Bad Movies with Great Soundtracks (1 Viewer)

[ThomasC]

As soon as I saw the "Best Movie With The Worst Music??" thread, I thought of a movie that most people don't like, but it has a great soundtrack, but it doesn't fit the movie a lot of the time. I'm thinking about Mission To Mars. I know of its many scientific flaws, I've heard the argument from a friend who thinks its the worst movie he's ever seen, etc., etc. At the worst, I thought it was a decent movie. The soundtrack by Ennio Morricone didn't seem to fit in with at least some of the scenes. However, I bought the soundtrack for one reason or another, and it's one of my favorite soundtracks to listen to. I was listening to it today while reading something for homework, and when Track 11 (All The Friends) came along, I stopped dead in my tracks. It's absolutely beautiful.

 

[Eric Paddon]

Easy list for me:

1-Hawaii (1966-Elmer Bernstein)
2-JFK (1991-John Williams)
3-Taxi Driver (1976-Bernard Herrmann)
4-Raise The Titanic (1980-John Barry)
5-The Swarm (1978-Jerry Goldsmith)

 

[Adam_ME]

Hook and Dragonheart come to mind.

 

[Andy Sheets]

I don't really like Conan the Barbarian, but it has one of my all-time favorite musical scores.

 

[Ben Osborne]

James Newton Howard's score for Restoration is absolutely beautiful. I consider it his best, and one of the best movie scores, period. The movie, however, was not well-recieved. I plan on seeing it, but most of the reviews I've read have been very negative.

JNH's Wyatt Earp score is also very good.

 

[Holadem]

My opinion of Gladiator has changed from "mediocre" to "fairly enjoyable" solely due to the soundtrack. It just made the movie seriously grow on me.

--
H

 

[Richard Kim]

3-Taxi Driver (1976-Bernard Herrmann)

 

[Jefferson Morris]

3-Taxi Driver (1976-Bernard Herrmann)

Uh....riiiiiiiiggght. To each his own, I guess.

Though I wouldn't call it an outright bad movie, I've always thought that Star Trek: The Motion Picture was completely outclassed by its wonderful Jerry Goldsmith score. In addition to the now well-familiar main theme, "Ilia's Theme" remains one of the most beautiful melodies I've ever heard on a movie soundtrack.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Eric Paddon]

I think Taxi Driver is a movie that apart from Herrmann's score has nothing to recommend. It's a quintessential example of how for me, bad "A" movies with pretensions of being great are always worse then bad "B" movies which can at least have a certain fun and charm to them.

 

[TheLongshot]

I'd put "Last Action Hero" on the list. The soundtrack still gets lots of play from me, tho I haven't seen the movie in years. A great set of heavy metal songs.

I also really like Goldsmith's score for "Legend". I've listened to that a long time before the new cut came out. Great stuff.

Jason

 

[Zen Butler]

The Shining - a soundtrack as opposed to a score. Great use of Penderecki and Bartok. The film a bit over the top for my taste.



The Mission - gorgeous score by Ennio Morricone. Another so-so film.

 

[Charles Coates]

GREAT EXPECTATIONS with Gweneth Paltrow in it. Terrible movie.. awesome soundtrack.

 

[Bill Williams]

Alexander Courage's music for Superman IV is a bright spot in a generally bad film. While it's mainly a restructuring of a number of John Williams' original themes, Williams did manage to compose two new themes for the film, and Courage did a good job in adapting and conducting the music. It's much better than Ken Thorne's rinky dinky music for III, and it should have seen a CD release. Unfortunately, Courage confirmed in an online chat a few years ago that he didn't see the need for a Superman IV soundtrack release.

 

[ThomasC]

So John Williams worked on the Superman IV soundtrack too? Interesting.

 

[Rob P S]

I hated The Thin Red Line, but the score and the photography were amazing.