Director and Composer Collaborations

Not all directors can pick their composers.  Even during the studio system, composers would move from studio to studio to work on a project.  There are only a handful of filmmakers that have stuck with their composers over many years.  I don't really want to dive into why these collaborations happen, but rather let the films and music speak for themselves.  I wanted to list the long term collaborations with a future post about the other well-known collaborations.

First off we have the directors and composers who have done a large number of films together.

STEVEN SPIELBERG + JOHN WILLIAMS
All movies 1974-Present except The Color Purple (1985)

Lincoln (2012)
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)                                

War Horse (2011)                                                             
Indiana Jones....Crystal Skull (2008)                       
War of the Worlds (2005)                                              
The Terminal (2004)                                                       
Catch Me If You Can (2002)                                        
Minority Report (2002)                                                 
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)                                                 
Saving Private Ryan (1998)                                          
Amistad (1997)                                                                  
The Lost World (1997)                                                    
Schindler's List (1993)                                                      

Jurassic Park (1993)
Hook (1991)
Always (1989)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
1941 (1979)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
 Jaws (1975)
The Sugarland Express (1974) 

TIM BURTON + DANNY ELFMAN
All movies 1985-Present except Ed Wood (1994) and Sweeney Todd (2007)

Frankenweenie (2012)
Dark Shadows (2012)
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Corpse Bride (2005)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Big Fish (2003)
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Batman Returns (1992)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Batman (1989)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985)  
COEN BROTHERS + CARTER BURWELL

1984-Present

True Grit (2010)
A Serious Man (2009)
Burn After Reading (2008)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
The Ladykillers (2004)
Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) “additional music”
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Fargo (1996)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Barton Fink (1991)
Miller's Crossing (1990)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Blood Simple (1984)

SERGIO LEONE + ENNIO MORRICONE
1964-1984
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
A Fistful of Dynamite (1971)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN + JAMES NEWTON HOWARD

1999-Present

After Earth (2013)
The Last Airbender (2010)
The Happening (2008)
Lady in the Water (2006)
The Village (2004)
Signs (2002)
Unbreakable (2000)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
ROBERT ZEMECKIS + ALAN SILVESTRI

1984-Present

Flight (2012)
A Christmas Carol (2009)
Beowulf (2007)
The Polar Express (2004)
Cast Away (2000)
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Contact (1997)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Death Becomes Her (1992)
Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Back to the Future II (1989)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Back to the Future (1985)
Romancing the Stone (1984)

OTHER NOTABLE COLLABORATIONS
DAVID LEAN + MAURICE JARRE (3 films)
STEPHEN SOMMERS + ALAN SILVESTRI (3 films)
J.J. ABRAMS + MICHAEL GIACCHINO (3 films)
BRAD BIRD + MICHAEL GIACCHINO (3 films)
ANDREW ADAMSON + HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS (4 films)
PAUL GREENGRASS + JOHN POWELL (4 films)
JOHN LASSETER + RANDY NEWMAN (4 films)
DARREN ARONOFSKY + CLINT MANSELL (5 films)
BRYAN SINGER + JOHN OTTMAN (5 films)
MICHAEL CURTIZ + ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD (6 films)FRANKLIN J. SCHAFFNER + JERRY GOLDSMITH (7 films)
KENNETH BRANAGH + PATRICK DOYLE (8 films)
TONY SCOTT + HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS (8 films)
MEL BROOKS + JOHN MORRIS (9 films)
HAYAO MIYAZAKI + JOE HISAISHI (9 films)
ROB REINER + MARC SHAIMAN (11 films)
MICHAEL CURTIZ + MAX STEINER (31 films)

More to follow!