Line #37 Music/EnnioMorricone


1	[[quoteright:327:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/EnnioMorricone_9194.jpg]]
2
3	Ennio Morricone (10 November 1928 -- 6 July 2020) was an UsefulNotes/{{Ital\|y}}ian composer, musician, and conductor most famous for his film scores.
4
5	Even in the advent that the name's unfamiliar, you'll have heard the man's music. No, seriously. Go to [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001553/ IMDB]]. Just perform a cursory scan of the ridiculously long list of films he's been attached to. You will have watched one of those films, if only by accident.
6
7	His prolific output stems from the fact that when it comes to genre, he was not particularly picky (although he's best-known for his contribution to the SpaghettiWestern and many collaborations with Creator/SergioLeone). Rather than list people he's influenced, it would just be quicker to list people he hasn't. He's been sampled and covered by artists ranging from Music/JohnZorn to Music/JayZ. Everybody tends to form an orderly line in order to heap superlatives on him.
8
9	A lifelong UsefulNotes/{{Rome}} resident and classically trained musician, Morricone began studying at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia at age 12. Advised to study composition, Morricone also specialized in playing trumpet and supported himself by playing in a jazz band and working as an arranger for Italian radio and TV after he graduated. Morricone subsequently became a top studio arranger at Creator/RCARecords, working with such stars as Mario Lanza and Chet Baker. Well-versed in a variety of musical idiomata from his RCA experience, Morricone began composing film scores in the early '60s.
10
11	Though his first films were undistinguished, Morricone's arrangement of an American folk song intrigued director (and former schoolmate) Creator/SergioLeone. Leone hired Morricone, and together they created a distinctive score to accompany Leone's different version of the Western, ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'' (1964). Rather than orchestral arrangements of Western standards à la Creator/JohnFord -- budget strictures limited Morricone's access to a full orchestra regardless -- Morricone used gunshots, cracking whips, voices, Sicilian folk instruments, trumpets, and the new Fender electric guitar to punctuate and comically tweak the action, cluing in the audience to the taciturn man's ironic stance. Though sonically bizarre for a movie score, Morricone's music was viscerally true to Leone's vision. As memorable as Leone's close-ups, harsh violence, and black comedy, Morricone's work helped to expand the musical possibilities of film scoring.
12
13	Astoundingly, Morricone had no issues scoring films and touring the world in his late 80s, even conducting his music live. Unfortunately, he suffered a fall which broke his femur, and he died at age 91 from complications shortly after being hospitalized.
14
15	TropeNamer for EnnioMorriconePastiche.
16	----
17	!!Significant works include soundtracks for:
18	* ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars'' (1964). Credited as Leo Nichols or Dan Savio on most prints.
19	* ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore'' (1965)
20	* ''Film/TheHawksAndTheSparrows'' (1966)
21	* ''Film/NavajoJoe'' (1966). Credited as Leo Nichols.
22	* ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' (1966)
23	* ''Film/TheBattleOfAlgiers'' (1966)
24	* ''Film/OperationDouble007'' (1967) [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 (yes, THAT Operation Double 007)]]
25	* ''Film/DangerDiabolik'' (1968) [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 (yes, THAT Danger: Diabolik)]]
26	* ''Film/AFinePair'' (1968)
27	* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'' (1968)
28	* ''Film/HornetsNest'' (1970)
29	* ''Film/{{Companeros}}'' (1970)
30	* ''Film/TwoMulesForSisterSara'' (1970). His main theme from this film is also used in the "pony riding" scene from ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows''.
31	* ''Film/TheBirdWithTheCrystalPlumage'' (1970)
32	* ''Film/TheBlackBellyOfTheTarantula'' (1971)
33	* * ''Le Casse'' (1971).
34	* ''Film/AFistfulOfDynamite'' (1971). This is Ennio Morricone at his most "trippy" -- complete with an ear worm about "Sean" which may or may not, cause you to try and tear your hair out...
35	* ''Allonsanfàn'' (1974). Perhaps one of the lesser known films the soundtrack of which was reprised in ''Film/InglouriousBasterds''.
36	* ''Buddy Goes West'' (1981). His last western soundtrack before ''The Hateful Eight'', 34 years later.
37	* ''Film/LeProfessionnel'' (1981)
38	* ''Film/TheThing1982''. Where he imitates John Carpenter's composing style so well, that many mistakenly think Carpenter did the score.
39	* ''Film/WhiteDog''
40	* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInAmerica'' (1984). Which Creator/SergioLeone himself considered, the finest work Morricone had ever done for him. Unfortunately, it was the victim of a particularly aggravating AwardSnub, when the paperwork to submit it for an Oscar nomination, wasn't filled out properly.
41	* ''Film/RedSonja'' (1985)
42	* ''Film/TheMission'' (1986)
43	* ''Film/TheUntouchables'' (1987)
44	* ''Film/CinemaParadiso'' (1988)
45	* ''Film/{{Frantic}}'' (1988)
46	* ''Film/{{Malena}}'' (2000)
47	* ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' (2012). Features several of his older works, but he also did one original piece for it, "Ancora Qui."
