FILM SCORE FRIDAY 5/7/04

Oscar and Emmy winning composer-author-documentarian Fred Karlin died on March 26th of cancer, his family announced this week. Frederick James Karlin was born on June 16th, 1936, in Chicago, Illinois, and played trumpet and studied music composition in his teenage years. After graduating from Amherst College he became a composer-arranger for the big bands of Benny Goodman, Harry James and others.

His collaboration with a chamber-jazz quintet led to three Columbia Records LPs as well as his marriage to one of its members, Meg Welles, who would go on to write lyrics for his film scores under the names Megan Karlin, Marsha Karlin, and Tylwyth Kymry.

Scoring documentaries and commercials in the 60s led to his first film score, Up the Down Staircase, followed by an exciting score for the offbeat Western thriller The Stalking Moon (both for director Robert Mulligan). Staircase producer Alan J. Pakula hired Karlin to score his own directorial debut, The Sterile Cuckoo, which received Oscar nominations for its star Liza Minnelli and Karlin's haunting ballad "Come Saturday Morning." The following year, Karlin would win the Oscar for Lovers and Other Strangers' "For All We Know, " which became a hit single as recorded by The Carpenters. Three years later he scored his best remembered feature, Michael Crichton's directorial debut Westworld, mixing source cues, Stalking Moon-style Western thrills, and moody electronics. He also scored its 1976 sequel, Futureworld (in which Crichton's name never appears).

During the early 70s, Karlin balanced feature projects with TV movie scores, but after his Emmy winning score for the acclaimed MOW The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman he focused mostly on television projects -- for much of the 70s and 80s, it seemed as if nearly every made-for-TV movie was scored by either Karlin or Billy Goldenberg. His assignments ran the gamut from the notorious Born Innocent to the sex comedy It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy (with Paul Sorvino as a man raped by a beautiful woman), from the teen romance Forever (in which yours truly was employed as an extra) to the all-star historical miniseries Inside the Third Reich.

As TV music budgets dwindled during the 80s, Karlin experimented with electronic scoring, and the recent CD The Fred Karlin Collection Volume 3: Electronic Chronicle features notable examples of his work in this area. Among his last period of TV scores were Dadah is Death, a true-life drama of two Australian youths sentenced to death in Malaysia for drug smuggling, starring Julie Christie, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hugo Weaving and future Swimfan director John Poulson, and The Last Prostitute, featuring the offbeat romantic pairing of Sonia Braga and Wil Wheaton.

In 1990, he wrote (with Rayburn Wright) the acclaimed book On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring, and in 1995 followed it up with Listening to Movies: A Film Lover's Guide to Film Music. His  third and final book, 100 Great Film Scores, is due next year. In the mid 90s he arranged and played the trumpet and flugelhorn on two film music jazz albums for Varese Sarabande, Jazz Goes to Hollywood (re-released as Cool & Classic: Great Film Themes From the '60s) and Cool & Classic: Great Film Themes From the '70s.

In 1995 he produced and directed an outstanding video documentary, Film Music Masters: Jerry Goldsmith, which featured everything from clips of Goldsmith recording his The River Wild score to Emil Richards demonstrating the steel bowls used in the Planet of the Apes score and Craig Huxley performing his Blaster Beam. It was planned to be the first in a film music documentary series but unfortunately for film music fans no follow-ups materialized.

Karlin served on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1972 through 1975, and taught the ASCAP/Fred Karlin Film Scoring Workshop for a decade as well as teaching at UC Santa Barbara and USC. His survivors include his wife Meg, son Eric, daughters Wendy Karlin and Kathryn Velasquez, and four grandchildren. Memorial donations should be made to the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, where Karlin deposited many of his original scores.

