Ennio Morricone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A Film Score Guide: A Film Score Guide

by Charles Leinberger

Although five-time Academy-Award nominee Ennio Morricone has scored numerous films in various genres, his westerns will undoubtedly remain his most memorable cinematographic accomplishments. This guide demonstrates Morricone's unique and enduring contributions to the art of film music through a discussion of his compositional and orchestrational processes, many of which are evident in his music for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in a way that can be easily understood by both musicians and nonmusicians.

Leinberger begins his study with a brief discussion of Morricone's musical background through his experience in the Italian music business, his earliest Italian film scores, and his accomplishments in Hollywood. The second chapter is a discussion of the many compositional techniques that distinguish Morricone's music from that of other film composers. Subsequent chapters examine the historical and cultural context of the film and attempt to place the style of Morricone's score for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in relation to his scores for other well-known Westerns. The book's final chapter is an analysis of compositional techniques presented in chronological order from the film's opening credits to its climactic ending.

Although this guide focuses on Morricone and his music from a theoretical perspective, other non-musical issues that are relevant to the audience's ultimate experience of the film are also discussed.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhere between a light read and a musicological text. Some quite interesting stuff in here and it's definitely worth reading if you are a Morricone or Leone fan. There is a little too much description of what happens visually in the film and not enough serious analysis of the music itself for my taste.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written while Morricone was still alive and the author was either starstruck or wanted to ensure he would be flattered by it.
There's very little music of the film shown in the book and it relies mostly on description.

[Ben Babylon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Very interesting in some parts, other parts were just filler. While I do think it is important to summarize things from the film and even go in to detail about Sergio Leone and his style, a lot of times (especially in the score analysis), Leinberger summarized things from the plot but didn't relate them in any way to the score. It was just filler.

Overall I'm glad I read it, and I recommend it to any Morricone or Leone fans, and especially to any aspiring film composers.