Game-changing scores

[Bayesian 1,359]

It’s been said so many times that Star Wars was a game-changing score for reintroducing audiences to motivic, symphonic writing. No argument from me, of course. But I’m curious about what a full list of the other game-changing scores in the last half century or so of filmmaking would look like.
 

I’ll start by listing what I understand are other candidate scores, and why. (Please correct me on anything I get wrong.)

 

Speed (Mancina, 1994): for introducing a leaner, simpler masculine sound to action movies. 
 

Crimson Tide (Zimmer, 1995): same reason as above, but with male choir?

 

Batman (Elfman, 1989): for bringing to Batman (and comic book movies) a Gothic symphonic soundscape

Gone Girl (Reznor/Ross, 2014): I’ve heard this claimed as game-changing but don’t know why

 

Plus whichever was the first Zimmer score to have the horn of doom. 
 

What other scores belong in this list, and why? This inquiring mind would love to know.

 

 

[Oomoog the Ecstatic 314]

Edit: nvm.

 

Bernard Herrmann?

[gkgyver 1,645]

Transformers 

 

Zimmer paved the way, but this one really took the shite to the next level and injected Hollywood with a lethal dose of "call the ghost writer". 

[SteveMc 2,674]

L'Assassinat du duc de Guise by Camille Saint-Saens.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Black Hawk Down
The Dark Knight

Inception

The Bourne Identity

[Bayesian 1,359]

7 minutes ago, SteveMc said:

L'Assassinat du duc de Guise by Camille Saint-Saens.

Ah, the very first film score, right? Nice one!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Indeed!

[Bayesian 1,359]

8 minutes ago, Koray Savas said:

Black Hawk Down
The Dark Knight

Inception

The Bourne Identity

Can you tell me what made those scores game-changers? I know Inception was a big deal, but wasn’t he simply adapting previous Zimmer-isms? I could be wrong. 
 

I wryly observe Zimmer is racking up quite the count so far.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

[Bayesian 1,359]

3 minutes ago, Þekþiþm said:

Oh, you. 

[Oomoog the Ecstatic 314]

Thankth for the thugesthion.

[A24 4,326]

I only know of two that changed the landscape completely and that's Star Wars and the original Zimmer & Co score that is responsible for the Zimmer reign. I don't know the title because I don't care enough. 

[publicist 4,643]

3 hours ago, Bayesian said:

Speed (Mancina, 1994): for introducing a leaner, simpler masculine sound to action movies. 

 

Then we should mention that Goldsmith's action writing from 'Capricorn One' through 'Total Recall' was a template for many 80's to mid 90's action scores, at least the more orchestral-minded ones.

 

It was less 'Speed' but 'The Rock' that introduced the rock anthem kind of scoring ('Speed' became a trailer favourite, but was more on the sidelines).

[HunterTech 987]

6 hours ago, gkgyver said:

Transformers 

 

Zimmer paved the way, but this one really took the shite to the next level and injected Hollywood with a lethal dose of "call the ghost writer". 

Which allegedly included Zimmer himself as part of the crew. At least leaving over a family emergency is fairly reasonable as an excuse.

I'd still attribute it to POTC more, considering it was the first big display of having it be a "team" effort to combat the crunched time. TF by comparison had less people on it and presumably more time to produce about the same result.

[Arpy 4,145]

TRON: Legacy

[Thor 7,465]

9 hours ago, Bayesian said:

It’s been said so many times that Star Wars was a game-changing score for reintroducing audiences to motivic, symphonic writing. No argument from me, of course. But I’m curious about what a full list of the other game-changing scores in the last half century or so of filmmaking would look like.

 

Last half-century, so that would mean 1970-2020?

 

In terms of game changers, it's not enough to list great or 'classic' scores. It has to have had some sort of impact and influence, whether on the industry as a whole or within a particular genre, for example. As such, I do find several examples listed in this thread so far not quite there, IMO (or they are, in fact, the result of a previous, more game-changing influence).

 

I have a lecture on film music history that I've done many times over the years. It goes back all the way to film's beginning in the 1890s, but if I were to list what the 'game changing' scores in the period asked about here were, these are some (primarily US cinema -- I have a separate section on alternative cinema):

 

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1972)

 

Carlos' "Switched on Bach" album had been a huge success in the classical/electronic crossover area, not to mention the popularity of the Moog, but it became iconic with CLOCKWORK and opened up a whole new arena for electronic film scores.

