NOT EVEN NOMINATED, PART SEVENTEEN

By Scott Bettencourt

BEST ORIGINAL DRAMATIC SCORE

THE ENGLISH PATIENT - Gabriel Yared (the winner)
HAMLET - Patrick Doyle
MICHAEL COLLINS - Elliot Goldenthal
SHINE - David Hirschfelder
SLEEPERS - John Williams

BEST COMEDY OR MUSICAL SCORE

EMMA - Rachel Portman (the winner)
THE FIRST WIVES CLUB - Marc Shaiman
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME - Alan Menken
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH - Randy Newman
THE PREACHER'S WIFE - Hans Zimmer

BEST ORIGINAL DRAMATIC SCORE

THE CRUCIBLE - George Fenton

Nicholas Hytner's first film since The Madness of King George, from Arthur Miller's adaptation of his own classic play about the Salem witch hunts, had a stellar cast -- Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Joan Allen, Paul Scofield -- and was considered one of the year's top Oscar contenders until the reviews came out. They weren't bad, but considering the pedigree of the cast and material the reception was largely lukewarm, and the film is barely remembered today despite its outstanding acting. Day-Lewis brought his usual conviction to his tragic hero role, Ryder gave an impressively impassioned performance, and Allen was nothing less than spectacular as Day-Lewis' wife. Fenton's score was harsh and at times modernistic, climaxing with an emotional theme, "Forgive Us." (The Crucible received 2 Oscar nominations)

FARGO - Carter Burwell

Burwell's score for the Coen Brothers' most acclaimed film exemplifies the difficulty of defining certain scores as "Dramatic" or "Comedy." The film is an extremely dark comedy yet Burwell's score is extremely serious, while the seriousness is frequently used to comic effect, providing a melodramatic contrast with the smallness of the characters and the way they're dwarfed by the snowy Minnesota landscapes. Burwell utilized a Norwegian folk tune as his main theme, the plaintive melody (a little reminiscent of his Miller's Crossing music) working beautifully in context. Months after the film's release, the relatively brief Burwell score was released on CD by TVT, paired with the composer's effective, remarkably subdued score for an earlier Coen project, Barton Fink. (7 Oscar nominations)

FLY AWAY HOME - Mark Isham

Director Carroll Ballard is the Terence Malick of animal films -- in the 25 years since his debut feature, the enormously acclaimed The Black Stallion, he's only made three more features. His most recent was this factually inspired story of a father and daughter (Jeff Daniels and Anna Paquin) who use a light plane to help lead a flock of geese home. The film was a modest boxoffice hit and earned an Oscar nomination for the perennially expert cinematography of Caleb Deschanel, who was famously spurned for a nomination for his breakthrough work on Black Stallion. Mark Isham had written an atmospheric, synth-dominated score for Ballard's Never Cry Wolf, and for his second film for Ballard he took a gentle, folk-orchestral approach, resulting in one of his most satisfying scores. Reportedly, the studio was only interested in sponsoring a soundtrack if it included Mary Chapin Carpenter's end title song, but Carpenter's label wasn't interested so the score was only released as an extremely rare For Your Consideration promo. (1 Oscar nomination)

INDEPENDENCE DAY - David Arnold

David Arnold's fourth film score was for his biggest hit so far, a blockbuster alien invasion adventure from the filmmaking team whose Stargate brought Arnold to Hollywood prominence. ID4 (as the advertising inanely abbreviated it) was an unusually generic sci-fi movie, a lot like TV's overrated V with bigger stars but without V's ambitious Nazi allegory, and overall a throwback to 70s disaster epics. Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum managed to bring welcome humor and personality to their roles, but otherwise everything was pretty much what you'd seen before, just bigger, louder and longer. Similarly, Arnold's score was effective yet disappointingly familiar, hitting all the obvious notes in a big, symphonic way but with little truly memorable music -- even the best theme is strongly reminiscent of John Williams' The Poseidon Adventure, one of the pivotal scores of the classic 70s disaster era. (2 Oscar nominations)

THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY - Wojciech Kilar

Director Jane Campion's followup to her Oscar winner The Piano, an adaptation of the classic Henry James novel, got off to a rocky start with a dreadful and cloying present-day prologue of uber-hip looking girls talking about their first kiss, but once the story moved back into the past the film proved to be a worthy successor to The Piano, with its intelligent script, stylish direction and superb cast (though John Malkovich's presence makes the film at times seem like a reworking of Dangerous Liaisons). Piano composer Michael Nyman turned down the assignment and Polish composer Wojciech Kilar, still hot from his score for Bram Stoker's Dracula, got the job. Though some of his pieces are a little repetitive in the Kilar manner, Portrait is his finest score for an English language film yet, with a fine, understated feeling for the period and the emotions, and a simple yet utterly gorgeous opening woodwind theme. (2 Oscar nominations)

BEST COMEDY OR MUSICAL SCORE

THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES - Marvin Hamlisch

Despite the acclaim she received for her first two directorial ventures, Yentl and The Prince of Tides, Barbra Streisand has only directed one feature in the 13 years since Best Picture nominee Tides, this lavish romantic comedy which is a loose remake of a 1958 French drama. Though overlong and highly uneven, the film is pleasantly old-fashioned and a welcome return to the early, funny Streisand, lacking the heaviness of her previous directorial efforts. Streisand is well supported by an all-star cast, including Jeff Bridges as her love interest, Pierce Brosnan as a rival suitor, Brenda Vaccaro as the inevitable wisecracking best friend, Mimi Rogers as Streisand's more glamorous sister, and Lauren Bacall as her mother, a performance which seemed like surefire Oscar bait until she lost the award to Juliette Binoche in The English Patient, proving that the Academy isn't entirely ruled by sentiment (Bacall did an enjoyable follow-up to her Mirror role as Nicole Kidman's mother in this year's Birth -- "Well, Mr. Reincarnation, how do you like your cake?"). Mirror's score is Marvin Hamlisch's last feature effort to date, and with its delightfully over-orchestrated big city sounds seems like a throwback to another era, the Age of DeVol. The film's main theme was turned into two different love songs, both performed by Streisand -- "All of My Life" wasn't ultimately included in the film but is featured on the CD, and "I Finally Found Someone," performed by Streisand and Bryan Adams, received a Best Song nomination. (2 Oscar nominations)

MICHAEL - Randy Newman

This fantasy-comedy with John Travolta as a hard-living angel began as a screenplay by Pete Dexter (the acclaimed author of Paris Trout) and ended up as a film re-written and directed by Nora Ephron, a marked change in sensibilities. The film was a hit, mostly due to the premise and Travolta's star power, and though it was a pleasant oddity to see a hit romantic comedy with William Hurt as the love interest (for Andie MacDowell), the film was not especially funny and, even for an angel story, had a bad case of the cutes -- in one scene the characters discuss how much they all like pie, and MacDowell's character is a dog walker who pretends to be an angel expert but who actually wants to be a country singer. Randy Newman's score interpolated spirituals in a classic Hollywood style and included an inevitable original song, "Heaven Is My Home," but is the only one of his scores since Cold Turkey not to receive a soundtrack release. Newman implied in interviews that his working relationship with Ephron was less than ideal (ever since Michael she's stuck with her Mixed Nuts composer, George Fenton), but that it wasn't a good idea for him to comment on it -- after all, he said, look how she treated her ex-husband Carl Bernstein in her novel Heartburn.

ONE FINE DAY - James Newton Howard

This Michael Hoffman-directed romantic comedy has one of those premises that probably sounded great in the pitch meeting but falls flat on the screen -- George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer play a pair of divorcees who meet and fall in love all over the course of one hectic day in New York, united by their kids. Too much of the film's running time is spent in uninvolving plot machinations -- architect Pfeiffer has to present an important project, reporter Clooney has to confirm a major story -- which makes it only more frustrating that Clooney and Pfeiffer have genuine chemistry in their scenes together, which are few and far between. James Newton Howard has been Hoffman's principal composer ever since Promised Land in 1987, and unlike many comedy composers who seem content to write the same score over and over again, Howard seems to seek a new approach to each score, and his One Fine Day music is dominated by a pleasantly bouncy, classically big city sound, and while the soundtrack CD only featured a suite of his music amongst the songs, his original song "For the First Time" received an Oscar nomination. (1 Oscar nomination)

