Maurice Jarre (1924-2009)Mr. Jarre passed away on Sunday at the age of 84. He was a composer who helped bring to life so many types of films it's hard to believe the same man who did the amazing score for Lawrence of Arabia (1962) also did the wacky comedy Top Secret (1984).
The man moved through all sorts of musical realms. Starting with classical orchestrations, he moved into electronic and acoustic, then started mixing it all up to find sounds fitting for the film. He grew as a composer to find what worked with the project and didn't pick projects that worked with his style. Sure, some scores worked better than others, but considering he worked on 164 projects, the odds of batting a thousand are slim.
Some of my faves are Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Professionals (1966), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), The Year Of Living Dangerously (1982), Witness (1985), Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, and After Dark My Sweet (1990). I also give him some major points for doing the film Solarbabies (1986), just because he'd say yes to a sci-fi film about kids on roller skates.
He leaves behind a wealth of great music that generations will continue to enjoy.
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