 

STAR WARS (1977)

 

Re-popularized the neoromantic style (note I say re-popularized, it didn't re-introduce the style, as many people claim - as that particular style never went away)

 

HALLOWEEN (1978)

 

Carpenter's stripped-down, beat-based synth music has had an immense influence, especially in recent years. See STRANGER THINGS below.

 

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978) 

 

The dawn of the pop producers doing film scores, MIDI technology and synergy effects (such as the "Call Me"/"Chase" reuse)

 

BLADE RUNNER (1982)

 

It took some time before this influence took hold, but the broad synthscapes eventually became a stalwart of sci fi, in particular. And the organic mix of sound effects and music.

 

TOP GUN (1986)

 

The main theme is really the "prototype" of the power anthem that Zimmer would later develop and popularize. Also symptomatic for the early days of a hit song that would sell soundtracks (it was not the FIRST to do this, this goes back all the way to stuff like HIGH NOON and "Do Not Forsake Me", nor was it the first in the 80s, but it's very much part of that trend).

 

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990)

 

Everyone was doing Elfman's "magical" SCISSORHANDS sound for a number of years, even ads (Elfman himself has said he was so tired of hearing the SCISSORHANDS in commercials that he just decided to do them himself at some point).

 

BASIC INSTINCT (1992)

 

The go-to sound for erotic thrillers for a number of years.

 

THE PIANO (1993)

 

While minimalistic music had been around for decades, and Philipp Glass is really THE main influence on a lot of film music to this very day (we wouldn't have Max Richters, Abel Korzeniowskis or Dario Marianellis without him), one could argue that it was Nyman's THE PIANO that truly popularized the idiom. His Greenaway scores were never popular enough to have that kind of impact.

 

THE ROCK (1996)

 

The four cornerstones of Zimmer's influential 'power anthem' style are BLACK RAIN, CRIMSON TIDE, THE ROCK and the PIRATES movies. But it was truly popularized with THE ROCK, the gateway into film music for a whole new generation.

 

AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999)

 

Everyone was doing the 'quirky' marimba Newman sound for years to come, even Elfman in the DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES theme.

 

GLADIATOR (1999)

 

Composers like Mychael Danna had been fooling around with wordless, middle eastern-sounding vocals for years, but it was Zimmer -- along with power anthem stylings -- that popularized it. Any given historical epic in the years that followed used the GLADIATOR template.

 

THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002)

 

Completely revolutionized the action genre. The power anthem was drawing its last breaths with the PIRATES movies, and in comes Powell -- a former Zimmer pupil -- and boils it down to a steady ostinato with slight chord modulations on top.

 

INCEPTION (2010)

 

I'm convinced even Zimmer adhered to Powell's stripped-down action sound when he did the BATMAN movies. He built on this further with INCEPTION, which became a huge reference point. A more lusher, rhythm-based sound than Powell's.

 

STRANGER THINGS (2016)

 

Neither the first, nor the best synthwave score, but one that has had the greatest exposure and influence in recent years.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

5 hours ago, publicist said:

It was less 'Speed' but 'The Rock' that introduced the rock anthem kind of scoring ('Speed' became a trailer favourite, but was more on the sidelines).

 

Crimison Tide came a year before, though, and has a lot of similarities.

[Thor 7,465]

SPEED was a huge success, but Mancina really built on what Zimmer had already established as early as BLACK RAIN, and then developped further with stuff like BACKDRAFT or CRIMSON TIDE. It's the result of an influence more than an influence in itself. Mancina was (briefly) part of Media Ventures at the time, and while he always sounds like himself, there's no denying that particular influence.

[Arpy 4,145]

Listening to Stranger Things is like sorting through a trashcan to find a half-eaten snickers bar; it still looks fresh and tastes alright, but you can't quite hide the shame you were looking through the trash in the first place.

 

Was disappointing to find one of my favourite cues in S2 was actually a track from a video game.

