Who can forget that hauntingly lilting theme-music of the movie, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”?
And also the music of “Fistful of Dollars” and “For a Few Dollars More”?
These are but only a few of the many spaghetti-westerns the Sergio Leone -Clint Eastwood combination regaled us with.
The director-actor duo is well-known. But somehow the name and fame of the third person in this combination has often escaped the attention of movie buffs.
That of the Music Director, Enrico Morricone.
But, finally, he’s won the Oscar, this year. For his music in Quentin Tarantino's “The Hateful Eight”.
And so, we now know, it was not only the actor Leonardo DiCaprio who was being snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for long.
Sometimes it takes years and years before one can gain the recognition one deserves.
After making music for 60 years, working on over 500 movies, being nominated for Oscars 5 times, Enrico Morricone has now, finally, won the Oscar!
He was also the music director for such classics as “The Untouchables,” “Cinema Paradiso,” “Malena” and the “The Phantom of the Opera” but he never got around to holding that little golden statuette in his hands. Until now.
And I was happy to note– during my study into his background – that on an IMDB list of world’s “Top 25 Music Composers”, he was ranked second. Right after the famed John Williams.
Interestingly, Director Sergio Leone and Enrico Morricone were classmates at school. And their partnership went on, in their later years, to create some amazing background score for many a classic.
And together, as a Director and Music Composer twosome, these two are now ranked, by film critics, among the top -- with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, and Fellini & Rota.
Usually, it is the movie director and not its music composer who gets all the credit. And I feel that music forms such an integral part of movie that it is easy for the audience to overlook.
The background score element has a strange subliminal effect on the mind; and we may not even realize its importance in a movie, without conscious effort.
It is not only the actors but also the accompanying music that often makes us angry, happy, romantic, sad or tensed, during different scenes.
Music brings us to tears, and it moves us to the edge of our seats. It makes us chuckle, and it makes us open our mouths wide. And, we watch speechless - with eyes wide open and with bated breath.
John Williams, whose music I’ve been listening too, since my high school days – at least in most Steven Spielberg movies - has had 41 Oscar nominations, so far. Highest any music composer ever got. And, he’s won ‘five’ times.
He’s won the Oscars for ‘Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Schindler's List (1993) .
But I always felt bad he did not also win for his work in the other ‘Star Wars’ movies. Or for ‘Indiana Jones’ or ‘Harry Potter’ movies.
While we all know that recognition by the academy awards is not the only criteria by which we can measure any music composer’s success, we know their work is simply amazing.
Perhaps, that is why Steven Spielberg once said: “If I weren’t a director, I would want to be a film composer”!
And also the music of “Fistful of Dollars” and “For a Few Dollars More”?
These are but only a few of the many spaghetti-westerns the Sergio Leone -Clint Eastwood combination regaled us with.
The director-actor duo is well-known. But somehow the name and fame of the third person in this combination has often escaped the attention of movie buffs.
That of the Music Director, Enrico Morricone.
But, finally, he’s won the Oscar, this year. For his music in Quentin Tarantino's “The Hateful Eight”.
And so, we now know, it was not only the actor Leonardo DiCaprio who was being snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for long.
Sometimes it takes years and years before one can gain the recognition one deserves.
After making music for 60 years, working on over 500 movies, being nominated for Oscars 5 times, Enrico Morricone has now, finally, won the Oscar!
He was also the music director for such classics as “The Untouchables,” “Cinema Paradiso,” “Malena” and the “The Phantom of the Opera” but he never got around to holding that little golden statuette in his hands. Until now.
And I was happy to note– during my study into his background – that on an IMDB list of world’s “Top 25 Music Composers”, he was ranked second. Right after the famed John Williams.
Interestingly, Director Sergio Leone and Enrico Morricone were classmates at school. And their partnership went on, in their later years, to create some amazing background score for many a classic.
And together, as a Director and Music Composer twosome, these two are now ranked, by film critics, among the top -- with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, and Fellini & Rota.
Usually, it is the movie director and not its music composer who gets all the credit. And I feel that music forms such an integral part of movie that it is easy for the audience to overlook.
The background score element has a strange subliminal effect on the mind; and we may not even realize its importance in a movie, without conscious effort.
It is not only the actors but also the accompanying music that often makes us angry, happy, romantic, sad or tensed, during different scenes.
Music brings us to tears, and it moves us to the edge of our seats. It makes us chuckle, and it makes us open our mouths wide. And, we watch speechless - with eyes wide open and with bated breath.
John Williams, whose music I’ve been listening too, since my high school days – at least in most Steven Spielberg movies - has had 41 Oscar nominations, so far. Highest any music composer ever got. And, he’s won ‘five’ times.
He’s won the Oscars for ‘Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Schindler's List (1993) .
But I always felt bad he did not also win for his work in the other ‘Star Wars’ movies. Or for ‘Indiana Jones’ or ‘Harry Potter’ movies.
While we all know that recognition by the academy awards is not the only criteria by which we can measure any music composer’s success, we know their work is simply amazing.
Perhaps, that is why Steven Spielberg once said: “If I weren’t a director, I would want to be a film composer”!
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