PeterK

NP: nothing right now, but why not Vertigo, Lust For Life, High Noon, Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis, Streetcar Named Desire, Forbidden Planet, Helen of Troy, Spirit of St. Louis, The Young Lions, The Key, The Big Country, Peyton Place, The Egyptian, The Horror of Dracula, This Island Earth, well you get the idea......

Those are certainly scores from before the 70's... and if I can have an appreciation for them....... I think you have the capacity to, as well! I know you've been getting into Jarre w/ his newest scores.... give "Lawrence of Arabia" a try. Also "The Man Who Would Be King."

I'd have to say that the 90's was an awfully good year... though that might just be because I'm 19 and grew up in it.

Jeron

The sixties was the decade when the so called golden age composers were still active and creative while a younger generation of composers already made its imprint too. Georges Delerue, Henry Mancini, Ernest Gold, Max Steiner, Laurence Rosenthal, Dimitri Tiomkin, Quincy Jones, Lalo Schiffrin, Alex North, Hugo Friedhofer, John Williams, Bronislau Kaper, Maurice Jarre, Toru Takemitsu, Ron Goodwin, Mikis Theodorakis, Nino Rota... I could go on and on and on and on and list composers who wrote great score after great score because during the 1960s a lot of the "who's who" in film music were either still working or just starting out. Just some more examples of outstanding 1960s film scores: CLEOPATRA, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S, FREUD, THE PINK PANTHER, TO KILL A MOCKINBIRD, PSYCHO, WAR WAGON, KING OF KINGS, FAHRENHEIT 451, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, EXODUS, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, BULLIT, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, THE REIVERS, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, THE LION IN WINTER, THE SAND PEBBLES... it does not stop. There was the pop music in YELLOW SUBMARINE, Kubrick experimented with classical music in 2001, Hitchcock of all people experimented with no music at all in THE BIRDS, John Wayne put his money on the tested and proven for THE ALAMO and hired Tiomkin, while Alex North wrote SPARTACUS... it was all there in this decade.

Really, the sixties had the best of the best in film score names, I cannot imagine any film score fan not appreciating and liking at least something from the 1960's. No matter how you like your film scores done, romantic or modern, jazz or experimental, popular or esoteric, you pretty much could find it done (and done well) in the 1960s. It was the decade with the widest variety of composers and score styles existing side by side; the varying styles added diversity, supplemented and enriched each other, and often one took elements from the other to do something else with it. No other decade in film scoring has been this experimental. I imagine (as I'm too young to have lived it) that you never knew what kind of film score to expect in any given movie.

Every decade has its special place in film score history, but if I would have to single out the most exciting film music decade, the most varied, the most diverse, the most interesting, I would have to take the 1960's, and that's what I'm going to vote for now.

I also like the 80's very much, with the rebirth of powerfull orchestral scores, after "Star Wars".

Off the top of my head with this list, but are these really mediocre 90s scores:

Dances with Wolves, Hook, Jurassic Park, Lost World Jurassic Park, JFK, Titus, Alien 3, Dangerous Beauty, Merlin (TV), The Mummy, Sommersby, A Simple Plan, Fargo, Les Miserables, Interview With the Vampire, Star Wars: TPM, Cutthroat Island, The Red Violin, The Scarlet Letter, Kundun, Message in a Bottle, ID4, almost anything by Patrick Doyle (except Henry V is 1989), Shadowlands, Restoration, Sixth Sense, The Ghost and the Darkness, Rudy, The Russia House, Powder, Air Force One, Legends of the Fall, Medicine Man

I just don't think the 90s were as bad as people want to say they are.

I could list at least twice the amount of good scores of the 60's, 80's (even Horner was good back them) and even from the 70's that are infinitely better than 80% of what was produced in the mediocre 90's... but I'm afraid I'm not good making lists.

My favorites are the 80s and 90s

My choice for best decade of film music has to be the 60s. In addition to the music-related reasons already stated above, there were more LPs during this time than any other, the 70s aside. If for no other reason, the 1960s marked the birth of the true "soundtrack aficionado."

Perhaps this poll only makes half as much sense as a poll about the ages of MovieMusic.com users. Using results from an user age poll as a foundation, we can easily guess the results of a lot of the polls relating to favorite composers, soundtracks, decades, movies, etc.

