Ennio Morricone (10 November 1928 — 6 July 2020) was an Italian composer, musician, and conductor most famous for his film scores.
Even in the advent that the name's unfamiliar, you'll have heard the man's music. No, seriously. Go to 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.
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 Spaghetti Western and many collaborations with Sergio Leone). 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 John Zorn to Jay-Z. Everybody tends to form an orderly line in order to heap superlatives on him.
A lifelong 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 RCA Records, 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.
Though his first films were undistinguished, Morricone's arrangement of an American folk song intrigued director (and former schoolmate) Sergio Leone. Leone hired Morricone, and together they created a distinctive score to accompany Leone's different version of the Western, A Fistful of Dollars (1964). Rather than orchestral arrangements of Western standards à la John Ford — 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.
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.
Trope Namer for Ennio Morricone Pastiche.
Significant works include soundtracks for:
- A Fistful of Dollars (1964). Credited as Leo Nichols or Dan Savio on most prints.
- For a Few Dollars More (1965)
- The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966)
- Navajo Joe (1966). Credited as Leo Nichols.
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
- The Battle of Algiers (1966)
- Operation Double 007 (1967) (yes, THAT Operation Double 007)
- Danger: Diabolik (1968) (yes, THAT Danger: Diabolik)
- A Fine Pair (1968)
- Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
- Hornets' Nest (1970)
- Compañeros (1970)
- Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970). His main theme from this film is also used in the "pony riding" scene from Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
- The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
- The Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971)
- * Le Casse (1971).
- A Fistful of Dynamite (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...
- Allonsanfàn (1974). Perhaps one of the lesser known films the soundtrack of which was reprised in Inglourious Basterds.
- Buddy Goes West (1981). His last western soundtrack before The Hateful Eight, 34 years later.
- Le Professionnel (1981)
- The Thing (1982). Where he imitates John Carpenter's composing style so well, that many mistakenly think Carpenter did the score.
- White Dog
- Once Upon a Time in America (1984). Which Sergio Leone himself considered, the finest work Morricone had ever done for him. Unfortunately, it was the victim of a particularly aggravating
Award Snub, when the paperwork to submit it for an Oscar nomination, wasn't filled out properly. - Red Sonja (1985)
- The Mission (1986)
- The Untouchables (1987)
- Cinema Paradiso (1988)
- Frantic (1988)
- Malèna (2000)
- Django Unchained (2012). Features several of his older works, but he also did one original piece for it, "Ancora Qui."
- The Best Offer (2013)
- The Hateful Eight (2015). His first western score in 34 years, and one of the few times Quentin Tarantino has trusted one of his films to be scored with original music. Some of the unused tracks he did for The Thing (1982) also show up. He won a Golden Globe and Academy Award for it.
Works with soundtracks consisting heavily of recycled Morricone:
- Red Dead Revolver (2004)
- Inglourious Basterds (2009). Morricone originally agreed to do the score, but had to bow out, due to conflicts with his workload; Quentin Tarantino wound up filling the soundtrack with Morricone pieces, originally written for other films. They still wound up working together with The Hateful Eight.
Tropes associated with this composer:
- Associated Composer: With Sergio Leone, Dario Argento, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and Giuseppe Tornatore.
- Bragging Theme Tune: The theme song to the James Bond knock-off OK Connery aka Operation Double 007:''HE thrills me, HE kills me, HE gives me the feeling maybe it's love...
- Captivity Harmonica: Likely the Trope Codifier here; he liked to use harmonicas a lot in his Spaghetti Western scores, along with whistling, to draw attention to a solitary protagonist. The harmonica is used in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as Blondie and Tuco get marched into the Union prison camp, and in Once Upon a Time in the West it's given centre-stage as Harmonica's trademark.
- Cult Soundtrack: Morricone's music for Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns 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.
- Descent into Darkness Song: Morricone's main theme for Adrian Lyne's 1997 adaptation of 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.
- Drone of Dread: Morricone's score to The Thing (1982) makes heavy use of minimalist drones to evoke apocalyptic dread.
- Epic Rocking: "L'ultima diligenza di Red Rock (versione integrale)" (7:32) and "Neve (versione integrale)" (12:17) from The Hateful Eight 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, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, runs for 7:14.
- Ghostwriter: Morricone claimed to have gotten his start in the business ghosting for other composers.
- Nostalgic Music Box: For a Few Dollars More 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.
- One-Woman Wail: Morricone really loved doing this:
- The "Jill's America" motif in the soundtrack to Once Upon a Time in the West: 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.
- In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the "The Ecstasy of Gold." Not so much a One Woman Wail as a One Woman Orgasmic Scream, though.
- The soundtrack for A Fistful of Dynamite has this, while the chorus sings "Sean Sean".
- Exorcist II: The Heretic features some weird Yoko-esque keening in spots.
- Done in the final part of Buona Fortuna, Jack, which plays at the end of My Name Is Nobody.
- Real Men Love Jesus: Morricone was a devout Catholic, something he discussed in this interview. A friend also described him as a man "comforted by faith."
- Recycled Soundtrack: Morricone's iconic piece "Chi Mai" has been used several times:
- The 1978 BBC sci-fi serial An Englishman's Castle
- The British TV show The Times and Life of David Lloyd George.
- Used as a leitmotif in the French film Le Professionnel (1981).
- It was later recycled again in an entirely unrelated TV commercial for dog food.
- The dog food commercial was itself parodied in Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, by reusing the track yet again.
- Single Stanza Song: "Here's to You" from Sacco e Vanzetti, which was later featured in the game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.Here's to you, Nicola and Bart
Rest forever here in our hearts
The last and final moment is yours
That agony is your triumph - Stop and Go: Cheyenne's Leitmotif from Once Upon a Time in the West occasionally stops for a short time. This is played on by the character himself.