THE SCORES OF FRED KARLIN:

UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE
Score LP on United Artists
YOURS, MINE AND OURS
Score LP on United Artists, re-released on MCA
THE STALKING MOON
Score CD on Reel Music Down Under
THE STERILE CUCKOO
Score LP on Paramount; Best Song Oscar nominee for "Come Saturday Morning"
LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS
Soundtrack LP on ABC; Best Song Oscar winner for "For All We Know"
COVER ME BABE
THE BABY MAKER
Soundtrack LP on Ode Records; Best Original Song Score Oscar nominee
THE MARRIAGE OF A YOUNG STOCKBROKER
Best Song Oscar finalist for "Can It Be True"
MR. AND MRS. BO JO JONES [TV]
BELIEVE IN ME
Best Song Oscar finalist for "Believe In Me"
EVERY LITTLE CROOK AND NANNY
THE LITTLE ARK
Best Song Oscar nominee for "Come Follow Follow Me"
THE MAN WHO COULD TALK TO KIDS [TV]
WESTWORLD
Score CD on Chapter III
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN [TV]
12 cues on the Reel Music CD The Fred Karlin Collection Vol. 1; Emmy winner Music Composition For a Special Program, Emmy nominee Best Song or Theme
CHOSEN SURVIVORS
ZANDY'S BRIDE
THE TAKE
THE DION BROTHERS
Best Song Oscar finalist for "The Next Time Around"
THE SPIKES GANG
BORN INNOCENT [TV]
MIXED COMPANY
BAD RONALD [TV]
IT COULDN'T HAPPEN TO A NICER GUY [TV]
PUNCH AND JODY [TV]
THE DREAM MAKERS [TV]
DEATH BE NOT PROUD [TV]
BABY BLUE MARINE
FUTUREWORLD
Score CD in development from Reel Music Down Under
WOMAN OF THE YEAR [TV]
DAWN: PORTRAIT OF A TEENAGE RUNAWAY [TV]
WANTED: THE SUNDANCE WOMAN [TV]
JOE PANTHER
Best Song Oscar finalist for "The Time Has Come"
MASTERMIND
LEADBELLY
Soundtrack LP on ABC; Best Adaptation Score Oscar finalist
GREEN EYES [TV]
THE DEATH OF RICHIE [TV]
MINSTREL MAN [TV]
1976/1977 Emmy nominee Music Composition - Special, Special Musical Material
THE MAN FROM ATLANTIS [TV]
THE LIFE AND ASSASSINATION OF THE KINGFISH [TV]
THE WORLD OF DARKNESS [TV]
ALEXANDER: THE OTHER SIDE OF DAWN [TV]
LUCAN [TV]
GREASED LIGHTNING
THE HOSTAGE HEART [TV]
BILLY: PORTRAIT OF A STREET KID [TV]
THE TRIAL OF LEE HARVEY OSWALD [TV]
THE GIRL CALLED HATTER FOX [TV]
HAVING BABIES II [TV]
INTIMATE STRANGERS [TV]
CHRISTMAS MIRACLE IN CAUFIELD, U.S.A. [TV]
FOREVER [TV]
THE WORLD BEYOND [TV]
DEADMAN'S CURVE [TV]
THE AWAKENING LAND [TV]
Emmy nominee Music Composition - Series (Dramatic Underscore);
LEAVE YESTERDAY BEHIND [TV]
JUST ME AND YOU [TV]
MEAN DOG BLUES
MORE THAN FRIENDS [TV]
KAZ [TV SERIES]
LADY OF THE HOUSE [TV]
BUD AND LOU [TV]
THE GIFT OF LOVE [TV]
LONG JOURNEY BACK [TV]