BUT, this is great discussion nonetheless. Seeing that the 1990s are the overwhelming choice for best decade of movie music, I look forward to the next post which will eloquently explain why. Why are the majority of you voting for the 1990s? Let's read on for a hopeful explanation...

PeterK

I think it's the same thing with today teens. They grew up with movies/scores like "The Rock" and "Armageddon". It makes sense why the think the 90's are the best - they probably don't know almost anything about the past decades. Quite normal thing, if you ask me.

And another thing, I don't even watch old 1930-60 movies so I'm totally unaware of the scores of that time, not to mention that I didn't even exist at that time! I'm always into the current stuff.

NP: The Spirit of St. Louis (Franz Waxman)--a 50s score, what do you know.

...that is a very valid point PeterK has made here, and one that should not be overlooked. When I stated further up that the "overall" best decade of filmmusic was the 1960s, I was talking about the diversity of film music written in those days and the multitude of names who contributed to that decade (and did not consider how much of that music was actually released on LP). Some, like Max Steiner, certainly had their prime before the 60s as Mr. Goldberg pointed out, some, like John Williams, were not quite yet at the top of their craft, but nevertheless they were there and present in this decade and produced interesting work. The vote went to the music that was written in those days.

But as far as music releases for the film score aficionado are concerned, I would have to agree that the 1990s look like the most impressive decade ever to me. There were so many wonderful re-recordings (just think of Intrada, Marco Polo, Varese Sarabande), expanded re-releases (POLTERGEIST, PLANET OF THE APES, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, STAR TREK, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, STAR WARS, THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, to name just a few at random), and first time releases (just think of what Rhino, Ryko, and FSM dug up this past decade... stuff like NORTH BY NORTHWEST, BEN HUR, and FANTASTIC VOYAGE).
(Not to mention that it was the 1990s that brought film score lovers from all over the world together via the Internet/Usenet.)

So okay, at least as far as separately released and available film music on is concerned (and not just film music!), the 1990's win hands down.

NP: James Horner KRULL
London Symphony Orchestra/Horner
STCE release... another terrific 1990s release of a 1980 score.

90’s------40’s----30's---50's----------------------------------------80's-----70’s---60’s

30’s the birth of the modern dramatic score

40’s the full flowering of the dramatic score and ‘the musical’

50’s stagnation becomes apparent, and ‘the musical’ virtually dies

60’s the decline of the film score (and cinema in general)…by the early 70’s, public acceptance of film music was at its lowest

70’s an initially spartan decade, …John Williams changed all that

80’s a few fine scores, almost lost in an ocean of movie-making mediocrity, but things began moving in the right direction

90’s a stunning revival of all aspects of cinema saw the art of sophisticated and intelligent film composing come to fruition, and film music’s ongoing fusion with the musical sensibilities of contemporary society

SUMMARY

The 90’s have it…the 30’s and 40’s saw the creation of many many wonderful scores, but by the 50’s fewer and fewer great scores were being written. The 60’s saw a continued decline in the importance of the film score, along with a general decline in the quality of movies. By the 70’s, never had the film score been so distant from general public sympathy….indeed, cinema in general became marginalized, mainly due to filmmaker and public narrowmindedness….very few genres were considered popularly acceptable, and the multi-genred movie was considered an oddity. The funky blaxploitation film scores provided a little relief, but it was John Williams who reawakened interest in the film score; and filmmakers like Spielberg who kick-started the film industry once more. The 80’s saw a painful and gradual improvement in the general standard of movies and film scores, and by the end of the 80’s the floodgates opened…..and the entertaining quality cinema of the 30’s and 40’s was reborn.

The 90’s has seen an unending stream of top quality and entertaining movies from all genres. Indeed, the multi-genre movie has become a staple of modern cinema. Filmmaker and public narrowmindedness has been shattered, and now NO genre or area of cinema is marginalized.

Film scoring, with one or two notable exceptions, has followed the same trend toward unprecedented quality, intelligence, maturity, enlightenment and sophistication….almost all of 90’s cinema has recaptured the essence of the entertaining 30’s and 40’s movie, and has ADDED 90’s sensibilities…..including, enlightenment, sophistication, maturity, toleration and intelligence – attributes shared with our rapidly developing Western society in general..

Only political correctness handicaps modern cinema. Because of this, potentially realistic movies such as LAST OF THE MOHICANS, BRAVEHEART, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, and GOODFELLAS have been made impotent and tame.

