FSM # 19: Underrated composer/director relationships
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It’s very likely that many people in this group are familiar with the John Williams and Steven Spielberg collaboration. On the other hand, it’s unlikely that many people in this group are as familiar with the Mychael Danna and Atom Egoyan collaboration.
Oh, no doubt some composer/director relationships are far less known than others, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are underrated. Could be they are rated highly by the clique that knows them. Or could be they are less highly rated because their impact was less pronounced.
Steven Spielberg is far more known than Atom Egoyan, and John Williams much more than Mychael Danna. So obviously, their collaboration is also far less known.
But doesn’t automatically mean they are “underrated”.
He, he…one is on the short side, Sigbjørn. Have you ever actually seen your beloved LADY JANE, though?
Of course, as it’s a masterclass in costume drama film scoring. I have it on DVD – it wasn’t on blu-ray the last time I checked. You’re welcome to come and watch it the next time you’re around these parts. 🙂
Oh, no doubt some composer/director relationships are far less known than others, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are underrated. Could be they are rated highly by the clique that knows them. Or could be they are less highly rated because their impact was less pronounced.
Steven Spielberg is far more known than Atom Egoyan, and John Williams much more than Michael Dann. So obviously, their collaboration is also far less known.
But doesn’t automatically mean they are “underrated”.
Well, they become underrated the moment you — the suggester of the pair – rate them highly, whereas others do not. ‘Underrated’ is a subjective term that has to do with both exposure and quality.
Of course, as it’s a masterclass in costume drama film scoring. I have it on DVD – it wasn’t on blu-ray the last time I checked. You’re welcome to come and watch it the next time you’re around these parts. 🙂
That’s good to know!
OK, has anyone mentioned Ry Cooder and Walter Hill yet? If not, they are underrated, because no one has mentioned them yet.
They must have really hit it off. I’m especially fond of LAST MAN STANDING (though I also love Elmer Bernstein’s unused score).
Cooder and Hill grew on me over the years. I always loved blues on its own, but somehow didn’t embrace it in movie scoring until Elfman’s MIDNIGHT RUN, probably. Only then did I appreciate Cooder’s film work more. Interestingly, another author wrote an article on the Cooder/Hill relationship in that issue I mentioned.
I think I prefer Cousteau & Vangelis over Cousteau & Scott, but by all means — the latter is fine too. I had one of the nature documentary CDs once. I think I traded it off because I found the drumkit backdrop kinda cheesy – a reminder of the LSO Plays Classic Rock albums that got me into orchestral music, but that I tried to distanciate myself from at the time. But that was then. Should give them another go now.
Been a while I listened to them but not all has these drums, most is just orchestral with some world music. (I still have one of these LSO albums on LP ;-))
Not really a composer/director collaboration, but more of a composer/producer collaboration is Jerry Goldsmith/Andrew Vajna (co-founder of the legendary Carolco Pictures among others). Goldsmith scored a lot of pictures for Vajna (and was attached to even more, but there were scheduling conflicts etc…. apart from the Rambo Trilogy, Vajna was involved in such Goldsmith scored movies as Total Recall, Medicine Man, The 13th Warrior, Extreme Prejudice). Goldsmith famously said “I’ll do anything for Andy Vajna”, and there was another quote by Vajna somewhere that Goldsmith was usually always his first choice.
Producer Donald Borchers worked 10 times with Jonathan Elias.
https://my-blog-of-interviews.webnode.page/news/donald-p-borchers/
Bruckheimer…so many cool composers, Tangerine Dream, Moroder, Faltermeyer, Zimmer, Mancina, Glennie-Smith, Rabin, Gregson-Williams, Horn, Badelt, Balfe…
He had a “sound” indeed.
For me it will always be Bobby Roth and Tangerine Dream. 6 movies together.
I was never really aware of them as a ‘pair’, but your filmography opened my eyes to the extent of their collaborations.
I wouldn’t look much further than Tarr and Vig. Wonderful, wonderful stuff and, as far as I can discern, almost completely unknown outside specialist circles.
