NOT EVEN NOMINATED, PART SIXTEEN

By Scott Bettencourt

In reaction to the membership awarding four of six consecutive Best Score Oscars to animated musicals (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King), seemingly more because of their songs than their actual incidental music, the Academy's Music Branch split the category into two -- "Original Dramatic Score" and "Musical or Comedy Score." Fittingly, the first winner of the new category was another animated musical, Pocahontas, but by the end of the decade the form had lost its dominance and the two categories were re-merged.

There is currently a third music category, "Original Musical." According to the Academy's rules, "an original musical consists of not fewer than five original songs (as defined in A.II above) by the same writer or team of writers either used as voice-overs or visually performed. Each of these songs must be substantively rendered, clearly audible, intelligible, and must further the storyline. What is simply an arbitrary group of songs unessential to the storyline of the film will not be considered eligible. The adapter (if any) or the composer of the instrumental score may be considered eligible - in this category only -- if his or her contribution is deemed relevant and substantial."

However, there are so few films that qualify in this category -- this year, the most likely choices would be Home on the Range, Team America: World Police, and the French film The Chorus -- that this new award has yet to be given.

BEST ORIGINAL DRAMATIC SCORE

APOLLO 13 - James Horner
BRAVEHEART - James Horner
IL POSTINO - Luis Bacalov (the winner)
NIXON - John Williams
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY - Patrick Doyle

BEST MUSICAL OR COMEDY SCORE

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT - Marc Shaiman
POCAHONTAS - Alan Menken (the winner)
SABRINA - John Williams
TOY STORY - Randy Newman
UNSTRUNG HEROES - Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL DRAMATIC SCORE

BATMAN FOREVER - Elliot Goldenthal

Goldenthal had already been signed to score this third film in the Batman franchise, the first not to be directed by Tim Burton, before he received his breakthrough assignment of replacing George Fenton's score for Interview With the Vampire, a project which proved to be his first blockbuster hit as well as earning him his first Oscar nomination. Joel Schumacher took over the directorial reins of the series and cast Val Kilmer (hot from his marvelous performance as Doc Holliday in Tombstone) as the Caped Crusader, and the film managed to gross more than Batman Returns. Kilmer could have been a fine Batman for the right director, but Schumacher never showed any sign of understanding the character (exemplified when he cast the classically easygoing George Clooney as the obsessed vigilante superhero in Batman and Robin) and he emphasized lavish production values, a frenetic editing style, and an irrelevant (despite the perpetually snickered-over relationship between Bruce Wayne and his "youthful ward") gay sensibility to the detriment of the source material and the film itself. Jim Carrey proved to be an enjoyably manic Riddler, but the usually brilliant Tommy Lee Jones seemed out of his element as Two-Face, trying in vain to top Carrey's humor and energy. Despite the huge amount of studio pressure on the project (Two-Face's molls, played by Drew Barrymore and Debi Mazar, had their names changed from "Leather & Lace" to "Sugar & Spice" because the former was considered too raunchy for the merchandising driven film), Goldenthal wasn't pressured to write a by-the-numbers Hollywood score, and his music, though not entirely as successful as Danny Elfman's contribution to the Burton Batmans, was unusually bold and bizarre for a megabudget production, as the composer used every trick in his book to find an aural equivalent to the insanity on the screen. Fortunately, his score received a separate CD release, a fate denied to its disappointing followup Batman and Robin. (Batman Forever received 3 Oscar nominations)

CRIMSON TIDE - Hans Zimmer

This submarine thriller, reminiscent of 1965's The Bedford Incident (with Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier) was the first blockbuster hit from the Simpson-Bruckheimer team after their fallow period following Days of Thunder, and was Simpson's penultimate credit before his 1996 death. Though the team was generally associated with mindless spectacle, Tide was a fairly intelligent suspense film, helped immeasurably by the lead performances of two superb actors, Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington. The film was Hans Zimmer's second project for the team (he had scored Days of Thunder five years earlier, also for director Tony Scott), and his Tide score, with its heroic choral theme and lengthy, vigorous synth-orchestral action cues, helped define the sound of action scoring for the next decade (and counting), and unlike the S-B films scored by Harold Faltermeyer, the soundtrack was actually a score album and not a song collection. Steven Spielberg was reputedly a big fan of the score, and it may have led to the hiring of Zimmer as DreamWorks first music department head. (3 Oscar nominations)

CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY - John Barry

In Barry's decades-spanning, wide ranging ouevre, there is an impressive subset of Africa themed scores -- Zulu, Born Free, Mister Moses, Out of Africa -- and this period drama based on Alan Paton's novel (also turned into the stage musical Lost in the Stars, by Kurt Weill) is the most recent of Barry's Africa scores, though typically of his 90s work his music emphasizes the emotions rather than the exotic setting. Richard Harris and James Earl Jones played the protagonists, the father of a murder victim and the father of his killer, respectively, and the film was well acted and well crafted but quickly forgotten. Barry's main theme is one of his finest works of the decade, soaringly lyrical without being cloying.

HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT - Thomas Newman

This seemingly surefire piece of Oscar bait managed not to get a single nomination, despite acclaimed source material (Whitney Otto's story collection of the same name) and an especially impressive ensemble cast, including Maya Angelou, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Capshaw, Claire Danes, Loren Dean, Melinda Dillon, Jared Leto, Samantha Mathis, Dermot Mulroney, Kate Nelligan, Winona Ryder, Jean Simmons, Lois Smith, Rip Torn, and Alfre Woodard (it was a particular pleasure to see Rip Torn in a serious role, as ever since Defending Your Life he's largely been cast in broad comedy). The film overall was like a (mostly) Caucasian Joy Luck Club, and though some of the stories were quite moving the film suffered from the lame framing scenes of Ryder torn in her affections between boyfriend Mulroney and the absurdly handsome Johnathon Schaech. With Quilt, Fried Green Tomatoes and Little Women, it seemed like Newman was getting typecast in female ensemble projects, and though some of the Southern cues seemed a little Fried Green Tomatoes-familiar, he provided two typically lovely main themes, and the soundtrack is well worth hunting down despite the score cues being interspersed with songs.

MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS - Michael Kamen

This old-fashioned story of a frustrated-composer-turned-high-school-music-teacher and the effect he has on his students (similar to the current French submission for Best Foreign Language Film, The Chorus), was a rare opportunity for a film composer to show his stuff, as the film climaxes in the performance of an original composition by the title character, played by Richard Dreyfuss. Patrick Sheane Duncan's script was actually called Mr. Herrick's Opus, but the title was changed when the similarly named Stephen Herek was hired to direct the film. Michael Kamen had scored Herek's previous film, The Three Musketeers, and though he cleverly worked themes from the score into Holland's composition "An American Symphony," the piece itself was disappointing, making it seem like Holland's obscurity was no great loss to the music world (it didn't help that the excerpt we hear in the film is perhaps the piece's weakest section -- the full version is featured on the score CD). More importantly, the film inspired Kamen himself to found the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, which raises money for music education in today's schools. (1 Oscar nomination)

BEST MUSICAL OR COMEDY SCORE

BABE - Nigel Westlake

This beautifully crafted fantasy from producer George Miller (yes, the Mad Max George Miller) and director Chris Noonan about a "hero pig" was a surprise critical smash and the rare "children's" film to get a Best Picture nomination. Jerry Goldsmith was originally announced to write the score but he left the project -- I don't know if it was because of scheduling conflicts (he also dropped out of Judge Dredd yet ended up taking over Congo and First Knight from James Newton Howard and Maurice Jarre, respectively) or because he resisted the filmmakers' desire to interpolate other music, specifically Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 in C. Australian composer Nigel Westlake ended up with the job and provided a charming and delicate score, prominently using the Saint-Saens theme, though unfortunately Varese's soundtrack CD is designed more for children than score fans, as it features all-too plentiful narration and dialogue. (7 Oscar nominations)

CASPER - James Horner

Horner had a typically prolific 1995, and one of his largest assignments, along with his pair of Best Picture/Best Score nominees, was this lavish, Steven Spielberg-produced live action version of the popular children's cartoon. It was the first feature directed by TV helmer Brad Silbering, who outside of his directing work is most famous as the bereaved boyfriend of the murdered actress Rebecca Schaeffer, and his personal tragedy has managed to infuse all his films, especially 2002's Moonlight Mile which was a fictionalization of the incident. Casper is an unusually ambitious and tonally varied film for a high-profile, megabudget cartoon tie-in, and though the comedy is largely by-the-numbers, the obsession with death (Casper is, after all, the ghost of a dead child) makes it a truly odd Hollywood picture. Horner's score was suitably energetic and emotional (though the inevitable song was written by someone else, despite Horner's American Tail songwriting track record), and the score album, featuring over an hour of symphonic and choral music recorded in L.A., was almost certainly the most expensive-to-produce soundtrack of the year.