However, political correctness at the cinema is a small price to pay for the benefits it gives to the ongoing development of global harmony.

quote:

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Originally posted by Nicolai P. Zwar:
Say, Daniel Number 2, do you still keep insisting that you really don't work for Media Ventures?

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Why do you think he works there?

NP- A World Apart (Hans Zimmer)

<<50’s stagnation becomes apparent, and ‘the musical’ virtually dies>>

Say What? Musicals absolutely flourished in the 50s....and Hollywood would have made more of 'em if not for one thing -- they were increasingly TOO expensive, especially in view of the fact that studios were downsizing. Music departments were expensive. Musical films turned sizable profits, yes, but the musical talent was too expensive to maintain on staff. TV was eroding movie attendance, yes, but musicals were consistently the top-grossers of their years. An American in Paris (51), Singin' in the Rain and With A Song in My Heart (52), Call Me Madam (53), There's No Business Like Show Business (54), Love Me Or Leave Me, Oklahoma (55), The King and I, Carousel, High Society, Guys and Dolls (56), Gigi and South Pacific (58) and Porgy and Bess (59) were among the top grossers of their respective years!

<<60’s the decline of the film score (and cinema in general)…by the early 70’s, public acceptance of film music was at its lowest>>

Studio music departments were virtually emptied of everyone and everything. STILL, there were some Great, GREAT scores written in the 60s. Gigantic, epic and totally fabulous scores. Haunting, delicate and remarkably beautiufl scores. Old composers and new composers were making significant marks in movie music history. In 1965, the divide was showing -- Goldsmith up against North and Newman and Jarre. Goldsmith started being consistently nominated. In 1969, Williams hit the "original score" slate with "The Reivers." As far as "public acceptance of film music" is concerned, WHAT? What the heck do this refer to????? Name one movie that didn't have a music score as a result of this statement which strikes me as one of the most ludicrous I've read. When on earth did the common public ever NOT "accept" film music?

<<70’s an initially spartan decade, …John Williams changed all that>>

What? Huh? EXCUSE ME??? Patton, Love Story, Papillon, The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, Jane Eyre, Nicholas and Alexandra, Straw Dogs, The Godfather (I and II), et. al.? And all before 1975. I agree that John Williams made the strongest impact upon film music when, in 1977 he stunned us with both "Star Wars" -- a tribute to Korngold, Waxman and Newman -- and "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind" -- totally original and unique (even today). "STar Wars" especially opened the door for a return to big, wall-to-wall scoring. Alas, alack and ahchoo, very few composers were up to this challenge. The early 70s were spartan in that we saw precious few release of scores...but the scores, themselves, were there.

<<80’s a few fine scores, almost lost in an ocean of movie-making mediocrity, but things began moving in the right direction>>

This is certainly true enough. John Barry's contributions shine, as does Shire's "Return to Oz" and Newman's "The Natural."

<<90’s a stunning revival of all aspects of cinema saw the art of sophisticated and intelligent film composing come to fruition, and film music’s ongoing fusion with the musical sensibilities of contemporary society>>

Brraaahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahaha!

This is the single most ludicrous, and hilarious, comment I've ever read.

The 90s?????? Are you out of your mind?

Give some examples, please, supporting your point of view!

Please, oh, please....do, do, do. The best thing that came out of the 90s was re-recorded and or first-time-releases of classic movie scores from FAR BETTER decades!

Ron

quote:

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Originally posted by DNIEL2:
90’s a stunning revival of all aspects of cinema saw the art of sophisticated and intelligent film composing come to fruition, and film music’s ongoing fusion with the musical sensibilities of contemporary society

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Muuuuahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaha!!

Keep them coming Hans... I mean... DANI2

Hey, and how 'bout this one:

quote:

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Originally posted by Daniel2:
almost all of 90’s cinema has recaptured the essence of the entertaining 30’s and 40’s movie, and has ADDED 90’s sensibilities…..including, enlightenment, sophistication, maturity, toleration and intelligence

---

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Still cracks me up! BUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I remember following a series of books that constituted Movie Roundups for the Year -- all out of print now, alas (though others have taken that series' place) -- and it was Goldsmith, not Williams, who was considered to be the composer that was helping keep the orchestral tradition alive. Their volume for 1975 (and I apologize for not remembering the title of this series -- I followed it in part because it was rare in that it covered film music at all, but I couldn't afford to buy them) -- this series observed that for 1975, it was Goldsmith's WIND AND THE LION and Williams' JAWS were the two scores for that year which "threw down the gauntlet," as the author (name forgotten) put it, challenging studios and composers to break away from the pop sound that was then encroaching (and continued to, with oddities like Moroder's MIDNIGHT EXPRESS and Michael Gore's FAME -- I liked the SONGS in that, but come on, an Oscar for Original Score? Never mind, that's another thread too.)

