[Nick Zwar]

I liked Pino Donaggio from the first time I ever noticed his name or music, that was way back in the 1980s when I saw DON’T LOOK NOW for the first time. Incidentally, that was also Donaggio’s first film score. And it’s a favorite to this day. To mention my “top 5” Donaggio scores:

DON’T LOOK NOW
That childlike piano theme alone, in a purposely “child-practice” like performance played by Donaggio himself, is just pure gold.

BODY DOUBLE
I really love both the score and the movie; like Thor said, the score is highly eclectic, from lush romantic strings to suspense and synths. The “famous” cue “Telescope” is just like mystery-sleaze turned into music (in the best sense).

HERCULES
Pino Donaggio in full blown orchestral fantasy mode… you don’t get to hear that often. The movie is a hoot, with Erector-set monsters, goofy plot, and Donaggio’s music just fully embraces the swashbuckling and adventure.

ZELLY AND ME
Haven’t seen the movie (though it is one of the few with David Lynch as an actor), but the music is like a summer afternoon, soft and breezy, with a touch of melancholy. It’s got one of those Donaggio themes that lingers and stays in my head long after I stopped playing the album.

DRESSED TO KILL
Of course, all the De Palma collaborations are great and interesting… so at first, I even thought to just lump them all together and say “Donaggio/De Palma”, but if I had to pick one more out of this great collaboration (after BODY DOUBLE), it might as well be DRESSED TO KILL. This might be the quintessential Donaggio/De Palma score.