WHO'LL SAVE OUR CHILDREN? [TV]
AND YOUR NAME IS JONAH [TV]
FRIENDS [TV SERIES]
TRANSPLANT [TV]
SAMURAI [TV]
CALIFORNIA DREAMING
IKE [TV]
STRANGERS: THE STORY OF A MOTHER AND A DAUGHTER [TV]
WALKING THROUGH THE FIRE [TV]
BLIND AMBITION [TV]
LAWMAN WITHOUT A GUN [TV]
RAVAGERS
THE LAST GIRAFFE [TV]
SEX AND THE SINGLE PARENT [TV]
VAMPIRE [TV]
11 cues on the Reel Music CD The Fred Karlin Collection Vol. 1
PARIS [TV SERIES]
Emmy nominee Music Composition - Series (Dramatic Underscore) for the episode "Decisions"
AND BABY MAKES SIX [TV]
MARRIAGE IS ALIVE AND WELL [TV]
THE PLUTONIUM INCIDENT [TV]
CLOUD DANCER [TV]
LOVING COUPLES
Soundtrack LP on Motown
BABY COMES HOME [TV]
MOM, THE WOLFMAN AND ME [TV]
SOPHIA LOREN: HER OWN STORY [TV]
HOMEWARD BOUND [TV]
Emmy nominee Music Composition - Limited Series or a Special (Dramatic Underscore), Music and Lyrics
FIGHTING BACK [TV]
A TIME FOR MIRACLES [TV]
MY KIDNAPPER, MY LOVE [TV]
THORNWELL [TV]
MIRACLE ON ICE [TV]
WE'RE FIGHTING BACK [TV]
BITTER HARVEST [TV]
THE FIVE OF ME [TV]
JACQUELINE SUSANN'S ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH [TV]
THE MARVA COLLINS STORY [TV]
INSIDE THE THIRD REICH [TV]
17 cues on the Reel Music CD The Fred Karlin Collection Vol. 1
NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN [TV]
THE FIRST TIME [TV]
DEADLY ENCOUNTER [TV]
BABY SISTER [TV]
POLICEWOMAN CENTERFOLD [TV]
THE GIFT OF LOVE: A CHRISTMAS STORY [TV]
CALAMITY JANE [TV]
LOVE LEADS THE WAY [TV]
COUGAR [TV]
ROBERT KENNEDY AND HIS TIMES [TV]
KIDS DON'T TELL [TV]
HOSTAGE FLIGHT [TV]
1 cue on the Reel Music Down Under CD The Fred Karlin Collection Vol. 3: Electronic Chronicle
FINAL JEOPARDY [TV]
7 cues on the Reel Music Down Under CD The Fred Karlin Collection Vol. 3: Electronic Chronicle
DREAM WEST [TV]
VASECTOMY: A DELICATE MATTER
A PLACE TO CALL HOME [TV]
THE FACTS OF LIFE DOWN UNDER [TV]
LADY MOBSTER [TV]
DADAH IS DEATH [TV]
9 cues on the Reel Music Down Under CD The Fred Karlin Collection Vol. 3: Electronic Chronicle
BRIDGE TO SILENCE [TV]
Emmy nominee Music Composition For A Miniseries Or Special (Dramatic Underscore)
FEAR STALK [TV]
MURDER C.O.D. [TV]
7 cues on the Reel Music Down Under CD The Fred Karlin Collection Vol. 3: Electronic Chronicle
HER WICKED WAYS [TV]
THE LAST PROSTITUTE [TV]
SUTOROBERI ROAD
SURVIVE THE SAVAGE SEA [TV]
Emmy nominee Music Composition For A Miniseries Or Special
THE SECRET [TV]
DESPERATE RESCUE: THE CATHY MATHONE STORY [TV]
LABOR OF LOVE: THE ARLETTE SCHWEITZER STORY [TV]
LOS TREASURE OF DOS SANTOS [TV]

