Two things that this man did stand out in my mind right now: the score that he did for the mini-series Lonesome Dove, which was nothing short of magnificent. And the music for Conan the Barbarian: without question one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time. I think my favorite tracks from Lonesome Dove were the theme, and that one you hear when Gus and Lippy are riding away from the saloon with the two pigs following after the wagon... I loved that track! And as for Conan the Barbarian, well, everything about that score resonates on some kind of primal level. "Prologue/Anvil of Crom" is something that I've told Dad he needs to have playing in his knife shop whenever he's using the forge to heat up his blades. "Riders of Doom" and "Battle of the Mounds" I like for similar reasons, but that quieter part from "Battle..." when Conan is praying is especially good. Whenever I find myself locked in some kind of torturously slow task the "Wheel of Pain" track always winds up playing in my head. But my absolute favorite track from Conan the Barbarian has got to be "Atlantean Sword": the one that plays when Conan falls into the tomb of the ancient Atlantean general and finds the sword that he uses for the rest of the movie. The music in that scene evokes dreams of antiquity beyond reckoning. It's the kind of music that almost makes historians and archaeologists weak in the knees. Poledouris did the music for quite a few other films, including The Hunt for Red October and Robocop. And if Paul Verhoeven had ever been able to make Crusade with Ah-nuldt Schwarzenegger, I always thought that Poledouris would be the one to score that, too.
Well, it's sad that he's left us. I might have to put Conan the Barbarian in the DVD player sometime this weekend, and raise a toast to his memory.
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