Most Underrated Scores - Ennio Morricone

For November's feature article, we're looking at the legendary Ennio Morricone's repertoire in honour of his birthday, and picking out his top 3 most 'underrated' soundtracks. Morricone is best known for his incredible Western soundtracks, mainly for the spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s and considered the benchmark for Western scores.

We're starting with an iconic Western, whose score isn't given the full credit it deserves. Once Upon a Time in the West (1969) follows 'Man with a Harmonica' as he combats enemies old and new in a Classic Western 'shootout' movie.

Recommended tracks: 'Cheyenne' and 'L'America di Jill'

We all know the 'Harmonica' theme, a staple track in spaghetti Westerns, but this film has some brilliant themes that are perhaps less well-known. Morricone creates some amazingly contrasting themes throughout this film, from the ironic and humorous 'Cheyenne' theme, with its slow banjo/guitar sequence, echoed by the foley sound percussion of the wood knocks. The sparse instrumentation and exaggerated twang make this theme a real moment of musical comedy.

In comparison, the sweeping 'L'America di Jill' theme is highly stylised and longing. Jill's individual hope, acting as a microcosm for the American Dream, showcases Morricone's soft side, as the solo operatic vocal line emulates patriotism and the parallel knowledge that life is never the fantasy promised. By using chordal 7ths in the harmony, Morricone hints at the popular musical trends of the Hollywood 'Golden Age', a few years prior, with heavy Big Band influences, as well as the quintessential softness of the Disney overtures. These contrasting tracks show the breadth of Morricone's range in just one film, cementing its place in this article.

Next up is the 1982 The Thing soundtrack. It tells of an alien being that can imitate other living things, and the characters' conflict as they slowly stop trusting one another.

Recommended tracks: 'Contamination' and 'Solitude'

A classic horror movie with a hugely underrated score; The Thing is underscored by jazz influences, atonality and ametricity in an almost serialist way. Morricone layers double bass lines, with a warm and atmospheric sonority with escalating pizzicato violas and violins, sounding more and more pitchy and weak. The dynamic volume may be quiet but the polyphonic texture overstimulates the audience, leaving them on edge and susceptible to a scare.

'Solitude' is contrasting in speed and texture, but similarly atonal and rhythmically ambiguous. The droning strings seem to never take pause, and the fluctuation between major and minor triads creates confusion. The cellos move in a different key/mode, painting an awful chromaticism between the two parts. Morricone's skill as a Western composer, often using the Western Classical tradition, is overturned in this soundtrack as he shows off his serialist skills in a genre we don't usually associate him with.

Finally, Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012). A slave is offered his freedom by a bounty hunter, and the story follows them as they try to find Django's wife and also track down the wanted men.

Recommended tracks: 'Ancora Qui' and 'The Braying Mule'

One of Morricone's last major film scores, Django Unchained enters a new era of Westerns, and Morricone does a wonderful job of evolving with it. Rather than the large soundscape and musical stereotypes employed in older Westerns, Django's subversion of the 'American Hero' trope is paralleled in the music, with a more intimate guitar and woodwind score. The woodwind and percussive marimba sounds Andean-inspired, bringing a genuine South American inspiration to the genre, rather than the sonar stereotypes. The guitar clearly stems from Spanish traditions, and the vulnerability adds emotional depth to the story. In 'Ancora Qui' the female vocal is so moving, and whilst it is unusual for Morricone to write full songs for films, it balances out perfectly the action-driven moments.

Despite there being rumoured tension between Morricone and Tarantino, the former eventually went on to score The Hateful Eight. Tarantino's controversial preference not to use just one composer for his films may seem misplaced - seeing as he is the only director and writer on many films - but this collaboration with Morricone proved fruitful, and the most memorable tracks of Django Unchained are certainly Morricone's ones.