Famed film composer and conductor Basil Poledouris died on Wednesday after losing his battle with cancer. The guy composed a multitude of scores, including BIG WEDNESDAY (1978), THE BLUE LAGOON (1980), RED DAWN (1984), ROBOCOP (1987), LONESOME DOVE (1989), THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990), FREE WILLY (1993), IT’S MY PARTY (1996) and STARSHIP TROOPERS (1997), but the soundtrack of his that totally kicked my ass was CONAN THE BARBARIAN (1982). Capturing the epic scale of the hero's journey, Poledouris' music added immeasureably to what would otherwise have been just a big budget sword & sorcery epic, only with the added bonus of Arnold Schwarzenneger's accent actually not working against him for once. Even if CONAN THE BARBARIAN isn't your idea of a cinematic triumph (which, in a genre rife which steaming celluloid horse turds, it kind of is), you owe it to yourself to give the soundtrack a listen.
Anyway, rest well, Basil.
It is pretty amazing how Conan, despite being an average "regular" movie, is probably the best sword & sandal movie ever made.
ReplyDeleteJeez. That is a crappy genre...
Never really thought of that. That was a good soundtrack, though...
And the production art by Ron Cobb and William Stoudt was awesome, as well...