ALTERED SCORES

My recent articles on rejected scores (4/25/02 and 5/09/02) led to many letters (though not as many as if I'd written about Attack of the Clones, apparently) discussing other scores that had been tampered with in various ways.

What follows is a list of scores where the original composer still receives the principal credit, but the score experienced alterations after its original recording -- major cues dropped, resequenced, or partially rescored by other composers.

This list is incomplete to say the least (I suspect that the projects listed are merely the tip of the iceberg), and I eagerly await your suggestions on improving it (besides the obvious improvement of having someone else write it).

THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS - Bernard Herrmann
When the studio had Roy Webb write additional cues for the film, Herrmann took his name off the film. Oddly enough, this is one of two films Herrmann scored where the credits (not including his name, in this case) are read aloud rather than printed onscreen -- the other was Fahrenheit 451. (Peter Hyams' comedy noir Peeper is another rare example of this; in Otto Preminger's Skidoo, Harry Nilsson sings the credits.)

THE HEIRESS - Aaron Copland
William Wyler substituted Copland's original main title (heard on the RCA CD "Copland: Music For Films") with an orchestral arrangement of the song "Plaisir d'Amour." Regardless, Copland's score won the Oscar

A PLACE IN THE SUN - Franz Waxman
George Stevens brought in Victor Young and Daniel Amfitheatrof to rescore about forty percent of the movie, using Waxman's thematic material. Waxman managed to win his second consecutive Best Score Oscar for his work.

THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD - Alfred Newman
Director George Stevens removed much of Newman's score (the film itself was also severely recut before release) and famously remarked that his film would "immortalize Handel's 'Messiah.'" Newman's collaborator Ken Darby wrote an entire book on their experience with the film, called "Hollywood Holyland."

CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES - Tom Scott
Many cues were removed, and the finale features a tracked in cue from Goldsmith's Planet of the Apes score.

THE OTHER - Jerry Goldsmith
Robert Mulligan dialed out much of Goldsmith's music for this too-little-seen, genuinely disturbing period horror film.

ACE ELI AND RODGER OF THE SKIES - Jerry Goldsmith
The film lost a half-hour in re-editing during its long time on the shelf, and Goldsmith rescored certain scenes, two with arrangements by Alexander Courage. Goldsmith's main and end title cues were replaced by Jim Grady's theme song "Who's For Complainin'."

ROBIN AND MARIAN - John Barry
Parts of Barry's score (itself a replacement for a more classical Michel Legrand score) were reworked by Richard Shores, especially the Western-sounding action motif, and one cue in the final version sounds like it might not be the work of either composer.

FIRST LOVE - John Barry
Barry's score was substantially reworked by others, and the film bears no composer credit but some of the cues are clearly derived from Barry.

ALIEN - Jerry Goldsmith
One of the most notorious of altered scores. Goldsmith's brilliant, ground-breaking work was hacked to pieces by director Ridley Scott, who resequenced some cues, removed many, and replaced others with pieces from Goldsmith's Freud and excerpts from Howard Hanson's "Romantic" symphony. The soundtrack album features the score as the composer intended, though nearly half still goes unreleased. The DVD features an alternate track with the full Goldsmith score, but because of re-editing the cues don't always synch up perfectly.

BLOODLINE - Ennio Morricone
Craig Hundley was hired to write a replacement cue for the "Pills on Parade" scene, and the Varese LP of the film featured both Morricone's and Hundley's versions.

FEDORA - Miklos Rozsa
Despite their many collaborations, director Billy Wilder removed much of Rozsa's typically beautiful score.

SATURN 3 - Elmer Bernstein
Director Stanley Donen removed much of Bernstein's unusual score including the love theme, which Bernstein later turned into "Taarna's theme" for his superlative Heavy Metal score.

THE SHINING - Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind
Carlos and Elkind reportedly wrote a complete score for the film, of which only the first two cues were used, both featured on the soundtrack LP.

DRAGONSLAYER - Alex North
Many of North's cues were removed and resequenced, including the end title.

RAGGEDY MAN - Jerry Goldsmith
Jack Fisk dialed out several of Goldsmith's cues.

THE THING - Ennio Morricone
Director John Carpenter used only a few of Morricone's cues, frequently repeating the most Carpenter-ish piece (Carpenter has admitted that Morricone was one of his biggest influences as a composer), while the album features a wealth of deleted music

2010 - David Shire
The soundtrack album includes many Shire cues not featured in the movie.