101 DALMATIANS - Michael Kamen

In the 1980s, writer-producer-director John Hughes specialized in teen comedies which flattered their target audiences, but after the staggering success of Home Alone (directed by Chris Columbus from Hughes' script), Hughes began to specialize in "family" entertainment, including a brief spell in the mid-90s of remaking classic family films. Sandwiched between the pointless Miracle on 34th Street re-do and the CGI-laden Flubber, he wrote and produced this live-action version of Disney's classic early 60s cartoon, with the predictable emphasis on brutal Home Alone-style slapstick. Stephen Herek directed the lavishly crafted film, hiring an overqualified cast (Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson and a disappointingly typecast Glenn Close as Cruella deVil) and his Three Musketeers/Mr. Holland composer Michael Kamen, who took the opportunity to score the film with a Peter and the Wolf approach, providing an elaborate orchestral score with motifs for all the protagonists, and a lengthy score CD was released. In 2000, an unnecessary, less lavish sequel, 102 Dalmatians, was released and featured a David Newman score.

SPACE JAM - James Newton Howard

Surprisingly, the huge commercial and critical success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit didn't inspire many more meldings of live action and animated characters, and though this expensive, high-profile comedy combining classic Looney Tunes characters with a live action cast (led by legendary athlete Michael Jordan) was a reasonable commercial success, it was no Roger Rabbit, as the beloved Looney Tunes characters were rarely given a chance to shine, Jordan's deadpan, non-actor quality was not enough to sustain a leading role, and the film seemed driven more by merchandising choices than any genuine creative or humorous impulse. This was Howard's first major animation project, four years before he began a brief tenure as the main composer for Disney animated features (Dinosaur, Atlantis, Treasure Planet), and he provided energy and musical variety in the classic Carl Stalling style, though like the film, his music lacked the inspiration of Silvestri's Roger Rabbit.

CARRIED AWAY - Bruce Broughton

This unusual drama from director Bruno Barreto about a schoolteacher's affair with an underage student, based on Jim Harrison's novella Farmer, received little notice but was a pleasant surprise, with an offbeat seriocomic tone, an atypically restrained performance from Dennis Hopper in the lead, and a memorable scene where he convinces his uptight girlfriend Amy Irving to make love "with the lights on" leading to one of the most refreshingly natural and unglamorous nude scenes in contemporary cinema. Bruce Broughton's first-rate score was a low-key and somber effort lacking the fan-pleasing orchestral fireworks of a Silverado or Young Sherlock Holmes but is beautifully integrated into the film. Intrada released a fine CD of the score, which they are currently selling for only $5.99 as part of their Bruce Broughton Blowout.

THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS - Jerry Goldsmith

It's odd enough that the Hollywood of the 90s should produce a thriller about killer animals in Africa -- what's even stranger is that there should be two in consecutive years (Congo and Ghost and the Darkness), that James Newton Howard was originally announced to score both of them, and that Jerry Goldsmith ended up filling both assignments. Ghost was a pet project of ace screenwriter William Goldman (he claimed it was the only idea of his that he ever pitched to the studio, rather than writing it on spec), but was essentially a mega-million dollar remake of the 50s 3D classic Bwana Devil -- both films were based on the same true incident involving murderous lions in Africa. Stephen Hopkins directed Val Kilmer (it was Kilmer's interest and his post-Batman heat that got the film made) and Michael Douglas in the leads, and Kilmer gave a genuinely committed performance while Douglas was over-the-top and unconvincing (though his story arc does involve a nice twist, unfortunately given away by the soundtrack cue titles). One of Goldsmith's great talents was his ability to evoke foreign lands in his scores in fresh and exciting ways, but while his Congo score relied too heavily on the trendy Lebo M./Africa sound of 90s scoring, Ghost and the Darkness had an entirely different feeling, with an epic, old-fashioned sound and a main theme with Irish elements (for Kilmer's character) -- this, much more than Congo, truly felt like Goldsmith's Africa, and he also supplied typically effective horror cues for the lion attacks.

