SMALL SCREEN, BIG SCORES: PART THIRTEEN
A Chronology of Scores for TV Movies and Miniseries by
Feature Composers (Plus a Bunch of Emmy Stuff Too)
By Scott Bettencourt
1991
ABSOLUTE STRANGERS - Charles Fox
A husband struggles to decide whether to let his comatose pregnant
wife bring their baby to term at the potential cost of her life; directed
by Gilbert Cates, with Henry Winkler, Patty Duke, Richard Kiley and Karl
Malden
AFTERMATH: A TEST OF LOVE - Leonard Rosenman
Moving docudrama from Gary Kinder's book Victim, with Richard
Chamberlain as a doctor struggling to help his son, a survivor of Utah's
infamous "Hi-Fi Murders."
BACKFIELD IN MOTION - Cliff Eidelman
Sports comedy with Roseanne and Tom Arnold
BEJEWELLED - Ken Thorne
Disney comedy mystery with Emma Samms, Dirk Benedict and Jean Marsh
THE BLACK VELVET GOWN - Carl Davis
Romantic drama with Janet McTeer and Bob Peck
BLOOD TIES - Brad Fiedel
Revisionist modern vampire story directed by Jim McBride, with Jason
London, Michelle Johnson and Patrick Bauchau; the basic premise was reworked
as a horrendously titled, short lived series, Kindred: The Embraced,
which also featured Bauchau
THE BOYS - David Shire
James Woods as a non-smoking writer dying of lung cancer caused by
his smoking writing partner, John Lithgow; written by William Link (writing
partner of the late Richard Levinson)
BROTHERHOOD OF THE GUN - Joel Goldsmith, Jerry Goldsmith
Unsold Western pilot starring Brian Bloom, David Carradine, James Remar,
and future film director Shawn Levy; score by Goldsmith Jr., theme by Goldsmith
Sr.
CAROLINA SKELETONS - John Morris
Southern mystery with Louis Gossett Jr., Bruce Dern and Melissa Leo
CHAINS OF GOLD - Trevor Jones
Intended as a feature but ended up a cable movie; John Travolta plays
a social worker trying to save a young boy from drug dealer Benjamin Bratt
CHANGES - Lee Holdridge
Charles Jarrott directed this Danielle Steel adaptation, with Cheryl
Ladd, Michael Nouri, Cynthia Bain and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
CHERNOBYL: THE FINAL WARNING - Billy Goldenberg
Docudrama about the nuclear accident, with Jon Voight, Jason Robards
and Sammi Davis
CLARISSA - Colin Towns
BBC romantic drama shown on Masterpiece Theater, with Sean Bean
COLUMBO: CAUTION! MURDER CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH - John Cacavas
Peter Falk goes after TV host George Hamilton, who murders a rival
with poisoned cigarettes; directed by Daryl Duke
CRAZY FROM THE HEART - Arthur B. Rubinstein
Romantic comedy, as Christine Lahti falls for Ruben Blades; directed
by Thomas Schlamme (Lahti's husband)
THE CRUCIFER OF BLOOD - Carl Davis
Fraser Clarke Heston directs his father Charlton as Sherlock Holmes
in this adaptation of the play by Paul Giovanni (the late composer of The
Wicker Man), which is a revisionist version of Conan Doyle's The
Sign of Four
CRY IN THE WILD: THE TAKING OF PEGGY ANN - Sylvester Levay
Mountain man David Morse kidnaps Megan Follows in this true crime story
DAUGHTERS OF PRIVILEGE - Patrick Williams
Newspaper drama with Dick Van Dyke
DEADLOCK - Richard Gibbs
Score CD on Silva (as Wedlock); Lewis Teague directs
this sci-fi thriller with Rutger Hauer and Mimi Rogers as prisoners on
the run, co-starring Joan Chen and James Remar
DEADLY INTENTIONS -- AGAIN? - J. Peter Robinson
Sequel to the 1985 true crime drama (scored by Georges Delerue), with
Harry Hamlin replacing Michael Biehn as the doctor convicted of plotting
to kill his wife
DON QUIXOTE - Lalo Schifrin
Score CD on Prometheus; Fernando Rey is the man of La Mancha
in this 1983 Spanish miniseries
DYNASTY: THE REUNION - Bill Conti, Peter Myers
The whole nighttime soap gang returns for a reunion movie, plus an
overqualified Jeroen Krabbe
EYES OF A WITNESS - Charles Gross