DON JUAN DE MARCO - Michael Kamen

Writer-director Jeremy Leven's comedy about a psychologist and his patient who claims to be a modern Casanova was almost made with John Malkovich and River Phoenix in the leads, but fortuitously it ended up with Marlon Brando and Johnny Depp -- Brando gave his most relaxed, most humane performance in decades, and Depp is one of the few actors who could play a self-professed ladies man and still seem genuinely charming. Kamen reportedly battled with Leven over the spotting and mixing of the score, as Leven wanted to be sure the music didn't overwhelm the largely dialogue driven film, but despite their conflicts the result was a resounding success, as Kamen's deft pastiche music is adroitly blended into the scenes, never intrusive or heavy handed. The score also produced one of Kamen's biggest commercial successes, the Oscar nominated Bryan Adams ballad "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman." (1 Oscar nomination)

FATHER OF THE BRIDE PART II - Alan Silvestri

Charles Shyer & Nancy Meyers' 1991 remake of the Spencer Tracy 1950 classic was their biggest hit yet, and this sequel, loosely inspired by 1951's Father's Little Dividend, didn't do much to vary the formula -- this time, affluent yet harried Steve Martin had to cope with the prospect of a new daughter and granddaughter (separate children -- this isn't Chinatown) instead of a daughter's lavish wedding, and despite (or perhaps because of) the lack of genuine narrative conflict, the sequel was another big holiday hit, mostly due to the charm of Martin and Diane Keaton. Silvestri's warm score reused his main themes from the previous film and added some new material. In the liner notes, the director enthused over the new theme, though Silvestri fans will notice some strong similarities to his Forrest Gump score. Either way, the partnership was amicable enough to lead to Silvestri scoring Meyers' first two directorial efforts, The Parent Trap and What Women Want, but, inexplicably, he was let go after scoring 2003's Something's Gotta Give for her and replaced by Hans Zimmer.

NINE MONTHS - Hans Zimmer

Following his three blockbusters, Home Alone, Home Alone II and Mrs. Doubtfire, Chris Columbus' remake of the 1994 French comedy Neuf Mois was a more modest hit, and is probably best remembered as the Hugh Grant film that opened right after his infamous arrest (in my neighborhood!). The film is one of Columbus' weakest efforts, with an awkward mix of slapstick and sentiment, and the film's pro-parenting propaganda (obnoxious couple Tom Arnold and Joan Cusack are considered admirable just because they have kids even though they seem to be dreadful parents, while Jeff Goldblum's character is condemned because he chooses a childless life) is headache inducing, but Zimmer's warm score, one of his more orchestrally driven efforts, helps to lay a soothing blanket over all the shrillness.

DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS - Elmer Bernstein

If there were any justice, Carl Franklin's film of Walter Mosley's novel, starring Denzel Washington as private detective Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins in 1948 Los Angeles, would have been the first of a series of Washington/Rawlins movies, as (with the possible exception of Who Framed Roger Rabbit) Blue Dress is the closest any Hollywood filmmaker has come to recreating the magic of Chinatown. But despite Washington's growing star power from the success of Crimson Tide, the film came and went with good reviews and barely any boxoffice, possibly because mysteries (unlike cheesy nanny/roommate/cop/lesbian-from-Hell thrillers) rarely do good boxoffice. While the old-fashioned sound of Elmer Bernstein's music made some of his 90s scores seem out of place, his Blue Dress score is one of his finest of the decade, evoking the era without obvious pastiche and giving Rawlins a relaxed, sauntering main theme beautifully used in the film's final scene, as Washington sits on his front porch and looks out to a hopeful future that will probably never come.

FIRST KNIGHT - Jerry Goldsmith

Frequently when a director has a huge hit or a Best Picture winner, his output slows down and he takes years to decide on a project. It was five years after Ghost that Jerry Zucker made his next film, this retelling of the Camelot legend that emphasized the romance and removed the fantasy elements (the film was nearly made a year earlier with William Baldwin and Gabrielle Anwar as Lancelot and Guinevere). Zucker's Ghost and Top Secret! composer Maurice Jarre was originally announced to write the score but left the project, apparently because of the relatively tight scoring schedule, and Jerry Goldsmith took the assignment, a rare venture into old-fashioned period adventure. The film was pleasant but disappointingly bland, yet Goldsmith's score was reportedly one of his favorites of his output, and the large canvas allowed him to write both a gentle love theme and big scale choral cues for the climactic battle and funeral scenes. The score CD was released on Epic, and allegedly the label (not constrained by the budget issues of a Varese or an Intrada) would have been happy to release a lengthy album, but Goldsmith (who preferred more tersely sequenced soundtracks, to the annoyance of his fans) insisted on a more modest length, omitting many cues including some memorable material for the film's villain.

