Morricone, Cinema Paradiso

Ennio Morricone (1928-2020) was primarily a film composer with one of the most impressive lists of works. Not all of his more than 400 films were masterpieces, and many are foreign films that didn’t get much attention with English-speaking audiences. Among the English films are The Untouchables, Once Upon a Time in the West, Exorcist II, Bulworth, Bugsy, and the Sergio Leone films beginning with A Fistful of Dollars that defined the Spaghetti Western and made Clint Eastwood a star.

In A Fistful of Dollars, he gave us perhaps the most recognizable musical motif in film.

Cinema Paradiso received the Academy Award in 1998 for Best Foreign Film among other awards. It’s a coming-of-age story about a film projectionist who teaches a young boy to operate the projector. (The film, which is R-rated, is not currently available on my streaming service, although it can be purchased.)

Morricone was born in Rome and lived in Italy for all of his life. He studied music, getting his diploma in trumpet, and had an early career as a jazz trumpeter. Like many who eventually made their way into film scores, he worked as a ghost writer for some bigger names and a studio arranger.

Among his works outside of film and television, he composed a cantata dedicated to the innocent victims of 9/11 and a mass commissioned by the Jesuits for the 200th anniversary of the Order.