General Discussion Movie Themes and/or Soundtracks you dislike (1 Viewer)

[SD_Brian]

The Silver Shamrock theme from Halloween III: Season of the Witch. An earworm that is gnawing its way into my brain as I type this.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Most of the recent Bond theme songs have been pretty awful, IMO. I'm not sure who picks the artists or the songs, or why they think most of these are good. From the 1990's forward, the only ones I've thought were listenable were Tina Turner's "GoldenEye" and Adele's "Skyfall".

Well you did say Most not all, but in addition to the two you've listed I would add "You Know My Name" by Chris Cornell and "No Time To Die" by Billie Eilish. For me, two of the better Bond songs of this century.

I guess I am being off topic though in this particular thread.

- Walter.

 

[Malcolm R]

I hate everything Eilish, so that theme was dead to me from the get-go as soon as she was announced to "sing" it (or whatever she does).

Same with her Barbie song. Everytime it comes on the radio I think the station has dead air because her whisper mumble is mostly inaudible.

 

[Sultanofcinema]

Most of the recent Bond theme songs have been pretty awful, IMO. I'm not sure who picks the artists or the songs, or why they think most of these are good. From the 1990's forward, the only ones I've thought were listenable were Tina Turner's "GoldenEye" and Adele's "Skyfall".

Barbara (Broccoli) picks the artists and has been looking for nothing more than an Oscar. Cubby would be turning in his grave.

 

[Sultanofcinema]

I hate everything Eilish, so that theme was dead to me from the get-go as soon as she was announced to "sing" it (or whatever she does).

Agreed to the max. Ellish very untalented and sounded like she was eating the microphone.

 

[Sultanofcinema]

Some of you may have heard of this French Film, Pour La Peau D' un Flic with Alain Delon and the very beautiful Anne Parillaud. One of my favorite films that gets one of the worst scores ever by Oscar Benton of Bensonhurst Blues.

 

[David_B_K]

The score for Ladyhawke pretty much ruined the movie, IMO.

 

[bujaki]

The score for Ladyhawke pretty much ruined the movie, IMO.

Wonderful film if played without music.

 

[Kevin Antonio (Kev)]

The Getaway. Quincy Jones score never worked for me. Even Jerry Fielding rejected score wasn't good.

 

[KPmusmag]

I get annoyed when a movie has a big, beautiful symphonic score and then when the end credits roll the music segues into a pounding rock and roll piece that has nothing to do with the tone of the film or any of the music that came before it. I get they want something they can play on the radio to promote the film and the recording at the same time, but I find it jarring.

 

[Midnight Mike]

Speaking of Bond scores, the entire soundtrack to “Never Say, Never Again” is pretty weak. I never listen to it anymore. ( I also rarely watch the film anymore either.)

 

[richardburton84]

The songs added to the butchered theatrical versions of Richard Williams’ The Thief and the Cobbler were absolutely dreadful and completely at odds with the spectacular animation that remained intact in the released versions (Williams’ original version took a 2001/Excalibur approach to the music with some original cues sprinkled amongst excerpts of classical music, primarily Scheherazade). I sometimes wonder if the songwriters deliberately made the songs bad in order to strengthen the false illusion that the film was a ripoff of Aladdin even though the film had been in production decades before Aladdin.

 

[TravisR]

The Silver Shamrock theme from Halloween III: Season of the Witch. An earworm that is gnawing its way into my brain as I type this.

How else are you going to know when there's 8 more days 'til Halloween?

 

[SD_Brian]

How else are you going to know when there's 8 more days 'til Halloween?

Good point.

 

[Worth]

Speaking of Bond scores, the entire soundtrack to “Never Say, Never Again” is pretty weak. I never listen to it anymore. ( I also rarely watch the film anymore either.)

Never Say Never is a particularly dreadful score, and one that we have Connery to thank for. The producers originally wanted James Horner, but Connery pushed for Legrand.