A LITTLE PRINCESS - Patrick Doyle

Alfonso Cuaron's moving, gorgeously crafted film of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel (adapted by Elizabeth Chandler and Richard LaGravanese) received rave reviews but never found the theatrical audience it deserved, possibly because of poster art that was too cloyingly little girl-ish even for its intended audience (though for fans of 60s films like myself, it was a particular treat to see Eleanor Bron on the screen again, as the villainous headmistress). Patrick Doyle's score, incorporating appropriate Indian elements, may be his best work yet, genuinely charming and emotional, with a lovely main theme which he turned into a song, "Kindle My Heart." Despite the poor boxoffice, the film received 2 Oscar nominations and certainly helped Cuaron get his most recent assignment, the widely acclaimed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (ironically, Cuaron was forced to hire John Williams for Azkaban, but the composer's commitments to War of the Worlds and Revenge of the Sith make him unavailable for the upcoming Mike Newell-directed Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which will apparently be scored by...Patrick Doyle).

SEVEN - Howard Shore

David Fincher's film from Andrew Kevin Walker's screenplay helped breathe new life into the serial killer genre, while unfortunately inspiring a decade's worth of dimly lit, laughably implausible thrillers (see Suspect Zero, Taking Lives and Saw for the latest examples -- or, better yet, don't). Though the villain in this story is a typical Dr. Phibes-ish Hollywood movie mastermind rather than a plausible serial killer, the plotting is clever (especially the reveal of the killer's identity), the murders are imaginably hideous, and the film is helped immeasurably by Fincher's superb direction and the performances of Morgan Freeman as the world weary cop and the actor who plays the killer (who shall remain nameless for those few who haven't seen the film). One would have thought Howard Shore would be burned out on thrillers after all the genre items he scored after Silence of the Lambs (Single White Female, Sliver, Guilty as Sin), but his Seven score is one of his most effective efforts, brooding but never tiresome, with a main motif that works the nerves like an inexorably tightening noose. The TVT song soundtrack featured two long score suite cues but a full score album would still be welcome, if not exactly easy listening.

TALES FROM THE HOOD - Christopher Young

Writer-director-star Rusty Cundieff followed up his cult favorite rap mockumentary Fear of a Black Hat with this low-budget but unusually ambitious anthology horror film about violence in the black community -- mostly (but not exclusively) black-on-black violence. Though the film was wildly uneven with some disappointingly flat sequences, the anthology format allowed for a pleasing variety of tone and narrative, and the film was anchored by Clarence Williams III's wonderfully over-the-top performance as a mortician in the framing sequence. For Christopher Young, this was an opportunity to write five individual scores for one film a la Goldsmith's Twilight Zone: The Movie, and while his score didn't quite reach that height (as few scores do), his music was creepy, intelligent and imaginative as ever. The soundtrack release featured only songs, but the following year Young released his score as part of a quintet of composer promos, including Species, Virtuosity, Unforgettable and Head Above Water, and it is well worth tracking down (though, alas, probably only sells now for wildly inflated prices).

David Arnold wrote a grandly romantic, old-fashioned symphonic score for the adventure drama LAST OF THE DOGMEN, his score more impressive for its size than subtlety.

Ennio Morricone was originally announced to score the revisionist remake of THE SCARLET LETTER directed by his Mission helmer Roland Joffe, but Elmer Bernstein ended up writing the score only to have it rejected -- he allegedly wrote to star Demi Moore, thanking her for throwing out his music so he could use it on a better movie. John Barry ended up writing the final score in a matter of weeks, providing a large scale, romantic-symphonic score in the Dances With Wolves vein.

Jazz pianist David Benoit wrote a pleasantly restrained orchestral score for the Clint Eastwood-produced period drama THE STARS FELL ON HENRIETTA.

Elmer Bernstein's peppy score for ROOMMATES failed to make this forgettable comedy-drama any more memorable. He worked with a small ensemble for Martin Scorsese's indie production SEARCH AND DESTROY, and collaborated with his son Peter Bernstein for Michael Moore's only fiction film to date, CANADIAN BACON. He also provided one of his Irish-tinged scores for the period drama FRANKIE STARLIGHT.

