---
name: "Joe Renzetti"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/joe-renzetti"
fi1m_id: "joe-renzetti"
imdb_id: "nm0006250"
tmdb_id: 65681
wikidata_id: "Q376630"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "4 January 1941"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-10-04T18:05:03.011982+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Joe Renzetti

## Identity

Joe Renzetti

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/joe-renzetti
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** joe-renzetti
- **IMDb ID:** nm0006250
- **TMDB ID:** 65681
- **Wikidata ID:** Q376630
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Renzetti, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q376630, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006250/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/65681

Composer. Born 4 January 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 4 January 1941, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Renzetti, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q376630, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006250/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/65681

## Streaming the US now

- **AMC+:** [*Vice Squad*](https://film.one/film/vice-squad.md) (64)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Joe Renzetti is an American film composer and session musician. Born in Philadelphia, he began his career as a guitarist and arranger in the 1960s, working as house guitarist for Cameo Records and later arranging hit records in New York before moving to Hollywood.

Renzetti is best known for his film scores, including *The Buddy Holly Story* (1978), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adaptation Score; *Elvis* (1979); *Dead & Buried* (1981); *Vice Squad* (1982); *Poltergeist III* (1988); and *Child's Play* (1988). He has frequently collaborated with director Gary Sherman and has also composed for television, including an episode of *Tales from the Crypt* (1989), as well as concert works for orchestra and chamber ensembles.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Vice Squad* (1982), Fi1m 64, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/vice-squad.md)

## Complete filmography (31)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Ever After* (2026), Music
- *The Ethansponge Investigtaion Part 1* (2025), Music
- *Dead Before They Wake* (2025), Original Music Composer
- *Eating Miss Campbell* (2022), Original Music Composer
- *Tom Holland's Twisted Tales* (2014), Original Music Composer
- *Universal Signs* (2008), Music
- *Blondes Have More Guns* (1996), Music
- *South Beach* (1993), Original Music Composer
- *Basket Case 3* (1992), Original Music Composer
- *Murderous Vision* (1991), Original Music Composer
- *Frankenhooker* (1990), Original Music Composer
- *Lisa* (1990), Original Music Composer
- *Basket Case 2* (1990), Original Music Composer
- *Tales from the Crypt* (1989), series, Music
- *Child's Play* (1988), Original Music Composer
- *Poltergeist III* (1988), Original Music Composer
- *Wanted: Dead or Alive* (1987), Original Music Composer
- *Vanishing America* (1985), Music
- *Mysterious Two* (1982), Original Music Composer
- *Vice Squad* (1982), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/vice-squad.md)
- *Through the Magic Pyramid* (1981), Original Music Composer
- *Under the Rainbow* (1981), Original Music Composer
- *Dead & Buried* (1981), Original Music Composer
- *The Exterminator* (1980), Original Music Composer
- *Fatso* (1980), Original Music Composer
- *Marathon* (1980), Music
- *Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker* (1979), Original Music Composer
- *Elvis* (1979), Original Music Composer
- *Cotton Candy* (1978), Original Music Composer
- *The Buddy Holly Story* (1978), Original Music Composer
- *The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig* (1973), Music

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 1 won

- 1979: Best Original Song Score (won), for *The Buddy Holly Story*

### Other awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Musical Score 1982: Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Musical Score (nominated), for *Under the Rainbow*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/joe-renzetti