SSG: Spy/Spec-Ops Group discussion

action flicks with the best music, score, soundtrack

Kelly's Heroes
The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 (1974)

If action in the Antiquities qualifies, I say GLADIATOR,
especially the score during the battle between the Romans an the Goth barbarians.

don't know it, too recent a flick for me :D

I like the little harpsichord tune in the opening sequence of Clint Eastwood's "Eiger Sanction"

Who can ever forget the zither in "The Third Man"?

Good one. I bought the album and have it as a constant in my playlist. Unique piece of music.

Gladiator is at the top of my list. Walked out of the theater and straight to the music store the first time I saw it.

cinematic audio is fighting for its life

https://tinyurl.com/y3rev7cs

One song that fits perfectly with action movies where the hero is dying is KNOCKING ON HEAVEN'S DOOR, by RAIGN. It will give you goosebumps, especially when the Kudo drum is beating. I believe that a much earlier version played in one of Enio Morricone's Western movies (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly?). The version by RAIGN sounds simply glorious.

Kill Bill. Tarantino is also an Ennio Morricone fan. Links to the full soundtracks:

Vol 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q4AU...

Vol 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWtKq...

Maybe I should have defined this thread better. Music written specifically for the film, not borrowed music or stolen music! :^0

This concept goes all the way back to the 'Blues in the Night' vs 'American in Paris' controversy.

While it falls maybe more into the horror genre, I think, personally, one of the greatest scores written for an action movie was Graeme Revell's score for The Crow. Haunting, emotional, everything the score and music in a movie should do!!!!
Just my two cents....

Michel wrote: "If action in the Antiquities qualifies, I say GLADIATOR,
especially the score during the battle between the Romans an the Goth barbarians."

In a word..... AWESOME!!!!!
Hans Zimmer is the MAN!!!!

"Maybe I should have defined this thread better. Music written specifically for the film, not borrowed music or stolen music! :^0"

Tarantino appears to have used some original music on Kill Bill and rescued, not "borrowed", many other tracks from the depths of obscurity, including great works from artists as diverse as Ennio Morricone, Bernard Herrmann, Tomoyasu Hotei, Quincy Jones, Johnny Cash, Ike & Tina Turner, Sonny Bono, Nancy Sinatra, Al Hirt, Nina Simone, Santa Esmeralda, Chingon, the 5,6,7,8's, Charlie Feathers, Malcolm McLaren and Zamfir. I am confident none of it was "stolen" and the copyright holders are still cashing unexpectedly large royalty checks as a result to this day.

I get it, you like "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (1974), including the soundtrack. I saw it when it came out and may give it another viewing based on your recommendation. Thanks for your recommendation of Fast One, which I am reading now - it is more hard-boiled than Dashiell Hammitt and has more action and twists than Adam Hall's Quiller. Also, as hard drinking as The Thin Man, but not the all time champion, Moscow to the End of the Line.

Russkies and --I think --Laplanders? are long-renowned for their vodka intake. There's hints of it in 'Gorky Park'.

The Laplanders or whoever it is I'm thinking of --some people in Norway's upper penninsula or somewhere like that --are highly-ranked (they say) because they live in such a sterile, dark environment.

Glad you're enjoying 'Fast One'. A real treat eh? Trust the Dzerzh Man!

I can recommend a few more while I'm at it:

Charles Williams. He writes lewd, seamy novels of backwoods and small town corruption and also stuff like 'Dead Calm' thanks to his Navy experience.

Raoul Whitfield might never have had that one 'hit' novel like "Fast One" but thanks to his extraordinary childhood, has some of the most unusual characters and scenery ever found in a good mystery. Check out his bio.

Jonathan Latimer, another figure who helped develop hard-boiled crime. Look at this crazy title:
Solomon's Vineyard


"Taking of Pelham 123" -- yeah, I keep returning to it because it is one of those rare instances where a movie is as good as the source novel. One of the quintessential portrayals too, of New York City. Impossible to re-make or erase no matter how hard they try. A story about everyday villains and heroes. And the NYC transit system is still largely the same way as it's depicted here.

As for Tarantino --that name is almost forbidden in any of my groups, despising that cretin as much as I do. His very name makes me nauseous. I've heard all the arguments. Nothing yet claimed in his defense has --for me, anyway --alleviated the stigma of his theft of classic movies as the basis of all his work. It's colossal and infamous. There've been times when I wanted to hunt him down and slay that slimy toad, believe me.

I just obtained the rare soundtrack to 'The Conversation', remastered in a special edition. I believe this version is issued authoritaritavely for the first time. Really, really fine stuff.