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What is The Best Action Score Of All Time? |
King Kong (1933) - Max Steiner |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) - Erich Wolfgang Korngold |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
Ben-Hur (1959) - Miklós Rózsa |
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2% |
[ 1 ] |
Total Recall (1990) - Jerry Goldsmith |
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4% |
[ 2 ] |
Conan the Barbarian (1982) - Basil Poledouris |
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15% |
[ 7 ] |
Aliens (1986) - James Horner |
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6% |
[ 3 ] |
Predator (1987) - Alan Silvestri |
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6% |
[ 3 ] |
Batman (1989) - Danny Elfman |
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6% |
[ 3 ] |
Terminator 2 (1991) - Brad Fiedel |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
The Rock (1996) - Harry Gregson-Williams & Nick Glennie-Smith |
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24% |
[ 11 ] |
The Matrix (1999) - Don Davis |
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2% |
[ 1 ] |
other |
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31% |
[ 14 ] |
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Total Votes : 45 |
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Author |
Message |
Robert_Locksley
Commander
Joined: Apr 14, 2003
Member#: 980
Posts: 536
Location: British Columbia
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Posted:
Tue Jun 01, 2004 10:08 am Post subject: |
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Other: Gladiator _________________ "Get it?...Got it!...GOOD!" -- The Court Jester |
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Wolf
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: Mar 06, 2002
Member#: 16
Posts: 448
Location: Right behind you...
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Posted:
Tue Jun 01, 2004 1:02 pm Post subject: |
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Other: Gladiator for me too. This soundtrack just rocks!
Speaking of "rock"... I thought the soundtrack from The Rock was from Zimmer... Maybe I am wrong... _________________ Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate... leads to suffering. |
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shock
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: Oct 23, 2003
Member#: 3465
Posts: 380
Location: Switzerland
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Posted:
Tue Jun 01, 2004 1:42 pm Post subject: |
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Wolf wrote: |
Other: Gladiator for me too. This soundtrack just rocks!
Speaking of "rock"... I thought the soundtrack from The Rock was from Zimmer... Maybe I am wrong... |
You're not wrong. He composed about 2 or 3 themes - but the major work was done by Media Ventures colleagues Nick Glennie-Smith, Harry Gregson-Williams, and, if I remember correctly, Don Harper and Steve Stern. |
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zirael
Commander
Joined: Feb 05, 2004
Member#: 4924
Posts: 795
Location: North Carolina
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Posted:
Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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Out of the ones listed, my favorite is probably Conan the Barbarian. |
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Maeltne
Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined: May 08, 2004
Member#: 6602
Posts: 87
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
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Posted:
Thu Jun 03, 2004 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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Well I went with the ones listed, too... if I went with 'other' Star Wars IV-VI, of course!
You know you had your under-roos on the outside of your sweats and cardboard cores coloured as lightsabers, too!
Love ya! _________________ A good composer does not imitate; he steals.
~ Igor Stravinsky |
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GrooveMerchant
Lieutenant
Joined: Jul 29, 2003
Member#: 2617
Posts: 221
Location: Oregon
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Posted:
Fri Jun 04, 2004 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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I gotta put another one in for Conan, it just works the best as an action score. Gladiators good too, it'd probably be second on my list. _________________ "Don't you think that idea is a little half-baked?
Oh no, Dad, it's completely baked."
--The Graduate |
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Hurr78
Commander
Joined: Feb 12, 2004
Member#: 5061
Posts: 739
Location: Toronto
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Posted:
Sat Jun 05, 2004 1:29 pm Post subject: |
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I voted for Total Recall. You guys have a strong case for Conan, but I'm personally biased toward Jerry Goldsmith. I think his score really brought an extra dimension to some of the performances... especially Michael Ironside's. Sometimes the music just gives him an edge of sneering, seething rage. |
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Andres
Ensign
Joined: Jan 24, 2003
Member#: 331
Posts: 38
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Posted:
Wed Jun 09, 2004 12:21 am Post subject: |
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So those of you who picked Conan--what would you say is the great 'action' cue on that score?
