MovieChat Forums > Les Misérables (1998) Discussion > Basil didn't bring his A-game to this sc...

Basil didn't bring his A-game to this score

posted 8 years ago by Navaros
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I was shocked to learn that Basil Poledouris scored this film. This is the same man who is responsible for two of the best scores in the history of film (Conan 1982 and Robocop 1987).

But in Les Mis (1998), his music is more like elevator music than like his best work.

Music made by A-game Basil would have been even better than the musical version of Les Mis' music.

I wish they would have had some random guy score this film instead of Basil, lest his legacy not be tarnished a bit.

[–] Psilio 8 years ago

One of the trivia entries for this movie says:

Bille August rejected the original score composed by Gabriel Yared. Yared said he could see it coming because there was 'no harmony' between the two of them. Yared was replaced by Basil Poledouris, who had a limited time to compose a full score. When the film was released, many movie posters listed Yared as composer, not Poledouris.

Whether it's true or not I don't know, but that would explain the rushed score.

What we do in life echoes in eternity Russell Crowe as General Maximus in Gladiator (2000)