THE TOP FORTY COUNTDOWN, PART THREE

By Scott Bettencourt

You are not experiencing déjà vu -- I have given all these warnings before:

Apart from the specifically factual material (ages, awards, grosses), the opinions expressed here are just that -- my opinions.

Readers may be confused by the presence of 1997 rankings. These articles are a sequel to an article written for Film Score Monthly in 1997 but which was never published. I use these earlier, phantom rankings to illustrate the career trajectories of the composers, and because it makes it all look more official.

WHAT YOU MISSED IN EPISODE ONE, "CLONE ANOTHER DAY," AND EPISODE TWO, "THE QUICKENING BOOGALOO":

21. Rolfe Kent
22. Edward Shearmur
23. Mychael Danna
24. David Arnold
25. Ennio Morricone
26. Graeme Revell
27. Stephen Warbeck
28. John Powell
29. John Barry
30. Marc Shaiman
31. Patrick Doyle
32. Harry Gregson-Williams
33. Gabriel Yared
34. Mark Mancina
35. Trevor Jones
36. George Fenton
37. Craig Armstrong
38. Marco Beltrami
39. Randy Edelman
40. Elmer Bernstein

20. TREVOR RABIN

1997 RANKING: Not Applicable
AGE: 48
REPRESENTATION: Blue Focus
ONGOING FILMMAKER RELATIONSHIPS: Jerry Bruckheimer
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Armageddon--201 (U.S. gross in millions)
2. Remember the Titans--115
3. Enemy of the State--111
4. Gone in 60 Seconds--101
5. Con Air--101
6. Deep Blue Sea--73
7. The One--43
8. The 6th Day--34
9. Jack Frost--34
10. Glimmer Man--20

In the last five years, Rabin has amassed an impressive list of hits, mostly with low profile indie producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and even managed to break out of the synth-based action ghetto with a credible orchestral score for Remember the Titans. Surprisingly, in an era where Westerns are few, Rabin has managed to score two, the inane American Outlaws and the underrated, little seen Texas Rangers (whose score is one of Rabin's strongest). Still mostly typecast in action, his one venture into family entertainment was for the godawful Jack Frost.

WHAT'S NEXT: Bad Company, The Banger Sisters

1997 RANKING: N/A
AGE: 45
REP: Blue Focus
RELATIONSHIPS: The Wachowski Brothers, Joel Silver
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Jurassic Park III--181
2. The Matrix--171
3. Behind Enemy Lines--58
4. House on Haunted Hill--40
5. Valentine--20
6. Antitrust--11
7. Universal Soldier: The Return--10

Davis moved into the big leagues with his music for The Matrix, featuring some of the freshest action scoring in years, but so far he hasn't been able to move out of the action/thriller genre. His lively work for the underrated Jurassic Park III transcended the Ken Thorne tradition of sequel/adaptation scores. Unfortunately, after assignments like the misogynstic slasher flick Valentine and Behind Enemy Lines (aka Bosnia: The Video Game), Davis should take a good look at his career path. A composer can't thrive on Matrix sequels alone.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Matrix Reloaded, Long Time Dead, The Matrix Revolutions

1997 RANKING: 38
AGE: 44
REP: Blue Focus
RELATIONSHIPS: Jon Amiel
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Entrapment-87
2. Swordfish--69
3. Species--60
4. The Hurricane--50
5. Bandits--41
6. Urban Legend--38
7. Set It Off--36
8. Sweet November--25
9. Murder at 1600--25
10. Virtuosity--24

Years of toiling on B-movies (and, I suspect, some ace agenting from the folks at Blue Focus) have finally led to the A-list assignments that Young's talents deserve. Though the Miramax hype machine failed to break Young into the Oscar circle for the moving, underrated Shipping News, his subtle, emotional score featured one of the strongest themes of the year. With Bandits he joined the remarkable line-up of composers who have worked with Barry Levinson--Randy Newman, Broughton, North, Zimmer, Morricone, Williams, Goldenthal--and he even managed to write a thrilling score for the hateful thriller Swordfish, a film so irresponsible it stages the death of an terrified female hostage as a trick shot that brings applause from the audience. Young also managed to breathe unexpected life into the choral horror score with his work on Bless the Child. (As you might have figured out already, I'm a Chris Young fan). Though he still hasn't scored a hundred million dollar hit, prestige projects like The Hurricane and Wonder Boys help make up for all those years of films like Avenging Angel and The Telephone.