The Alamo: The Essential Dimitri Tiomkin Film Music Collection - Dimitri Tiomkin - Prime Time
Basic Instinct (complete) - Jerry Goldsmith - Prometheus
Battle Cry - Max Steiner - Screen Archives/BYU
Laws of Attraction - Edward Shearmur - La-La Land
The Shoes of the Fisherman - Alex North - Film Score Monthly
The Swan - Bronislau Kaper - Film Score Monthly
The Thorn Birds - Henry Mancini - Varese Sarabande
Van Helsing - Alan Silvestri - Decca

A Foreign Affair - Todd Capps
The Mudge Boy - Marcelo Zarvos
New York Minute - George S. Clinton - Song CD on Elektra/Asylum
Off the Lip - Andrew Gross
The Saddest Music in the World - Christopher Dedrick
Seeing Other People - Alan Elliott
Super Size Me - Steve Horowitz, Michael Parrish - Soundtrack CD due June 8th from Kinkysour
Valentin - Paul M. van Bruggen
Van Helsing - Alan Silvestri - Score CD on Decca

May 11
Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius - James Horner - Varese Sarabande
Last Tango in Paris - Gato Barbieri - Varese Sarabande
The Lion in Winter - Richard Hartley - Varese Sarabande
Troy - James Horner - Warner Bros.
May 18
The Chase - John Barry - Sony Legacy
Dances With Wolves (expanded) - John Barry - Sony Legacy
The Day After Tomorrow - Harald Kloser - Varese Sarabande
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Ennio Morricone - Capitol/EMI
May 25
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - John Williams - Atlantic
June 8
Battle of Britain - Ron Goodwin/William Walton - Varese Sarabande
The Chronicles of Riddick - Graeme Revell - Varese Sarabande
Dirty Harry - Lalo Schifrin - Aleph
The Great Escape - Elmer Bernstein - Varese Sarabande
Man on Fire - Harry Gregson-Williams - Varese Sarabande
Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation - John Morgan, William Stromberg - Varese Sarabande
Van Helsing: The London Assignment - John Van Tongeren - Decca
Date Unknown
The Brave Little Toaster - David Newman - Percepto
Foxes of Harrow - David Buttolph - Screen Archives
The Keys of the Kingdom - Alfred Newman - Screen Archives
Narrow Margin - Bruce Broughton - Intrada Special Collection
The Punisher - Carlo Siliotto - La-La Land
The Reluctant Astronaut - Vic Mizzy - Percepto
Son of Fury - Alfred Newman - Screen Archives
Timeline - Jerry Goldsmith - Varese Sarabande
Two Brothers - Stephen Warbeck - Decca

May 8 - Nathan Van Cleave born (1910)
May 10 - Max Steiner born (1888)
May 10 - Dimitri Tiomkin born (1899)
May 12 - Gordon Jenkins born (1910)
May 12 - Burt Bacharach born (1928)
May 12 - Humphrey Searle died (1982)
May 13 - David Broekman born (1902)

BOBBY JONES: STROKE OF GENIUS - James Horner

"The movie, which wants to ennoble golf with the same spiritual mystique that 'Chariots of Fire' brought to running, is even more hushed in tone than its prototype. Most of the mystical heavy lifting is done by the cinematographer Tom Stern and the composer James Horner, whose string-heavy score blankets the film in lofty, tastefully inspirational layers of gossamer laced with bagpipes and other Scottish flavors."

Stephen Holden, New York Times

"'Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius' expects, I think, that viewers will read something mystical, if not in Jones's accomplishments, then at least into the game of golf itself. Otherwise, why cue the soundtrack's heavenly strings, ethereal wind chimes and martial bagpipes every time Jones tees off, in slow motion, with a long arcing drive?"

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

"As for James Horner's irritatingly drippy score, that is the wrong emotional driver to bring to any range."

Desson Thompson, Washington Post

"You know the director is struggling when ominous, overpowering music accompanies a diagnosis of varicose veins."

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald

"Tom Stern's elegant widescreen lensing and crisp lighting, the attractive southern U.S. and Scottish locations, handsome period costumes and production design and James Horner's gently stirring score all add to the film's air of quality."

David Rooney, Variety

ENVY - Mark Mothersbaugh

"'Envy' viewers are likely to experience cognitive dissonance. The film stars Ben Stiller and Jack Black, two unusually funny actors. It's got a clever enough premise, pitting Stiller's jealousy against Black's good fortune. It's directed by Barry Levinson. It's a brightly colored comedy. It's got a bouncy score and a supporting performance by Christopher Walken as a homeless man. Amy Poehler's in it. She's funny. The script seems to be constructed around jokes. In short, every element suggests 'Envy' ought to be amusing, but the only comparably disastrous movie in recent memory involves Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, and a rapping retarded man. And Levinson's attempts to even out the mood with silly, plot-specific songs sung in a Leon Redbone-inspired voice only irritate. "

Keith Phipps, The Onion

"When it's cooking, it's less of a morality play anyway than it is a comic morality ballad. And Levinson heightens that effect with a Mark Mothersbaugh song score that hilariously underscores Tim's missteps the way the recurring song in 'High Noon' heightened the tension and the sheriff's heroism."

Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun

"The movie, directed by Barry Levinson, plays like his attempt to match the Farrelly Brothers in adolescent goofiness, and there are some laughs. Like 'There's Something About Mary' it includes a sardonic intermittent commentary in a song by Mark Mothersbaugh. Whenever the energy flags, another version of the song, drawled by Dan Navarro in a disingenuous vocal smirk, fills the gap."

Stephen Holden, New York Times

"A ballad written by the talented Mark Mothersbaugh runs throughout the movie as a form of scored narration. It's a reminder that a lot of craft and ambition went into this faltering comedy."