Terence Blanchard's emotional, foreground score for Spike Lee's disappointing film of Richard Price's CLOCKERS tended at times to overwhelm the action -- still for a filmmaker with such modern sensibilities, it's refreshing that Lee allows orchestral film music to take such prominence.

Simon Boswell wrote a grand, Hellraiser-ish orchestral horror score for Clive Barker's LORD OF ILLUSIONS and a largely electronic score for the teen thriller HACKERS, though it wasn't until the third volume of the soundtrack that any of his score music for the film was commercially available. He also scored Danny Boyle's directorial debut, the dark thriller SHALLOW GRAVE, which gave Ewan McGregor his first high profile role

Paul Buckmaster wrote an unusual, eclectic score for Terry Gilliam's dazzling time travel thriller 12 MONKEYS (superbly adapted by David & Janet Peeples from the classic short La Jetee), mixing stark, Fielding-esque scoring with a tango by Astor Piazzola.

Carter Burwell was a surprising choice to score Disney's animated feature A GOOFY MOVIE (featuring the voice of Pauly Shore!), and the studio had Don Davis rework some his cues to make them more conventional. He received a rare chance to score old fashioned adventure with ROB ROY, and the score, though grand by Burwell standards, was low-key and modest compared to most historical adventure scores. He supplied a percussive suspense score to the underrated, unusually dark industrial espionage thriller BAD COMPANY, with the help of orchestrator/conductor Shirley Walker, and warm but not excessively sentimental music for the Depression drama TWO BITS.

Director/composer John Carpenter had two features released in 1995, the Lovecraft homage IN THE MOUTH OF THE MADNESS (scored with Jim Lang), and the disappointing remake of VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED, co-scored by Dave Davies of The Kinks.

The group Combustible Edison gave the dreadful anthology comedy FOUR ROOMS a lively lounge score with an especially catchy main title theme, "Vertigo-go."

Atom Egoyan's EXOTICA was the first Mychael Danna scored film with a major U.S. release, and his often Middle Eastern sounding music influenced the choice of projects assigned to him in Hollywood.

John Debney's score for Renny Harlin's much-maligned pirate saga CUTTHROAT ISLAND (allegedly one of the biggest money losers of all time) was a pleasingly big scaled symphonic pastiche, one of his most satisfying works to date, but the film's failure didn't lead to many more assignments in the genre. His percussive action score for the Peter Hyams thriller SUDDEN DEATH was much fresher than this Die-Hard-in-a-hockey-rink deserved, and he also scored the Sinbad comedy HOUSEGUEST.

Pino Donaggio made a rare return to American films with the erotic thriller NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS, but his Euro-stylings only added to the cheesiness.

As usual, Randy Edelman was typecast in comedy, scoring Adam Sandler's first starring vehicle BILLY MADISON, the kids soccer movie THE BIG GREEN, and the Sandra Bullock hit WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING. He replaced Miles Goodman on THE INDIAN AND THE CUPBOARD, but his typically synth dominated score lacked sufficient magic and delicacy for this lavishly crafted fantasy, especially for the finale where the filmmakers tried to make the score carry too much of the load. His music for the beautifully shot fantasy adventure TALL TALE was a forerunner of his Shanghai Noon score, and similarly suffered from his lack of ease with large scale adventure.

Cliff Eidelman wrote a charmingly gentle score for the teen period comedy-drama NOW AND THEN, refreshingly failing to succumb to the dreaded "Sensitive Piano Syndrome."

Danny Elfman worked in a 70s funk mode for the heist film DEAD PRESIDENTS, with an especially memorable, rhythmic main title theme. He worked in a stark, string-dominated mode for the Stephen King adaptation DOLORES CLAIBORNE, and the music was a fascinating change of pace but worked better on its own than in the context of the film. His score for TO DIE FOR, his first project with director Gus Van Sant, had a harsh, rock guitar edge.

Stephen Endelman provided a charmingly old fashioned love theme for Tom Sawyer & Becky Thatcher in TOM AND HUCK, while his gentle love theme for the charmless British comedy THE ENGLISHMAN WHO WENT UP A HILL AND CAME DOWN A MOUNTAIN bore a distracting resemblance to "Three Blind Mice." He wrote songs and score for the AIDS comedy JEFFREY and scored the bleak indie gay drama POSTCARDS FROM AMERICA.