[Thor 7,465]

14 minutes ago, Arpy said:

Listening to Stranger Things is like sorting through a trashcan to find a half-eaten snickers bar; it still looks fresh and tastes alright, but you can't quite hide the shame you were looking through the trash in the first place.

 

Was disappointing to find one of my favourite cues in S2 was actually a track from a video game.

 

Yeah, I'm not a big fan either, but I can't deny its influence. 

 

For better synthwave music, check out artists like Waveshaper, Robert Parker, Carpenter Brut, Steve More, Disasterpeace, Kavinsky, Power Glove, Daniel Deluxe, Douglas Holmquist, etc. etc. A lot of their material is in Bandcamp. Waveshaper is my favourite of these; I have all his stuff.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,495]

I'll add three scores, to this list:

 

1: PSYCHO

A "stripped down" ("black and white", if you will) score, that brought to the fore just how terrifying film music could sound, and how indelibly linked music could be, to what's happening onscreen.

 

2: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

Ok, so there were song scores before this, and there were rock 'n' roll films, before this, but this elevated the songtrack to a new, and vital level, and paved the way for everything from CATCH US IF YOU CAN, THE GRADUATE, YELLOW SUBMARINE, and LET IT BE, to THIS IS SPINAL TAP, and beyond.

Of course, it helped that the songs were written and performed by the greatest rock/pop group that will ever exist 

 

3: JAWS

This took what PSYCHO had done, and put it into orbit. No other piece of film music is as evocative, and as sheer bloody memorable, as the first two notes from the Main Title. It's a masterful portrait of the primitive, and it preys on people's fears, to this day. A truly effective, and influential piece of work, which did exactly what it says, on the tin: scare the heebegeebees out of people.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

You guys are forgetting STEPMOM, a game-changer in boring scores!

[Thor 7,465]

50 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I'll add three scores, to this list:

 

1: PSYCHO

A "stripped down" ("black and white", if you will) score, that brought to the fore just how terrifying film music could sound, and how indelibly linked music could be, to what's happening onscreen.

 

2: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

Ok, so there were song scores before this, and there were rock 'n' roll films, before this, but this elevated the songtrack to a new, and vital level, and paved the way for everything from CATCH US IF YOU CAN, THE GRADUATE, YELLOW SUBMARINE, and LET IT BE, to THIS IS SPINAL TAP, and beyond.

Of course, it helped that the songs were written and performed by the greatest rock/pop group that will ever exist 

 

3: JAWS

This took what PSYCHO had done, and put it into orbit. No other piece of film music is as evocative, and as sheer bloody memorable, as the first two notes from the Main Title. It's a masterful portrait of the primitive, and it preys on people's fears, to this day. A truly effective, and influential piece of work, which did exactly what it says, on the tin: scare the heebegeebees out of people.

 

PSYCHO and A HARD DAY'S NIGHT are a bit too "old" for this query, if one is to follow the original timeframe, but I guess it's all very loose, anyway. I'd argue that BLACKBOARD JUNGLE is the first, real rock'n'roll score that made an impact (even causing riots in the streets!), while EASY RIDER and THE GRADUATE were the benchmark compilation/pop scores. A HARD DAY'S NIGHT might predate both of those, but it's really more of a music film than a proper score. I've never read anything about it being particularly influential, other than being a curiosity in the Beatles history. Maybe it was evaluated differently in the UK.

 

I don't think JAWS is particularly 'game changing'. The film was (in terms of summer blockbusters), but not necessarily the score - great a classic at it is. But it was definitely ingenious. I guess you could make a case for it being influential in approach rather than sound; i.e. the sparsity and the subversive play with leitmotifs.

[Chen G. 3,943]

3 hours ago, Thor said:

Any given historical epic in the years that followed used the GLADIATOR template.

 

And anything in a Middle Eastern setting in general.

[Fabulin 3,510]

I don't know about game-changing scores, but non-game-changing scores definitely include Williams' music written after 1977, and The Lord of the Rings.

 

In fact, The Lord of the Rings is a non-game-changing production in general. Nothing followed its excellence.