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

"Add in the distancing device of a song that plays throughout the film and comments on the action, and you have something very close to a disaster."

Mick La Salle, San Francisco Chronicle

"It's as if the filmmakers forgot what 'Envy' was about, even as Mark Mothersbaugh's self-consciously quirky score keeps blatantly restating the themes."

Marc Caro, Chicago Tribune

"The film, coincidentally, is exactly as funny as a dead horse. The scenes have no momentum; they seem paced to some unseen, arrhythmic motor. The lighting is cancerous, the score by Mark Mothersbaugh vamps like a comedian at a funeral, the dialogue falls like overripe fruit on warm concrete. Some of the lines feel desperately improvised, while others might once have been amusing on paper."

Ty Burr, Boston Globe

"Most eccentric of all is composer Mark Mothersbaugh's recurring title song (warbled a la Leon Redbone by Dan Navarro) that's clever at first but becomes an annoying Greek chorus device."

Robert Koehler, Variety

GODSEND - Brian Tyler

"You know it's just a clumsy rip-off when there's a cut from the cloned son (name of Adam, by the way) being delivered to the new child's eighth birthday -- that's the same age that Adam 1 got flattened. Apparently not of interest to the screenwriter, Mark Bomback, or the director, Nick Hamm, are the years in which the couple raises the same child they raised before, while trying to keep their secret from him and the rest of the world. For these guys, the movie doesn't really get going until Adam 2 starts having visions of Adam 1 (the music goes BONNNNGGGG!!!), along with impulses to finger an ax, a claw hammer, etc."

David Edelstein, Slate.com

"Scary moments are manufactured by loud noises and long staircases, rather than sympathetic characters or innovative cameras. The shrieking violins start when Adam passes his eighth birthday, and his cloned cells seem to have odd memories."

Michael Booth, Denver Post

LAWS OF ATTRACTION - Edward Shearmur

"In the opening title sequence of 'Laws of Attraction,' little golden bubbles float upward to a satiny Champagne score (by Edward Shearmur), but the movie never makes good on this promise of effervescence."

A.O. Scott, New York Times

"Likewise, pic is appropriately polished in the tech department, with Adrian Biddle's widescreen lensing lending the Manhattan scenes a particularly glossy glow, while composer Edward Shearmur contributes a bouncy, brassy Gershwinesque score that sounds like an ode to skyscrapers and taxicabs."

Scott Foundas, Variety

MEAN GIRLS - Rolfe Kent

"Rolfe Kent's African-themed score plays up the animal kingdom parallel."

David Rooney, Variety

10.5 [TV] - Lee Holdridge

"Between Lee Holdridge's flag-waving score and the massive stakes, it's nonetheless possible to check one's brain and yield to the drama, if so inclined."

Brian Lowry, Variety

TWO MEN WENT TO WAR - Richard Harvey

"Richard Harvey's score, riffing on Thomas Tallis and Elgar, keeps things moving, while direction by John Henderson ('Loch Ness') is routine."

Derek Elley, Variety

FROM: "Michael Mclennan"

I greatly appreciated John Takis' notes on John Debney's Passion score. You wouldn't think given the multiplicity of reviews and interviews with the composer that there was much more to clear up about this score. I think John's notes come from the right approach to such the composer's comments about his score, and that is an analytical approach that takes as given that Debney's religious beliefs are at the very least real to himself and play an important role (at least in this case) in his creative dialectic. Such an understanding of inspiration (and I refer to both the 'Mary' and the 'Satan' remarks) should be the starting point of an understanding of the creative process, but sadly Debney's remarks on his personal experience composing the film met with little understanding on more than one film music message board. Here's to acceptance eh? And the hope that Takis' thoughtful analysis tempers some of the secular ignorance that manifested itself a couple of months ago.

Incidentally, I love the site and appreciate the daily articles a lot. I'm usually just finishing work when the day's new article pops up, so it's a nice little reward for making it through another 8 hour stint.

Bravo John.

Your 'elaboration' on the Debney comments was superb.

SUBJECT:  DOMINUS DEBNEY
 
I guess I'm unique, but I don't especially care about composers' private lives and thoughts. Come to think of it, I don't much care about anyone's private lives and thoughts, unless they live their lives in such a way as to threaten the way I choose to live mine.
 