Director Mike Figgis provided his own moody jazz score for his Oscar winning LEAVING LAS VEGAS.

Master animator Richard Williams' (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) long in production feature The Thief and the Cobbler finally reached the screen in severely compromised form as ARABIAN KNIGHT, with a lively score by Robert Folk. Folk also scored the inevitable yet surprisingly funny sequel, ACE VENTURA: WHEN NATURE CALLS.

Philip Glass reworked his original Candyman music for the dreadful sequel CANDYMAN: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH, whose director, shockingly, went on to make Gods and Monsters and Kinsey.

Elliot Goldenthal's harsh score for Michael Mann's HEAT featured cues performed by Kronos Quartet, but in typical Mann fashion his score had to fight for attention among songs and instrumental music by others such as Brian Eno.

Jerry Goldsmith scored his fifth Michael Crichton project, the guilty pleasure film version of Crichton's novel CONGO, and his Africa music (assisted by Lebo M.) sounded familiar in the trendy 90s style, though the film featured exciting action cues and ferocious percussion for the killer apes. His music for the surprise modest hit POWDER was dominated by a gentle main theme which singer Sarah Brightman later commissioned lyrics to, resulting in the song "No One Like You."

Dave Grusin wrote an emotional yet admirably restrained score for the teen drama THE CURE.

James Horner scored the last (so far) in a long string of animated projects, the sled dog adventure BALTO, and gave it a large scale orchestral score with an original song ("Reach For the Light") and some exciting if familiar sounding action material. He wrote a sparse and low-key exotic suspense score for William Friedkin's JADE, one of the few Horner scores of the decade not to receive a soundtrack release, and emphasized jungle percussion for his fourth Joe Johnston film, JUMANJI.

James Newton Howard provided exciting action music and deft underscoring of dramatic scenes for the familiar, forgettable legal thriller JUST CAUSE. His score for Lawrence Kasdan's FRENCH KISS provided the expected faux-French romantic comedy scoring as well as a clever melodramatic parody cue for one sequence. His score for the disease thriller OUTBREAK frequently emphasized percussive African stylings, while his motif for the Ebola-like virus reappeared later that year in the plague scenes for RESTORATION, which gave him a rare opportunity for classical pastiche.

Mark Isham provided light tropical jazz for David Frankel's Woody Allen homage MIAMI RHAPSODY, which often seemed like a feature version of his Grapevine TV series, more jazz for Jodie Foster's HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, and a rather dull and dour score for the drama LOSING ISAIAH.

Maurice Jarre's romantic, melodic score for the period drama A WALK IN THE CLOUDS won him the Golden Globe for Best Score.

Trevor Jones provided a brooding main theme and urban action cues for the remake of KISS OF DEATH, wrote choral and orchestral horror music for HIDEAWAY, and scored the 30s set RICHARD III, though the latter's soundtrack CD was annoyingly laden with dialogue.

Jan A.P. Kaczmarek's first project to receive a wide U.S. release was TOTAL ECLIPSE, providing string-dominated music for this Rimbaud biopic most remembered today for Leonardo DiCaprio's nude scenes.

Following his use of classical themes in the earlier entries in the Die Hard series ("Ode to Joy" for I and "Finlandia" for II), Michael Kamen originally based much of his DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE score on Brahms' First Symphony, but the film went through major rescoring at the last minute (and after the soundtrack CD was finished), and was ultimately dominated by distracting renditions of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," presumably intended to reflect either Detective John McLain's return to his New York stomping grounds or director John McTiernan's return to the Die Hard series. Working in a gentler vein, he scored the Irish romance CIRCLE OF FRIENDS, featuring an end title song sung by Shane McGowan and Marie Brennan.

The Japanese percussion group Kodo (who performed on Graeme Revell's Hard Target score) provided the drum score for the Japan-set thriller THE HUNTED.

John Lurie gave the hit Elmore Leonard adaptation GET SHORTY a funky score in the vein of Booker T and the MG's classic "Green Onions."

Fresh off the success of Speed, Mark Mancina was brought in to replace Michael Kamen on two Joel Silver productions, the trashy thriller FAIR GAME (actually a remake of 1986's Cobra) and Richard Donner's expensive ASSASSINS. He also scored two urban action comedies, the hit BAD BOYS and the flop MONEY TRAIN. For variety, he scored the Chevy Chase family comedy MAN OF THE HOUSE.