 

[Jack P]

This isn't exactly a score I hate as a score, but for which I think was a misfire. Leonard Rosenmann for "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home." IMO, it was a mistake to jettison James Horner's thematic material from II and III, at least as far as the credits were concerned. To me, Horner had become the default sound of the film series after "Wrath Of Khan" basically jumpstarted the entire Trek franchise (Goldsmith's score for the first movie was great, but the fact the film did not land and that WOK was meant to show some distance from the first film explained why it didn't carry-over and since Goldsmith didn't interpolate the TV theme effectively I don't think it was really missed) and since II-III-IV is despite the jarring shifts in tone a continuous storyline, it just doesn't make sense to totally change the theme in the final act of the story (can you imagine Superman II and III NOT having Williams' theme even though he bailed out on doing the scores?). IV is admittedly a film I do not like for its plot and other things, BUT if the film had ended with Horner's theme I might have at least walked away from the theater with a little more acceptance.

 

[Bob Cashill]

Never Say Never is a particularly dreadful score, and one that we have Connery to thank for. The producers originally wanted James Horner, but Connery pushed for Legrand.

Legrand blamed Barbra Streisand, who delayed him on Yentl. (Which he ultimately won two Oscars for.) He was an odd choice but his action scoring for Ice Station Zebra is excellent.

 

[Sultanofcinema]

Legrand blamed Barbra Streisand, who delayed him on Yentl. (Which he ultimately won two Oscars for.) He was an odd choice but his action scoring for Ice Station Zebra is excellent.

Don't forget his score for Castle Keep! And by the way, NO SCORE could have saved that travesty of a motion picture (NSNA).

 

[t1g3r5fan]

This isn't exactly a score I hate as a score, but for which I think was a misfire. Leonard Rosenman for "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home." IMO, it was a mistake to jettison James Horner's thematic material from II and III, at least as far as the credits were concerned. To me, Horner had become the default sound of the film series after "Wrath Of Khan" basically jumpstarted the entire Trek franchise (Goldsmith's score for the first movie was great, but the fact the film did not land and that WOK was meant to show some distance from the first film explained why it didn't carry-over and since Goldsmith didn't interpolate the TV theme effectively I don't think it was really missed) and since II-III-IV is despite the jarring shifts in tone a continuous storyline, it just doesn't make sense to totally change the theme in the final act of the story (can you imagine Superman II and III NOT having Williams' theme even though he bailed out on doing the scores?). IV is admittedly a film I do not like for its plot and other things, BUT if the film had ended with Horner's theme I might have at least walked away from the theater with a little more acceptance.

Rosenman's style of scoring - which certainly lends itself well to science fiction and horror movies - is certainly an acquired taste.

However, continuing the discussion of what music scores and themes that are disliked, I'd like to contribute a couple of picks of my own:

Ordeal by Innocence (1984): The choice to use Dave Brubeck's music is completely at odds with Agatha Christie's dark mystery. Having heard excerpts of Pino Donaggio's unused music score for the movie makes me wish it had been as it matches up with the story perfectly.

Legend (1985): This isn't one I hate, it's just that Universal's decision to use Tangerine Dream's music for the U.S. release rather than Jerry Goldsmith's score - which is perfect for the story - still makes me scratch my head.

RoboCop 2 (1990): As I mentioned earlier, Leonard Rosenman's style of scoring does lend itself well to certain genres, this isn't one of those movies. Succeeding Basil Poledouris here, the decision to have RoboCop's name used repeatedly as a heroic chorus in certain places in the music becomes distracting and annoying rather than stirring.

 

[Indy Guy]

Burt Bacharach's score and songs for "Lost Horizon". The script and cast are awful and Bacharach's totally inappropriate music brings the film to a laughable level. It's a giggle fest to watch pure incompetence!
One fun factoid...the spectacular Camelot castle set was overdressed for this film to save money, and it is fun figuring out the changes.