Best longterm Director/Composer collaborations?

Ty Rourke · **Posted:** Sat Jul 30, 2011 9:51 am

It has to be Spielberg/Williams, right?

T. Newman Fan · **Posted:** Sat Jul 30, 2011 10:15 am

Nothing beats Leone/Morricone in my mind.

Steven Lloyd · **Posted:** Sat Jul 30, 2011 2:12 pm

My top choice is Jerry Goldsmith and the director whom he identified as the collaborator who consistently made him grow the furthest, as well as (on at least one occasion) his best friend: Franklin J. Schaffner.

Sergio Leone directed one of my most favorite movies -- ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST -- which I feel contains Ennio Morricone's greatest single work, 42 years after I first heard it. His other Leone scores (except DUCK, YOU SUCKER) are terrific, though only FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY remain important to me personally.

While I have never seen THE STRIPPER, however, I retain the highest admiration musically and dramatically for the canon of PLANET OF THE APES (1968), PATTON, PAPILLON, ISLANDS IN THE STREAM (another favorite picture and score), and THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL. The partnership ended with LIONHEART: a sadly lame film bearing magnificent music. Most of those are adult movies which I still value in maturity.

Sure, the Spielberg/Williams collaboration has more entries. However, I haven't bought one of those resulting scores since the LP of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. That's not my worldview.

But I'll step back to allow someone else the stage to argue for Hitchcock and Herrmann!

Anakin McFly · **Posted:** Sat Jul 30, 2011 2:49 pm

I would hesitate between Spielberg/Williams, Zemeckis/Silvestri, Burton/Elfman and even Cameron/Horner.

WorkingWithKnives · **Posted:** Sat Jul 30, 2011 4:01 pm

John Lurie / Jim Jarmesch
Nicola Piovani / Roberto Benigni
Evan Lurie / Roberto Benigni

I would love to see a disc of Evan Lurie's score for Roberto Benigni's Johnny Stecchino produced.

T. Newman Fan · **Posted:** Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:38 pm

JohnnyUtah · **Posted:** Sat Jul 30, 2011 7:12 pm

Spielberg/Williams are tops with me.

redokt64 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 30, 2011 8:53 pm

Spielberg/Williams

Zemeckis/Silvestri

Hitchcock/Herrmann

Schaffner/Goldsmith

Shyamalan/Howard

Milius/Poledouris

Verhoeven/Goldsmith

Verhoeven/Poledouris

Lucas/Williams

Craven/Beltrami

Badham/Rubinstein

Cronenberg/Shore

Cunningham/Manfredini

Winner/Fielding

just to name a few...

John Takis · **Joined:** Thu Oct 04, 2007 9:42 pm **Posts:** 181

Let's not forget Hayao Miyazaki and Joe Hisaishi! Twelve stunning animated films, and counting...

And while speaking of Goldsmith, let us not neglect his work for Joe Dante. Ten projects over twenty years -- from Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1983 to Looney Tunes: Back In Action in 2003!

Laurence Rosenthal's career is marked by two major long-term collaborations, even if they've flown under the radar of most people. He worked on numerous projects with Peter Glenville, for both stage and the silver screen -- from Rashomon in 1959 to Man of La Mancha in 1972 (which Glenville departed before filming). His second major collaboration was with William Graham, for whom he scored ten projects over two decades -- from 21 Hours at Munich in 1976 to The Man Who Captured Eichmann in 1996.

Gizmo · **Posted:** Sat Jul 30, 2011 9:29 pm

Yes, Dante/Goldsmith is the best collaboration on that business

Anakin McFly · **Posted:** Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:36 am

Badham/Rubinstein and Dante/Goldsmith, yeah ! They are great examples of composers that perfectly match the director's style !

orbital · **Posted:** Sun Jul 31, 2011 7:30 am

Swashbuckler · **Posted:** Sun Jul 31, 2011 8:44 am

I have to join in on the Duck You Sucker love as well. I love this score, I think it's both one of Morricone's wittiest and most heart-wrenching. Leone/Morricone is definitely one of my favorite director/composer relationships.

I'm not going to argue for Hitchcock/Herrmann. I don't have to; the music and movies speak for themselves. I am a bit surprised nobody has brought up Eisenstein/Prokofiev, however, certainly one of the single most important director/composer relationships in cinema history.

Question: how many collaborations does it take to be called "long term?"

Ty Rourke · **Posted:** Sun Jul 31, 2011 10:13 am

To me, longterm would be 5 or more collaborations until that collaboration ends. (The death of one of the collaborators.) Longterm probably wasn't the best wording choice. Was thinking more along the lines of Spielberg/Williams. A Director who chooses one composer for all of his films, or 99.9% of them. Poorly asked by me...

Ivan-007 · **Joined:** Thu Sep 02, 2010 12:48 am **Posts:** 78

We forgot about great pair - H. Mancini & B. Edwards...

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Best longterm Director/Composer collaborations?

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