Hummie Mann's orchestral pastiche was much better than Mel Brooks' DRACULA: DEAD AND LOVING IT deserved, though not surprisingly it couldn't quite compare to its predecessor, John Morris' classic Young Frankenstein.

Mark McKenzie wrote a zany orchestral comedy score for the high concept DR. JEKYLL AND MS. HYDE, and more restrained, dramatic music for the family drama MI FAMILIA.

Elmer Bernstein's protege Cynthia Millar wrote lush, melodic scores for the Irish romance THE RUN OF THE COUNTRY and the fantasy tearjerker THREE WISHES, both scores sounding remarkably like the Maestro Elmer.

Ennio Morricone wrote a stark, edgy score for Giuseppe Tornatore's strange drama A PURE FORMALITY, starring Gerard Depardieu and Roman Polanski.

David Newman wrote a rousing main theme for the Vietnam War set family adventure OPERATION DUMBO DROP, which was originally to be scored by Basil Poledouris, and supplied low-key dramatic cues amongst the songs for BOYS ON THE SIDE, while his music for the Farley-Spade teamup TOMMY BOY was the shamelessly derivative work of his career, based mostly on Mrs. Doubtfire and Dave.

Lennie Niehaus adapted "Doe Eyes," a theme by director-star Clint Eastwood, for the surprisingly good film of the much-maligned bestseller THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY.

Jack Nitzsche wrote his final score for the Sean Penn-directed drama THE CROSSING GUARD.

The most notable film music debut of the year came from John Ottman (though it was not actually his first score -- he also did Bryan Singer's debut film, the barely seen Sundance winner Public Access), whose orchestral score for THE USUAL SUSPECTS, while showing the influence of other composers, was a sleek and satisfying work which helped this Oscar-winning thriller achieve a proper patina of elegance.

Basil Poledouris scored his second Steven Seagal project, writing an energetic if somewhat familiar action score for the guilty pleasure UNDER SIEGE 2: DARK TERRITORY. He reworked old material and provided new themes for another inevitable sequel, FREE WILLY 2: THE ADVENTURE HOME.

Rachel Portman wrote two of her most delightful themes for the little seen British kids comedy WAR OF THE BUTTONS, effortlessly evoking the exuberance of youth. She wrote some charming music for the ghastly "comedy" A PYROMANIAC'S LOVE STORY, but the repetitiveness of the score didn't make the film any more palatable, while her warm music for the drag comedy TO WONG FOO, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, JULIE NEWMAR was relegated to a suite on the song CD. She wrote a change-of-pace, percussive small ensemble score for the drama SMOKE.

Zbigniew Preisner wrote an achingly plaintive score for the Merchant-Ivory produced drama FEAST OF JULY, which also featured source cues by Rachel Portman.

J.A.C. Redford scored two forgotten youth comedies, HEAVYWEIGHTS and A KID IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT.

Graeme Revell wrote a more conventional than usual (for him) but still enjoyable big-scale orchestral adventure score for the inevitable MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: THE MOVIE. He worked on an unusual variety of projects this year, including two youth-oriented dramas, THE BASKETBALL DIARIES and S.F.W., the James Cameron-produced futuristic thriller STRANGE DAYS, the grating comic book movie TANK GIRL, and writer Wesley Strick's directorial debut, the unpleasant suspense film THE TIE THAT BINDS.

David Robbins gave his brother Tim's Oscar winning docudram DEAD MAN WALKING a low-key, authentically American score reminiscent of Ry Cooder.

Richard Robbins provided his usual minimalism-tinged orchestral sound for Merchant-Ivory's JEFFERSON IN PARIS.

Arthur B. Rubinstein wrote a deft suspense score with a strong main theme for the pre-24 "real time" thriller NICK OF TIME, which was his last feature for director John Badham.

John Scott wrote a typically stirring symphonic score for the underrated juvenile adventure FAR FROM HOME: THE ADVENTURE OF YELLOW DOG.

Eric Serra was a bold and promising choice to score GOLDENEYE, the first James Bond film in six years and the first to star Pierce Brosnan, and he scored the film in his distinctive Nikita style, but the score lacked the dramatic highs and lows of the great Bond scores and was not especially popular with fans though it was a striking attempt. John Altman arranged the James Bond theme for the St. Petersburg tank chase, replacing a Serra cue, but this sequence, the low point of an otherwise first-rate James Bond movie (the best since OHMSS), was a portent of the overblown action scenes which would dominate the Brosnan Bond films.