MARS ATTACKS! - Danny Elfman

After having his first boxoffice flop with Ed Wood (which happened to be his best film and the winner of two Oscars), director Tim Burton decided to return to (seemingly) commercially safer ground, and to composer Danny Elfman, with this all-star sci-fi spoof based on the classic Topps bubble gum cards. While the film took a similarly sprawling, multi-character disaster movie approach as Independence Day, Burton's film was a commercial disaster adn infinitely more perverse, with its prankish Martians (computer animated but wonderfully evoking the heyday of stop motion) proving far more enjoyable than the wildly overqualified human cast -- Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Lukas Haas, Natalie Portman, Danny DeVito, Michael J. Fox, Martin Short, Rod Steiger, Sylvia Sidney, Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, Pam Grier, Jim Brown, and Jack Black. Nicholson played two roles but managed to get few laughs (his Vegas tycoon sounded weirdly like an imitation of Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice), but Haas, Brown and Grier played appealingly human scaled characters, Brosnan and Parker had a memorable courtship after their characters are subjected to hideous Martian experiments (Brosnan's head is kept alive in a glass case, while Parker's is grafted onto the body of her small dog), and Burton's then-amour Lisa Marie had the film's funniest and creepiest scene, as a Martian disguised as a buxom babe with an eerie gliding walk. The film overall is a great guilty pleasure, delightful when the Martians are onscreen but often painful when they aren't, and had a wonderfully warm, widescreen look -- it often feels like a trial run for Burton's never made Superman film. Elfman was of course a perfect choice for the score, his music dominated by an aggressive Martian march, complete with theremin, first heard in the film's dazzling title sequence depicting thousands of Martian saucers (patterned after the UFOs from Ray Harryhausen's Earth vs. the Flying Saucers) floating towards Earth. Those Elfman fans for whom the Atlantic score CD is simply not enough should also pick up the DVD (often available for impressively low prices) which features the complete score on a separate audio track.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - Danny Elfman

The success of TV-to-screen transfers like Star Trek, The Untouchables and especially The Fugitive saw a predictable boom in the trend, and few classic series seemed more suitable for the big screen than Mission: Impossible, with its twisty spy plots and international locales (usually represented on the series by backlot sets and English language signs with umlauts over the vowels). For years, director Brian DePalma had sought the blockbuster which would put him in the commercial league with such contemporaries as Spielberg, Lucas and Coppola, and this lavish film version of the TV show proved to be it, even though he hasn't had a hit since. The film was uneven but highly entertaining, its storyline a mixture of genuine surprises and needless confusion, and though the film starts out seemingly faithful to the series' emphasis on the team over the star, with producer-star Tom Cruise supported by Emmanuelle Beart, Emilio Estevez, Kristin Scott-Thomas and Jon Voight in the Peter Graves role of Jim Phelps, but soon it becomes a star flattering, one-man-against-the-world story. Alan Silvestri (who had never worked with DePalma or Cruise before) was the original composer on the project but was let go in the midst of scoring sessions, replaced by the ever-hot Danny Elfman. Elfman had only weeks to write and record his new score, which used Lalo Schifrin's classic theme for the TV series but didn't rely upon it, and the result was a fresh and imaginative action-suspense score, one of those terrific stand-alone Elfman efforts, like Sommersby, that makes one wish he'd worked more regularly in the genre.

STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT - Jerry Goldsmith, Joel Goldsmith

This was the eighth Star Trek film and the second to feature the Next Generation cast, but the first not to feature any of the original series crew, though the bulk of the story actually takes place before the original series, as the Next Generation crew follows a Borg ship back in time to 21st century Earth to keep the cybernetic villains from disrupting mankind's historic first contact with an alien race. The film was the best and highest grossing of the Next Generation movies, earning first-rate reviews and helped by an unusually strong guest cast -- James Cromwell as warp drive inventor Zefram Cochrane (a role played by Glenn Corbett in the original series episode "Metamorphosis"), Alfre Woodard as Picard's love interest, and an especially memorable Alice Krige as the Borg Queen. The time travel/first contact aspects of the story helped it become more than just another Enterprise-vs-the-Borg thriller, and though the Borg sequences weren't as scary as they should have been, despite being the first PG-13 rated film in the series, it was a highly ambitious and satisfying Star Trek entry. Jerry Goldsmith returned to the series for the first time since his marvelous score for 1989's dire Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, but the scoring of Ghost and the Darkness went over schedule and he had only a limited time to score First Contact, so he enlisted his son Joel to write additional cues, including the important "Flight of the Phoenix" sequence which isn't featured on the GNP Crescendo score CD (though fine on their own, to any Goldsmith obsessive the Joel cues are clearly different from the Jerry cues, especially on the CD). One of the things that makes Goldsmith Goldsmith is the unpredictability of his main title cues, and instead of the expected scary opening, he begins the score with the warm "First Contact" theme, one of his finest melodies for the series. His Borg motif has a satisfyingly moody relentlessness, he uses his classic Klingon theme for Lt. Worf, and in a surprising choice, he reuses a five-note motif from his Final Frontier score to characterize Picard's obsession (like Wrath of Khan, First Contact is another Moby Dick story, though this time it's the hero who's obsessed, not the villain), and went on to use the theme prominently, essentially as Picard's theme, in the final scores of the series, Insurrection and Nemesis.

