Which film had the best score?

Raiders

Raiders was written to be performed by The London Symphony and possesses the greatest complexity in its content and scope. It's like Dark Side of the Moon in that each time you listen it's possible to hear something new. John Williams was at THE top of his game and it conveys the mood and emotion that I will forever equate with the character of Indiana Jones. Marion's Theme, (for all its similarities to Princess Leia's Theme) is the softest and purest collection of sweet notes and hooks that will be indelibly linked to beauty and love in my mind for all my days. More than punctuation the themes are virtual characters in themselves. Like a Koan, they never fail to contain "aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding yet may be accessible to intuition."

For Temple, John Williams had to work with session musicians, while outstanding in their own right, hardly had the collective experience and skill to realize his vision. Temple provided a set of challenges and because of the limitations, and of course the content and context of the movie, resulted in another in a long line of creative soundtracks. My favorite; the patient, weaving segway at the end of the film from Raiders March with Shorty's Theme to Temple Themes.

Last Crusade kept with the tone on the film, not as tense as Raiders, dark as Temple but lots of light adventure...the mandolins during the boat chase, the motorcycle chase and young Indy's chase were all excellent. The Grail Theme wasn't my favorite, but I have been warming up to it lately.

Skull had some GREAT moments! The Adventures of Mutt was an excellent nod to Aaron Copland and the Journey to Akator reminded me of Elmer Bernstein's work for The Magnificent Seven. Fun! Was psyched for the return of Marion's Theme but disappointed that it wasn't reworked, and sadly seemed rushed. The Finale would have been a fine time to bring back that Temple "weave" and slowly mix the Raiders March with Irina's theme.

top 5 indy tracks, discounting the obvious Raiders March (cmon lets be honest, if we counted that, itd be no.1 on all lists i think)...

1) The Map Room: Dawn (Raiders)
2) Short Round Helps (Doom)
3) The Penitent Man Will Pass (Last Crusade)
4) Ants ! (Crystal Skull)
5) Desert Chase (Raiders)

Easily Raiders Of The Lost Ark


? The Raiders March (Indiana Jones Theme
? Slave Children's Crusade
? In The Idol's Temple
? The Map Room Dawn
? The Well of the Souls
? Marion's Theme
? Indy's Very First Adventure
? Desert Chase
? The Keeper Of The Grail
? Short Round's Theme
? The Portuguese Coast
? The Mine Car Chase

Gotta go with ToD. The main theme is just awesome. The others are great as well, but I have ToD just a nose ahead.

Tough call! I will go with Crusade! I love Belly of the Steel Beast and On the Tank, (they go great together) the Grail Theme is awsome and the Nazi's theme from Alarm that can be heard throughout the film. I also love Raiders' Map Room-Dawn, Desert Chase and Airplane Fight and The Temple of Doom 'chant'. I also think KoTCS's score was AWSOME! Ants, the extended Jungle Chase, Mutt's Theme to name a few! John's still got it...

Raiders by far.

Hearing the jungle theme still takes me back to the first time I saw the film back in the mid 80's on video. It was eerie and moody and sets the tone for that whole opening sequence. But my favourite has to be the Desert Chase.

The Nazi's theme...

Henry Sr.'s light, skippy motif (see the music in the motorcycle chase)...

The Grail Theme (Holy ****, that Grail Theme!!! Just Awesome!!!!)...

Need I say more? Last Crusade in a score fit for the King of Kings!!!!!!!!

I voted Raiders! I don't know I just love it. The Ark theme, the truck chase theme, Marions theme. Its all so perfect. If I had a 2nd choice it would probably be Temple of Doom. 3rd place would be Last Crusade. The Ark Theme is much more intriguing then the Grail theme in my opinion.

Im going with Raider's,Its alot more tense and serious then the other scores and for some reason the raiders march sounds alot more heroic and powerful in Raiders like when its heard in Desert Chase and Ride to the Nazi hideout (which IMO is the best rendition of it), and every track is something unique and different.

TOD was great in that there was all these new themes and at certain points the score gets very dark and moody when they enter the temple, but as the film progresses alot of the score is too light hearted (not in the physical sense)

LC and KOTC are probably my least favorite, with only a few tracks from each really appealing to me, in KOTC "they werent you,honey" and the full 10 minute version of the jungle chase are great if you have em.

These polls are evil! I mean it's like someone asking me which of my daughters I like best!

John Williams is in my opinion a musical god! aAs a kid I remeber sitting in the fireplce room on many cold evenings with a warm fire going and my walkman head set on listening to my Indy scores on cassette. I would lose myself for hours in just the beautiful music that was made for these movies. And that was before Last Crusade!

I ultimatly voted Raiders.

Temple Of Doom

TheMutt92 said:

The TOD soundtrack (outside the Indy theme itself) is the most effective in the entire series. I actually really sit and listen to the credits of that one...

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For me too it's the greatest score within the most storytelling by listening to it. Great themes and very entertaining!

Indeed, they're nearly all genious. (exception: cristal skull seems sometimes motiveless and replicated (especially Mutts theme, and the melody when the UFO lift off). But it's also a good soundtrack (nice Raiders-Theme variations)
My favorites 1 TOD, 2 ROTLA, 3 LC, 4 KOTCS

I like all of John Williams' scores, but TLC is my favorite since just about all of the movie was scored. The Grail theme was excellent, as was the tank chase music. By far my favorite piece is Henry Sr.'s theme/motorcycle chase. It fit the feel of TLC perfectly with action but a bit of lightness/silliness thrown in for good measure.

TOD's music fits the film great thanks to the Far East bits in the music.

I like the Ark theme from ROTLA but I find the Grail theme slightly better.

There isn't a bad piece on any of the soundtrack albums. I'd like a more complete version of the KOTCS score though.

mister64 said:

I like all of John Williams' scores... ...I'd like a more complete version of the KOTCS score though.

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HEAR HEAR

Out of all the original Indiana Jones films I think that Raiders of the Lost Ark has the far better score. I also enjoyed the music in The Last Crusade but I still think that Raiders had the best.

I'd have to see Kingdom of the Crystal Skull again in order to judge it's score better.

i voted raiders, but i also like the music in crusade

Went with "Raiders"; there is many memorable pieces of music in that score.

I voted Temple of Doom. The soundtrack for that was just incredible. From the chirpiness of Short Round's Theme, to the frenetic violins of The Mine Cart Chase, to the doom and gloom of the Temple of Doom itself. Fantastic stuff.

In terms of soundtrack that best accompanies what's happening on-screen, it would be Raiders.

For music in terms of standing on its own legs, I would have to say Last Crusade. The Grail Theme is epic.

The Raiders score had the great theme for Marion, the Ark, the airplane fight, the desert chase... and Crusade had the entire train sequence score, and the Belly of the Steel Beast suite. And the Grail theme.

Temple of Doom was the one that really stood out while I watched it in theaters. It's fresh, unique, and It makes you feel good. Short Round's theme is almost as good as the raiders march itself. Temple's score certainly beats any of the movies in the soundtrack area.