Movie soundtracks I love, part 1

I was recently at a meeting in Rome where the partner wanted The Godfather theme played at every break. An interesting choice I think we can all agree. Anyway, it got me thinking about my favourite movie themes. By this, I mean soundtracks, not songs written for movies like The Time Of My Life or My Heart Will Go On.

Let's hit it! Hans Zimmer is a genius and I absolutely adore his score for Thelma and Louise. Listening to this makes me think of the desert. I love it when it plays at the beginning of the film and the camera pans over the famous road to Monument Valley. I also love it at the end when they drive into the godamned Grand Canyon!

I am not a big fan of Gladiator. However, when we weren't playing The Godfather theme at the aforementioned meeting, we were playing this. Look, we were in Rome, ok? And I had forgotten how good it is. So good, it made me wonder if I should rewatch the film. Maybe I'd like it better now. That's the power of a great soundtrack.

I have always adored the South American Getaway music from Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid. All the music in this is wonderful because of Burt Bacharach but this is a masterpiece.

I make no apologies for my Titanic love. I bought the soundtrack at the time and still listen to it. I will never forget going to the cinema to see this and this music played and I thought, "I am going to love this film." How right I was.  I love the heart of this film and the music plays a massive part of that. It's very moving. This is one of my favourite pieces. RIP James Horner.

There is no 80s kid alive who doesn't love ET and the soundtrack when they fly on the bikes. I well up just thinking about it. It makes me think nothing bad can happen. John Williams is derivative but who cares when it's this good?

At this point, others would include Star Wars. Regular readers will know I am not a Star Wars nerd. I like it well enough but I don't lose my mind about it. Yes, the soundtrack is good but this is my list so go create your own and include Star Wars. OK?

Moving on to Gone With The Wind. The whole soundtrack is a work of utter genius. You can listen to it all on YouTube and I just spent 20 minutes listening to my favourite scenes and grinning like a fool. I have to include the opening credits here. Listening to them makes me want to watch the whole film. Good work Max Steiner.

OK, that's enough for now. I'll be back with part two. Let me know in the comments what soundtracks you love.