[youtube RuxHLzwlDY4 nolink]
Tough choice between this and “Dr. Zhivago” (1965). Maurice Jarre won well-deserved Oscars for both (and “A Passage To India” in 1984). Other memorable, hummable, off-the-top-of-my-head favorites include “The Train” (1964), “The Professionals” (1966) and “Witness” (1985).
When you mix sound for a film — score, effects, dialogue — not taking the audience out of the story is a very difficult part of the job and just one way to begin to appreciate the talent and craftsmanship required to do what Jarre did; to craft lush, large, and rousing scores that not only don’t distract, but enhance everything on such an emotional level you can’t imagine the film without it. You don’t hear great film scores, you feel them, and as the above clip proves, Jarre’s best work didn’t need anything to accomplish this — not even the film.
The man was a giant when giants like Miklos Rosza, Henry Mancini, Elmer Bernstein and Bernard Hermann walked the earth. No small thing.
Maurice Jarre was 84.
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