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Henry Mancini, which scores of his you like?
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Topic: Henry Mancini, which scores of his you like?

SkyMakers

Oscar® Nominee

Henry Mancini died too early. Which was really unfortunate. The same with Delerue.But which score of Mancini you liked most?
Also, do you know if Santa Claus the Movie was every released on CD? Anyone out there have it, I'd be interested in paying for a copy. It's not a great score, just a good memorable part of my life when it came out.
Thanks.
posted 04-08-2002 05:48 PM PT (US) 
HAL 2000
Oscar® Winner

Lifeforce, Lifeforce, Lifeforce.
posted 04-08-2002 05:53 PM PT (US) 
Racerprose

Oscar® Winner

The Santa Claus is my favorite.I was lucky enough to get it... on CD!
posted 04-08-2002 06:01 PM PT (US) 
Jeron

Oscar® Winner

To name a few: Two for the Road, Peter Gunn, The Great Mouse Detective, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Pink Panther, and The Days of Wine and Roses...
posted 04-08-2002 07:55 PM PT (US) 
MWRuger

Oscar® Winner

Hard to go wrong with any of his work. Henry Mancini had the same kind of gift for melody that Victor Young had. Also taken at too young an age at 56.Great Race - Shoulna' Hadna' Oughtna' swang one Me and Pie in the Face Polka!
Arabesque/Charade (similar scores for a similar pictures. Charade is better because of the cast.)
Lifeforce (Orchestral Tour-de-Force)
Experiment in Terror (Great Jazz Score)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (Probably one of Audrey Hepburn's best work and married a soulful tune to a jazyy playful score)
Pink Panther (Classic)
Shot in the Dark (Very Jazzy Comedy score)
Peter Gunn (Classic)
posted 04-08-2002 08:07 PM PT (US) 
Lou Goldberg

Oscar® Winner

Hank's career as an Easy Listening/Jazz artist hid the fact he was a great dramatic composer and often some of his best music for films was left off the soundtrack albums which highlighted source cues instead.My favorite Mancini score is The White Dawn.
I love a lot of the scores he wrote for Universal films of the 50s, the highlight being his third of This Island Earth.
Other great dramatic scores include Lifeforce, The Molly McGuires, The Glass Menagerie, The Night Visitor, Wait Until Dark, and The Hawaiians (which sounds more Japanese than Hawaiian).
On the light side comes Peter Gunn, which has a great theme but also other great crime jazz cues. Also the crime jazz great Touch of Evil.
Other light gems are Breakfast at Tiffany's, Two for the Road, Man's Favorite Sport, Hatari!, and Charade, all of which have great cues left off their soundtrack albums. All you can get of the delightful Man's Favorite Sport score is an alternate version of the title song on the Mancini Dear Heart LP leaving all the cues to languish in obscurity.
Then in a class by itself is The Pink Panther.
Other good ones include The Great Waldo Pepper, Sunflower, A Shot in the Dark, and Victor/Victoria.
I don't own nor have heard Santa Claus-The Movie which seems to be an oversight on my part given what was said about it.
I'm looking forward to the release of Silver Streak so I can re-acquaint myself with that score which I don't remember well.
There are still others I'm not pointing out, some of which have already been mentioned.
[Message edited by Lou Goldberg on 04-08-2002]
posted 04-08-2002 08:47 PM PT (US) 
Lancelot

Oscar® Winner

Sunset is my favorite, and was never released on CD, (though did get a few pieces on a Mancini compilation album.) It's a great score.And for the nostalgic, cultish sake of it, I'm going to add Condorman.
posted 04-08-2002 10:02 PM PT (US) 
Anders
Oscar® Nominee

I really enjoy his music to 'The Pink Panther strikes again'. Finally bought the cd after wanting it since I heard 'The Inspector Clouseau theme' when watching the movie such long time ago.
posted 04-09-2002 02:24 PM PT (US) 
PeterK

FishChip

Silver Streak is now ready to ship.... Cool main theme!
posted 04-09-2002 02:54 PM PT (US) Old Infopop Software by UBB