Marco Beltrami had his feature breakthrough with Wes Craven's hit post-modern slasher film SCREAM, which pretty much defined the kind of movies the composer was offered for the next several years.

Elmer Bernstein wrote a proficient but forgettable score for the Wayans-Sandler comedy BULLETPROOF, which is heard to better advantage on the Varese CD. Varese also released Bernstein's rejected score to Last Man Standing, taking a jaunty orchestral approach much lighter than Ry Cooder's final score.

Bruce Broughton wrote a lovely score for Matthew Broderick's directorial debut INFINITY, a moving and underrated biopic of the physicist Richard Feynman, featuring a Goldsmithian echoing motif for the Manhattan Project and a moving love theme. He reworked his Homeward Bound themes for HOMEWARD BOUND II: LOST IN SAN FRANCISCO, and gave the family comedy HOUSE ARREST much better music than it deserved.

Carter Burwell wrote two scores for producer Brian Grazer and director James Foley, a percussive suspense score for FEAR, a teenage Cape Fear featuring early lead performances from Reese Witherspoon and Mark Wahlberg, and a Southern-flavored somber drama score for the John Grisham adaptation THE CHAMBER. He also scored the quirky MTV fantasy comedy JOE'S APARTMENT.

John Carpenter shared scoring duties on his guilty pleasure sequel ESCAPE FROM L.A. with his Memoirs of an Invisible Man composer Shirley Walker, with Carpenter providing some new material in his traditional style while Walker composed distinctive orchestral action music.

Though other major composers were originally announced for the troubled project, Gary Chang (who wrote many TV scores for director John Frankenheimer) ended up writing the score to Frankenheimer's remake of THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, giving it an especially aggressive main title theme.

Michael Convertino wrote a low-key score for Keith Gordon's ambitious filming of Kurt Vonnegut's MOTHER NIGHT, sharing the focus with Arvo Part's minimalist stylings. He wrote a warm, gentle and distinctive score for the romantic comedy drama BED OF ROSES.

Ry Cooder wrote a typically stark and acoustic score for Walter Hill's LAST MAN STANDING, replacing Elmer Bernstein.

Don Davis wrote a brooding noir score for BOUND, his first collaboration with Matrix directors The Wachowski Brothers.

John Debney scored two forgotten comedies, the dreadful dark farce GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER and the Tom Arnold vehicle (no pun intended) CARPOOL.

Patrick Doyle wrote a lively romantic comedy score for MRS. WINTERBOURNE, which was, oddly enough, a light remake of the Cornel Woolrich thriller I Married a Dead Man.

Danny Elfman revisited his stark, Dolores Claiborne style for Michael Apted's underrated medical thriller EXTREME MEASURES. He used harpsichord prominently for the uneven comedy-horror film THE FRIGHTENERS, a project he presumably took on for the chance to work with director Peter Jackson. He wrote a loud, rock-based score for the indie dark comedy FREEWAY, a modern reworking of Little Red Riding Hood highlighted by a dazzling performance from Reese Witherspoon.

Randy Edelman wrote two scores for director Rob Cohen, providing a stirring main theme for DRAGONHEART though his cues for the lighter scenes were less deft, while his score for the disaster film DAYLIGHT was disappointingly dull. He scored the submarine comedy DOWN PERISCOPE, with additional music by Mark McKenzie, and another anthem-like score for Jean Claude Van Damme's directorial debut, THE QUEST. His most satisfying work of the year was his classically tinged, piano dominated suspense score for the lame remake of DIABOLIQUE.

Stephen Endelman provided effective comic energy for David O. Russell's FLIRTING WITH DISASTER, and had the thankless job of scoring the monkey baseball comedy ED.

George Fenton worked with his regular collaborator Richard Attenborough on IN LOVE AND WAR (the last Attenborough film to receive a U.S. theatrical release), and though its main theme was forgettable, the secondary Italy melody was one of Fenton's loveliest creations. He wrote a gloomy period horror score for the disappointing film of MARY REILLY, a low-key score for Ken Loach's Spanish Civil War drama LAND AND FREEDOM, provided Southern flavored noir music for HEAVEN'S PRISONERS, and his score for Harold Ramis' clone comedy MULTIPLICITY was originally announced to be released on Fenton's own short-lived label CDG, but the CD was cancelled.

