Movie Music UK Awards 1991

SCORE OF THE YEAR

  • HOOK, music by John Williams
  • BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, music by Alan Menken
  • ROBIN HOOD PRINCE OF THIEVES, music by Michael Kamen
  • THE ROCKETEER, music by James Horner
  • TOURS DU MONDE TOURS DU CIEL, music by Georges Delerue

The best score of 1991, for me, was John Williams’s HOOK – a rich children’s fantasy adventure score, overflowing with colorful orchestral textures, action sequences, heartbreaking tenderness, and more than a dozen interlocking themes and motifs representing different characters, locations, and concepts, all of which sit perfectly within Williams’s beloved sound. Any score would be blessed to have one of the multitude of themes that Williams wrote for Hook, especially the wonderfully vibrant flying theme, and the heartbreaking emotional theme that ancors the cue “You Are the Pan”. Quite how Hook failed to earn up an Oscar nomination in 1991 is unbelievable – every time I listen to it I am overwhelmed by the thematic depth, the quality of the orchestration, the way he weaves themes together to create a clever dramatic narrative, and the power of the emotion in his work; it’s one of the best scores Williams he wrote in the entire decade, a sweeping and stirring fantasy masterpiece.

Running Hook a close second is James Horner’s equally rousing and adventurous THE ROCKETEER, an early entry into the annals of Disney comic book action movies which inspired Horner to write a tribute to his personal love of planes and the freedom of flight. The score is an absolute delight from start to finish; fully orchestral, multi-thematic, sweeping and romantic, peppered with musical stylistics from the period, and anchored by a series of absolutely magnificent action set pieces that showcase the composer at his best. Also showcasing the composer at his best was Michael Kamen’s ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, a big-budget historical action epic based on the classic legends of the titular medieval English outlaw – it’s a delicious combination of unashamed heroism, thematic density, sweeping romance, and rousing swashbuckling action, augmented with instrumental flavors that give it an appropriate medieval-renaissance tone in some of its quieter moments. It’s awash with Kamen’s personal stylistics and compositional flourishes, and is capped off by one of the most popular movie songs of all time, Bryan Adams’s “Everything I Do I Do It For You”.

Alan Menken’s score for the Disney animated film BEAUTY AND THE BEAST swept the board at the Oscars in 1991, and it’s not difficult to see why. Menken’s score brought Disney back to the magical sound that dominated its early years, and is are now considered a timeless classic – the creativity, wit, intelligence, emotional power, and technical musicality on display here is outstanding, and it deserved every accolade it received. This is perhaps the quintessential Disney score, and is one of the most important works of the 1990s. It’s just a shame that Howard Ashman didn’t live to see it.

Finally, Georges Delerue’s score for the groundbreaking science documentary TV series TOURS DU MONDE TOURS DU CIEL is dripping with the composer’s personal stylistics. Delerue’s approach in conveying the majesty of the cosmos was to treat it like a religious experience, and sees Delerue writing five devastatingly gorgeous passages for the the strings of the Orchestre de Paris, each one overflowing with melody, lyricism, heart, and a sense of awe and wonder.

Rounding my Top 10 film scores of 1991 (in alphabetical order) are: BACKDRAFT by Hans Zimmer, DEAD AGAIN by Patrick Doyle, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES by Thomas Newman, STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY by Cliff Eidelman, and ŻYCIE ZA ŻYCIE/LIFE FOR LIFE by Wojciech Kilar.

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COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

  • GEORGES DELERUE
  • ROBERT FOLK
  • WOJCIECH KILAR
  • MARC SHAIMAN
  • JOHN WILLIAMS

The Composer of the Year award for 1991 had to go to French composer GEORGES DELERUE. Not only did he write one of the scores of the year with the documentary Tours Du Monde Tours Du Ciel, he also wrote staggeringly beautiful music from narrative films including the comedy Curly Sue, the Canadian wilderness adventure Black Robe, the British costume drama American Friends, the French thriller La Reine Blanche, and two acclaimed TV movies: Without Warning: The James Brady Story and The Josephine Baker Story. With an output that prolific, and quality that high, non-one else came close.

JOHN WILLIAMS wrote one of the scores of the year with the aforementioned Hook, but also contributed excellent music of a different kind to the political thriller JFK, director Oliver Stone’s critical examination of the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Meanwhile, ROBERT FOLK had by far the best year of his career, writing outstanding music for four projects: the fantasy sequel The Neverending Stoty II, the action sequel Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time, the modern thriller Toy Soldiers, and the animated comedy Rock-a-Doodle. All four scores highlighted Folk’s versatility and penchant for strong, memorable themes that will surely outlive the films for which they were written.

Composer MARC SHAIMAN cemented his status as the foremost composer for American comedies with his scores for The Addams Family and City Slickers – one a western, one a horror – while also contributing to two very different Bette Midler projects: the comedy Scenes from a Mall, and the wartime drama For the Boys. Meanwhile, over in Poland, WOJCIECH KILAR continued to write outstanding music away from the mainstream eye; his score for the Holocaust drama Życie Za Życie, aka Life For Life, was a heartbreaking masterpiece, and he gave depth and gravitas to the epic TV mini-series Napoléon et l’Europe.