Daniel J. Travanti and Jennifer Grey in a thriller set in Kenya
FALSE ARREST - Sylvester Levay
Donna Mills is falsely accused of multiple-murder
FATAL EXPOSURE - Michel Colombier
Mare Winningham gets the wrong batch of pictures back from the photo
shop and discovers evidence of murder
FEVER - Michel Colombier
Lawyer Sam Neill and ex-con Armand Assante try to rescue the woman
they both love
FINDING THE WAY HOME - Lee Holdridge
Amnesiac George C. Scott ends up working with Latino farm workers
FIRE! TRAPPED ON THE 37TH FLOOR - Gil Melle
Office workers trapped late at night in a skyscraper fire; with Lee
Majors, Lisa Hartman, Peter Scolari
FRANKENSTEIN: THE COLLEGE YEARS - Joel McNeely
Youth comedy with Christopher Daniel Barnes and William Ragsdale, directed
by Tom Shadyac (Ace Ventura, Patch Adams, Bruce Almighty)
GESUCHT WIRD RICKY FORSTER - Pino Donaggio
GOLDEN FIDDLES - William Ross
Australian family drama with Kate Nelligan
GREAT EXPECTATIONS - Ken Thorne
Miniseries from the Dickens classic, with Anthony Calf as Pip, Jean
Simmons as Miss Havisham, and Anthony Hopkins as Magwitch
GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT - Charles Bernstein
Martin Sheen struggles to prove adopted son Brendan Fraser is innocent
of murder
HEADING HOME - Stanley Myers
Period romantic drama written and directed by David Hare, with Gary
Oldman, Joely Richardson and Stephen Dillane
HELD HOSTAGE: THE SIS AND JERRY LEVIN STORY - Charles Fox
Suspense with Marlo Thomas and David Dukes
HER WICKED WAYS - Fred Karlin
All About Eve in TV journalism, with Barbara Eden and Heather
Locklear
THE HEROES OF DESERT STORM - Sylvester Levay
Angela Bassett in a patriotic drama about our first Iraq war
IN BROAD DAYLIGHT - Patrick Williams
The residents of a small town take revenge against bullying Brian Dennehy
and his family; with Cloris Leachman, Chris Cooper and Marcia Gay Harden
AN INCONVENIENT WOMAN - Craig Safan
Adaptation of the Dominick Dunne roman a clef based on the Alfred
Bloomingdale/Vicki Morgan affair, with Jason Robards, Rebecca DeMornay,
Jill Eikenberry, Chad Lowe, Peter Gallagher, and Roddy McDowall
INTO THE BADLANDS - John Debney
Western anthology with Bruce Dern, Mariel Hemingway, Dylan McDermott
and Helen Hunt
IRAN: DAYS OF CRISIS - Philippe Sarde
Docudrama on the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, with Arliss Howard, Jeff
Fahey, Alice Krige, Tony Goldwyn, Valerie Kaprisky, Ving Rhames and George
Grizzard as President Carter
THE JOSEPHINE BAKER STORY - Georges Delerue
Lynn Whitfield plays the singer in this HBO biopic, with David Dukes,
Ruben Blades, Louis Gossett Jr., and Craig T. Nelson as Walter Winchell
KEEPER OF THE CITY - Leonard Rosenman
Score CD on Intrada; Bobby Roth directs Louis Gossett Jr. as
a cop tracking gangster-killing vigilante Anthony LaPaglia; written by
Gerald DiPego (Phenomenon, The Forgotten) from his novel
KEEPING SECRETS - Patrick Williams
Suzanne Sommers in the Suzanne Sommers story, directed by John Korty
L'AMANT DE MA SOEUR - Claude Bolling
French adaptation of an Alan Aykbourn play
THE LAST PROSTITUTE - Fred Karlin
Romantic drama featuring the once-in-a-lifetime pairing of Sonia Braga
and Wil Wheaton
THE LAST TO GO - John Morris
Family drama with Tyne Daly, Terry O'Quinn, William Sadler and Julianne
Moore
LES CARNASSIERS - Philippe Sarde
LES RITALS - Antoine Duhamel
LETHAL INNOCENCE - Charles Gross
David Strathairn, Blair Brown and Brenda Fricker in this generically
titled drama
LIES BEFORE KISSES - Don Davis
1990/1991 Emmy nominee Music Composition For A Miniseries Or Special;
Jaclyn Smith discovers husband Ben Gazzara is a murder suspect
LIGHTNING FIELD - J. Peter Robinson
Psychic Nancy McKeon tries to rescue her kidnapped baby from devil-worshippers
LINE OF FIRE: THE MORRIS DEES STORY - Billy Goldenberg, Arthur B.