Edward Shearmur wrote an orchestral horror score for his first American solo project, TALES FROM THE CRYPT PRESENTS DEMON KNIGHT.

Howard Shore gave a gospel sound to the offbeat drama WHITE MAN'S BURDEN, and wrote an atypically conventional romantic comedy-drama score for the forgotten MOONLIGHT AND VALENTINO.

Carlo Siliotto brought his European sensibilities to his first American film, FLUKE, which was like Ghost with a dog instead of a spectre.

Alan Silvestri's score for the Sam Raimi Western THE QUICK AND THE DEAD was an entertaining melding of his own distinctive style with the classic spaghetti Western sound of Ennio Morricone. Filling in when Jerry Goldsmith had a scheduling conflict, he wrote a satisfyingly large scale symphonic action score for the underrated Stallone sci-fi movie JUDGE DREDD. His score for GRUMPIER OLD MEN reused material from the original Grumpy while adding Italianate material for Sophia Loren's character, and he replaced Zbigniew Preisner on Mira Nair's THE PEREZ FAMILY, writing a gentle, Latino-flavored score.

Mark Snow received a rare feature assignment, the boy-and-ape comedy BORN TO BE WILD.

David A. Stewart wrote a restrained orchestral score for the camp favorite SHOWGIRLS, as well as providing original cues for the film's dance setpieces.

Ed Tomney wrote an unnerving ambient score for Todd Haynes' acclaimed arthouse drama SAFE.

Christopher Young had an especially prolific 1995 in features. VIRTUOSITY featured an appropriate mixture of techno and exciting orchestral action music, while he brought impressive seriousness and style to the hit alien babe thriller SPECIES. COPYCAT featured one of Young's trademarked elegant suspense scores, and was his first of four (so far) projects for director Jon Amiel. He also wrote a somberly emotional, Horner-esque score for the failed Oscar bait courtroom drama MURDER IN THE FIRST.

Hans Zimmer wrote ethereal, exotic music for John Boorman's BEYOND RANGOON. Zimmer collaborated with Graham Preskett on the score for SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT, but the music was frequently cutesy and intrusive and the film deserved better (Randy Newman was at one point announced for the project).

ASSASSINS (Michael Kamen)
THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD (Miles Goodman)
THE PEREZ FAMILY (Zbigniew Preisner)
THE SCARLET LETTER (Elmer Bernstein)

Arabian Knight, Babe, Balto, Batman Forever, Beyond Rangoon, The Big Green, Born to Be Wild, Carrington, Casper, Circle of Friends, The City of Lost Children, Clockers, Congo, Copycat, Crimson Tide, Cry the Beloved Country, The Cure, Cutthroat Island, Dead Man Walking, Die Hard With a Vengeance, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, Dolores Claiborne, Don Juan de Marco, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, Exotica, Far From Home: the Adventures of Yellow Dog, Father of the Bride Part II, Feast of July, First Knight, Fluke, Forget Paris, Four Rooms, Frankie Starlight, Get Shorty, Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain, GoldenEye, A Goofy Movie, Halloween: the Curse of Michael Myers, Heat, Hideaway, Highlander: The Final Dimension, Home For the Holidays, How to Make an American Quilt, The Hunted, In the Mouth of Madness, The Indian in the Cupboard, The Innocent, Jefferson in Paris, Jeffrey, Judge Dredd, Jumanji, Just Cause, A Kid in King Arthur's Court, Kiss of Death, Lamerica, Last of the Dogmen, Leaving Las Vegas, A Little Princess, Lord of Illusions, Losing Isaiah, Miami Rhapsody, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: the Movie, Mr. Holland's Opus, Mortal Kombat, Murder in the First, Mute Witness, Nick of Time, Nine Months, Now and Then, Operation Dumbo Drop, Othello, Outbreak, Powder, A Pure Formality, A Pyromaniac's Love Story, The Quick and the Dead, Restoration, Richard III, Rob Roy, Roommates, Safe, The Scarlet Letter, Search and Destroy, The Secret of Roan Inish, Seven, Shallow Grave, Something to Talk About, The Stars Fell on Henrietta, Steal Big, Steal Little, Stuart Saves His Family, Sudden Death, Tales From the Crypt Presents Demon Knight, Tales From the Hood, Tall Tale, Three Wishes, To Die For, Tom and Huck, Total Eclipse, Twelve Monkeys, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, The Underneath, The Usual Suspects, Village of the Damned, A Walk in the Clouds, War of the Buttons, While You Were Sleeping

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