Yup, I remember we talked about this in the RIP thread, when Tarr died a few weeks ago. I still need to check if any of Vig’s scores are available on album.
One director/composer collaboration (on exactly five movies) that I found particularly fruitful musically is Joe Wright and Dario Marianelli. But that’s for sure not underrated.
Interesting choice. I like Marianelli’s PRIDE & PREJUDICE and ATONEMENT, but my favourite score for his films is actually HANNA by The Chemical Brothers.
Worth mentioning is for sure (probably one of those five you have in mind) is David Cronenberg and Howard Shore. I think, apart from Dead Zone they collaborated on every Cronenberg movie since The Brood. Until today. That’s remarkable on its own.
I’ve always had major, major issues with the Cronenberg/Shore collaboration. Those low-register, droney rumblings go on my nerves. But I’ve opened up to some of them over the years, especially MAPS TO THE STARS and THE SHROUDS, which are more synth-heavy, beautiful and explorative. I also like EASTERN PROMISES.
I’ve always had major, major issues with the Cronenberg/Shore collaboration. Those low-register, droney rumblings go on my nerves.
That’s a funny way to put it. 😀
I like some of these.But I’ve opened up to some of them over the years, especially MAPS TO THE STARS and THE SHROUDS, which are more synth-heavy, beautiful and explorative. I also like EASTERN PROMISES.
Eastern Promises is nice. I rather like those orchestral or chamber music scores like History of Violence, The Fly, Dead Ringers, A Dangerous Method and – yes – Crash. Even though I confess, I usually don’t manage to finish the Crash album completely. After the initial fascination with these guitar sound figures it goes on my nerves, too. But 20 minutes of Crash score is great.
To me Shore’s most boring just droney rumbling score is Philadelphia.
I’ve been a fan of David Cronenberg ever since I read about his movies before I was allowed to watch them. The first Cronenberg movies I saw were THE BROOD and SCANNERS, and especially SCANNERS had a terrific synth score by the then rather unknown Howard Shore. Then came VIDEODROME, and finally THE FLY. THE FLY pretty much ended the first phase of Cronenberg as a sci-fi/body-horror director (in between he did the excellent THE DEAD ZONE, but he was more a “hired gun” on that project), and Shore ended on a very operatic, dramatic note, a much bigger orchestral score than any previous Cronenberg movie. I have always loved the Shore/Cronenberg collaborations, and Cronenberg as a filmmaker is definitely someone who had a big influence on me in my formative years.
Of course, it doesn’t help that I can’t stomach body horror as a genre. That’s been another hindrance in my way towards Cronenberg (although I do appreciate his talent as a filmmaker).
I think the Tony Scott/Harry Gregson-Williams collaborations are interesting. Seven movies, many good scores.
I have to admit I’m more a fan of the pre-HGW scores in Scott’s canon. But I do like bits and pieces of ENEMY OF THE STATE, which he did with Trevor Rabin. I’ll have to give the other ones another chance, I suppose, now that I’m more open to HGW than I was.
I always thought Jerry Fielding produced some his best scores for Michael Winner, so there’s a director/composer collaboration not mentioned that often. I also like James Horner/Michael Apted, but they haven’t done five movies together.
Fielding is relatively unknown even in cineaste circles, so you could easily just have gone with the Fielding/Peckinpah collaboration, and I’d consider that underrated too. But of course Michael Winner even moreso.
Horner/Apted is an interesting choice. My own choice for Horner was his Ron Howard work, which is also rather underrated in the scheme of things (most normies are only familiar with the Cameron and Gibson, if that). As for Apted, I’d argue that even though GORKY PARK remains a favourite for many, CLASS ACTION and THUNDERHEART don’t exactly light up the scene – but especially CLASS ACTION is better than its reputation. (There are other Apted scores I put above Horner’s).
Don’t forget John Carpenter/John Carpenter.