WHAT'S NEXT: Scenes of the Crime, The Country Bears, The Core

1997 RANKING: 36
AGE: 44
REP: Blue Focus
RELATIONSHIPS: Tom Shadyac, Robert Rodriguez
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Liar, Liar--181
2. Spy Kids--112
3. The Princess Diaries--108
4. Inspector Gadget--97
5. Cats & Dogs--93
6. The Emperor's New Groove--87
7. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius--80* (as of 3/10/02)
8. Snow Dogs--78* (as of 3/10/02)
9. I Know What You Did Last Summer--72
10. End of Days--66

Debney is in the midst of an impressive string of family oriented hit comedies, while the upcoming Scorpion King should allow him a broader canvas to work on. Creatively, his recent work has been a disappointment compared to early scores such as Hocus Pocus and Cutthroat Island, but he managed a wry John Barry homage for the overrated Dick, and a lively pastiche for Cats & Dogs.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Scorpion King, Swimfan, Spy Kids 2

1997 RANKING: 8
AGE: 47
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
2 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Neil Jordan, Julie Taymor
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Batman Forever--184
2. A Time to Kill--108
3. Batman and Robin--107
4. Interview With the Vampire--105
5. Heat--67
6. Demolition Manó58
7. Pet Sematary--57
8. Alien 3--54
9. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within--32
10. Michael Collins--11

One of the most original and boldest talents in film music today, Goldenthal devotes much of his time to the concert arena, taking fewer assignments than most composers. His commercially successful collaboration with Joel Schumacher has ended, at least temporarily, and his latest film, Final Fantasy, was one of 2001's biggest boxoffice disasters. The resumption of his relationship with Neil Jordan on the upcoming Double Down should give Goldenthal the kind of scoring challenge he thrives on.

WHAT'S NEXT: Frida, Double Down

1997 RANKING: 25
AGE: 50
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
1 OSCAR NOMINATION
RELATIONSHIPS: Jodie Foster, Gary Fleder, Irwin Winkler, Brian Robbins
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Save the Last Dance--91
2. Blade--70
3. Rules of Engagement--61
4. Kiss the Girls--60
5. Don't Say a Word--54
6. Varsity Blues--52
7. The Net--50
8. Men of Honor--48
9. Timecopó44
10. A River Runs Through It--43

Isham has never fully shaken free of his Wyndham Hill background, and despite working in a variety of genres, his music still has a distressingly meandering New Age quality, often coming across as Thomas Newman without the dramatic tension. This made Isham the perfect replacement choice when Newman wisely left the Frank Darabont disaster The Majestic. Isham's strongest work is on folk-based scores such as Fly Away Home, Nell, and his Oscar-nominated A River Runs Through It. He's employed steadily on teen movies these days, scoring films like Varsity Blues and Save the Last Dance whose soundtrack albums invariably include few if any score cues. While he's yet to have a hundred million dollar hit (though the 91 million dollar take of Save the Last Dance was pretty damn impressive), he's one of the most frequently hired composers in town, and his perky music for the glossy soap Life As a House makes for a surprisingly engaging listening experience.

WHAT'S NEXT: Goodbye Hello

1997 RANKING: 23
AGE: 48
REP: Blue Focus
1 OSCAR NOMINATION
RELATIONSHIPS: Brian Levant, Danny DeVito, Stephen Herek, Raja Gosnell
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Flintstones--130
2. The Nutty Professor--128
3. Nutty Professor II: The Klumps--123
4. Dr. Dolittle 2--112
5. The War of the Roses--86
6. Galaxy Quest--71
7. 102 Dalmatians--66
8. Bowfinger--66
9. Jingle All the Way--60
10. Throw Momma From the Train--57

Newman has become one of the most reliable comedy composers in Hollywood, though the slick, often exhaustingly busy style of his recent work lacks the inventiveness of his early Bill and Ted scores. His rare recent ventures into drama, such as Brokedown Palace and Affair of the Necklace, were both critical and commercial failures (though hardly his fault), but his ongoing collaboration with director Danny DeVito allows him to work in a variety of styles, and the upcoming Life or Something Like It reunites him with director Stephen Herek for the first time in a decade. Ice Age's staggering 47 million dollar opening weekend can only help push Newman toward the top ten.