The immense, UNPRECEDENTED success of JAWS, STAR WARS, CE3K and SUPERMAN, while entirely deserved, must be put in perspective. Williams happened to latch onto a quartet of blockbusters in a very short period of time (well, sextet, if you wish to include POSEIDON ADVENTURE and TOWERING INFERNO -- all done over six years, a fine showing, although this period also included the HUGE flops MISSOURI BREAKS and BLACK SUNDAY -- the latter a fine movie and score though, I thought). Relegated to popular but ridiculed Irwin Allen TV shows for nearly all the 1960s, Williams was finally being taken seriously as a dramatist more than ever, but it took him a MUCH longer time to get there than it took Goldsmith. When Goldsmith received his first Oscar nomination for FREUD, Williams was stuck doing GIDGET GOES TO ROME. When Goldsmith was doing titles like IN HARM'S WAY, THE BLUE MAX and THE SAND PEBBLES, Williams was making ends meet with such TV notables as THE TIME TUNNEL, THE TAMMY GRIMES SHOW, and (feature) NOT WITH MY WIFE YOU DON'T. Indeed, I don't think anyone really took Williams seriously as a composer until JAWS -- and I don't think, myself, however enjoyable parts of his earlier scores, that he broke through to the best part of his own talents until STAR WARS. (This particularly occurs to me when I listen to JAWS 2, which is less innovative than the first JAWS, but which many of us agree is a better listen. Although I can't wait for the new OST album.)

The ascendance of one of these composers over the other is merely a matter of the vagaries of fate. Goldsmith and Elmer Bernstein were considered for STAR WARS as well; it was Spielberg who referred Williams to Lucas. Earlier, when the time came to select a composer for his debut feature THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS, Spielberg virtually flipped a coin between Goldsmith and Williams. John Williams had not yet become JOHN WILLIAMS at that time -- despite a few recent nominations, his one Oscar was for an (excellent) adaptation, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF -- but Goldsmith was already very much JERRY GOLDSMITH. If you read Irwin Bazelon's book "Knowing the Score," which was researched and written in the early and mid 1970s (before Williams became JOHN WILLIAMS), you'll see that nearly all Goldsmith's peers, including Williams himself, called Goldsmith the very best one of them all. (I get the impression they're not close friends, but they praise each other routinely.)

I mean by none of this to suggest Goldsmith is the SUPERIOR composer -- I happen to LIKE him better, at least a little bit, but as I always say, this is a vastly subjective topic.

I think the Williams "sound" does not create a blockbuster -- I think it's become a weird kind of happenstance that we ASSOCIATE the Williams sound with blockbusters. It could as easily have been Goldsmith -- and if you look at boxoffice records from the past forty years, you'll find that he's managed to help sell QUITE a few tickets as well. And as I've written several times elsewhere, I think it was Williams' sound that helped catapult HOME ALONE to blockbuster status. Even at the time -- almost ten years ago! -- I felt, "people are taking this seriously because it SOUNDS like something you're supposed to take seriously." Not, as I've also written, that Williams can create a blockbuster on his own -- it's a kind of happy, unpredictable accident. (We'll never know, really, how this works, since most audiences are resolutely, even determinedly, deaf to film music.)

As for Media Ventures: I liked their sound before it became pandemic -- before it became "Media Ventures," actually -- the factory aspect of this has always disturbed me. I remember watching the opening to FAIR GAME, scored by Mark Mancina (I didn't know then Mancina was one of Zimmer's acolytes), and thinking, "Oh, so this is where the style is going." I had the same reaction to J. Peter Robinson's Zimmer-manque score to RUMBLE IN THE BRONX.

It's especially ironic that Mancina replaced Michael Kamen and David Sanborn on that movie, and the SAME YEAR replaced Kamen on ASSASSINS -- ironic, because Kamen's original DIE HARD score was considered pioneering in its day, as well. Well, there are worse things than getting him out of the action field (he was sounding bored as early as LAST BOY SCOUT) and back into the more romantic, melodic stuff which I, personally, prefer. (His album "Mr. Kamen's Opus" has some REALLY lovely stuff on it, and I can't recommend ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN enough.)

