Soundtrack Scores That Are Way-y Better Than the Film Itself (1 Viewer)

[Dick]

I am listening to my copy of the EMPIRE OF THE ANTS score from Kritzerland, which I bought because that company's releases are generally awesome, and find it to be ridiculously better than the mediocre-to-poor movie itself.

That leads me to want to create a thread containing a running list of scores that fit into that category. Some composers (Goldsmith, Horner, etc.) simply provided crumby movies with scores that were much better than they deserved to have.

I would scratch the surface with the following:

ROBOT MONSTER (Elmer Bernstein)
PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (albeit this was apparently PD stock music)
KNIGHT OF CUPS (Hannan Townshend)
THE PHANTOM MENACE (John Williams)
MEDICINE MAN (Jerry Goldsmith)
QUANTUM OF SOLACE (David Arnold)
ROCKETSHIP XM (not a terrible movie, but the Ferde Grofe score is wonderful)

I'll be adding lots to this as/if the thread continues...the above is merely a top-of-my-head kick-starter. Your input?

 

[Lord Dalek]

Oblivion (M83/Joseph Tappanese)
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (John Williams/Alexander Courage)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Jerry Goldsmith)
Danger: Diabolik! (Ennio Morricone)
L'Uomanoide (Ennio Morricone)
Torn Curtain [Bernard Hermann (yeah... I went there)]
Kundun (Philip Glass)
A slew of John Barry James Bond scores (Diamonds are Forever, Moonraker, A View to a Kill, etc.)
A slew of Akira Ifukube Godzilla scores

 

[Worth]

John Barry was the first name that popped into my head. He scored a lot of crap films, but his work remained consistently excellent:

The Scarlet Letter
The Specialist
Howard the Duck
High Road to China
The Legend of the Lone Ranger
Raise the Titanic
Night Games
Starcrash
Game of Death
The Betsy

 

[Bob Cashill]

With hundreds of scores to his credit, and still knocking them out, Ennio Morricone must hold the title of composer of the most good to great scores for bad movies. (I recently purchased two, for BLOODLINE and THE CHOSEN/HOLOCAUST 2000.)

Barry may be second, and not for lack of trying. He seemed to work with a lot of fledgling feature film directors, which sometimes worked out swimmingly (DANCES WITH WOLVES) but as often resulted in his being the only notable contribution to the final product. I wonder if it was self protection, figuring he, an Oscar-winning veteran, wouldn't be replaced if he worked with a novice, and would be left alone to do his thing.

Goldsmith, too, but there are lots of lousy genre movies (Cannon's KING SOLOMON'S MINES, etc.) that need scoring, and someone has to step up to the baton.

 

[FilmCrazy]

The Sandpiper- Johnny Mandel

 

[PMF]

"Half A Sixpence" (Irwin Kostal; Music Supervisor) w/ Special Additional Honors to the cinematography of Geoffrey Unsworth, otherwise...
"Finian's Rainbow" (Ken Darby; Music Supervisor) - What a coincidence, I've cited another Tommy Steele pic.