From the age of six right up to this year, Ennio Morricone composed music, dedicating his life to the art form through the medium of film and beyond. With a prolific body of work that stretches to over 500 credits in film and television, it is easy to see how his influence in the world of cinema stretches far and wide to this very day, commanding the respect and admiration of both his peers and collaborators.
Although his work is synonymous with Westerns (particularly his work with legendary filmmaker Sergio Leone), Morricone’s work crossed many genres. Despite this varied body of work that was unconventional at times, it was always instantly recognisable showing how he was one of the all-time greats.
Morricone had been working in film score composition since the mid-1950s, but his music came to prominence through his work with Westerns in the ’60s and ’70s particularly in Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy. Under the guise of Dan Savio, Morricone’s first of these collaborations with his old schoolyard friend came about with an unofficial remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. A film that would revolutionise the genre, thanks in part to his score.
Escaping the conventions of a standard orchestral score you’d find in a typical John Ford Western, Morricone, constrained by budget employed some ingenuity to create something unique and unheard of before in the genre.
Utilising bells, whip cracks and guitar twangs among other sounds may sound like a recipe for disaster but Morricone organised this chaos into something extraordinary which would become a staple for his work on the Dollars trilogy especially with his iconic score for The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
Much More Than Just Bells, Whip Cracks and Guitar Twangs
With each film in the trilogy, Morricone’s scores became grander and larger in scale to reflect the stories they were telling coming to a head with the hunt for buried gold in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly with the American Civil War serving as a backdrop to the drama.
They took on an operatic form which was always prevalent in the final duels of each film. The theme would begin and would repeat itself adding an extra layer each time heightening the tension and intensity matching perfectly with Leone’s trademark use of extreme close-ups. They almost act as a summation of the journey in each film as everything comes to a-head.
Perhaps Morricone’s biggest achievement in his work with Leone in the Dollars Trilogy is how his music gave an insight into the thoughts and feelings of Clint Eastwood’s “Man With No Name”. A mysterious and stoic character of few words, Morricone’s scores allowed us to explore the character more than any action or image could. One such example would be the sombre music he uses as the man with no name comforts a dying soldier in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Usually a cold character, the music perfectly portrays his sympathetic side.
But it was not limited to just the man with no name. The iconic Ecstasy of the Gold perfectly conveys the growing greed and desperation of Tuco as he searches for the grave of Arch Stanton in Sad Hill cemetery.
The vocal work of frequent collaborator Ella Dell’Orso is stunning as it builds and builds as Tuco searches for the impossible with graves as far as the eye can see before coming to an abrupt end. There is no dialogue in the scene but it is a perfect marriage of image and music that creates an unforgettable piece of cinema.
Once Upon a Time in the West
Although his most well-known pieces stem from this trilogy, Morricone’s finest work in the genre came with the Once Upon A Time In The West. Another collaboration with, Leone, the film served as the perfect example of how their collaborations worked so well. Usually, Leone would come to Morricone with a script and would ask him to produce some music for it. From there Leone would play whatever music he was provided with as he shot, letting the music dictate how the scene played out.
It was a method that prompted Stanley Kubrick to inquire how Leone pulled off this feat when it came to the introduction of the character of Jill in the film. In the scene, Jill arrives at the train station from New Orleans unaware that her new life has been shattered by the tragic events that transpired in the previous scene with the death of her family.
Again, Morricone utilises the phenomenal vocal work of Edda Dell’ Orso by capturing not only the vulnerability but also Kill’s hope for a better life in a strange new land. As the film unfolds and we learn more about Jill, a variation of the same music is used but it carries a different meaning as she becomes a stronger character.
Another piece of music from the film that does something similar is the piece titled Man with Harmonica which follows the characters of Frank (a ruthless killer) and a man known as Harmonica (a mysterious figure from Frank’s past).
The key elements of the piece with the wailing of the harmonica (a ghost coming back to haunt Frank) and the striking of the distorted guitar (Frank’s sins laid bare that have followed him throughout his life) tell the story of how Frank played a major role in the death of Harmonica’s brother when he was younger. It is a story played from the beginning of the film but it’s meaning isn’t unveiled until the end making the conclusion of the final confrontation all the more satisfying.
Not Just a Composer For Westerns
In spite of his rise in popularity thanks to his work on Westerns, Morricone was disappointed by this association with them as he felt that he had a much more diverse body of work. You don’t have to look any further than the synth-infused sense of dread he brought with his minimalist score to the horror classic, The Thing or the heartbreaking nostalgia he explored in Cinema Paradiso to see this. His work in Hollywood and beyond showed this but it always stayed distinctly true to his style.
Perhaps his most well know score in Hollywood came with Brian DePalma’s 1987 film, The Untouchables. The opening theme perfectly sets up the film with the drums, piano and harmonica setting the audience up for a thrilling watch. It also immediately lets you know that it isn’t going to be a historically accurate depiction of the fall of Al Capone, but something more fantastical in line with older gangster films.
This is only reinforced with the overblown music played over Al Capone’s introduction to reflect his lavish lifestyle. It is a score that captures the period, mood and tone of every scene it features in. From the victorious theme played over the scene at the Canadian border or the death theme when Jim has gunned down it the wide range of style he employs adds to the thrill of the film making it a real crowd-pleaser.
Although Morricone won an honorary Oscar in 2007 and won another competitively in 2016 for his work on The Hateful Eight, his greatest contribution to music in film came with The Mission in 1986.
Music is an Experience, not a Science
The film takes place in the eighteenth century and tells the story of a group of Jesuit priests who try to protect a South American tribe from falling under the control of the pro-slavery Portuguese government.
Initially reluctant to score the film as he felt the images were too strong for him to put music to, Morricone eventually agreed to work on the film, creating something remarkable.
Throughout the film, he employs the use of Spanish guitar, the aforementioned oboe, native pan pipes and traditional orchestral strings with liturgical choral music that combine to give a summation of the different elements of the film between the natives, the church or the government forces.
Morricone was known as the Maestro to the people of his hometown of Rome but it is a title that stretched around the globe. His passing has undoubtedly left a huge hole in the world of cinema and music but his legacy and influence lives on to this day from use in advertising to rock concerts.
You need to look no further than the main theme from The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, It is a music cue akin to Beethoven’s fifth, it is that recognisable. In his own words, Morricone stated that music is an experience, not a science. The experiences he provided audiences around the world through his music was nothing short of unforgettable.