One attitude that does concern me on this thread is that of well-I-
haven’t-heard-older-scores-so-the-current-must-be-the-best. If we are
truly filmscore aficionados, then we owe it to ourselves to be acquainted with
a plethora of filmscore music. I didn’t exist in the 30’s, was a baby in the late
40’s, and barely remember the 50’s. Still, I rent videos and watch AMC for
personal elucidation. How else would I have discovered Tiomkin, Copland,
Alfred Newman, Waxman, Steiner, and so many others? In order to enjoy
and appreciate the current composers, we need some foundation of the past
glories of composers. (In a sense this is a little related to the discussion
on Hal’s current thread on Con Air.)

Can I call the literature of the 90’s the best if I don’t have
any knowledge of past writers? (So is John Grisham
our best writer because he is the CMS of writers? Yikes!) I’ll vote for Cold
Mountain by C. Frazier for the 90’s, but I wouldn’t say he is the best if
I don’t know about past writers. Shouldn’t I at least be somewhat familiar
with Hemingway, Poe, Woolf, Twain, Hardy, and too many others to
mention? And what “ancient” writer spawns the MOST movies and some of
the best filmscores? Shakespeare, of course.

I still need to work on my ignorance about the 30's and 40's. I know there are gems I'm missing or can't find. (I.E. Copland's The Red Pony..haven't heard it. Duh!)
I think it is O.K. and absolutely fundamental to keep learning about the
PAST in any of the art forms that attract us in order to appreciate and evaluate
the PRESENT state of art.

Thank you for your interesting comments.

However, your response if anything appears to confirm my comments about the decline of the ‘musical’ during the 50’s….I’m afraid that it is true that by the mid-50’s the musical DID begin to go out of fashion. By the 60’s very few musicals were being made, MARY POPPINS was one of the only musicals to come out Hollywood during that decade, and by the 70’s the genre was virtually extinct. Black comedies, such as 1972’s brilliant THE RULING CLASS, may have incorporated some songs…but really only as a vehicle to emphasize the surrealistic tendencies of the movie. 1976’s THE SLIPPER AND THE ROSE was a lamentably uninspired attempt to reinvigorate the genre. It wasn’t until 1978’s wonderfully nostalgic GREASE that the ‘musical’ was brought successfully back into vogue. The recent excellent cinematic EVITA, and a stream of excellent feature-length Disney cartoons, is proof that the musical, or a film with ‘musical’ elements, can still succeed, and the ongoing sophistication and development of cinema bodes well for the future of the genre.

As far as the 60’s are concerned, once again your comments would APPEAR to bear out what I have said…though I agree, there are many fine 60’s scores (every era of cinema has MANY good things, it’s just some more than others, that’s all)…..however, my belief is that there were far fewer fine scores in the 60’s than in preceding decades, for all the reasons given.

Public acceptance of film music has always been a contentious issue. Most people, even many with little interest in music or film, are likely to have heard of John Williams, or at least be aware of a famous piece of film music, such as GONE WITH THE WIND or THE GODFATHER, or indeed a song that a movie has made popular such as ‘As Time Goes By’ or ‘My Heart Will Go On’, and indeed, deep down, I expect a lot of people appreciate film music a lot more than they are willing to admit. Up until recently, having a keen interest in film music (not including musicals of course) was akin to collecting stamps, train-spotting or keeping weather records (I do all of these things)….it was considered the domain of the anorak or the nerd…..and that is how I see myself….an ‘anorak’ with a nerdish interest in many things. The public attitude toward film music IS changing, and here’s why…..

During the 40’s music in film, be it the musical or even the dramatic score, was closer to the hearts of people in general. By the end of the 60’s, with the virtual death of the musical, the marginalization of cinema, and the generally unenlightened and immature state of society, music in film became even more obscure and divorced from popular culture….exacerbated by the general decline in the quality of the movies themselves. The late 80’s and 90’s have seen the marginalized and isolated elements of cinema and film scoring come together……and more broadly reflect the sensibilities of contemporary society. Film music is once again growing closer to general public acceptance, thanks to the unprecedentedly enormous popularity of cinema as a whole as we enter the 21st century, and to the extraordinarily talented composers that work in modern cinema. Great film composers like Zimmer and Horner are bridging the gap between the world of film music and society in general. Soon, thanks to these great exponents of CMS, film music will become a far more important part of popular culture. The film composers of today have learnt to combine the traditional orchestral approach of the past with current popular musical styles to create the ultra-sophisticated and intelligent scores that we are now privileged to enjoy.