HEAVEN HELP US - James Horner
Horner reportedly had to write and record his score three times. The second version was largely Mozart adaptations, while the third and final version reworked his first score while making the Irish-themed orchestrations more traditional sounding.

ALIENS - James Horner
One cue was tracked in from Goldsmith's original Alien score.

LEGEND - Jerry Goldsmith
Even the prints featuring Goldsmith's original score - including the new "restored" DVD - contain tracked in music from his Psycho II score.

PLATOON - Georges Delerue
Oliver Stone removed most of Delerue's score, replacing it with an overuse of Samuel Barber's Adagio For Strings which was already over-familiar from The Elephant Man.

DIE HARD - Michael Kamen
The final two cues were tracked in from John Scott's Man on Fire and James Horner's Aliens.

RAMBO III - Jerry Goldsmith
For some of the action scenes, Goldsmith's new music was replaced with tracked-in cues from his score to Rambo: First Blood Part II.

TWINS - Georges Delerue
Delerue's music was partially replaced by new music by Randy Edelman, who for a while became director Ivan Reitman's in-house composer. The two composers shared the main credit, and each had one cue on the song-dominated soundtrack.

THE GRIFTERS - Elmer Bernstein
Stephen Frears altered the placement of much of Bernstein's score, with surprising success. The soundtrack album features the cues in the order Bernstein intended.

THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER - Basil Poledouris
One cue was tracked in from Poledouris' score to No Man's Land.

QUICK CHANGE - Randy Edelman
Howard Shore receives an "additional music" credit, but I have no idea who replaced whom or who wrote what of the final score.

TREMORS - Ernest Troost
Robert Folk wrote many additional cues, including a large amount of the action music included in the final film.

BRAIN DONORS - Ira Newborn
Mark Mothersbaugh gets credit only for additional pieces, but his cues (including the main title) dominate the score.

LOVE FIELD - Jerry Goldsmith
Many of Goldsmith's cues were replaced by cues by Bill Payne, whose small ensemble music (it may even have been just a solo piano -- I haven't seen the film in a long time) was clearly distinguishable from Goldsmith's orchestral score.

SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE - Marc Shaiman
Nora Ephron removed much of Shaiman's score, to the composer's expressed displeasure.

DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE - Michael Kamen
Kamen had to rework his score substantially during the recording period, substituting variations of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" for his Brahms based music. I've always wondered if the use of "Johnny" was supposed to refer to Detective John McClane's return to New York City, or John McTiernan's return to the Die Hard series.

ERASER - Alan Silvestri
Composer Walter Werzowa replaced Silvestri's main title music. The Eraser score CD contains Silvestri's original version.

A LIFE LESS ORDINARY - David Arnold
Little of Arnold's score remains in the final film, and his credit is nearly buried during the final title crawl.

PICTURE PERFECT - Carter Burwell
At least one cue was tracked in from James Newton Howard's Dave.

SCREAM 2 - Marco Beltrami
Beltrami's theme for the David Arquette character was replaced by distractingly tracked in cues of Hans Zimmer's Broken Arrow theme.

HALLOWEEN H2O: TWENTY YEARS LATER - John Ottman
Much of Ottman's score was replaced by original and tracked in cues by Marco Beltrami, but his original score is available as a Varese CD entitled "Portrait of Terror."

MERCURY RISING - John Barry
Carter Burwell wrote uncredited additional cues, mostly for action scenes, when Barry became unwell, and a listener familiar with both composers can easily tell the difference.

NIGHTWATCH - Joachim Holbek
Marco Beltrami was brought in to write new cues, and later scored the little-seen Deep Water for the same director.

PLAYING BY HEART - John Barry
Christopher Young wrote additional cues which sound markedly different from Barry's distinctive contribution.

THREE KINGS - Carter Burwell
The director tracked in cues by Graeme Revell (from The Seige) and Thomas Newman)

DON'T SAY A WORD - Mark Isham
Graeme Revell is credited for the "Heist" cue. Isham's version is featured on the Varese CD.

15 MINUTES - Anthony Marinelli
Director John Herzfeld, a notorious composer replacer (Two of a Kind, 2 Days in the Valley) had J. Peter Robinson rescore half the film, and the final version gives the composers equal credit.

ATTACK OF THE CLONES - John Williams
As discussed in the Kaplan brothers' recent column, most of the action scenes in the final section of the film contain substantial music editing, including pieces tracked in from Phantom Menace and Return of the Jedi.

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