The movie music of James Horner

What are your thoughts on the music of the late James Horner, composer of scores from movies such as Aliens, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Braveheart, Titanic, Avatar and Apollo 13.

I think some of his scores are outstandingly good, and I rate him as much as I do John Williams. It is such a tragedy he won't be around to score long time collaborator James Cameron's Avatar sequels.

I was listening to the score from one of his early efforts, Roger Corman's "Battle Beyond the Stars" , and whilst that movie is B-movie hokum, Horner's music is fantastic.

 

You named the great ones for sure. Star Trek aside, the first major Horner score I got into was Braveheart. I love his Zorro scores. His most underrated score that I love is Deep Impact. Losing him was a huge loss.

 

The Rocketeer is probably my favorite Horner. Certainly the one I've listened to the most times; is it possible to wear out a CD? I like to think he was listening to it, at least in his head, when he crashed his plane.

 

Krull is another good one.

 

Oh man I've never seen the Rocketeer film, nor heard the score. I have this thing where I don't listen to scores for films I've not seen. Because of that I recently made a list of great scores for which I've never seen the films. I am adding the Rocketeer!

 

Great film.

 

I loved all those 90's era remakes of classic 1930's comics and serials. The Rocketeer, The Phantom, Dick Tracy, etc.

 

Glory is a very good film and score.

 

A lot of the greats have been mentioned, but I also notice he scored a lot of children's/family films and respect that he didn't water these down or cheapen them thinking they were for kids and kids don't know any better. An American Tail has some absolutely beautiful work, and Casper has a piano-driven theme that tears your heart out of your chest.

 

One of his lesser known scores is Man Without A Face. Beautiful, soft main theme. As another post mentioned, Casper is another favorite of mine, with an achingly melancholy theme.

 

And of course, Legends of the Fall. My goodness, what beautiful music.

If you like Horner, also check out Rachel Portman. She has some really nice stuff, especially the Cider House Rules main theme.

 

Field of Dreams was a great Horner score. Clear and Present Danger is a nice score too. And of course Aliens.

 

He would recycle a lot of his stuff. This same piece of music is used at the end of Aliens and at the end of Die Hard.

 

But didn't Michael Kamen do Die Hard?

 

He did I think, but this piece appears at the end in both (?)

 

I know there's a slow piece in Patriot Games that sounds a lot like some Aliens music. When they are in the war room with the infrared.

 

I just rewatched Krull for the first time since the 80's. The score is Horner composing in all-out Star Trek movie mode, good stuff. Easily the best part of the movie.

 

Wrath of Khan is an iconic score.

 

I've actually been listening to a playlist of Horner scores on shuffle a lot lately. It's everything I have, minus Avatar (because I've listened to that one a TON and wanted to give others more time) and minus his two Star Trek scores (because I tend to listen to Star Trek all together as a thing). Thus the playlist is these scores:

Apollo 13, Braveheart, Deep Impact, Titanic, Troy, The Perfect Storm, The Land Before Time, and both Zorro scores.

Such good stuff. My all time favorite is probably Braveheart. I think Deep Impact is underrated. There are definitely Horner scores I need to see the films for so I can listen to the scores. I've heard Behind Enemy Lines is excellent.

 

Aliens is mostly what I listen to at night. Mostly.

 

@Strilo , have you heard the score for The Rocketeer? That's my favorite Horner.

 

The Rocketeer. Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long, long, time.

 

I have not yet heard the Rocketeer, as I've not seen the film. I have this thing where I don't listen to scores until I see them in the film. But it's on my list. Seeing as I am in a Horner mood, I might start knocking some of these films off my watchlist so I can start exploring the scores!

 

Star Trek II is my favorite Horner score

Another one that is underrated is Honey I Shrunk the Kids