Friday, April 6, 2018

Score Sample: Quigley Down Under (1990)

It has been a while since I featured some music from the Western genre on this blog. I'm not a big fan of Western films in general. There are some good ones out there for sure, but as a whole they just don't do too much for me.

But the music is another story all together. There have been plenty of great scores for Western films. Of course Ennio Morricone leaps to mind with his scores to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and many other spaghetti westerns. But you also have classic Hollywood Westerns featuring scores by Alfred Newman, Elmer Bernstein and of course Jerry Goldsmith.

But I'm gong for something a bit more recent. Basil Poledouris is best known for his wonderful score to Conan the Barbarian, but the composer became one of the few who kept getting pulled into scoring the few Westerns that came out in the 80s and 90s. One of my favorites from Poledouris is the score to Quigley Down Under. It has the classic Hollywood Western sound in the main theme, but Poledouris adds some banjo and ragtime rhythms to the piece that just makes it super memorable. The whole score is a lot of fun, but seriously the main theme is one of the best of the 1990s.

So enjoy the Main Title from Quigley Down Under composed by Basil Poledouris.


4 comments:

  1. I'm just the opposite, I love a good western. I've seen all the major ones and will watch the minor ones when I run into them. To me they are like soup and old clothes. I like a good crime story and noir as well. The last good soundtrack to a western (well, not quite) was the civil war film, Glory. I've got Quigley on DVD, good story.

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    1. Yeah I have quite a few friends who are big fans of the western as a film genre. I end up enjoying most, but never really getting completely pulled in. Not sure why. Agree with you on the score to "Glory", one of James Horner's best scores. I really love his style during the 80s and "Glory" is one of the best examples. I'm a bit surprised you didn't put "Dances with Wolves" as your pick. Most Western fans consider that one of the last great Western scores - I don't agree, but I'm certainly in the minority on that one.

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  2. I don't mind theme music now and then for home on the range whether the range is antipodal or...well...just podal.

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    1. I discovered my love of the Western genre in film music very late (within the last five years or so). Some great stuff out there to enjoy for sure.

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