I love the score, but to me it seems a bit laid back for an 'action' score. |
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GrooveMerchant
Lieutenant
Joined: Jul 29, 2003
Member#: 2617
Posts: 221
Location: Oregon
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Posted:
Wed Jun 09, 2004 1:38 am Post subject: |
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Laid back? Are we listening to the same score here? It's full of great powerful cues, particulary track 2, Riddle of Steel/Riders of Doom and track 11 Battle of the mounds. Not to mention the main theme Anvil of Crom, love that menacing low brass sound.
I thought it was the perfect action score, at least in my opinion. Anybody wanna help back me up on this? |
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Cocles
Commodore
Joined: Mar 06, 2002
Member#: 15
Posts: 2587
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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Posted:
Wed Jun 09, 2004 5:24 am Post subject: |
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I fully concur with the three tracks GrooveMerchant mentioned. It might not be the modern techno action music you hear, but those tracks have balls, pure and simple. |
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Blue
Lieutenant
Joined: Mar 31, 2003
Member#: 472
Posts: 100
Location: Coastal North Carolina, USA
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Posted:
Fri Jun 11, 2004 7:15 pm Post subject: |
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I wouldn't really classify Ben-Hur as an action film, although it certainly has its action moments (the chariot race and the battle scene). Ben-Hur is just simply the best film of all time and has a little bit of everything for everybody.
If I could add an "other" score to the poll, I would add "North by Northwest" which a brilliant example of a minimalistic action score. And I'm kind of surprised that nobody has brought up any of the Bond scores. |
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Hurr78
Commander
Joined: Feb 12, 2004
Member#: 5061
Posts: 739
Location: Toronto
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Posted:
Fri Jun 11, 2004 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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I completely agree with you on the North by Northwest issue. Even today, the opening title is very striking. And Bernard Herrmann gives us a great love theme to boot.
Did you know that the censors had a lot of objections to North by Northwest back in '59? Apparently, one of the things that made their list was that they found Martin Landau's evil henchman character "Leonard" to be too effeminate. |
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Andres
Ensign
Joined: Jan 24, 2003
Member#: 331
Posts: 38
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Posted:
Sat Jun 26, 2004 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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GrooveM and Cocles--that's just it, 'balls' and 'powerful' are not the same as having a feeling of 'action'. Don't mistake my meaning--I think the Conan score is very powerful and dramatic, but the tracks mentioned aren't fast-paced and obviously about "action" in the way of, say, the asteroid sequence in ESB, or 'the Raisuli Attacks' in the "Wind and the Lion", or various tracks in "Total Recall".
Obviously in this context "action score" means a score from an 'action' movie. I'm not complaining about your choice, just curious about the difference in the way we see 'action music'. |
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GrooveMerchant
Lieutenant
Joined: Jul 29, 2003
Member#: 2617
Posts: 221
Location: Oregon
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Posted:
Sat Jun 26, 2004 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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Whoa there cowboy..... I don't think that speed is what an action score is necessarily all about. Sure it's often a great way to add a feeling of anxiety or urgency during something like a chase sequence, such as with the asteroid scene from ESB that you mentioned. However, that's not all an action score is about. Have you listened to Rider's of Doom from Conan? Granted it's not as quick as The Asteroid field, since it doesn't rely on busy stringwork, but can you honestly listen to that and tell me that's not fast-paced? It's plenty fast and uses more heavy brass and powerful vocals to kick it up a notch. When compared to something like the Asteroid field I think it even has more of a sense of action because of those very elements.
Don't get me wrong though, ya gotta love ESB, good times right there. _________________ "Don't you think that idea is a little half-baked?
Oh no, Dad, it's completely baked."
--The Graduate |
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mellowman
Captain
Joined: Sep 02, 2003
Member#: 2939
Posts: 1119
Location: UK
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Posted:
Sun Jun 27, 2004 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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A definition of the word action:
Habitual or vigorous activity
I think that sums up what I took as the meaning of this thread - music that accompanies films where the visual content is of a more than pedestrian pace. I think Conan fits the bill both musically and pictorally.
By it's very nature most action music must surely be both powerful and have balls but, as Groove says, action music doesn't have to be fast-paced even if the visuals it accompanies are. I'm thinking now about John Williams very powerful music to the final light sabre dule between Vader and Luke: it was powerful and majestic but it certainly wasn't fast paced.
I guess that could be a whole new thread: the best high-tempo score? |
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