Intrada Soundtrack Forum

I think it's the law these days that the end credits have to list everyone who's ever lived in California, so. It's a bit of the score, a pop song or two, a bit more of the score put together but the music editor, & then maybe silence. It doesn't matter, as everyones at home in bed by then!

One of my favourites has to be David Shire's finale to the unfairly maligned Return to Oz. Dorothy's solo violin theme and Ozma's solo cello theme play simultaneously, revealing that they were composed as counterpoints to each other, as Dorothy sees her alter-ego in her bedroom mirror. She runs outside to play; Shire and the London Symphony Orchestra are with her every step of the way as the end credits roll, crafting a wonderfully full and moving finale from the interplay between the two themes.

It finally resolves on Dororthy's "home theme", the strings holding a constant chord as a wind instrument (don't know which, sorry!) slowly climbs the scale to settle on one positive note. It's reassuring and gently uplifting – Dorothy's home after a wild adventure, but she's finally been able to reconcile her imaginative flights of fancy with her everyday life. And, if memory serves, it has one of my favourite touches: a pizzicato full-stop (or period). Love those.

It's a great ending from a composer who deserves more opportunities like this.

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Randy Wilson
Dallas, TX

I will go with the The Shadow - a final statement. Goldsmith's theme closes the score before the song. Or the coda post song on Twilight's Last Gleaming. A gorgeous melancholy moment.

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Jason Needs
Webmaster, Jerry Goldsmith Online

My #4 that should have been #1. I have no idea why this didn't come to mind immediately...

The Bride Of Frankenstein (Franz Waxman); I could list a lot of good reasons why I think this film is nothing short of perfection, the first being the score. After the film fades out from the final scene the end titles fade in for a few seconds with the words, "A good cast is worth repeating". The Franz Waxman music makes all of the horror and tragedy, magical, beautiful and dreamlike.

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"I used to worry about losing my mind. Now that I've lost it I don't worry about it anymore." -Wavy Gravy

You know, I had forgotten just how good Omen III is. Jerry did a great job here and it's hard to get the theme out of mind now. It really was brilliant work. A few more for your consideration:

High Noon... I thought that Tiomkin did a good job of summarizing the chaos that was wrought on a man who wanted none of it, in just a few closing bars, and really just a repeat of the theme but stylistically.....the Cooper character's disgust for the town, and tyeing all together...pretty underrated and underappreciated IMHO.

Rio Lobo Wow! Goldsmith's stinging brass statements for the Sherry Lansing character's final revenge, and then a very nice segue into the heroic theme. Several great themes in this Western. I'm sure that there are those who would disagree, but I find this to be one of Jerry's most interesting Westerns.

North By Northwest....I'm not going to get into the psychology of the final scene, it's been commented on and analyzed to death by "film scholars", but it does stand out as a great "ending" score. Wonder if BH was smiling through the whole process???

And I'll end on a personal favorite. At the end of "Bite The Bullet", when the Gene Hackman character takes the saddle off of his horse and offers water....I don't know anyone who has ever owned, worked with, trained or been around horses that can get through this scene without wet eyes. A very powerful example of how film music can play on the emotions. The violins are not bombastic, they are not maudlin, but Alex North doesn't just grab the heartstrings, he reaches into your chest and rips a few of them out. And in a few seconds he finishes his score with an incredible uplifting theme and full orchestra. Alex North....0 to 60 in a few brief seconds. Incredible thoughtful film scoring. Seems to be a lost art today. i sure miss it. --Rich

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Adventure on Earth (John Williams)
Sumptuous ending, moving, rousing, uplifting. I've never heard something like that ending anywhere else. Pure magic until the last triumphant note.

An American Tail, Flying Away and End Credits (James Horner)
This last little motif and those waves of chords are common in James Horner's most beautiful endings, but here it has to do with my childhood. Everytime Fievel's adventures were ending, I was sitting until the last image of Don Bluth's feather landing on water, and the last note of James' music. Pure grace.