Robert Folk worked in a symphonic adventure vein for LAWNMOWER MAN 2: BEYOND CYBERSPACE, wrote a percussive action score for the Van Damme vehicle MAXIMUM RISK, and scored the ill-fated Whoopi Goldberg film THEODORE REX.

John Frizzell wrote a promising pastiche comedy score for BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD DO AMERICA, and wrote the score for the inane thriller THE RICH MAN'S WIFE incorporating thematic material by James Newton Howard.

Elliot Goldenthal wrote a typically offbeat score for the dreadful (if lucrative) John Grisham drama A TIME TO KILL, though his modern classical stylings didn't always seem appropriate and his triumphant final cue was atypically over-the-top.

Jerry Goldsmith had an especially prolific 1996. CITY HALL was a rare opportunity to score a serious, Oscar bait-style drama, and though the film is little remembered today, Goldsmith's score was highly effective, with a brooding main theme, completely with timpani, that seemed an homage to Leonard Bernstein's classic On the Waterfront, and was a precursor to his L.A. Confidential. EXECUTIVE DECISION was his only project for producer Joel Silver and the first film directed by Omen/Outland editor Stuart Baird, and Goldsmith's militaristic suspense score was highly effective but melodically unmemorable. A motif from the score cropped up in the thriller CHAIN REACTION, which had a weak main theme but first-rate action music, especially the thrilling "Ice Chase." Goldsmith provided a varied score for the ensemble comedy thriller 2 Days in the Valley, with a ticking motif for hit man James Spader, faux-Italian music for Danny Aiello's character, and a relaxed theme which he reused the following year as "Willa's Theme" from Fierce Creatures, but the filmmakers threw out his score and replaced it with one by Anthony Marinelli.

Miles Goodman's charming score for the kids' comedy DUNSTON CHECKS IN was helped by some especially inventive orchestrations. He also scored the Bill Murray comedy LARGER THAN LIFE, one of the few Goodman scores to receive a CD release.

Dave Grusin wrote an enjoyable, old-fashioned noir score for director Lee Tamahori's disappointing MULHOLLAND FALLS, though at times his music sounded like an episodic TV version of Chinatown (Tamahori used Goldsmith himself for his two subsequent films, The Edge and Along Came a Spider).

James Horner's score for the Iraq War drama COURAGE UNDER FIRE began all too predictably with the sound of a trumpet, and though his music was effective as always it was a disappointing followup to his previous war-themed scores for Edward Zwick, Glory and Legends of the Fall. His last minute replacement score for RANSOM was effective but unmemorable, and predictably warmer than Howard Shore's unnerving rejected score. He wrote satisfyingly emotional music for the indie drama THE SPITFIRE GRILL, and a pretty score for TO GILLIAN ON HER 37TH BIRTHDAY.

During the spring, James Newton Howard had three legal thrillers in release. The most memorable of the films was PRIMAL FEAR, with an outstanding cast and an Oscar nominated breakthrough performance from Edward Norton, but though it was the least memorable score of the trio it also was the only one to receive a soundtrack release. His score for the Sally Field revenge thriller EYE FOR AN EYE was more enjoyable, featuring percussive suspense cues, and the best of the three scores was THE JUROR, for which he provided elegant orchestral suspense music -- fittingly enough, since the film was originally to be scored by John Barry. He also wrote a fresh and effective score for David Koepp's promising but uneven directorial debut THE TRIGGER EFFECT.

Mark Isham wrote an all too appropriately dull score for the Death Row drama LAST DANCE.

Maurice Jarre wrote a pleasantly (if distractingly) old-fashioned score for Michael Cimino's little seen THE SUNCHASER, the director's final film to date (a few copies of the canceled score CD were made and have become among the rarest of soundtracks), and he sued director Ridley Scott after his music was rejected from White Squall, claiming he wasn't paid his full fee.

Adrian Johnston wrote a suitably stark and piercing score for Michael Winterbottom's moving film of Thomas Hardy's JUDE (The Obscure).