[Edmilson 7,385]

King Kong - Max Steiner - 1933

A Streetcar Named Desire - Alex North - 1951

Ben-Hur - Miklós Rósza - 1959

2001: A Space Odyssey - Various - 1968

Planet of the Apes - Jerry Goldsmith - 1968

A Clockwork Orange - Wendy Carlos - 1971

Star Wars - John Williams - 1977

Rain Man - Hans Zimmer - 1988

Titanic - James Horner - 1997

American Beauty - Thomas Newman - 1999

Batman Begins/The Dark Knight/Inception - Hans Zimmer - 2005/2008/2010

The Social Network - Trent Resznor, Atticus Ross - 2010

 

I guess these are the ones.

[publicist 4,643]

4 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Crimison Tide came a year before, though, and has a lot of similarities.

 

Nobody ever really cared for Crimson Tide...comparably.

[Matt C 452]

Conan the Barbarian - Basil Poledouris

 

While orchestral fantasy scores were still "in" around the early 1980s, Poledoris' score shook things up for a little while. It's more primal and less storytelling to the writing.

[Thor 7,465]

CONAN is a fan favourite and a brilliant score, but a 'game changer' is taking it too far, I think.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

I've never understood the appeal of it. I much prefer Poledouris' scores to The Hunt for Red October and Starship Troopers.

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

King Kong - famously known as the first film score the way we understand the term now

Captain Blood - perhaps? As the first Korngold score, and more than Steiner he must have been responsible for defining the lush, romantic Hollywood sound

Laura - as far as I remember, this one is "credited" with establishing the concept of having a main theme that can be sold as a hit song

A Streetcar Named Desire - considered the first jazz score

Star Wars - for re-establishing the symphonic score (though you can argue that Jaws already began that

The Lord of the Rings - because for years, everything that was remotely fantasy or historical had to sound just like it

 

One or two Zimmers, I expect, for establishing the MV style, first for action films and then for historical epics. I would also argue that Herrmann and Goldsmith had a huge influence, but I'm not sure if you can pinpoint individual scores of theirs as game changers. Perhaps The Russia House for bringing the Duduk to Hollywood. I would also like to list Koyaanisqatsi, but while it's certainly a milestone, it probably didn't fundamentally change the way films were scored.

[Edmilson 7,385]

What was the first successful full electronic score? A Clockwork Orange? The Shining? Tron? Midnight Express?

[Lewya 360]

4 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

What was the first successful full electronic score? A Clockwork Orange? The Shining? Tron? Midnight Express?

You have to go further back, Forbidden Planet (1956) I believe was the first full electronic score.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

19 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

King Kong - famously known as the first film score the way we understand the term now

Captain Blood - perhaps? As the first Korngold score, and more than Steiner he must have been responsible for defining the lush, romantic Hollywood sound

Laura - as far as I remember, this one is "credited" with establishing the concept of having a main theme that can be sold as a hit song

A Streetcar Named Desire - considered the first jazz score

Star Wars - for re-establishing the symphonic score (though you can argue that Jaws already began that

The Lord of the Rings - because for years, everything that was remotely fantasy or historical had to sound just like it

 

One or two Zimmers, I expect, for establishing the MV style, first for action films and then for historical epics. I would also argue that Herrmann and Goldsmith had a huge influence, but I'm not sure if you can pinpoint individual scores of theirs as game changers. Perhaps The Russia House for bringing the Duduk to Hollywood. I would also like to list Koyaanisqatsi, but while it's certainly a milestone, it probably didn't fundamentally change the way films were scored.

 

Good points.

 

Wasn't Lawrence of Arabia the first really successful soundtrack album, while Star Wars was the first that sold over a million copies? 

 

I'd assume the sung-through The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was a special experience when it was released.

 

Morricone's dollars trilogy defined the spaghetti western sound.

[Edmilson 7,385]

4 minutes ago, Lewya said:

You have to go further back, Forbidden Planet (1956) I believe was the first full electronic score.

 

Yeah, but was it exactly game changing, as in other producers and composers wanted to emulate that sound? 

 

I guess the first wildly successful electronic score, by that regard, is Moroder's The Midnight Express, which even won him an Oscar.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

The most influential electronic score is without a doubt Heartbeeps.

[Thor 7,465]

I see that people are now also launching into older scores, before the timeframe given by Bayesian (1970-2020). Of course, that opens up a whole new can of worms.

