MOVIE MUSIC UK

SCORE OF THE YEAR

• DANCES WITH WOLVES, music by John Barry
• EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, music by Danny Elfman
• HOME ALONE, music by John Williams
• JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO, music by Georges Delerue
• TOTAL RECALL, music by Jerry Goldsmith

As one of the greatest scores in the history of cinema, clearly DANCES WITH WOLVES is the score of 1990. It’s a grand, multi-layered work which contains at least eight different themes and variations, and several standalone set-pieces, all of which inhabit the same sonic world, and all of which are singularly stunning. The style, of course, is familiar: in terms of orchestration it is similar to other classic scores of his, notably Out of Africa, , but where this score excels is in its development and in its scope. There is never a moment where one of the main themes is not carrying the weight of the emotion of the score, or where the themes are not playing off each other to expert effect. The score’s 9-minute conclusion – “Farewell and End Title” – is an utterly magnificent restatement of the majority of the main themes in succession, a stunning overview of the entire score, and a wonderful illustration of the thematic power Barry has at his fingertips. That final scene, with Dunbar and Stands With a Fist reluctantly leaving their family, with Wind In His Hair shouting an emotional call of brotherly love from a snowy clifftop, accompanied by this breathtaking music, never fails to bring a lump to my throat. This is his magnum opus.

If any other year, Danny Elfman’s EDWARD SCISSORHANDS would have run away with this. I many ways this is the quintessential Elfman-Burton score, and his music has never been so moving, so tragic, so beautiful as it is here. He endows the film with a sumptuous sweep that combines comedic passages and upbeat scherzos for Edward’s misadventures in suburbia with a trio of heartbreaking themes for Edward, and his relationships with Kim and the Inventor. The 12-minute finale, when Edward is driven from the town and is pursued by the townsfolk, is truly wondrous, celebrating the magical innocence inherent in the story. Elfman’s telling grasp of the fairytale idiom, and the majestic recapitulations of the sweeping themes are as cold as ice, yet appealingly warm-hearted. HOME ALONE saw the legendary John Williams writing music a children’s comedy adventure which saw a pre-teen boy taking on two thieves trying to rob his home; Williams scores the film like a caper with some wonderful, energetic action music, but the standout parts of the score are his evocations of the warmth and nostalgia of Christmas. His main theme is a tremendous celebration of the season, he combines a new Christmas carol with traditional Christmas carols into a wondrous tapestry, the use of a children’s choir imparts both innocence and warmth, while the wide array of instruments used and orchestration is just magical.

The great European composer Georges Delerue scored the oddball Tom Hanks comedy JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO, and wrote music that far exceeds the quality of the film itself. The score contains everything I adore about Delerue’s music – rapturous love themes, gorgeous harmonies, unexpectedly powerful and intense action music, and an overall sense of beauty and elegance and effortless charm. Finally, Jerry Goldsmith have Paul Verhoeven’s mind-bending sci fi action flick TOTAL RECALL a sophisticated sci fi action score. It sees the composer at his most creative, and his emotionally satisfying. The blend of orchestra and electronics is both sophisticated and appropriate, the thematic ideas are strong and memorable, and the majority of the action music is complicated, exciting, and intellectually stimulating from a compositional point of view.

Rounding my Top 10 film scores of 1990 (in alphabetical order) are: BACK TO THE FUTURE PART III by Alan Silvestri, DICK TRACY by Danny Elfman, MEMPHIS BELLE by George Fenton, PRESUMED INNOCENT by John Williams, and QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER by Basil Poledouris.

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COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

• DANNY ELFMAN
• JOHN BARRY
• JERRY GOLDSMITH
• ENNIO MORRICONE
• JOHN WILLIAMS

1990 was DANNY ELFMAN’S year. Building off the success of Batman in 1989, Elfman wrote no less than four outstanding scores: Edward Scissorhands was a Score of the Year nominee, but then he also wrote terrific music for the super-her0 horror film Darkman, the classic comic book action adventure Dick Tracy, and the dark vampire-themed horror thriller Nightbreed, as well as the main theme for the super hero TV series The Flash. The quality of all this music was ridiculously high, and cemented Elfman as a new major player on the Hollywood scoring scene.

JOHN BARRY gets on the list purely on the strength of Dances With Wolves – one of the greatest scores in the history of cinema, and a staggering comeback following his brush with death via a ruptured esophagus a couple of years previously. JERRY GOLDSMITH also scored a Score of the Year nominee in the shape of the outstanding scifi action movie Total Recall, but the veteran composer also contributed two very different but equally brilliant scores: the anarchic comedy horror sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch, and the romantic Sean Connery spy thriller The Russia House.