Rubinstein
John Korty directs Corbin Bernsen as the Civil Rights attorney, co-starring
Angela Bassett
A LITTLE PIECE OF HEAVEN - Don Davis
1991/1992 Emmy nominee Music Composition For A Miniseries Or Special;
Kirk Cameron kidnaps a child to be a playmate for his retarded sister;
directed by Mimi Leder
LONG ROAD HOME - Craig Safan
John Korty directs Mark Harmon in a drama about sharecroppers
LOVE KILLS - Stanley Clarke
Erotic noir with Virginia Madsen and Lenny Van Dohlen
LOVE, LIES AND MURDER - Charles Bernstein
True crime drama with Clancy Brown, Sheryl Lee and Moira Kelly
MARK TWAIN AND ME - Laurence Rosenthal
1:23 on the 2-disc composer promo Laurence Rosenthal: Music For
Television; Daniel Petrie directs Jason Robards as the writer,
Talia Shire as his wife
MISSION OF THE SHARK - Craig Safan
Docudrama based on the true-life "Indianapolis story" made famous in
Jaws, with Stacy Keach, Richard Thomas and David Caruso as crewmen
on the torpedoed WWII ship imperiled by sharks
MRS. LAMBERT REMEMBERS LOVE - Lee Holdridge
Charles Matthau directs his father Walter and Ellen Burstyn
MURDER IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: THE PAMELA WOJAS SMART STORY - Gary Chang
Teacher Helen Hunt's seduction of student Chad Allen leads to murder
A MURDER OF QUALITY - Stanley Myers
Denholm Elliot as George Smiley in this mystery from the John LeCarre
novel, with Joss Ackland, Glenda Jackson, Billie Whitelaw and Christian
Bale
NAPOLEON ET L'EUROPE - Wojciech Kilar
Jean-Francois Stevenin plays the Emperor in this French miniseries
NEVER FORGET - Henry Mancini
Holocaust survivor Leonard Nimoy takes Holocaust deniers to court;
with Dabney Coleman and Blythe Danner, directed by Joseph Sargent
ONE AGAINST THE WIND - Lee Holdridge
Score CD on Intrada; Judy Davis helps allied soldiers in WWII
occupied France; with Sam Neill, Denholm Elliott and Kate Beckinsale
102 BOULEVARD HAUSSMANN - George Fenton
Alan Bennett teleplay with Alan Bates as Marcel Proust
ONE SPECIAL VICTORY - Billy Goldenberg
John Larroquette is forced to coach a mentally handicapped basketball
team
OUR SONS - John Morris
An unlikely friendship develops between two very different women (Julie
Andrews, Ann-Margret) whose sons (Hugh Grant, Zelkjo Ivanek) are lovers
and one is dying of AIDS
THE OWL - Sylvester Levay
Adrian Paul is a superhero vigilante; directed by "Alan Smithee" (not
a good sign)
PALOMINO - Dominic Frontiere
Lindsay Frost, Eva Marie Saint and Rod Taylor in a Danielle Steel adaptation
PARIS TROUT - David Shire
3:32 on the composer promo CD David Shire: Film Music;
Pete Dexter adapts his superb Southern Gothic novel for HBO, with Stephen
Gyllenhaal directing Ed Harris, Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper
PAYOFF - Charles Bernstein
Keith Carradine, Kim Griest and Harry Dean Stanton in a casino heist
PERFECT HARMONY - Billy Goldenberg
Choirmaster Peter Scolari tries to defuse racial tensions in a Southern
private school
PLYMOUTH - Brad Fiedel
The residents of a small town move to the moon
PRIME SUSPECT - Stephen Warbeck
The first of the great British mystery series, with a superlative Helen
Mirren as Scotland Yard DCI Jane Tennyson, investigating a serial killer;
with Tom Bell, John Benfield, John Bowe, Zoe Wanamaker, Tom Wilkinson,
and Ralph Fiennes in a small role as the boyfriend of a victim
THE RETURN OF ELIOT NESS - Lee Holdridge
Robert Stack recreates his role from The Untouchables, with
Lisa Hartman and Charles Durning
ROBIN HOOD - Geoffrey Burgon
Score CD on Silva; This Fox TV movie was originally developed
as a feature for John McTiernan to direct, but Robin Hood: Prince of
Thieves got there first, so John Irvin directed with Patrick Bergin,
Uma Thurman, Jurgen Prochnow, Jeroen Krabbe, and Edward Fox
SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL - David Shire
2:35 on the composer promo CD David Shire: Film Music;
This period prairie romance starring Glenn Close and Christopher Walken,
from the Patricia MacLachlan novel, inspired two sequels and a stage musical
SATURDAY'S - Patrick Williams
Pilot for a never aired romantic anthology series
A SEASON OF GIANTS - Riz Ortolani
Score CD La Primavera di Michaelangelo on Fonitcera;
John Glover as Leonardo, the late Mark Frankel as Michaelangelo, with F.