Twenty years ago, cinema was at its most fragemented….film scores (and movies) were too easily pigeon-holed…thus, film scores tended to polarize between overtly popular music and overtly orchestral music. The great pioneers of the electronic score, such as Tangerine Dream, changed all of that. By the late 80’s, the extremes of film composing were converging. Suddenly film composers were mixing styles like they had never done before….witness some of Jarre’s scores of that period…here was a great traditional film composer incorporating pop stylings into his scores, albeit with variable results.

It is the Zimmer School, and other versatile and talented 90’s film composers, who have perfected the fusion of the purely electronic score with the traditional forces of the past. The ultra-sophisticated, intelligent, and mature film scores of the 90’s has been the result….thus, public perception of ‘film music’ has become far more favourable. My hope is that more pop artists, such as the incredibly talented Robbie Williams, enter the film-scoring fraternity…..that really would signal the ultimate marriage of film music with society’s contemporary musical sensibilities. The thing is, the ‘pop’ music of today already incorporates so many different types of music….not just ethnic, be it Celtic or Latin, but STYLES of music, such as classical or jazz…..it is only natural and inevitable that film music and popular music continue to converge as one. The film world, the music world, and society as a whole, can only benefit from this.

When I talk of the early 70’s being a particularly spartan period in the history of the film score, I’m not in any way referring to album releases….film score albums are of very little musical interest to me (I collect them, but then I collect bus timetables as well). I simply mean, comparatively speaking, the early 70’s was one of the least interesting period in all of cinema’s history, in my opinion….that goes for film music and the movies as a whole. John Williams did far more than just repopularize the romantic orchestral score….Williams was the catalyst for film musics’ reawakening, prompting a sea-change in all approaches to film scoring that has partly been responsible for the unprecedented film scoring brilliance that we have enjoyed during the 90’s…and look set to continue to enjoy for the foreseeable future. The good ship CMS FILM SCORE is firmly set on its course toward further sophistication, attainment and maturity….Zimmer may be captaining the ship, with Horner his trusty first officer, but it is Williams’ firm hand that is on the guiding rudder.

Of course, without filmmakers like Spielberg reinjecting 30’s and 40’s entertainment value back into their late 70’s movies and being primarily responsible for sowing the seeds of cinematic enlightenment in the 70’s that would bear fruit in the 90’s, Williams would not have been able to redefine and develop the ‘film score’ to the extent that he did. It is great to see a wonderful filmmaker like Spielberg, and a great composer like Williams, reaping the benefits during the 90’s of all of THEIR hard work and innovation of twenty five years ago…Spielberg and Williams are, and remain, cinematic titans….Zimmer, Cameron, Ron Howard and Horner, and many many other intelligent and exceptional 90’s filmmakers and film composers, have joined their lofty ranks.

You ask me to give you examples of 90’s film scoring and cinematic accomplishment…..where do I begin. 90’s film scoring and cinematic brilliance pervades contemporary society like never before….movies such as CON AIR, THE ROCK, ARMAGEDDON, TITANIC, APOLLO 13, HIGH SCHOOL HIGH, THE FUGITIVE, REMAINS OF THE DAY, SHADOWLANDS, PATRIOT GAMES, BRAVEHEART, JUNGLE FEVER, GOODFELLAS, CRIMSON TIDE, A WALK IN THE CLOUDS, TOY STORY, BABE, RESTORATION, THINNER, RANSOM, THE CRUCIBLE, SEVEN, THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, JOE’S APARTMENT, THE POSTMAN, SPAWN, MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING, SCREAM, COPLAND, MEN IN BLACK, THE BOXER, AS GOOD AS IT GETS…to name a very few….all massively entertaining, recalling the spirit of 30’s and 40’s Hollywood.

I agree, the flood of re-recordings and reissues of great film scores from previous decades has been most welcome. Indeed, the future promises a technologically-inspired paradise for the lover of cinema. Within the very near future, every movie ever made (that is restorable) will be available at the touch of a button….and with it, all those lovely film scores…..

It seems most people in this thread hold the 90s in very low regard.

