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The Greatest Action Cues/Tracks/Pieces Ever...


BLUMENKOHL

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What are some of your favorite action cues/tracks/pieces by any composer from anything?

In no particular order:

- "Open the Gates" Star Trek V, Jerry Goldsmith

- "The Battle for Peace" Star Trek VI, Cliff Eidleman

- "The Asteroid Field" Empire Strikes Back, John Williams

- "The Massacre" Total Recall, Jerry Goldsmith

- "Spock Walk" Star Trek I, Jerry Goldsmith

- "Desert Chase" Raiders of the Lost Ark, John Williams

- "The Bridge of Khazad-Dum" Fellowship of the Ring, Howard Shore

- "Battle in the Mutara Nebula" Star Trek II, James Horner

- "The Pit of the Carkoon/Sail Barge Assault" Return of the Jedi, John Williams

- "Burn it All" Backdraft, Hans Zimmer

- "Red Alert" ST-First Contact, Jerry Goldsmith

- "First Attack" Best of Both Worlds, Ron Jones

- "The Dream" Total Recall, Jerry Goldsmith

- "Here They Come!" A New Hope, John Williams

One cannot forget "Mars - The Bringer of War" by Holst, either. :mrgreen:

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Some of my favorites:

"The Land Race" from Far and Away

"The Quidditch Match" from HP:SS

"Quidditch, Third Year" and "The Whomping Willow" from HP:PoA

"Building the Crate" from Chicken Run

Ray Barnsbury

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I like action music with a light undertone best. Those are the action scherzo's like Basket Chase, Asteroid Field, Scherzo for Motorcycle, Indy's First Adventure, Forest Battle, Escape from Venice, Flying Car, Parade of the Ewoks etc.

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"Ultimate War" from Hook by JW

That is fantastic track but only a drop in the sea of fantastic tracks :thumbup:

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*deep breath*

T-Rex Rescue and Finale - John Williams, Jurassic Park

The Battle of Yavin - John Williams, Star Wars

The Battle of Hoth - John Williams, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

The Asteroid Field - John Williams, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

The Hijacking - Jerry Goldsmith, Air Force One

Bishop's Countdown - James Horner, Aliens

The Battle/To Dawg's Ship/Morgan Battles Dawg/Dawg's Demise/The Triumph - John Debney, CutThroat Island

Escape/Chase/Saying Goodbye - John Williams, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

Quidditch, Third Year - John Williams, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Evacuation - David Arnold, Independence Day

Canyon Chase - David Arnold, Independence Day

White Knight - David Arnold, Tomorrow Never Dies

(some other tracks I don't have tracktitles of from TND too, namely the motor chase and the climax music)

The Bridge of Khazad-dûm - Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Rescuing Sarah - John Williams, The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Visitor in San Diego - John Williams, The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Desert Chase - John Williams, Raiders of the Lost Ark

And many, many more...

- Marc, who probably still has some undiscovered Goldsmith gems lying around.

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The Battle of Yavin - John Williams, Star Wars

The Battle of Hoth - John Williams, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

The Asteroid Field - John Williams, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

Escape/Chase/Saying Goodbye - John Williams, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

Desert Chase - John Williams, Raiders of the Lost Ark

Man against Beast(Sea Attack #1)-Jaws

The Quidditch Match-HPPS

The Helicopter Sequence-Superman-the Movie

k.M.

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Some of my favorites:

"The Land Race" from Far and Away

"The Quidditch Match" from HP:SS

"Quidditch, Third Year" and "The Whomping Willow" from HP:PoA

"Building the Crate" from Chicken Run

Ray Barnsbury

Seriously. Outta my mind, now!

~Sturgis, who would add "The Asteroid Field" to his list

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T-Rex Rescue and Finale - John Williams, Jurassic Park

The Battle of Hoth - John Williams, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

The Hijacking - Jerry Goldsmith, Air Force One

The Bridge of Khazad-dûm - Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Desert Chase - John Williams, Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indeed! And how about all of the Confrontation on Mustafar/Battle of the Heroes music from ROTS?

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I like it when JW has opportunities to write exciting action music which also has some kind of emotional resonance. I think in general the more he has to write music for a scene that amounts to busy spectacle, the more his action music also becomes kind of a wash as a listen. To the extent he is able to score something for a scene with a little more thought behind it and, even better, some emotional range, his action music rises to the occasion as well.

The best example of this for me is Battle of Hoth, especially the portion after about 9:35 where he weaves in meloncholy versions of force theme and the main theme over fast paced underscore. For me that’s about as compelling as it gets as action music goes though there are lots of other great examples.

- Adam

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The Mine Car Chase cue comes to mind for me.

Absolutely, fantastic cue. I would also include Slalom on Mt. Humol from that score. Short but sweet. Very clever and subtle variation of the love theme toward the end of the first minute, though there isn't much action oriented music afterwards. I suppose Fast Streets of Shanghai is worth more mention considering the thread topic.

Tim

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I like it when JW has opportunities to write exciting action music which also has some kind of emotional resonance. I think in general the more he has to write music for a scene that amounts to busy spectacle, the more his action music also becomes kind of a wash as a listen. To the extent he is able to score something for a scene with a little more thought behind it and, even better, some emotional range, his action music rises to the occasion as well.

The best example of this for me is Battle of Hoth, especially the portion after about 9:35 where he weaves in meloncholy versions of force theme and the main theme over fast paced underscore. For me that’s about as compelling as it gets as action music goes though there are lots of other great examples.

- Adam

Sadly, he doesn't write nearly as interesting action music anymore IMO. He's improved in other aspects though.

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Jerry Goldsmith is severly under represented in this thread....allow me to solve that problem.

Final Flight, Star Trek: Nemesis

Taking Command, The Last Castle

The Fire Dragon, The 13th Warrior

Night Boarders, The Mummy

My Favourite Plague, The Mummy

The Drones Attack, Star Trek: Insurrection

The Riker Maneuver, Star Trek: Insurrection

Trust Me, Small Soldiers

The Huns Attack, Mulan

The Hijacking, Air Force One

The Dish, Star Trek: First Contact

Lions Attack, The Ghost and The Darkness

Raid on Lionesse, First Knight

Arthur's Farewell, First Knight

Kahega, Congo

The Big Jump, Total Recall

Without Help, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Open The Gates, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

The Tractor, The Secret of N.I.M.H.

Forgive the abscense of many a classic. I'm missing a lot in my collection.

Justin

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The Riker Maneuver, Star Trek: Insurrection

This is not only one awesome action cue...but the quality of the recording is just phenomenal. Well, the acoustic quality of all of Insurrection's soundtrack is 99.9% perfect.

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Really? I always thought Insurrection had a distinct, but slightly odd sound. It's probably because I'm more used to the recordings like on Williams' score, where you can distinguish small details better. Probably just me.

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Really? I always thought Insurrection had a distinct, but slightly odd sound. It's probably because I'm more used to the recordings like on Williams' score, where you can distinguish small details better. Probably just me.

I usually think William's recordings have too much going on towards the high frequency end. Which explains the detail...and my poor ears when listening loudly. :)

To me Insurrection struck a nice balance in everything, especially "wetness" of sound.

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