A couple of odd ones I like:

STRAIGHT TO HELL: amazing soundtrack (The Pogues, Joe Strummer, Pray for Rain), interesting cast (The Pogues, Joe Strummer, Dennis Hopper, Grace Jones, Courtney Love), incredibly bad unwatchable movie from Alex (REPO MAN) Cox. Great album though, sort of an Irish punk-rock spaghetti western soundtrack. One of the tracks even provided the inspiration for the Garth Ennis character "The Saint of Killers" in PREACHER.

PERFORMANCE: one of the best eclectic scores - Randy Newman, Ry Cooder, Merry Clayton, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mick Jagger, seminal rap group (in the 1960s!) The Last Poets; arranged and produced by Jack Nitzsche, subject of one of fpw's great throw-away punchlines in a Repairman Jack book. Some genuinely creepy music in here - a great soundtrack for reading.

MANHUNTER: great tracks by Shriekback and others. You have to own a copy of Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida, why not make it this album?

THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE soundtrack by David Shire. Great heist movie and soundtrack. Good music to listen to while reading a caper novel.

THE OMEGA MAN - Thank God they finally released this. Fantastic brassy score by Ron Grainer, who also composed the Dr. Who theme and the music to THE PRISONER. I listen to this more than I should.

NED KELLY - If there is a guilty pleasure soundtrack, this is it. Everyone who reviewed the film (the Mick Jagger version, not the current one) seems to hate the score. The movie itself wasn't so hot, but for reasons that remain obscure even to me, I love it. Vocals by Waylon Jennings, Mick Jagger, and Kris Kristofferson. Lyrics by the late Shel Silverstein, known now primarily for his poetry collections but also the author of Johnny Cash's classic "A Boy Named Sue" and most of the early work of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, such as "On the Cover of the Rolling Stone" and "Freaking at the Freaker's Ball." Strange pseudo-Australian country/folk with depressing, brooding lyrics.

IMHO, I would say Thin Red Line by Zimmer gets my vote as my all time favorite score (the track Journey to the Line is astounding)

Others are:
Last Samurai - Zimmer
Under Fire - Goldsmith
American Beauty - Newman
Last of the Mohicans - Jones
K-19 - Badelt
Thief - Tangerine Dream
Monster's Ball - Asche and Spencer
Gladiator - Zimmer
Legends of the Fall - Horner
Shawshank Redemption - Newman

and my vote for the most insane (yet brilliant) score.... Ravenous - Nyman (and the frontman of Blur)

(snip)and my vote for the most insane (yet brilliant) score.... Ravenous - Nyman (and the frontman of Blur)

That movie was freaky-bizzare!

That movie was freaky-bizzare!

Even freaky-bizarre understates it!

Even freaky-bizarre understates it!

I remember doing nothing but laughing when the closing credits came up in the movie theater. I couldn't believe what I'd just gone through. :-)
I once "forced" my cousin to watch it. He was freaked out for quite a while afterwards.
THAT'S the power of film!

arranged and produced by Jack Nitzsche, subject of one of fpw's great throw-away punchlines in a Repairman Jack book.

I'm so glad someone knew who I was talking about.

I am terrible at remembering film names - so here are the composers that always seem to captivate me:

John Williams, of course, a true master!

Patrick Doyle - did most of the work for Kenneth Branagh, as well as Sense & Sensibility, and will be doing the newest Harry Potter movie. Very British in both melody and harmonic structure.

Dennis McCarthy - some of the ST movies (don't remember which ones), a lot of the TV episodes, including the theme for DS9.

Clint Eastwood - did you know he has penned some of his own scores? He has a jazz touch. Actually, I like his scores by Lennie Niehaus, too.

James Horner and Randy Newman are on the list, too... And, I've always enjoyed Randy Edelman, but I can't tell you which movies he has done - know him more as a singer/songwriter.

Clint Eastwood - did you know he has penned some of his own scores?

He wrote the main theme to Unforgiven which is beautiful.

He wrote the main theme to Unforgiven which is beautiful.

He was also singing in his movie, "Honkytonk Man". He is not only Jazz artist. He is good country singer.

He was also singing in his movie, "Honkytonk Man".

My (now deceased) father is in that movie! He's only visible for two or three shots, I think. He's the guitar player on the far right in the recording studio near the end of the film. If memory serves, he's sitting next to Marty Robbins. Being my father's beneficiary, I still get royalty checks for that film every year. Since it came out on DVD, my annual take has increased to over $20. The check normally gets sent to my mother's address, and she then sends it on to me, usually with a mildly humorous note not to squander my inheritance or something along those lines.

I didn't know Clint had scored any of his own films, and especially not about the Unforgiven theme. Neat. He has pleasant taste in music. His son Kyle seems to be quite a talented bassist now, too.

Blake