To celebrate the nine decades of his life, here are nine of his finest pieces of work for film fans to watch and pay tribute to the Maestro.
The Dollars Trilogy (1964-6)
It’s impossible to choose between the work Morricone did across Leone’s so-called ‘Dollars Trilogy,’ so we have included all three. A Fistful of Dollars (1964) might have his best ever piece in its opening theme, For A Few Dollars More (1965) sees the composer experimenting with unconventional instrumentation including a musical pocket watch, and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966) has his most famous piece—the epic and, much-parodied Mexican standoff.
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
Genre fans will best know Italy for two genres: Its westerns and its brutal, bloody ‘Giallo’ horror films. Morricone helped set the sound for both by working with two great directors: Western director Leone and horror master Dario Argento. For the latter’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Morricone creates a world of nightmare lullabies and paranoia. What makes this soundtrack even greater is that it came at a time when the composer was working on over a dozen movies a year.
Days of Heaven (1978)
Morricone was nominated for five Oscars before being awarded an honorary one in 2007. His first nod was for his work on Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven, which is a perfect dreamy companion to cinematographer Nestor Almendros’ lush magic hour cinematography.
The Thing (1982)
Amazingly, Morricone’s work on the John Carpenter horror classic was nominated for a Razzie for the worst musical score, the first of two nominations the composer had in that category that year. Though we cannot speak for the quality of his score for the Pia Zadora movie Butterfly, his work on The Thing has since developed a cult following for its moody eeriness, as chilly as the arctic base the movie is set on.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
The sixth and final collaboration between Leone and Morricone, Once Upon a Time in America transfers the themes of their westerns to Manhattan in the early decades of the 20th century. The director would play parts of the score on set to get the movie’s stars (Robert De Niro and James Woods) into the mood of the film, meaning that his music infuses every single action in the gangster epic.
The Mission (1986)
Morricone’s second Oscar nomination may have been the one it was hardest to lose. Speaking to the Guardian, he said of his operatic score to the story of 18th Century missionaries in South America: “I definitely felt that I should have won for The Mission…There was a theft! But, of course, if it was up to me, every two years I would win an Oscar.”
The Untouchables (1987)
Another contribution to the world of gangster movies, the composer’s score for the Brian De Palma and Al Capone movie was Morricone’s third Oscar nomination. Though by the ’80s the composer’s most prolific years were behind him, this just made all of his scores from then on more special, such as this soundtrack that veers just on the right side of cheesy.
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Cinema Paradiso is a love letter to Italy’s love of cinema, and who better to score it than maybe the country’s greatest film composer. Though stirring childhood drama is not a genre many would associate with Morricone, his soundtrack for this Oscar-winning movie shows it was well in his wheelhouse.
The Hateful Eight (2016)
Morricone finally won his first competitive Oscar nearly 40 years after his first nomination for his score for Quentin Tarantino’s throwback western. Notably, he beat not only peers like John Williams that night, but also fresh talents like the late Jóhann Jóhannsson. The fact that at 87 Morricone was the oldest ever Oscar winner pays testament to the length of his career.