48	* ''Film/TheBestOffer'' (2013)
49	* ''Film/TheHatefulEight'' (2015). His first western score in 34 years, and one of the few times Creator/QuentinTarantino has trusted one of his films to be scored with original music. Some of the unused tracks he did for ''Film/TheThing1982'' also show up. He won a Golden Globe and UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for it.
50
51	!! Works with soundtracks consisting heavily of recycled Morricone:
52	* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRevolver'' (2004)
53	* ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'' (2009). Morricone originally agreed to do the score, but had to bow out, due to conflicts with his workload; Creator/QuentinTarantino wound up filling the soundtrack with Morricone pieces, originally written for other films. They still wound up working together with ''Film/TheHatefulEight''.
54	----
55
56	!! Tropes associated with this composer:
57
58	* AssociatedComposer: With Creator/SergioLeone, Creator/DarioArgento, Creator/PierPaoloPasolini, and Giuseppe Tornatore.
59	* BraggingThemeTune: The theme song to the Franchise/JamesBond knock-off ''OK Connery'' aka ''Film/OperationDouble007'':
60	-->''HE thrills me, HE kills me, HE gives me the feeling maybe it's love...
61	* CaptivityHarmonica: Likely the TropeCodifier here; he liked to use harmonicas a lot in his SpaghettiWestern scores, along with whistling, to draw attention to a solitary protagonist. The harmonica is used in ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'' as Blondie and Tuco get marched into the Union prison camp, and in ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'' it's given centre-stage as Harmonica's trademark.
62	* CultSoundtrack: Morricone's music for Creator/SergioLeone's {{spaghetti western}}s has sold millions of copies throughout the decades and is appreciated and recognized even by people who haven't seen the movies. And perhaps even truer to the spirit of this trope, as a prolific and indiscriminate composer, he also penned music for a lot of less popular and at times just plain bad movies. His music is often the only reason why those are still remembered.
63	* DescentIntoDarknessSong: Morricone's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uowmo_tFH8s main theme]] for Creator/AdrianLyne's 1997 adaptation of ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'' starts off sounding like a standard soundtrack for a romantic drama, but the notes become increasingly downbeat and off-key as the music goes on. It does the job of contrasting Humbert's fantasies about Lolita with the twisted reality of their relationship.
64	* DroneOfDread: Morricone's score to ''Film/TheThing1982'' makes heavy use of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu8wT_pd4So minimalist drones]] to evoke apocalyptic dread.
65	* EpicRocking: "L'ultima diligenza di Red Rock (versione integrale)" (7:32) and "Neve (versione integrale)" (12:17) from ''Film/TheHatefulEight'' definitely qualify for this trope. He used this trope for a long time; for example, "Il triello" from what is likely his best-known soundtrack, ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'', runs for 7:14.
66	* {{Ghostwriter}}: Morricone claimed to have gotten his start in the business ghosting for other composers.
67	* NostalgicMusicBox: ''Film/ForAFewDollarsMore'' used two pocket watches, one belonging to Mortimer and the other carried by Indio, that played the same haunting melody, which was incorporated masterfully into the score. As it turns out, Indio's watch once belonged to Mortimer's sister, whom Mortimer seeks to avenge.
68	* OneWomanWail: Morricone really loved doing this:
69	** The "Jill's America" motif in the soundtrack to ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'': slow, arching very high and very low, and achingly beautiful. It first appears in the background when she arrives at her house and sees what should have been her new family, every member gunned down in cold blood.
70	** In ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'', the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PwpOmjAu1M "The Ecstasy of Gold."]] Not so much a One Woman Wail as a One Woman Orgasmic Scream, though.
71	** The soundtrack for ''Film/AFistfulOfDynamite'' has this, while the chorus sings "Sean Sean".
72	** ''Film/ExorcistIITheHeretic'' features some weird [[Music/YokoOno Yoko]]-esque keening in spots.
73	** Done in the final part of ''Buona Fortuna, Jack'', which plays at the end of ''Film/MyNameIsNobody''.
74	* RealMenLoveJesus: Morricone was a devout Catholic, [[https://m.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/an-interview-with-ennio-morricone something he discussed in this interview]]. A friend also described him as a man [[https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/39963 "comforted by faith."]]
75	* RecycledSoundtrack: Morricone's iconic piece "Chi Mai" has been used several times:
76	** The 1978 BBC sci-fi serial ''An Englishman's Castle''
77	** The British TV show ''The Times and Life of David Lloyd George''.
78	** Used as a {{leitmotif}} in the French film ''Film/LeProfessionnel'' (1981).
79	** It was later recycled again in an entirely unrelated TV commercial for dog food.
80	** The dog food commercial was itself parodied in ''Film/AsterixAndObelixMissionCleopatra'', by reusing the track yet again.
81	* SingleStanzaSong: "Here's to You" from ''Sacco e Vanzetti'', which was later featured in the game ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''.
82	-->Here's to you, Nicola and Bart\
83	Rest forever here in our hearts\
84	The last and final moment is yours\
85	That agony is your triumph
86	* StopAndGo: Cheyenne's {{Leitmotif}} from ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'' occasionally stops for a short time. This is [[MickeyMousing played on by the character himself]].
87

Context Music / EnnioMorricone