 

Quote

Laura - as far as I remember, this one is "credited" with establishing the concept of having a main theme that can be sold as a hit song

 

Well, not quite. It had a hit song, but it wasn't intended as a synergy effect, from what I know. HIGH NOON and "Do Not Forsake Me" is generally credited with this in history books, although it's always open for debate, of course. And always depending on definitions. Just as the debate surrounding what the first sound film was.

 

Quote

Perhaps The Russia House for bringing the Duduk to Hollywood.

 

Depending on how you define Hollywood, that's another of Mychael Danna's trademark instruments in the late 80s onwards. But obviously, none of the films were as "big" as THE RUSSIA HOUSE. In general, composers like Danna and Lisa Gerrard are some of those 'unsung' heroes whose trademark sounds were incorporated by bigger composers into bigger films throughout the 90s.

 

Quote

Yeah, but was it exactly game changing, as in other producers and composers wanted to emulate that sound? 

 

While it's true that FORBIDDEN PLANET is generally credited as one of the first (if not the first) to incorporate pure electronics into film scores (even though people like Raymond Scott had been experimenting with it earlier, in non-film settings), you're right that it didn't have massive influence from the get-go. You'll find bits and pieces of it all through the late 50s and 60s (the Theremin, in particular), but it took many years before electronics became a more regular tool for film composition. I mentioned Wendy Carlos earlier. Tangerine Dream's harsh SORCERER (1977) is another. Jean Michel Jarre's LES GRANGES BRULEES (1973). Carpenter's HALLOWEEN. Vangelis' scores in the decade. Etc. Etc. But it was really Moroder's MIDNIGHT EXPRESS that popularized it. Even if the score also has many harsh, experimental passages, the "Chase" theme - based on his Donna Summer song "I Feel Love" -  paved the way for the "rise of pop producers" all through the 80s. That's why -- in the time period given by Bayesian -- I really consider it the first proper game changer in electronic film music. It had a massive crossover appeal that the others didn't. And yes, there's the Oscar, of course, which no doubt supported that.

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

22 minutes ago, Thor said:

Well, not quite. It had a hit song, but it wasn't intended as a synergy effect, from what I know. HIGH NOON and "Do Not Forsake Me" is generally credited with this in history books, although it's always open for debate, of course. And always depending on definitions. 

 

Of course, Steiner's score to Casablanca used Hupfeld's existing song as the idee fixe, which then became a huge hit. It was only a modest hit prior to the film, but no commercial re-recording seem to have been planned in conjunction with the release of the film. Anyway, the years-long musicians' strike was happening at the time, so Dooley Wilson was unable to record it for commercial release.

[Thor 7,465]

Yeah, there are many examples of 'hit songs' emanating from 30s and 40s films, but few I'm aware of that were inserted as a means to sell singles or soundtracks (there were few soundtracks in this period to begin with); at least as an industrial trend. That whole idea is really something that first appears in the 50s.

 

Also, you mentioned the first successful soundtrack album earlier. That's an interesting question. I'd argue that DR. ZHIVAGO was far more popular than LAWRENCE was, even if it came later, due in no small part to the ubiquitous "Lara's Theme" -- if we're keeping it to Maurice. There are probably earlier examples, but most of them were musicals, like the much-belated soundtrack to WIZARD OF OZ. I'm open to suggestions. I mean, BLACKBOARD JUNGLE was a wildly successful soundtrack, but I don't know if there was an actual album at the time.  The hits were all on the respective artists' studio albums ("Rock Around the Clock" etc.).

[KK 3,307]

I think The Thin Red Line is a pretty important one to add to the list. Pretty much gave birth to the modern "war anthem".

 

In terms of screaming choirs and operatic female solos, I think a lot of contemporary fantasy music tropes owe itself to LOTR.

 

And The Social Network is definitely a far more influential score than Gone Girl.

[Edmilson 7,385]

I don't think LOTR was that influential.

 

Sure, it was epic, but epic scores for big movies weren't exactly news, thanks to Rósza, Steiner, Williams, Poledouris, Horner. It was very thematic, but again, no news.

