Five Composers Doing Just Fine...

All right, so it's easy to criticize and knock people. Ten worst lists are a lot more fun to read (and write) than ten bests. But it is also important to recognize those who are doing good work. Oscars are great, but not everyone can win them, and some of the greats in film haven't won any. So, here's my little opinion (and that's all they are) on who is doing good work consistently and why. The "Lucky Five" are....

JERRY GOLDSMITH: I don't know how old Mr. Goldsmith is right now, but his output (sometimes five or six scores per year) is astounding at any age. His 1996 was a small miracle. The rich and stately City Hall, the pulse pounding Executive Decision, followed by the overlooked gem The Ghost and the Darkness and he capped off the year with Star Trek: First Contact. Not too shabby. Go watch Air Force One. This isn't his best work by any means, but it is effective and it works. And he did it in three weeks! I don't care if Joel McNeely is creditied with "additional music," it's still impressive. Mr. Goldsmith seems to change with the times and has probably used every instrument in existence. Of all the composers working today, Goldsmith wins the award for "Least Likely to Repeat Himself." Considering his enormous body of work, that is no small feat.

Personal Favorites: Islands in the Stream, Innerspace, Total Recall, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

JOHN WILLIAMS: "All right, he's going with the old pros..." is what you'll be saying, but in this man's case, he totally deserves it. I look forward to a John Williams score more than the movies themselves. It was the best thing about Sleepers and almost made The Lost World bearable. Nixon was both intimate and epic at the same time, and Sabrina was so light and breezy, it felt like it was from another era. Not to mention the body of work which is already legendary and the future projects which are almost too exciting to think about. As these kooky kids today like to say, "John Williams is still the man."

Personal Favorites: JFK, Superman: The Movie, The Empire Strikes Back, Towering Inferno (where the hell is that on CD?), the entire Williams/Spielberg collaboration.

MARC SHAIMAN: Marc Shaiman has dominated the film comedy in the '90s like no one else. I can't even imagine how many movies he turns down in a year. There's a good reason for that. His music, is witty without being too cute, and funny while still remaining rich and musical. He's no one-trick-pony though. Misery was an effective horror score, and A Few Good Men also delivered the dramatic goods. I hope someone will take a chance on him and give him something completely different to score. I'm sure it would be interesting.

Personal Favorites: City Slickers, Addams Family Values, Heart and Souls, Forget Paris, First Wives Club.

BASIL POLEDOURIS: Doesn't work enough as far as I'm concerned. His title music to Breakdown was almost worth the price of admission. Whether it's small synthesizer scores or big orchestras, Mr. Poledouris has shown enormous versatility. He brought out the emotion in Robocop, and drew out the excitement in The Hunt For Red October. Even his score for Under Siege 2: Dark Territory was better than it probably should have been. Paul Verhoeven's love for his Conan the Barbarian music reportedly became so great that he forced Jerry Goldsmith to mimic it for the Total Recall credits. But, maybe this is just one of those old wives' tales. Like when Leonard Rosenman tried to strangle Stanley Kubrick during the scoring of Barry Lyndon...

Personal Favorites: Robocop, Breakdown, Farewell to the King, Conan the Barbarian.

THOMAS NEWMAN is my favorite of the younger composers. His distinctive voice and gift for bringing out the emotion of a movie without being obvious about it, makes his work more interesting than the usual Mickey Mousing that can sometimes occur. His scores linger in the memory a lot longer than some of the movies that accompany them. The War and Up Close and Personal were influenced by a musical style without mimicing them, and Phenomenon was moving even when the movie wasn't. I'm still waiting for the complete Thomas Newman, no one else but him, score album. Will there ever be one?

Personal Favorites: Little Women, Shawshank Redemption, How to Make an American Quilt.

Just Missing This List: DANNY ELFMAN: (Fav's: Mission: Impossible, Sommersby, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure), HOWARD SHORE: (Fav's: Looking for Richard, Ed Wood, Silence of the Lambs) STEWART COPELAND: (Fav's: Rapa Nui, Wide Sargasso Sea-listen to that one!)

I apologize in advance if I offended anyone.