(I would take exception to some of D2's choices for great 90s flicks; High School High? eh....not so sure)

I don't know how scientific that poll is, but I would wager far less people vote than actually surf this site.

I just cant' tell you how many people comment on the great music they hear in movies these days, from Patrick Doyle to George Fenton, from Carter Burwell to Danny Elfman (rarely do I hear someone mention Zimmer's muzak).

Many people around me, who say they know nothing about film music, seem to instantly recognize Dragonheart, Apollo 13, Braveheart, Seven Years in Tibet, and especially Carter Burwell's Coen brother's contributions like Miller's Crossing, Hudsucker Proxy, and the penultimate Fargo. Fenton's Dangerous Beauty struck a chord with a lot of people, Rachel Portman'sCider House Rules, as well as Anne Dudley'sAmerican History X.

I NEVER hear anyone talk about how glorious the 80s were for film music (though we all know they were great: ROTJ and Under Fire anyone?)

I think it's fine to look to the past for inspiration. Lord knows all our favorite film composers do it. But dang it, we live in a different day and age, and I DO NOT want our future films to be mirror reflections of 1930s and 40 films. They HAVE to make their own way. Just cuz it's older, doesn't make it better.

sure, there's a lot of trash films getting made. There always have been, right?

and just for the record my favorite films of the 90s include Fargo, Interview with the Vampire, Pi, Ed Wood, the Of Mice and Men adaptation with John Malkovich, Bringing Out the Dead, Three Kings, The Sixth Sense, The Straight Story, Saving Private Ryan, Seven, Silence of the Lambs (why all the "S"s?). These are all engaging, challenging, and/ or thought provoking movies
that I don't really get out of some of the older "greats," like Ben-Hur and Spartacus.

well I'm done. flame away.

Every score of the 90s you cite above -- with few exceptions -- I hold in low regard. These are not highly sophisticated, intelligent scores...there's no wit or charm to them. They are full of musical sound effects --some achieved with synthetic gizmos. Where's the really creative invention in any of them????

Zimmer's "As Good As it Gets" is the nadir of film scoring for what should have been a charming.

Thomas Newman, Carter Burwell, John Ottman and Bruce Broughton are the brightest of the new bunch, IMO. Elman isn't far behind them in my estimation (I'd like him better if he didn't always sound the same to me). The Zimmer school you laud to the skies is the most heinous practitioner of anti-music that have ever beleagured otherwise good motion pictures. That group prove to me that the Peter Principle is, indeed, a valid notion.

You write:

<May I draw your attention to the MovieMusic ‘best decade’ poll that as of 21.00 GMT May 22nd indicated a 42% vote for the 90’s, and a lowly 9% for the 60’s.>

PLEASE! Oh, Please! Withdraw your head from the sand before you suffocate!

What age group -- and what amount of exposure to ALL FILM MUSIC ERAS -- did this poll get its samples from???? Do you know??? It's hardly adequate to have 98% of your respondents vote for best decade when they're all under 30 and familiar with ONLY what they've heard in the movies in the past 10 years. POLLS ARE WORTHLESS IN DETERMINING ANYTHING UNLESS CONTROLS ARE IN PLACE. (Capitalized to emphasize, not to shout).

: )

Ron

Thank you for making something clear that I neglected to expand upon.

Indeed, if I’m not mistaken, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE was the only other ORIGINAL musical to come out of Hollywood….apart from the couple of dozen Elvis movies.

I thought FARGO was full of 'muzak'.

Ron Pulliam

But to suggest that "[in the 1970s, with] the marginalization of cinema, and the generally unenlightened and immature state of society, music in film became even more obscure and divorced from popular culture….exacerbated by the general decline in the quality of the movies themselves" -- well, listen to Isaac Hayes' Oscar-winning SHAFT, Lalo Schifrin's or Quincy Jones's terse jazz works for any number of pictures but especially the DIRTY HARRYs, such funk-inspired scores like Herbie Hancock's and David Shire's for, respectively, the huge hits DEATH WISH and TAKING OF PELHAM 1-2-3 ... the list goes on. And the fact that society was CHAOTIC at that time, in the wake of the failed Vietnamese enterprise in particular, is poorly described by the words "unenlightened and immature." If you're as old as you claim, Mr. 2, then you know full well what the world was like before then, and you know that children will always be children, and there was nothing particularly unique, from a historical perspective, about that period in time.