Oscar-winning composer and film legend Ennio Morricone has passed away at the age of 91, due to complications from a recent fall that caused a hip fracture. There have been many great composers in film, but he may have very well been the absolute best. It’s very hard to think anyone will ever reach the heights of brilliance he displayed in his legendary, six-decade career.
Of course, Morricone will best be remembered for shaping the sound of the Spaghetti Western genre thanks to the legendary sounds he instilled in in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy,” which include “A Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars More,” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,”. Maybe the single greatest piece of music he ever wrote was for Leone’s 1968 masterpiece “Once Upon a Time in the West,”
Throughout his career, Morricone collaborated with the likes of Terrence Malick, John Carpenter, Quentin Tarantino, Roman Polanski, William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, and Mike Nichols, among others.
Morricone wrote his own obituary. His lawyer read it to the press, in it the Maestro remembers director Giuseppe Tornatore, other friends, and embraces his children and grandchildren with a find, final farewell. The following is a translation:
“ENNIO MORRICONE is dead. I announce it to all my friends who have always been close to me and also to those who are far away, whom I greet with great affection. It’s impossible to name them all. But a special memory is for Peppuccio and Roberta, close friends who were very present in the last years of my life. There is only one reason that drives me to greet everyone like this and to have a funeral in private: I don't want to disturb you. I warmly greet Ines, Laura, Sara, Enzo, and Norbert, for having shared a large part of my life with me and my family. I want to remember my sisters Adriana, Maria, Franca, and their loved ones with love and let them know how much I loved them. A full, intense, and profound greeting to my children Marco, Alessandra, Andrea, Giovanni, my daughter-in-law Monica, and to my grandchildren Francesca, Valentina, Francesco, and Luca. I hope they realize just how much I loved them. Last but not least (Maria). I renew to you the extraordinary love that has held us together and that I am sorry to abandon. A most painful farewell to you ”.
I’m now predicting a $50M domestic opening weekend for this movie, which will only further cement Cregger’s drawing power after “Barbarian” and “Weapons.”