Best score ever!!!!
Doesn't anyone agree that Alfred Newman's score for this film is the best score for a movie?
shareI do.
shareI do too.
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MovieChat Forums > Airport (1970) Discussion > Best score ever!!!!
It is really good. You can enjoy it without even watching the movie!
shareI totally agree. Alfred Newman did a superb job with this score and I think he should have won the oscar. He lost out to Francis Lai for "Love Story" which was good but not as good as this score.
I wish one of the CD companies would come out with a decent soundtrack album for this score, even if they have to take it from the film stem like they did for Jerry Goldsmith's "Seconds".
Two fantastic scores by Newman that continue to BEG for a full CD release: "Airport" and "The Diary of Anne Frank."
shareI agree, I love the Airport score.
shareI agree. Certainly the score for "Airport" ranks right up there in my personal
"top ten."
Years ago, I was lucky enough to find a mint copy of a "Airport" music LP at
an estate sale. I will treasure it always.
Other favorite scores:
1. "One, Two, Three" (1961)
2. "The Sound of Music" (1965)
3. "My Fair Lady" (1964)
4. "Come Fly With Me" (1963)
5. "Rear Window" (1954) (Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa--)
6. "Love Story" (1970)
7. "Dr. Zhivago" (1965)
A mix of original and adapted scores.
You omit Herrmann's "North By Northwest"?
Interesting list, leetallahassee. But why wouldn't you separate musicals like My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music, both of which were also stage shows first, from genuine, non-musical movie scores? They're not quite in the same league.
Anyway, since you noted "Mona Lisa" from Rear Window, it should be pointed out that that song was not written for that film. In fact, it was written for an earlier Paramount picture, Captain Carey, USA (1950), with Alan Ladd. The movie was only fair but "Mona Lisa" won the Oscar for Best Song of 1950 and was popularized by Nat King Cole.
In Rear Window Hitchcock used songs or tunes owned by Paramount for background music coming from apartments around the courtyard. Using songs or music they owned the rights to for background music was a standard practice of all the studios as it cost them nothing. Of course, for "Mona Lisa" we only hear the party guests singing it, not a recording. Another song heard in RW was "To See You Is to Love You", which is heard on a record played by "Miss Lonelyhearts" and is the original recording Bing Crosby made for another Paramount film, Road to Bali. But none of these songs was a part of Franz Waxman's actual score for the picture.
When I fly in to or out of MSP, I love walking through the airport terminal with my IPod on and listening to the brassy main title, especially during the winter/snowfall seasons.
shareIf I were there and I heard you do that, I would stop you and congratulate you on your good taste.
shareWhy thank you rorysa! That's the nicest thing anyone has said about me lately. "North By Northwest" is one of my favorite scores too. Bernard Herrmann can do no wrong. I'm kind of a movie location hunter with movie music, so I've visited Mt. Rushmore and enjoyed NBNW a little more. Simi Valley office building for the "Sneakers" soundtrack, "Queen Mary" for "The Poseidon Adventure," San Simeon for "Citizen Kane," Alaska and "The Edge." You get the idea. I'm not sure of the "why" of this quirk other than I enjoy the music even more surrounded by the associated visuals.
shareA very interesting hobby.
shareAgreed, at first I thought it was scored by someone else so I made sure to catch the credits.
shareOne of the best scores ever, that opening title music is so MIGHTY...Irwin Allen's The Towering Inferno (1974) also had a MIGHTY opening title score.
The above two tracks get me in the right frame of mind when I need to go to the gym and work out...I play them on my system when I work out...you should try it!
I don't know that this is the best score ever, but it's certainly a great one. I agree, it should have won the Oscar in 1970. Love Story? Bah!
Incidentally, it came out on a Japanese CD in 2014. Love listening to it in the car!
Had some great tracks, especially the track during the climatic landing of the 707. And the theme was certainly dynamic. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I cringed every time I heard the theme for Helen Haye's character. Pure corn.
shareYes, I agree about the Hayes motif. Corny, cutesy, and perhaps worst of all, unimaginative.
But it was Alfred Newman's last score (he never lived to see the movie), so I cut him some slack.
"I cut him some slack"
Funny, but that's just how I felt when I would play this album (sometimes a bit obsessively) back in 1970-71.
I never got this album back in '70, and in fact back then I didn't have a lot of movie soundtracks. (Not like today!) I think the recent CD is more or less that original album, but in any case it's also great.
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