Legendary Composer Ennio Morricone Has Passed Away

ROME — Italian composer Ennio Morricone, who created the coyote-howl theme for the iconic Spaghetti Western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and the soundtracks such classic Hollywood gangster movies as “The Untouchables,” has died. He was 91.

Morricone’s longtime lawyer, Giorgio Assumma, said the Maestro, as he was known, died early Monday in a Rome hospital of complications following a fall, in which he broke a leg.

Morricone was one of the best composers of all time, and easily one of the most influential for all the minds to come after him. He earned his stripes in the 60's and 70's scoring Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns like 'The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly', 'For a Few Dollars More', 'Once Upon a Time in the West' and more, helping turn low-budget westerns into these epic, western adventures. Outside of the many Italian-language films he did (including oscar winner 'Cinema Paradiso'), you might recognize his work in 'The Untouchables' (one of my favorite scores), 'The Thing', 'The Mission', 'Bugsy', 'The Hateful Eight' and much more. Speaking of the latter(which he won an Oscar for), you'd be hard pressed to find many directors who are bigger fans of his than Quentin Tarantino. Besides scoring the one movie, Morricone's compositions were also used in 'Inglorious Basterds', 'Django Unchained' and 'Kill Bill'. 

His work influenced a wide range of musical minds from fellow composers like Hans Zimmer to bands like Radiohead and Muse. Rest in peace, king. Here are a few of my favorites of his:

I don't know where this ranks among the GOAT Nike commercials, but for me personally it's top-3