Bad movies with great soundtracks?

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Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by Otis8 » January 10th, 2021, 2:37 pm

Got any? Cars would get my vote. You can also include live action :)

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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by Daniel » January 10th, 2021, 2:40 pm

The first film that comes to mind is Xanadu.

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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by droosan » January 10th, 2021, 4:39 pm

The trouble with calling any movie 'bad' is that -- odds are -- there is someone somewhere who enjoys it .. it may even be their favorite film!

Regardless, I have several soundtracks in my listening rotation which I consider to be rather more enjoyable as a listening experience on their own, apart from the movie they'd accompanied.

The first I'd nominate would be Elmer Bernstein's score for Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone. IMO, it's every bit as enjoyable as his contemporary scores for Stripes or Ghostbusters .. with just a bit of Star Wars-influenced 'flair'. 8)


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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by Daniel » January 10th, 2021, 4:59 pm

Maybe a more apt title could be "Soundtracks you love to movies you don't?" ;)

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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by ShyViolet » January 10th, 2021, 5:42 pm

Great topic! :o


Hmm...even though the movie is enjoyable in some sections, my vote would hands down be for Christopher Young’s Species score. Beautiful, tragic, and haunting—everything the movie should have been. :?

https://youtu.be/7r90nNQgNrw

(Opening titles)
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by Ben » January 10th, 2021, 7:57 pm

Like Elmer Bernstein, and apart from his own great scores for great movies, of course, the one and only Jerry Goldsmith was the king of providing massive music for mediocre movies, the Allan Quatermain theme from the 1985 King Solomon's Mines and its sequel being the best ever and most sincere Indiana Jones ripoff that ever was. The first film, as a result, is a cheesy fun time, but the second (directed by The Black Hole's now-jobbing Gary Nelson) is truly awful.

The mid-80s is Goldsmith gold on these terms: Supergirl also has a fantastic score for a widely accepted less than, er, super movie!

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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by Farerb » January 10th, 2021, 10:26 pm

I think maybe Dinosaur and definitely Pocahontas.

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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by droosan » January 11th, 2021, 4:00 am

Another sincere 'Indiana Jones' riff soundtrack is Sky Pirates, composed by Brian May.



The full score for Sky Pirates is on YouTube, as a playlist.

At one point, the entire 1986 film was also available to view on YouTube .. it seems to have since been removed. But here's a video promo trailer, as proof of its 'badness'. :mrgreen:


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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by EricJ » January 11th, 2021, 6:41 am

Daniel wrote:
January 10th, 2021, 2:40 pm
The first film that comes to mind is Xanadu.
There are no bad movies with Jeff Lynne/ELO soundtracks...None. "Electric Dreams" is proof of that.

But yes, I agree the header is mistitled: It asked for BAD movies, not "Xanadu". Bad movies do not have Gene Kelly in them. :mrgreen:

A "bad" movie would be more like John Williams' infectiously sentimental score for the bizarre, Andy-Kaufman-fan-disillusioning "Heartbeeps":

Or David Shire's entire score for "Return to Oz", so good, it almost makes you want to see the movie a second time in your life:
Ben wrote:
January 10th, 2021, 7:57 pm
The first film, as a result, is a cheesy fun time, but the second (directed by The Black Hole's now-jobbing Gary Nelson) is truly awful.
The mid-80s is Goldsmith gold on these terms: Supergirl also has a fantastic score for a widely accepted less than, er, super movie!
The Black Hole...Now THERE'S a movie John Barry was too good for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJaypC51Dds
(And remember, this is the guy who did "Raise the Titanic"...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msqXtAd9dps)

And for mid-80's Goldsmith, not to forget "Explorers", a Joe Dante movie best experienced by leaving half an hour early, and coming back for the end credits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VVgd5FVquU

(And can we assume the original Amityville Horror was "bad", even if Lalo Schifirin got an Oscar nomination?)

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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by droosan » January 11th, 2021, 8:00 am

For John Barry, I'd add his score for Howard the Duck (even though I personally enjoy HtD, TBH, and RtT .. for nostalgic reasons, if nothing else). The theme Barry composed for the 'Star Wars' pastiche Star Crash is likewise way better than that film deserved ..



I'm also fully agreed on the Jerry Goldsmith scores mentioned, so far .. and on Shire's Return To Oz.

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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by Ben » January 11th, 2021, 2:26 pm

I saw exactly half of Sky Pirates on VHS back in the day, and I still don’t know how it ended! Mind you, after all this time, I can’t remember how it started!

Return To Oz was a film way ahead of its time. It’s even better now, coming after so many disappointing remakes and reimaginings.

And, yes, as much as I love Gene Kelly, he did unfortunately appear in a couple of turkeys. But always with dignity. Always dignity. ;)

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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by droosan » January 11th, 2021, 2:51 pm

To add another animated film soundtrack to the discussion, I submit Fire And Ice:



Again -- not to say F&I is a 'bad' movie -- but, well, it is a Ralph Bakshi joint. :wink:

William Kraft's brassy score for F&I is an excellent adventure soundtrack .. up there with any of the 'live-action' sword & sorcery spectaculars of the early-1980s, IMO.

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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by Ben » January 11th, 2021, 3:59 pm

And, music wise, there were a LOT of those! :)

I actually really liked F&I when I saw it twenty, twenty-five years ago. Looking forward to the upcoming 4K restoration...would be nice if they give us an iso track too!

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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by EricJ » January 11th, 2021, 6:41 pm

Ben wrote:
January 11th, 2021, 2:26 pm
Return To Oz was a film way ahead of its time. It’s even better now, coming after so many disappointing remakes and reimaginings.
I got through all the Baum Oz books on audio last year (yes), and reiterate my opinion that RtO was a very GOOD book-faithful adaptation of "Ozma of Oz"--in score, script, casting, creature and artistic design--that was directed by a raving psychotic lunatic. :shock:
I'd ask for a big-budget do-over without the nut (or the Tim Burton/Wicked-envy of "Oz the Great & Powerful"), but that ship has sailed.

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Re: Bad movies with great soundtracks?

Post by Ben » January 11th, 2021, 8:29 pm

You are correct on everything except your misguided description of The Master, Walter Murch, and with obviously little knowledge of what went on during the shoot, or how much of it was undertaken by George Lucas and Francis Coppola.

It’s a shame the eleven original books have never been given a proper screen adaptation. Long before Middle Earth or Narnia, Baum was taking us to those same kind of places for just as complex and dark adventures.

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