As a kid in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989, life couldn't have been
more exciting. The Giants and A's went the World Series, and were rudely
interrupted by the most massive earthquake in almost a century. The San
Francisco 49ers won the super bowl that year and the year after. The
growing competition between computer companies in their infant forms was
molding the Silicon Valley into one of the hottest bayside locations in
the world. Then again, Harrison Ford turned down the role of Jack Ryan,
after saying something along the lines of, "who would ever want to go see
a dumb submarine movie made from a Tom Clancy novel?"
Meanwhile, the composers to the south were producing one great score
after another (even though us Northern Californians wouldn't admit it was
actually being done "down there"). A variety of well-established
composers made surprising comebacks and newcomers dazzled the ears of
film music fans with innovative and breathtaking orchestral
masterpieces.
To pay tribute to that remarkable year, the Filmtracks September, 1997,
Theme of the Month is devoted to new reviews of scores composed in 1989.
Until now, Filmtracks has been primarily a "1990's only" site, and after
being harassed by a number of friends and fellow webmasters (as well as
having a personal urge to promote some of my favorite scores), I've
decided to start the journey back in time. Many of the 1989 reviews will
have Real Audio 3.0 ISDN clips, and hopefully I can introduce some hidden
gems of the year (by famous composers, none the less!) that many people
don't know about.
To quickly recap the year's film music activity, here's a synopsis of
many 1989 scores and composer activities and awards (some will be
featured in depth, of course, but I wanted to mention as many as possible
here):
James Horner solidified his career and made himself known with the
general Hollywood community. His critically acclaimed, Golden Globe
nominated score for Glory was a milestone achievement, and perhaps
the best score of the year. Horner also composed Dad, a
sentimental, thematic score for the Ted Danson/Jack Lemmon film. He was
nominated by the Academy for his magical Field of Dreams, and also
managed to write a soft, melodic score for In Country, in which
Bruce Willis plays a Vietnam veteran searching for his identity.
John Williams was no less active, with three major scores. Both
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Born on the Fourth of
July were nominated for Academy Awards, the latter also nominated for
a Golden Globe. Both are enjoyable scores --the Last Crusade score
features new themes and exciting action sequences without relying too
heavily upon the original Raiders March. The CD release of Born on the
Fourth of July unfortunately contains numerous songs and not enough
score. Williams also composed the underrated Always, although this
tends to be forgotten given the horrible public/critical reaction to the
film.
Alan Menken was little known when his songs and score for Disney's
The Little Mermaid swept the world. It marked an enormous comeback
for Disney as a film, and the success of Menken's music has led to many
more Disney/Menken combos in the years since. The song "Under the Sea,"
as silly as it may seem to tradition soundtrack collectors, is spunky and
fun; it and "Kiss the Girl" were nominated for the Best Original Song
Oscar and "Under the Sea" took it easily. The score won both the Academy
Award and Golden Globe Award for best original score.
Danny Elfman, fresh off the cult success of his score to
Beetlejuice composed perhaps the most surprising score of the year
--Batman. Not many soundtrack collectors knew that Elfman had the
talent to write a complex, orchestral score, and Batman proved to
be a welcome surprise. Elfman also burst into the big television scene
with very successful themes for The Simpsons and Tales from the
Crypt.
Basil Poledouris had the best year of his entire career, composing
two very good scores in 1989. His work for the Nick Nolte jungle film
Farewell to the King is by far his best work. It combines a full
orchestra with odds assortments of percussion and numerous great themes.
He also composed a good, sought-after original score for the Lonesome
Dove TV miniseries. Both, luckily, are available on CD.
Hans Zimmer, who had already received recognition by the critics
as of 1989, was about to burst big into the popular film music fans'
attention. His score to Driving Miss Daisy is a very good period
piece --showing Zimmer's talent for diversity-- although it was not
nominated for any awards (that was strange since the film won the Oscar
for best film of the year).
Lee Holdridge had already made his name for composing television
films, wrote a thematic and emotionally charged score to the Gregory
Peck/Jane Fonda film Old Gringo. He mixes the Mexican genre of
music with his well-established knack for symphonic beauty. The music for
the end titles alone is worth the price of the CD.
Alan Silvestri took a leap in a new direction with his beautiful
choral score to James Cameron's expensive underwater adventure film,
The Abyss. The film was nominated for several Acadmey Awards, but
unfortunately "best score" was not one of them. The final three tracks on
Varese's CD release are very good; they coincide with the finale of the
film, when Bud (Ed Harris) descends into the abyss and ultimately brings
up a surprise for humanity. Unfortunately for Silvestri, Back to the
Future II followed shortly after and suffered from the fatal "sequel
re-hash syndrome."
Jerry Goldsmith had a relatively quiet year --without any major
blockbuster successes. He wrote two scores in 1989 however that deserve
much more attention than they are receiving. The 'Burbs, often
talked about as a collectible rather than a good score, is a true piece
of art. Because it was part of the Varese Club series, it is often
overlooked from the perspective of good music. Also, Goldsmith wrote the
score for the ill-fated Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
Understandably, this score is forgotten simply because the film was such
a tragic, predictable failure (recall --this is the one where the gang
searches for God and finds an angry old fart and a poorly constructed
miniature of a Klingon Bird of Prey). The score is really not that bad,
featuring the original Star Trek I theme, the Klingon one, and a
good new one.
As for the others, John Barry took the year off (perhaps saving up for
the next year --Dances With Wolves). Elmer Bernstein wrote a
"comeback" score (many had thought his days of great film music were
dead) with the critically successful My Left Foot. Dave Grusin was
nominated (AA) for his jazzy score to The Fabulous Baker Boys and
Georges Delerue finished off a string of good scores with Steel
Magnolias. There are others, of course, who composed scores in 1989,
but this just about wraps up the significant ones. Enjoy!
Expanded reviews of 1989 scores with a rating of **** or *****:
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Page created 8/28/97, updated 3/5/00.
Version 2.0 (Filmtracks Publishing). Copyright © 1997-2000, Christian Clemmensen. All
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"Academy Awards" and the Oscar statue are ® AMPAS, 1996.