Yes, there is that whole sub genre of directors who score their own movies, really a thread topic of its own. You could also add Clint Eastwood, Satyjajit Ray, Tom Tykwer, Robert Rodriguez, Alejandro Aménabar…
I have to admit I’m more a fan of the pre-HGW scores in Scott’s canon. But I do like bits and pieces of ENEMY OF THE STATE, which he did with Trevor Rabin. I’ll have to give the other ones another chance, I suppose, now that I’m more open to HGW than I was.
Of course, not much can beat the 1986-1996 period, with 2xFaltermeyer and 4x Zimmer.
(I have not even mentioned Elfman/Burton/Raimi… well, now I have, ok, but I did not mention Chrichton/Goldsmith…)
The Elfman/Burton collaboration is iconic. The Elfman/Raimi less so, but seems to enjoy a new spring now, with SEND HELP. My favourite is easily A SIMPLE PLAN, with its almost Thomas Newman-like vibe. Chrichton/Goldsmith is a lot of fun. THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY remains my favourite, slightly ahead of THE 13TH WARRIOR. Lots of great scores to Chrichton films, also by others!
And we must not ommit Ozon/Rombi.
So much great music from that partnership!Absolutely! I came to this collaboration relatively late. ANGEL and FRANTZ are my two favourites.
And of course Shyamalan/Newton Howard.
I know people rave about this, but with the exception of THE VILLAGE (which is gorgeous!), I’ve never really been that much of a fan (of the scores, I mean, I’m a big Shyamalan fan). My pick for underrated James Newton Howard collabs is actually Kevin Costner. Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s only THE POSTMAN that he directed. But he co-produced WATERWORLD and WYATT EARP. Bit of a stretch, but I take it!
And Miyasaki/Hisaishi and Kitano/Hisaishi.
Miyazaki and Hisaishi is widely celebrated (and rightfully so), but yes – the throbbing Kitano scores are quite underrated.
Edwards/Mancini.
Not underrated by any stretch of the imagination, but brilliant, of course.
But I could also name some overrated ones:
Abbrams/Giacchino
Nolan/ZimmerDefinitely agree on Abrams/Giacchino. But disagree on Nolan/Zimmer. I think they’re perfectly rated as the masterful efforts they are.
John Williams and Chris Columbus had 4 1/2 together.
You say that because of the CHAMBER OF SECRETS/William Ross situation? I think Williams did enough to qualify for an even 5. Not that underrated, but deserves to be mentioned. If my count is correct, it’s the director with whom Williams worked the most on feature films, after Spielberg and Lucas. If you count television and shorts, Altman comes in second, however.
And yes, I’m going to comment on ALL of the selections here. Brace yourselves! 😀
We can’t hinder you, it’s your forum 😉
Abbrams/Giacchino
I liked early Giacchinos like his game scores or the early Abrams works like ALIAS or LOST (his master piece IMHO thte music is a character in that show). But we had that on some other topic already I think 😉
Another collaboration that was not named yet was Emir Kusturica and Goran Bregovic.
According to an article I found, Morricone had a minimum five-film relationship with no fewer than 28 directors. I haven’t checked it but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Mauro Bolognini leads the way with 15 films, which I’d say is probably an underrated relationship, given that the ones that immediately spring to mind are Leone (6) and Tornatore (13). If you think about it a bit more, you may alight on Pasolini (8), Corbucci (7) and Argento (5).
After Leone, however, my favourite might just be Elio Petri, with seven films in common with Ennio. Definitely underrated, in my opinion.
From relatively highbrow Italian films to the ridiculous, Gerald Thomas and Eric Rogers worked together on 22 Carry On films (if you include “Don’t Lose Your Head” and “Follow That Camel”; otherwise 20).
Fielding is relatively unknown even in cineaste circles, so you could easily just have gone with the Fielding/Peckinpah collaboration, and I’d consider that underrated too.
That’s where I have trouble… I always considered the Fielding/Peckinpah collaboration “famous” and well established. Fielding’s music for THE WILD BUNCH and the Stravinsky-esque STRAW DOGS are both favorites.
According to an article I found, Morricone had a minimum five-film relationship with no fewer than 28 directors. I haven’t checked it but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Has any major film composer actually written more full feature film scores than Ennio Morricone?
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