> Can't disagree much, except that Apes I find a lot more fun to talk about than actually listen to.
Yeah, though it's an astonishing achievement, it's definitely in the 'easier to appreciate than to enjoy' camp. 'The Hunt' though...yowza.

All that aside, OG Apes music is SO MUCH BETTER than the other scores from the 70s incarnations of the franchise (the 4 sequels plus the TV show). Like, is the relatively anonymous 'Battle' just the best one by default because it's the least obnoxious?

> Also, why do people love Poltergeist so damn much???
Great main theme + bunch of really good sub-themes + dense action/horror tracks that unfurl like puzzle boxes. It was in my Goldsmith top 10 before this survey. In fact, I think it was in my Goldsmith top 3 and scored above E.T. at one point (maybe around a decade ago when I started REALLY exploring the man's output).

I did drop it a bit this go-round. Some of the material is quite similar to what he wrote for other sci fi / fantasy works at the time. I wouldn't be surprised if some folks think V'Ger showed up during the rescue sequence. And the out-and-out chaos of 'Escape From Suburbia' doesn't impress as much as the earlier extended musical set pieces.

Still, it's marvelous. And it's the crown jewel of a year that also had First Blood, Night Crossing, and N.I.M.H.

> Rudy definitely needed to be in that top 10. Fo sho.
Short, supremely effective score. Might place higher if it did more than (crass oversimplification) just toggle between its two stellar primary ideas. Expanded score probably wouldn't help there though; if memory serves the only truly 'missing' highlight is a rare downbeat take on the main theme that occurs mid-film.

> Wow, I haven't heard any of the last, like, five or six things you listed there haha.
My pick among those would be The Going Up of David Lev, which is on streaming services and has an (I think) in-print CD from BSX. Program out the Topol songs and you have a a charming small-scale work that toggles between jaunty rhythms and some moments of sublime beauty. 'The Legend' is an exceptional closing track.

It's essentially a tune-up for Jerry's massive Jewish TV epics to come. It doesn't hit the heights of those works, but I still enjoy revisiting it every so often.

> I'd definitely rate Sum of All Fears and Air Force One higher than 3.5/5. Agreed with lots of others though.
Air Force One benefits way more from expansion than SOAF does, though arguably that's due to the inclusion of McNeely's material. Both works have at least one riveting highlight ('The Mission' and 'The Hijacking') and some dope use of choir for their Eastern European moments.

But both suffer from having a lot of pedestrian, somewhat mundane suspense material in their midsections. I like the AFO Deluxe Edition, but one can only take so many statements of the first two notes of the Russian theme before going 'this AGAIN?!?!' (assuming you aren't already asleep by this point).