizer, piano and funky vocals for the lead song are Gaye at the height of his genius.

            (12) Suspiria (Goblin) Director Dario Argento’s use of the rock band Goblin for his horror masterpiece Suspiria was an inspired choice- the dissonant music with thunderous drums, clashing percussion and eerie whispering voices in the background jangle the nerves and haunt your dreams, much like the film starring the exquisite Jessica Harper.

            (11) One from the Heart (Tom Waits) Francis Ford Coppola’s underappreciated, defiantly oddball, neon-soaked romantic musical starring Frederic Forrest and Teri Garr has a memorable soundtrack featuring the scruffy, ravaged voice of Tom Waits mixed with the lovely dulcet tones of Crystal Gayle. Gayle and Waits surprisingly blend beautifully into a jazzy, soulful collaboration. When they sing the main theme “One from the Heart” it slays you.

            (10) Last Tango in Paris (Gato Barbieri) Bernardo Bertolucci’s controversial Last Tango in Paris starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider benefited by the smoldering, sultry jazz score by tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri. Mixing drums, bongos, strings and that haunting saxophone, the score elevates the film with its plaintive drive, and the tango sequence alone is sensual and melancholy in just the right way.

            (9) Cannibal Holocaust (Riz Ortolani) I love pulling on this soundtrack album for guests. With the lilting guitar mixed with synthesizer score that ebbs and seductively swells. Everyone always ask which movie this from and when I say Cannibal Holocaust, the notorious Italian gore film by Reggero Deodato, they are always shocked. Some of the other tracks are more plaintive and ominous but for the most part the lyrical juxtaposition between the beautiful and the profane is, to me, perfection.

            (8) Super Fly (Curtis Mayfield) Super Fly is a Blaxploitation film starring Ron O’Neal as a cocaine dealer who wants out of the life. But the soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield is something else. One cut after another is bursting with Mayfield’s funky lyricism. From Little Child Runnin’ Wild to Pusherman to Freddy’s Dead the soulful percussion mixed with Mayfield’s heavenly falsetto is underscored by lyrics filled with pointed political subtext.  

            (7) Betty Blue (Gabriel Yared) A mesmerizing jazz-pop fusion that Gabriel Yared created as backdrop to Jean-Jacques Beineix’s electrifying erotic melodrama of a volatile love affair starring an unforgettable Beatrice Dalle. As composer Gabriel Yared said to Screen Daily: “I only had three musicians, plus myself, and the demos were shared with the actors and the rest of the crew. Everyone knew my music by heart during the shooting and would hum along. It was a real work of love.” 

            (6) The Comfort of Strangers (Angelo Badalamenti) A sexy and sinister film set in Venice, beautifully directed by Paul Schrader, starring Natasha Richardson and Rupert Everett, based on the novel by Ian McEwan with a sardonic screenplay by Harold Pinter. The language is icy, mysterious and precise, but the score by Angelo Badalamenti is lush, classical and romantic but filled with ominous overtones. It’s elegant and symphonic but brilliantly subversive, much like the film.

            (5) Chinatown (Jerry Goldsmith) Roman Polanski’s brilliant neo-noir starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway has a truly great score by Jerry Goldsmith. It may be 25 minutes of music, but what 25 minutes. Especially with the main “love” theme with its haunting trumpet solo. Moody and beautiful.

            (4) Hable Con Ella (Talk to Her) (Alberto Iglesias) One of my favorite Pedro Almodovar films with definitely one of my favorite soundtracks by Alberto Iglesias, whose score is sensual and lyrical and filled with Spanish guitars and strings. When the CD of the score came out it was accompanied with music Almodovar listened to when he was writing the film which included artists like Shirley Horn, Little Jimmy Scott and Gaetano Veloso, whose haunting Cucurrucucu Paloma made it into the finished film.

            (3) Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann) When it comes to movie soundtracks, Bernard Herrmann is God to me. His collaborative work with Alfred Hitchcock on Psycho, Marnie, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much and others is untouchable. He has such a distinctive discordant orchestral sound, and his work in other films like The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Brian De Palma’s Obsession and the creepy sing-song theme to Twisted Nerve takes my breath away. But Vertigo is, hands down, one of his greats. Right from the hypnotic opening theme it draws you in and then unsettles you and eventually fills you with longing and regret. It’s truly one of the most emotionally devastating of scores by a true musical maverick.

            (2) Picnic (George Duning) George Duning began playing trumpet and piano for the Kay Kyser band before he was signed to Columbia Pictures in 1946. There he scored films like The Eddie Duchin Story, The World of Suzie Wong, Bell, Book and Candle and Picnic. Picnic, based on an acclaimed William Inge play and directed by Joshua Logan has such a lyrical and expressive score by Duning, which underscores the tumultuous upheaval caused by arrival of a sexy drifter on Labor Day weekend. The high point of the movie is the sensual dance at the picnic between Kim Novak and William Holden, and Duning combined Moonglow and the Picnic theme to create movie magic. It’s a scene feverishly burned into my brain forever.

            (1) Once Upon a Time in America (Ennio Morricone) Prolific Italian composer Ennio Morricone is known for his stunning work scoring Spaghetti Westerns for Sergio Leone like A Fistful of Dollars, but he was a master in many genre films from thrillers to dramas. But this collaboration with Leone for his epic New York Jewish gangster epic starring Robert De Niro and James Woods is so gorgeous and lyrical it boggles the brain. Morricone had discovered the pan flute during this period, for this movie and also The Mission, and, mixed with the strings and wind instruments, really enrich the mood of the film. Butchered when first released in the US, mercifully the uncut, director’s version was released later to acclaim and that’s the version that’s on home media so you have more time to revel in Morricone’s sweeping, mournful score.