Five other composers who also had excellent years in 1991 are: JAMES HORNER, MICHAEL KAMEN, ALAN MENKEN, ALAN SILVESTRI, and HANS ZIMMER.

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BEST ORIGINAL SONG

  • “Dreams To Dream” from AN AMERICAN TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST, written by James Horner and Will Jennings, performed by Linda Ronstadt
  • “Be Our Guest” from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, performed by Angela Lansbury and Jerry Orbach
  • “Beauty and the Beast” from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, performed by Angela Lansbury
  • “The One and Only” from BUDDY’S SONG, written by Nik Kershaw, performed b Chesney Hawkes
  • “Everything I Do I Do For You” from ROBIN HOOD PRINCE OF THIEVES, written by Michael Kamen, Bryan Adams, and Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange, performed by Bryan Adams

Other outstanding songs from 1991 include: “Mamushka” from THE ADDAMS FAMILY, “The Girl You Left Behind” from AN AMERICAN TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST, “Way Out West” from AN AMERICAN TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST, “Belle” from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and “Tears In Heaven“ from RUSH.

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Hereafter, presented without additional comment, are my choices for the best scores in each of the genre categories:

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DRAMA FILM

  • ŻYCIE ZA ŻYCIE/LIFE FOR LIFE, music by Wojciech Kilar
  • FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, music by Thomas Newman
  • JFK, music by John Williams
  • RAISE THE RED LANTERN, music by Zhao Jiping
  • REGARDING HENRY, music by Hans Zimmer

Special mentions should also go to THE MAN IN THE MOON (James Newton Howard), THE PRINCE OF TIDES (James Newton Howard), RAMBLING ROSE (Elmer Bernstein), THELMA & LOUISE (Hans Zimmer), and TRULY MADLY DEEPLY (Barrington Pheloung).

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM

  • CITY SLICKERS, music by Marc Shaiman
  • THE ADDAMS FAMILY, music by Marc Shaiman
  • CURLY SUE, music by Georges Delerue
  • DEFENDING YOUR LIFE, music by Michael Gore
  • FATHER OF THE BRIDE, music by Alan Silvestri

Special mentions should also go to DOC HOLLYWOOD (Carter Burwell), HOT SHOTS (Sylvester Levay), KING RALPH (James Newton Howard), THE NAKED GUN 2½: THE SMELL OF FEAR (Ira Newborn), and SOAPDISH (Alan Silvestri).

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER FILM

  • THE ROCKETEER, music by James Horner
  • BACKDRAFT, music by Hans Zimmer
  • DEAD AGAIN, music by Patrick Doyle
  • ROBIN HOOD PRINCE OF THIEVES, music by Michael Kamen
  • SHIPWRECKED, music by Patrick Doyle

Special mentions should also go to BLACK ROBE (Georges Delerue), THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS (Angelo Badalamenti), RICOCHET (Alan Silvestri), SHATTERED (Alan Silvestri), and TOY SOLDIERS (Robert Folk).

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A FANTASY/SCI-FI/HORROR FILM

  • HOOK, music by John Williams
  • BEASTMASTER 2: THROUGH THE PORTAL OF TIME, music by Robert Folk
  • THE NEVERENDING STORY II: THE NEXT CHAPTER, music by Robert Folk
  • THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, music by Howard Shore
  • STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, music by Cliff Eidelman

Special mentions should also go to BODY PARTS (Loek Dikker), THE BUTCHER’S WIFE (Michael Gore), LA SETTA (Pino Donaggio), MERIDIAN (Pino Donaggio), and TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (Brad Fiedel)

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FILM

  • BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, music by Alan Menken
  • AN AMERICAN TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST, music by James Horner
  • DARKWING DUCK: DARKLY DAWNS THE DUCK, music by Philip Giffin
  • ROCK-A-DOODLE, music by Robert Folk
  • ROVER DANGERFIELD, music by David Newman

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A DOCUMENTARY

  • TOURS DU MONDE TOURS DU CIEL, music by Georges Delerue
  • ANIMA MUNDI, music by Philip Glass
  • ANTARCTICA, music by Nigel Westlake
  • ATLANTIS, music by Eric Serra
  • A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME, music by Philip Glass
  • HEART OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKER’S APOCALYPSE, music by Todd Boekelheide

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR TELEVISION

  • NAPOLÉON ET L’EUROPE [S1], music by Wojciech Kilar
  • THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY [S1], music by Barrie Guard
  • IL PRINCIPE DEL DESERTO [S1], music by Ennio Morricone
  • STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION [S5], music by Jay Chattaway and Dennis McCarthy
  • THE YOUNG RIDERS [S3], music by John Debney

Special mentions should also go to THE HOUSE OF ELLIOTT (Jim Parker), LA LAW (Mike Post), MURDER SHE WROTE (John Addison, David Bell, Richard Markowitz, and Jeff Sturges), NORTHERN EXPOSURE (David Schwartz), and QUANTUM LEAP (Mike Post and Velton Ray Bunch).