WHAT'S NEXT: Death to Smoochy, Life or Something Like It, Scooby-Doo

1997 RANKING: 17
AGE: 46
REP: CAA
RELATIONSHIPS: Joel & Ethan Coen, Michael Caton-Jones, Spike Jonze
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. The Generalís Daughter--102
2. Conspiracy Theory--75
3. Three Kings--60
4. A Knight's Tale--55
5. The Jackal--54
6. Doc Hollywood--54
7. Wayne's World 2ó47
8. O Brother Where Art Thou--43
9. It Could Happen to You--37
10. A Goofy Movie--35

His ongoing work with the Coen brothers and his score for Being John Malkovich give Burwell an unusually hip reputation for an orchestral film composer, though the typically brooding quality of his music makes him tricky to cast. The General's Daughter has been his only breakout hit, but the score was dominated by an inventive use of found music as part of the director's refreshing and unusual determination to steer away from military music cliches. Lately, the Coens have demonstrated an unfortunately Kubrickian tendency to emphasize songs and classical music over original scoring--the last three films combined had less than forty minutes of Burwell music. While this trend led to the enormously successful O Brother Where Art Thou album, one hopes that the brothers give their talented composer more to do in their next collaboration.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Rookie, Adaptation, Simone

1997 RANKING: 14
AGE: 41
REP: Blue Focus
1 OSCAR, 3 NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Lasse Hallstrom, Harvey Weinstein, Jonathan Demme, Beeban Kidron, Doug McGrath
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Chocolat--71
2. The Cider House Rules--57
3. To Wong Foo--36
4. Addicted to Love--34
5. Joy Luck Club--32
6. The Legend of Bagger Vance--30
7. Emma--22
8. Beloved--22
9. Benny & Joon--22
10. Only You--20

The first female composer to make the A-list, Portman has a delicate, melodic style that makes her the closest thing we have to a contemporary Georges Delerue. Her Oscar for Emma moved her into the big league, but her willingness to turn down assignments (like Mulan) in favor of childbearing -- a choice male composers never have to face -- has limited the number of projects she's taken on. Some of her best work has been for her more obscure movies, such as her delightful music for War of the Buttons and her gorgeous love theme to Only You. Hart's War was a rare chance for a female composer to score an all-male story, but the film was much more of a drama than an action film (as well as a boxoffice failure -- it won't even make Portman's boxoffice top ten) and thus not that far in tone from her earlier projects.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Truth About Charlie, Nicholas Nickleby

1997 RANKING: 12
AGE: 53
REP: Gorfaine/Schwartz
2 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
RELATIONSHIPS: Joel Silver, Richard Donner, John McTiernan
TOP GROSSING FILMS:
1. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves--165
2. X-Men--157
3. Lethal Weapon 2--147
4. Lethal Weapon 3--144
5. 101 Dalmatians--136
6. Lethal Weapon 4--130
7. Die Hard 2--117
8. Die Hard With a Vengeance--100
9. Mr. Holland's Opus--82
10. Die Hard--81

Kamen has had a remarkable hit streak at the boxoffice as well as two hugely successful movie songs (especially surprising for a composer whose melodic abilities are not his strongest asset), "I Do It For You" and "Have You Ever Loved a Woman." Kamen is very picky about his projects, understandable for someone with his level of commercial success, making the half-baked Frequency an odd assignment for him to take. The mini-series Band of Brothers gave him the kind of large canvas that features rarely provide (though one motif was alarmingly similar to his Robin Hood piece that became the Morgan Creek logo theme), but while dropping out of Tomb Raider was aesthetically admirable, it won't help his continued commercial viability.

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