FILM SCORE FRIDAY 1/10/03
By Scott Bettencourt
I must apologize in advance for the skimpiness of this week's column.
My own computer has suffered a premature and tragic demise and most of
the goodies I'd planned for today are temporarily locked in my hard drive,
so right now I'm having to make do with the stone knives and bearskins
lying around Lukas's office. (And if you get that "stone knives and bearskins"
refererence, congratulations -- you're a nerd.)
Just another reminder, our latest CDs from Film Score Monthly are Miklos
Rozsa's Western (!) score to TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN, and a double
feature disc of NEVER SO FEW by Hugo Friedhofer and 7
WOMEN by Elmer Bernstein.
The first soundtrack CD of the new year is now available. Airstrip One
(not Airship One, as I'd previously reported) has released Stanley
Myers' lively, offbeat score for the miniseries version of Ray Bradbury's
THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, which is now for sale at the usual mail
order websites.
Mere hours after composing last week's poll, "Which score
are you most looking forward to in 2003?", I discovered that the movie
version of THE CAT IN THE HAT is being scored not by Randy Newman
but by Marc Shaiman, with songs written by Shaiman and his Hairspray
writing partner Scott Wittman. Oops.
2003 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS
BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK ALBUM FOR A MOTION PICTURE, TELEVISION, OR
OTHER VISUAL MEDIA
A BEAUTIFUL MIND - James Horner
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE - John Williams
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING - Howard Shore
MONSTERS, INC. - Randy Newman
SPIDER-MAN - Danny Elfman
BEST INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSITION
HEDWIG'S THEME (from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) - John Williams
INSPIRATION - Kenny Werner
THE RIDE OF THE DOORS (from Monsters, Inc.) - Randy Newman
SIGNS: MAIN TITLE - James Newton Howard
SIX FEET UNDER MAIN TITLE - Thomas Newman
BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK ALBUM FOR A MOTION PICTURE, TELEVISION
OR OTHER VISUAL MEDIA
DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS
I AM SAM
SIX FEET UNDER
STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN
Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN
Thomas Newman was also nominated for "Best Instrumental Arrangment"
for his Six Feet Under theme, and Marc Shaiman was nominated for
"Best Musical Show Album" for the Hairspray cast album.
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
The Martian Chronicles - Stanley Myers - Airstrip One
IN THEATERS TODAY
Just Married - Christophe Beck
COMING SOON
January 14
25th Hour - Terence Blanchard - Hollywood
January 28
The Recruit - Klaus Badelt - Varese Sarabande
Two Weeks Notice - John Powell - Varese Sarabande
February 4
Gods and Generals - John Frizzell, Randy Edelman - Sony Classical
February 11
Diamonds Are Forever - John Barry - EMI/Capitol
Live and Let Die - George Martin - EMI/Capitol
On Her Majesty's Secret Service - John Barry - EMI/Capitol
Febuary 18
The Guys - Mychael Danna - Sony Classical
February 25
Goldfinger - John Barry - EMI/Capitol
Nicholas Nickleby - Rachel Portman - Varese Sarabande
Thunderball - John Barry - EMI/Capitol
You Only Live Twice - John Barry - EMI/Capitol
Date Unknown
Amerika - Basil Poledouris - Prometheus
The Big Sky - Dimitri Tiomkin - Screen Archives/BYU
The Busy Body/The Spirit is Willing - Vic Mizzy - Percepto
Mighty Joe Young, etc. - Roy Webb, et al - Monstrous Movie Music
Never So Few/7 Women - Hugo Friedhofer/Elmer Bernstein - Film
Score Monthly
This Island Earth, etc. - Herman Steink, et al - Monstrous Movie
Music
Tribute to a Bad Man - Miklos Rozsa - Film Score Monthly
CONFESSIONS OF PREJUDICE
Just to let readers know where I stand (and to help pad this column
out to a slightly more substantial length), here are my twenty-five favorite
film composers, past and present:
1. Jerry Goldsmith
2. Bernard Herrmann
3. John Williams
4. John Barry
5. Elmer Bernstein
6. Basil Poledouris
7. Miklos Rozsa
8. Jerome Moross
9. Thomas Newman
10. David Shire
11. Bruce Broughton
12. Danny Elfman
13. Christopher Young
14. Elliot Goldenthal
15. Richard Rodney Bennett
16. Georges Delerue
17. Alex North
18. Howard Shore
19. Shirley Walker
20. Hugo Friedhofer
21. Franz Waxman
22. Henry Mancini
23. Carter Burwell
24. Rachel Portman
25. Laurence Rosenthal
At least, that's the way the list looked the last time I put it together.
Next time I work on it, I'll probably put Shore and Mancini higher, Burwell
lower, add James Newton Howard to the list, and so forth. Conversely, here
are ten living composers who wouldn't have achieved nearly the prominence
they have if I ran the circus:
Angelo Badalamenti
John Debney
Randy Edelman
Dave Grusin
Mark Isham
Maurice Jarre
Trevor Jones
Michael Kamen
Trevor Rabin
Hans Zimmer
Not that I'd want to eliminate these composers entirely -- after all,
their work includes some of my favorite CDs of last year (The Bride,
Die Hard, Lethal Weapon) and one of 2002's best unreleased scores (The
Ring). It's just that I've never seen the great appeal of their talents
that the powers-that-be in Hollywood seem to.
So those are my basic film music composer prejudices, pro and con, and
if in reading future columns you want to decide how much credence to give
my opinions, here's your ammunition.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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