The great JOHN WILLIAMS wrote three very different but enormously accomplished scores in 1990, earning him a spot on the list: the warmhearted seasonal comedy Home Alone, the tense and seductive courtroom thriller Presumed Innocent, and the gentle drama Stanley & Iris, starring Robert De Niro and Jane Fonda. Finally, ENNIO MORRICONE makes the list purely on weight of numbers, having written an astonishing nine scores both in Hollywood and in Europe: Cacciatore Di Navi/Only One Survived, Dimenticare Palermo, Franco Zeffirelli’s Shakespeare adaptation Hamlet, Mio Caro Dottor Gräsler/The Bachelor, La Piovra 5: Il Cuore del Problema, Stanno Tutti Bene/Everybody’s Fine, State of Grace, Pedro Almodovar’s Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, and Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair.

Five other composers who also had excellent years in 1990 are: GEORGES DELERUE, RANDY NEWMAN, BASIL POLEDOURIS, ALAN SILVESTRI, and HANS ZIMMER.

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BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• “Blaze of Glory” from YOUNG GUNS II, written and performed by Jon Bon Jovi
• “Marooned Without You” from JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO, written by Georges Delerue and John Patrick Shanley
• “Double Back” from BACK TO THE FUTURE PART III, written by Billy F. Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, performed by ZZ Top
• “Somewhere In My Memory” from HOME ALONE, written by John Williams and Leslie Bricusse
• “Show Me Heaven” from DAYS OF THUNDER, written by Maria McKee, Eric Rackin, and Jay Rifkin, performed by Maria McKee

Other outstanding songs from 1990 include: “Don’t Bug Me” from ARACHNOPHOBIA, “I’m Checkin’ Out” from POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE, “Promise Me You’ll Remember” from THE GODFATHER PART III, “Sooner Or Later I Always Get My Man” from DICK TRACY, “What Can You Lose?” from DICK TRACY.

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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

• DANCES WITH WOLVES, music by John Barry
• AVALON, music by Randy Newman
• AWAKENINGS, music by Randy Newman
• MEMPHIS BELLE, music by George Fenton
• THE SHELTERING SKY, music by Ryuichi Sakamoto

Special mentions should also go to CYRANO DE BERGERAC (Jean-Claude Petit), THE FIELD (Elmer Bernstein), GHOST (Maurice Jarre), JU DOU (Zhao Jiping), and STANLEY & IRIS (John Williams).

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR A COMEDY FILM

• JOE VERSUS THE VOLCANO, music by Georges Delerue
• GREEN CARD, music by Hans Zimmer
• GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH, music by Jerry Goldsmith
• HOME ALONE, music by John Williams
• KINDERGARTEN COP, music by Randy Edelman

Special mentions should also go to CRAZY PEOPLE (Cliff Eidelman), I LOVE YOU TO DEATH (James Horner), STANNO TUTTI BENE/EVERYBODY’S FINE (Ennio Morricone), THREE MEN AND A LITTLE LADY (James Newton Howard), and WELCOME HOME ROXY CARMICHAEL (Thomas Newman).

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER FILM

• QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER, music by Basil Poledouris
• BACK TO THE FUTURE PART III, music by Alan Silvestri
• DICK TRACY, music by Danny Elfman
• PACIFIC HEIGHTS, music by Hans Zimmer
• PRESUMED INNOCENT, music by John Williams

Special mentions should also go to THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (Basil Poledouris), MISERY (Marc Shaiman), MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (Michael Small), NARROW MARGIN (Bruce Broughton), and THE RUSSIA HOUSE (Jerry Goldsmith).

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

• EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, music by Danny Elfman
• DARKMAN, music by Danny Elfman
• ROBOT JOX, music by Frederic Talgorn
• TOTAL RECALL, music by Jerry Goldsmith
• THE WITCHES, music by Stanley Myers

Special mentions should also go to ARACHNOPHOBIA (Trevor Jones), FLATLINERS (James Newton Howard), FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND (Carl Davis), NIGHTBREED (Danny Elfman), and PREDATOR 2 (Alan Silvestri).

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED FILM

• THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER, music by Bruce Broughton
• DOGTANIAN: THE MOVIE, music by Guido and Maurizio De Angelis
• DUCKTALES: THE MOVIE – TREASURE OF THE LOST LAMP, music by David Newman
• THE JETSONS: THE MOVIE, music by John Debney
• THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, music by Nicholas Pike

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BEST ORIGINAL SCORE FOR TELEVISION

• THE TRIALS OF LIFE [S1], music by George Fenton
• THE FLASH [S1], music by Danny Elfman and Shirley Walker
• STAR TREK – THE NEXT GENERATION [S4], music by Jay Chattaway, Ron Jones, and Dennis McCarthy
• STEPHEN KING’S IT [S1], music by Richard Bellis
• TWIN PEAKS [S1], music by Angelo Badalamenti

Special mentions should also go to HOUSE OF CARDS [S1] (Jim Parker), MR. BEAN [S1] (Howard Goodall), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA [S1] (John Addison), THE SILVER CHAIR [S1] (Geoffrey Burgon), and THE STORYTELLER [S1] (Rachel Portman).