Michael Kamen wrote a distinctive if not entirely successful score for Francis Coppola's dreadful fantasy JACK, and a low-key score for the indie gay drama STONEWALL.

Rolfe Kent gave his first Alexander Payne film, CITIZEN RUTH, a typically deft and lively comedy score. He also scored the indie film MERCY, the kind of suspense film assignment he never seems to receive anymore.

Daniel Lanois wrote a disappointingly dull and meandering score for the Oscar winning SLING BLADE.

Daniel Licht managed to work steadily as a junior Christopher Young, following in Young's footsteps with HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE and writing sleek orchestral horror scores for BAD MOON and THINNER (using a cimbalom for the latter).

Mark Mancina wrote an eclectic score for the impressively produced but silly TWISTER. He worked in a more classical vein with the revisionist redo of MOLL FLANDERS, but the budget-necessitated use of synths was distracting and hindered the potential emotional impact of the music.

Mark Mothersbaugh scored the first of four (so far) films for Wes Anderson, the quirky caper comedy BOTTLE ROCKET. He also scored two indie comedies, THE BIG SQUEEZE and THE LAST SUPPER.

Joel McNeely wrote a charming main theme for the innocuous feature version of FLIPPER.

David Newman specialized in comedy in 1996, mixing lighthearted energy and sentiment for the hit remake of THE NUTTY PROFESSOR. He wrote a pleasingly varied score (with echoes of Rachel Portman) for Danny DeVito's MATILDA, but was overqualified for JINGLE ALL THE WAY and BIG BULLY. His one non-comedic score was for the pulp period adventure THE PHANTOM, with a stirring main theme and lively action music.

Thomas Newman wrote a jagged, urban score for the filming of David Mamet's classic play AMERICAN BUFFALO, and his distinctive, low-key style helped cut through the cheese of UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. His offbeat, alternately twangy and edgy music for THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT was interspersed among plentiful songs and classical cues, and his biggest hit of the year was PHENOMENON, where his taste and restraint were a welcome counterpoint to the aimless, sentimental drama. His score for the Oscar bait play adaptation Marvin's Room was rejected, reputedly for being too "cold."

John Ottman scored his first major film after his breakthrough work on The Usual Suspects, writing an Elfman-esque dark comedy score for THE CABLE GUY with explicit echoes of Bernard Herrmann's North by Northwest.

Basil Poledouris scored an unusual trio of films, providing solo piano music for the AIDS drama IT'S MY PARTY, a warm, restrained dramatic score for THE WAR AT HOME, and a pleasant comedy score for CELTIC PRIDE.

Rachel Portman wrote a varied, at times Elfman-esque score for the lavish adaptation of THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO, and a lightly comic score for the indie caper PALOOKAVILLE. Her replacement score for MARVIN'S ROOM had some memorable cues, especially the soaring "The Wig," though her music was at times was reminiscent of the film's original, rejected composer, Thomas Newman.

Trevor Rabin wrote his first major studio score, for the silly Steven Seagal thriller THE GLIMMER MAN.

Graeme Revell wrote a textural, non-melodic score for the teen witch thriller THE CRAFT, and reworked his evocative Crow material for the ghastly sequel THE CROW: CITY OF ANGELS. He wrote an atypically conventional (but still effective) orchestral score for the little seen prison drama KILLER: A JOURNAL OF MURDER, a youthful adventure score for RACE THE SUN, percussive action for FLED, and orchestral horror music for the Rodriguez/Tarantino collaboration FROM DUSK TILL DAWN.

Richard Robbins scored two Merchant-Ivory projects, providing Spanish-flavored music for SURVIVING PICASSO and a pleasantly warm score for THE PROPRIETOR that was practically the only good thing about that film.

Jeff Rona wrote an evocative if aimless score for Ridley Scott's Dead Poets Society-at sea, WHITE SQUALL.

William Ross had a prolific but derivative output in 96, scoring THE EVENING STAR, BLACK SHEEP (with echoes of The Great Escape) and MY FELLOW AMERICANS (MacArthur), while writing a more original score for Ron Shelton's TIN CUP.

Craig Safan's zany comedy score for the failed farce MR. WRONG featured a main theme with strong echoes of the then trendy music of Esquivel.

Marc Shaiman's warm yet somber score for GHOSTS OF MISSISIPPI was more effective on the CD than in the bland, forgettable movie. He provided his usual sprightly comedy sound for Albert Brooks' MOTHER, and a more gentle score for Norman Jewison's BOGUS.