 

I guess one could argue that using different colors, instrumentations and orchestrations to represent the different cultures of Middle Earth influenced Ramin Djawadi's work on Game of Thrones, but still.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

If we’re going further back than 50 years...

 

A Fistful Of Dollars

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

What about Fantasia? It at least seemed to pave the way for symphonic scores for cartoons.

[Thor 7,465]

Cartoons had symphonic (or at least orchestral) scores since the 20s. If FANTASIA brought anything to the table, it was a more adult approach to the artform (including the use of music). But it took lots of time before this aesthetic was celebrated; it wasn't a success when it came out. It's one of my favourite films, but any 'game changing' happened decades later.

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

Well, not quite. It had a hit song, but it wasn't intended as a synergy effect, from what I know. HIGH NOON and "Do Not Forsake Me" is generally credited with this in history books, although it's always open for debate, of course. And always depending on definitions. Just as the debate surrounding what the first sound film was.

 

Oh, I'm not saying that Laura was written with a hit song in mind. But it had one, and the effect was that producers demanded new scores to have a main theme that could double as a hit song.

 

2 hours ago, Thor said:

Depending on how you define Hollywood, that's another of Mychael Danna's trademark instruments in the late 80s onwards. But obviously, none of the films were as "big" as THE RUSSIA HOUSE. In general, composers like Danna and Lisa Gerrard are some of those 'unsung' heroes whose trademark sounds were incorporated by bigger composers into bigger films throughout the 90s.

 

As for the duduk, I was mainly referring to the Sandy DeCrescent interview in Karlin's Goldsmith documentary, where she explains how Goldsmith phone her up to tell her he needs a duduk for the score and she didn't tell him that she had no idea what he was talking about.

 

2 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Of course, Steiner's score to Casablanca used Hupfeld's existing song as the idee fixe, which then became a huge hit.

 

Yes, but while it is incorporated into the score, it's not exactly a main theme, and it's also not original. I.e. the score wasn't intentionally written to sell albums by having a hit song, and it didn't cause future scores to be written with hit songs in mind.

[Thor 7,465]

5 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

As for the duduk, I was mainly referring to the Sandy DeCrescent interview in Karlin's Goldsmith documentary, where she explains how Goldsmith phone her up to tell her he needs a duduk for the score and she didn't tell him that she had no idea what he was talking about.

 

Yeah, I vaguely remember that story from the film. However, if I want to credit one score for bringing the duduk to Hollywood (and disregarding Danna for a moment, since the early Egoyan collaborations are more arthouse than Hollywood), it would be Peter Gabriel's THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (1988).

[gkgyver 1,645]

14 hours ago, HunterTech said:

Which allegedly included Zimmer himself as part of the crew. At least leaving over a family emergency is fairly reasonable as an excuse.

I'd still attribute it to POTC more, considering it was the first big display of having it be a "team" effort to combat the crunched time. TF by comparison had less people on it and presumably more time to produce about the same result.

 

Nah, PotC still required you to pay for a big name composer. 

Transformers taught filmmakers they can get the hip Zimmer sound by skipping the man and hiring his ghost writers directly, leading to a tidal wave of cheap and empty knockoffs, which in turn led to more prolific composers assimilate their styles, to accomodate industry demands, so they don't get replaced by a cheaper alternative.

[Thor 7,465]

17 minutes ago, gkgyver said:

Transformers taught filmmakers they can get the hip Zimmer sound by skipping the man and hiring his ghost writers directly, leading to a tidal wave of cheap and empty knockoffs, which in turn led to more prolific composers assimilate their styles, to accomodate industry demands, so they don't get replaced by a cheaper alternative.

 

The mentorship model started many, many years before TRANSFORMERS. It was pretty much how Media Ventures operated back in the early 90s and onwards. Several composers in that company composed music in Zimmer's style throughout the decade. Controversial to many, but I've always considered it a great platform for the composers in question. Most of them would agree too, when they've later branched out into their own (like John Powell).

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

7 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Yes, but while it is incorporated into the score, it's not exactly a main theme

 

It's a love theme, and the closest the score comes to a main theme, as far as I remember.

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

12 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

It's a love theme, and the closest the score comes to a main theme, as far as I remember.

 

I'd have to check, but the Marseillaise tends to stick more in my mind when I think of the score.