I don't care that John Debney feels he was "inspired" by divine forces, nor that "dark forces were conspiring against me and against the film". I just don't care.
 
I don't care that Bernard Herrmann could be, as we are told, something of a bastard. I don't care that Jerry Goldsmith once derided, for all to hear, Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto, saying there was "nothing new to be heard" in it.
 
I don't care that Richard Wagner was, so it seems, a raging anti-Semite. I don't care that Ludwig van Beethoven was, for all intents and purposes, a con-artist who sold the same composition, as original and exclusive, to multiple clients because they unlikely to come in contact with each other.
 
I don't care that George Frideric Handel was, at times, a musical plagiarist, both of himself as well as others.
 
I don't care that uber-conductor Herbert von Karajan was, at least for the sake of convenience, an officer in the German Luftwaffe during World War II. I don't care that Richard Strauss, by participating in performances of his works in occupied lands during World War II came to be thought of as a Nazi sympathizer.
 
I do care about their music. Just their music. On its own. Without any political adornments. Without being told I should like it because it is divinely inspired.
 
Here's a clue for you, boys and girls: As one who believes there is a higher power that makes all things possible, I believe ALL music is divinely inspired. Otherwise, why is it I can't write four notes of music and have them sound like anything, and Richard Strauss could write "Der Rosenkavalier"? The answer, at least to me, is simple.
 
Therefore, someone taking pages and pages to tell me I should like some piece of music or the other merely because it's composition was inspired by the hand of God (or Mary) just doesn't cut it.
 
If I like the music, I like the music. If I don't, it's toast!
 
And a PS to Mr. Debney: My computer tends to "freeze up", or crash, at a certain point in my DVD of "Poseidon Adventure" every darned time I play it. I sure do wish Satan would leave it alone.

If John Debney wants to call his "muse" the mother of God (i.e. "Mary") and wishes to insist he had very little to do with his own score to "The Passion", I'd ask him to give a bit of pause toward saying it was created divinely. I daresay the Almighty could have provided much b-e-t-t-e-r music than this very good (but not brilliant, awesome or landmark) score with Debney's name on it.

Just a thought from a heathen...

FROM: "Saul Pincus"

SUBJECT: 13 Going On 30 and melody
 
At the fictional Poise magazine party in "13 Going on 30," Jennifer Garner's character poo-poos the music currently being played by the DJs and begs for something with melody. OK, so it's Michael Jackson's "Thriller" she's thinking of, but I think many film music aficionados (not to mention a healthy number of composers) would more than second her point. Thankfully Theodore Shapiro's score isn't hypocritical; hours after watching the movie, I can actually remember his main theme. What an odd feeling these days.

FROM: "Richard Chapman"

To all John Barry fans: I had the opportunity of seeing John Barry conduct the English Chamber Orchestra at Birmingham Symphony Hall in the UK. He was absolutely marvelous, and the opening of cymbals for Goldfinger sends a tingle down one's spine. Don't miss him if you can get a ticket, as it's wonderful to hear his favorites.

FROM: "Lous Banlaki"

SUBJECT: upgrading Goldsmith
 
As a longtime fan of composer Jerry Goldsmith I just want to say that I really don't think he even cares about all this fuss and all anyone can do is look forward to his next score or reisssue of an older one (the BASIC INSTINCT CD has already been released, I believe). Give the man a break and let's hope that one day he can do a new recording of the classic score to SPARTACUS! Let's keep our fingers crossed on that annd hope they reissue some more of his scores from the past. And I can't wait to hear his score from TIMELINE.

FROM: "Roger Börjesson"

SUBJECT: James Horner Vs. the Directors
 
Except for Wolfgang Petersen's Troy, has Mr. Horner had some strange bad luck with the directors or what? Look at this, Horner collaborator Joe Johnston has made 2 movies without using Horner, Phil Alden Robinson did not use Horner to score Sum of All Fears, Mel Gibson did not use Horner to his Passion of the Christ and not even Ron Howard for his boxing film Cinderella Man with Russell Crowe, I'm beginning to see a pattern here, at least if it wasn't for Petersen replacing Yared with Horner, so to Horner fans, you can hope that Rowdy Herrington may consider Horner for his future projects after Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius.

MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com