Howard Shore wrote a brooding orchestral score for the disappointing adaptation of BEFORE AND AFTER, and worked in a lighter vein on the comedies THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS AND DOGS and THAT THING YOU DO!, neither of which resulted in a score album. He wrote classically oriented choral cues for Al Pacino's odd Shakespeare exploration LOOKING FOR RICHARD, which were a precursor of his masterwork Lord of the Rings. His most striking work of the year was his rejected score for Ransom, providing admirably sustained tension, but director Ron Howard rejected it in favor of the more conventional uplift of James Horner. He also scored one of the year's worst films, the high profile comedy thriller STRIPTEASE.

Alan Silvestri wrote energetic but forgettable action scores for the thrillers THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT and ERASER (which ultimately used a main title theme by Walter Werzowa), and his surprisingly bland music for Mission: Impossible was rejected during the scoring period, to be replaced by Danny Elfman. He wrote a typical military comedy score for the disposable film version of SGT. BILKO.

Christopher Tyng prominently used faux-gospel for the Whoopi Goldberg comedy THE ASSOCIATE, and also scored the kids' fantasy KAZAAM.

Patrick Williams wrote a pleasantly nostalgic score for the all-star Truman Capote adaptation THE GRASS HARP, which was originally announced to be scored by John Barry.

Nancy Wilson wrote an extremely low-key, guitar based score for her husband Cameron Crowe's wonderful JERRY MAGUIRE.

Christopher Young wrote one of his most elegant suspense scores for John Dahl's underrated UNFORGETTABLE, and provided exciting action cues for the sleeper hit SET IT OFF.

Hans Zimmer's over-the-top score for John Woo's BROKEN ARROW ranged from choirs to a twangy guitar theme which was later distractingly tracked into the score for Scream 2. He followed in the footsteps of his late mentor, Stanley Myers, by scoring Nicolas Roeg's intimate drama TWO DEATHS. Nick Glennie-Smith was the original composer hired for THE ROCK, but when the filmmakers weren't entirely satisfied with his work they brought in Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams to help finish the score. Zimmer and Gregson-Williams collaborated on THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, but their well-intentioned but undernourished music was the only unsatisfactory element of this romantic biopic about Conan creator Robert E. Howard. He worked in harsh, acid rock elements for the Tony Scott thriller THE FAN, and wrote a seafaring adventure score for MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND.

The Adventures of Pinocchio, American Buffalo, The Arrival, The Associate, Bad Moon, Beavis and Butthead Do America, Bed of Roses, Before and After, The Big Squeeze, Bottle Rocket, Broken Arrow, Bulletproof, Carried Away, Chain Reaction, The Chamber, City Hall, Courage Under Fire, The Craft, The Crow: City of Angels, The Crucible, Daylight, Diabolique, Dragonheart, Emma, The English Patient, Eraser, Escape From L.A., The Evening Star, Executive Decision, Extreme Measures, A Family Thing, The Fan, Fargo, First Kid, The First Wives Club, Flipper, The Frighteners, The Ghost and the Darkness, Ghosts of Mississippi, The Grass Harp, Hamlet, Harriet the Spy, Heaven's Prisoners, Hellraiser: Bloodline, Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, In Love and War, Independence Day, Infinity, The Island of Dr. Moreau, It's My Party, Jack, James and the Giant Peach, Jude, Kazaam, Land and Freedom, Larger Than Life, Last Dance, Last Man Standing, Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, Looking For Richard, Mars Attacks!,, Marvin's Room, Mary Reilly, Maximum Risk, Michael Collins, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Mission: Impossible, Mrs. Winterbourne, Moll Flanders, Mother, Mother Night, Mulholland Falls, Muppet Treasure Island, 101 Dalmatians, The People vs. Larry Flynt, The Phantom, The Portrait of a Lady, Primal Fear, The Proprietor, Ransom, The Rock, The Secret Agent, Set It Off, Shine, Sleepers, Sling Blade, Some Mother's Son, Space Jam, The Spitfire Grill, The Star Maker, Star Trek: First Contact, The Stupids, Surviving Picasso, Tales From the Crypt Presents Bordello of Blood, Thinner, A Time to Kill, Tin Cup, To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, Twister, Two Much, Up Close & Personal, The War at Home, White Squall, The Whole Wide World, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

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