For those not familiar, He Shoots He Scores is a fortnightly feature here at Southern Vision where I look at a great film score or soundtrack and highlight its excellence. This week’s score rivals Three Colours: Blue and Werckmeister Harmonies for the spot of my favorite score of all time. It’s hard to make such a choice, but Ennio Morricone’s score for Sergio Leone’s film Once Upon a Time in the West is easily one of the most amazing, breathtaking pieces of music I have ever heard.
The film itself is in my opinion the greatest western ever made, and it’s famous ‘Death Rattle’ theme is my favorite piece of musical score for the movie. The opening notes of a solo harmonica does not send shivers down my spine – rather, it sends them coursing unbearably through my entire body. My blood runs cold. Any man standing while listening to this track is bound to fall to his knees. It’s quite a composition from Morricone, a man who is credited as a composer for more than five hundred films. Yes, you read it right. Ennio Morricone has 510 credits on IMDb for ‘Composer,’ and though of course I haven’t heard all of them, none can be more amazing than his work for Sergio Leone on Once Upon a Time in the West. If that film is in my eyes essential for fans of westerns, then Morricone’s score is essential for fans of music. One of my personal favourites of all the things I’ve ever tweeted on Twitter is a tweet I wrote during a rewatch of the film that simply read: “MORRICONE = GOD.” A startling hyperbole, sure, but his music, along with that of composer Zbigniew Preisner, is music for the heavens. Below I’ve included only one piece of music from the film: the most important. Turn your speakers up as far as they will go; that’s all I ask of you.
