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1982 was a hell of a year for film scores - Discuss!


Jay

Best and most underrated scores of 1982  

48 members have voted

  1. 1. What do you think are the three best scores of 1982?

    • Night Crossing by Jerry Goldsmith
    • Conan the Barbarian by Basil Poledouris
    • Rocky III by Bill Conti
      0
    • Poltergeist by Jerry Goldsmith
    • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by James Horner
    • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial by John Williams
    • Blade Runner by Vangelis
    • The Thing by Ennio Morricone
    • The Secret of NIMH by Jerry Goldsmith
    • Tron by Wendy Carlos
      0
    • The Challenge by Jerry Goldsmith
      0
    • An Officer and a Gentleman by Jack Nitzsche
      0
    • Yes, Giorgio by Michael J Lewis & John Williams
      0
    • First Blood by Jerry Goldsmith
    • Monsignor by John Williams
    • 48 Hrs by James Horner
      0
    • Gandhi by Ravi Shankar & George Fenton
      0
    • Sophie's Choice by Marvin Hamlisch
      0
    • Trail of the Pink Panther by Henry Mancini
      0
    • The Dark Crystal by Trevor Jones
  2. 2. What do you think are the most underrated scores of 1982?

    • Night Crossing by Jerry Goldsmith
    • Conan the Barbarian by Basil Poledouris
    • Rocky III by Bill Conti
    • Poltergeist by Jerry Goldsmith
      0
    • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by James Horner
      0
    • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial by John Williams
    • Blade Runner by Vangelis
      0
    • The Thing by Ennio Morricone
    • The Secret of NIMH by Jerry Goldsmith
    • Tron by Wendy Carlos
    • The Challenge by Jerry Goldsmith
    • An Officer and a Gentleman by Jack Nitzsche
      0
    • Yes, Giorgio by Michael J Lewis & John Williams
    • First Blood by Jerry Goldsmith
    • Monsignor by John Williams
    • 48 Hrs by James Horner
    • Gandhi by Ravi Shankar & George Fenton
    • Sophie's Choice by Marvin Hamlisch
    • Trail of the Pink Panther by Henry Mancini
      0
    • The Dark Crystal by Trevor Jones
    • I don't think any of these scores are underrated.


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For the poll, I put in all 5 scores that were nominated for the Best Original Score Oscar, combined with the remaining scores from 1982 that I've seen discussed the most across film music message board

 

The 5 nominated for the Oscar were

  • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – John Williams
  • Gandhi – Ravi Shankar and George Fenton
  • An Officer and a Gentleman – Jack Nitzsche
  • Poltergeist – Jerry Goldsmith
  • Sophie's Choice – Marvin Hamlisch

 

If I missed any obvious ones, let me know, but I think I got the 20 biggest scores in here.

 

For the underrated question, the idea was to give you the chance to highlight some scores you really like, that you don't necessarily consider to be one of the 3 best.

 

Both polls you can pick 3 options!

 

Thought of making this poll after watching 48 Hrs this weekend and realizing how many legendary scores came out within this one year.


Discuss!

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11 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Jay, you want me to pick three? From those?!

 

Right?  What a stellar year for scores...

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3 minutes ago, Falco said:

Can't really say any of these are my favorites, blasphemous as it may be.

 

(Quite a few of these I haven't heard though)

 

I thought you liked Horner's Star Trek scores?

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Yes, 1982 was a particularly good year (they happen once in a while, 1999 is another -- especially film-wise).

 

E.T., BLADE RUNNER and CONAN win. But FIRST BLOOD is pretty close.

 

I don't consider any of the titles on this list underrated. They seem to be properly rated and lauded in most circumstances, and are all very well known.


For underrated 1982 scores, I would choose something not on that list. Holdridge's THE BEASTMASTER, Morricone's BUTTERFLY (although it's getting there in terms of recognition), Delerue's THE ESCAPE ARTIST, Webb's THE LAST UNICORN (the song is not underrated - it's hugely popular - but Webb's score is), Rowland's THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER, Yamashta's TEMPEST, things like that. And while Vangelis' MISSING is generally appreciated as the masterpiece that it is, its lack of availability on a soundtrack makes it kinda underrated.

 

Some others you're missing that are not underrated, but bonafide, properly rated excellent scores include:

 

DEAD MAN DON'T WEAR PLAID (Rozsa)

THE DRAUGHTSMAN'S CONTRACT (Nyman)

FITZCARRALDO (Popul Vuh)

FRANCES (Barry)

INCHON! (Goldsmith)

KOYANISQUATSI (Glass)

PINK FLOYD: THE WALL (if you count that)

TENEBRAE (Goblin)

VICTOR/VICTORIA (Mancini)

THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY (Jarre)

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I almost had Beastmaster and Missing on the list, but wanted to limit things to 20 titles

 

What do you mean about unavailability?  Soundtrackcollector says there was a CD in 2013

 

http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/27015/Missing

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That's a bootleg. "Cimmerian Records" is famous for them. Only the main theme from the score was legitimately released, on the THEMES compilation.

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Appreciate the love for Missing! Part of Vangelis' one-two punch that year with Blade Runner, surely also one of the best scores ever created. Hopefully, if Vangelis gives permission, Missing can debut as part of the Universal Classics series

 

What did you think of the 48 HRS. score, @Jay?

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It was ridiculous fun - the steel drums + saxophone gave it all such a dated sound.  The funniest part was the ending cue was clearly a direct predecessor to Futile Escape!

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Oh wow, good thing Koyaanisqatsi is missing from the list (I wasn't aware it's an 82 score until Thor mentioned it), otherwise it would absolutely have to be a quartet of picks for the first question, along with E.T., Poltergeist, and Conan.

 

I didn't consider any of them underrated, but looking at how far ahead of Poltergeist Horner's Trek score is right now, I'd be tempted to call that slightly over-, and the Goldsmith seriously underrated.

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Good. That's why mine is tagged 1983 then. But 1983 wouldn't be an easy year to choose from either. Goldsmith alone guarantees that both years are highlights in film music history.

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E.T, Conan and Poltergeist would be my picks.  They are among the very top favourites for each composer. Blade Runner is an absolute classic too. Star Trek II is great fun, but I think Horner did a lot more with that idiom in Krull.

 

Night Crossing is my top pick for underrated score. What an incredible output Goldsmith had this year

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I said 2007 because I remember someone made a similar 1982 holy worship thread that year and an argument broke out with some member here claiming that there was nothing special about 1982, and 2007 offered just as good if not better scores.

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53 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

The only scores on the list that I own are E.T. and Monsignor, and the latter will probably be collecting a lot of dust on my shelf.

I think, that's not the worst selection.

The ones from the list that I own are just E.T., Monsignor, Poltergeist, The Dark Crystal and a suite of The Draughtman's Contract and from Tron I owned the OST on record, but it is gone. 

 

But actually E.T. and Monsignor are the two I listen to most often.

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1 hour ago, GerateWohl said:

I think, that's not the worst selection.

The ones from the list that I own are just E.T., Monsignor, Poltergeist, The Dark Crystal and a suite of The Draughtman's Contract and from Tron I owned the OST on record, but it is gone. 

 

But actually E.T. and Monsignor are the two I listen to most often.

 

I might buy the orchestral version of Blade Runner just to piss off Thor. :D

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Hard choice.

Number one is easy it's E.T. without question.

But then it's quite hard. I've choose Poltergeist and Monsignor but I have to say that Star Trek, Conan, First Blood and Blade Runner would have been my next choices, I would probably invert some of them depending on my mood.

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