Murray Abraham, Steven Berkoff, Ian Holm, and Raf Vallone
SEPARATE BUT EQUAL - Carl Davis
George Stevens Jr. writes and directs this story of the Supreme Court's
ruling on desegregation, with Sidney Poitier as Thurgood Marshall and co-starring
Burt Lancaster and Richard Kiley as Earl Warren
SHE STOOD ALONE - Michael J. Lewis
Mare Winningham and Ben Cross start a girls' school for black children
in 1830s Connecticut
SON OF THE MORNING STAR - Craig Safan
Score CD on Intrada; Safan's finest score, for this unusually
ambitious miniseries adapted by Melissa Mathison from Evan Connell's historical
novel, with Gary Cole as Gen. George Custer, and Rosanna Arquette, David
Strathairn and Dean Stockwell
THE STORY LADY - Lee Holdridge
Jessica Tandy has to balance her life as a mother and grandmother with
her new job reading stories to children on TV
THE STRAUSS DYNASTY - Laurence Rosenthal
Biopic on the musical family, with Anthony Higgins, Edward Fox, Alice
Krige, John Rhys-Davies and John Gielgud
THE SUMMER MY FATHER GREW UP - Lee Holdridge
Family drama with John Ritter and Margaret Whitton
SWITCHED AT BIRTH - Marvin Hamlisch
When a ten year old girl dies, her parents discover that they'd been
raising another couple's child all along, and try to get custody of their
biological daughter
TATORT - BIS ZUM HALS IM DRECK - Tangerine Dream
TRACKS OF GLORY - Bruce Rowland
Australian period race relations bicycle racing miniseries
UNA VITA IN GIOCO - Luis Bacalov
VENDETTA: SECRETS OF A MAFIA BRIDE - Riz Ortolani
Mob drama with Carol Alt, Eric Roberts, Burt Young, Billy Barty, and
Eli Wallach
THE WHEREABOUTS OF JENNY - Patrick Williams
Hide in Plain Sight again, more or less, with Ed O'Neill in
the James Caan role of a man whose ex-wife and family disappear into Witness
Protection
WHICH WAY HOME - Bruce Rowland
Cybill Shepherd and four Cambodian orphans escape the Khmer Rouge
WITHOUT WARNING: THE JAMES BRADY STORY - Georges Delerue
HBO movie with Beau Bridges as the Reagan aide who became a gun control
activist after his near-fatal shooting by John Hinckley; with Joan Allen
as his wife and David Strathairn as his doctor
A WOMAN NAMED JACKIE - Lalo Schifrin
Larry Peerce directs Roma Downey as Jackie, Stephen Collins as JFK,
Joss Ackland as Ari Onassis, and Sarah Michelle Gellar as the teenage Jackie
YES VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS - Charles Bernstein
Charles Bronson as the reporter who answers the famous query from a
little girl reader; with Richard Thomas and Ed Asner, directed by Charles
Jarrott
1990/1991 Emmy nominees:
MUSIC COMPOSITION FOR A SERIES (DRAMATIC UNDERSCORE)
Bruce Babcock - The Father Dowling Mysteries (The Consulting Detective
Mystery)
Don Davis - My Life and Times (The Collapse of '98)
John Debney - The Young Riders (Kansas)
Dennis McCarthy - Star Trek: The Next Generation (Half a Life)
Joel Rosenbaum - Jake and the Fatman (God Bless the Child)
MUSIC COMPOSITION FOR A MINISERIES OR SPECIAL (DRAMATIC
UNDERSCORE)
Richard Bellis - It, Part 1
Chris Boardman - Johnny Ryan
Don Davis - Lies Before Kisses
James DiPasquale - The Killing Mind
Patrick Williams - Decoration Day
MAIN TITLE THEME MUSIC
Stanley Clarke - Hull High
Ray Colcord - Singer and Sons
Lee Holdridge - ABC's World of Discovery
Thomas Newman - Against the Law
Michael Skloff - Dream On
Parts One (1954-1968),
Two (1969-1971),
Three (1972-1973),
Four (1974-1975),
Five (1976-1977),
Six (1978-1979),
Seven (1980-1981),
Eight (1982-1983),
Nine (1984-1985),
Ten (1986-1987),
Eleven (1988),
and Twelve (1989-1990)
of this series can be accessed on the website.
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