Basil Poledouris, composer of many great film scores (especially for Paul Verhoeven) has died of cancer. Ain’t-It-Cool-News and his official messageboard pay tribute. I guess I will too.
The importance of a good film score can never be underestimated – what would Star Wars be without John Williams’ fanfares? The Omen without the Jerry Goldsmith score? Or a Tim Burton movie, Ed Wood excepted, without Danny Elfman? Completely unimaginable (or in the case of The Omen, just wrong).
And Robocop quite possibly would be undeservedly seen as just a bog-standard B-movie if it wasn’t for Basil Poledouris’s brilliantly bombastic and, most importantly, easily recognisable overture; the perfect music for the material, pushing its satirical intent to the fore. It’s a fantastic score, one of many; in this age of identikit wannabe-Hans Zimmers, he will be missed.
F L I C K E R I N G / F R A M E 