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James Horner conducts The Mask of Zorro, the only score too recent for inclusion in any of the votes.

T

he results of this summer's votes for the best five recent works of James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, and John Williams have evoked some interesting candid remarks from regular Filmtracks visitors. If anything, they prove that the tastes of film music fans are sometimes very difficult to predict. Traditionally, the only votes held at Filmtracks occur during each January Theme of the Month, and determine the best score, album, and composer of the year. But as the decade quickly approaches an end, curiosity led to this summer's trilogy of votes. Skeptics have claimed that the scores of the mid-80s to the present are not of the same quality as scores of the 50s and 60s, but surely there must be some recent classics, especially composed by the three most popular composers of the decade.

So this month, the votes will be wrapped up and I'll attempt to make sense of them. Below, you will find the top five voted responses for each composer (from over 500 Filmtracks visitors), as well as those that I voted for. I'll take an (attempted) objective point of view in examining the viewer choices and give you the opportunity to respond, too! Given the wide range of scores people voted for, I know there will many, many conflicting opinions...

Final Voting Results:

Analysis of the James Horner Vote:

With the soaring popularity of Titanic these days, I suppose its close second-place showing shouldn't be a surprise. But is it really that good? Even though it's a five-star score, it does not compare, in my opinion, with the other four top scores. At the begnning of the month, it was steady at 6th and 7th place; yet, about halfway through the month, it shot through the roof and nearly took the top place. I believe that it is too recent to really judge fairly. The other top finishers are all at least three years old, and their impact has been widely recognized. Filmtracks visitors believe, though, that it will continue to lead the pack for years to come.

I didn't vote for Braveheart , although I recognize it as an exceptional score. I grew weary of Horner's obsession with the pipes early on, and thus grew closer to Horner's other great 1995 score, Apollo 13. I honestly thought that Willow would finish with more votes than it did (it was, actually the leader in the voting for two weeks). Glory's third place finish was a relief; with all the attention focused on action, adventure, and sci-fi scores, I was worried that Glory would be overlooked as too dramatic. The importance of Glory is the fact that it functions better in the film than any other Horner score, and this was a key factor in how I cast my votes. It may not be as entertaining on CD as, for instance The Rocketeer, but it will give you chills if you hear it in the theater.

Both Rocketeer and Legends of the Fall, for which I voted, made respectable places. Both scores spent a little time in the top five over the course of the month. The constant 6th place score was Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Interestingly, almost every person who voted for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock also voted for Wrath of Khan, once again proving that Star Trek fans are loyal to their films and scores. I was pleased to see The Spitfire Grill receive 45 votes; it is an excellent score that deserves more attention than it receives. I was surprised by the fact that Field of Dreams finished ahead of Cocoon.

Overall, voters remained very consistent with the "time period" they enjoy most during Horner's career. In other words, a person who voted for Braveheart almost always voted for Legends of the Fall and Apollo 13. Likewise, a person who voted for Glory often voted for Willow also. Those who voted for Brainstorm almost always voted for scores of the same time, such as Krull and Aliens. Some of the scores that finished near the bottom certainly did not deserve so; Thunderheart , Once Upon a Forest, and Dad all are better than the two or three votes for them would indicate. In these cases, it's entirely possible that people didn't vote for them simply because they are hard to obtain and not many have heard them. On the other hand, I wouldn't hesitate to agree that The Hand is by far the most unpleasant score Horner has ever composed.

Unfortunately, the recent and popular flamenco-influenced Mask of Zorro was not released until a week after voting had ceased. Had the vote begun today, it probably would have faired well, eclipsing Deep Impact and perhaps even breaking into the top ten.

Analysis of the Jerry Goldsmith Vote:

The Goldsmith vote was most hindered by the ignorance of many voters. And I don't say "ignorance" in the insulting form of the word, but rather in an attempt to say that many visitors may not be familiar with Goldsmith's older works because they are difficult to obtain or are affiliated with poor films. Having done so many scores, the votes for Goldsmith were spread out over an eclectic group of possibilities. Being one who has heard all but only one of the scores up for voting, I was horrified by the results. Just horrified.

There is no way, by any remote possibility (from the perspective of a film music historian), that Star Trek: First Contact, Total Recall, and First Knight are the best three Goldsmith scores of the last 15 years. They are indeed GOOD scores, but are not comparable to his classics. For some reason, I have a hunch that the Star Trek fanatics --those who will vote for anything that combines Goldsmith with Trek-- threw the balance in this one. It's no surprise that almost all of the voters who chose Star Trek V: The Final Frontier also chose Star Trek: First Contact. And ironically, in opposite of the results, I'd take Star Trek V over First Contact in a second.

Total Recall, and First Knight are fine works, but they are both big-budget summer film scores, heavy on action. If Goldsmith's true talent is his diversity, though, then why does it not show in the voting results? Where are the quite classics? Ethnic dramas? Sensitive love themes? I agree with a fourth place finish for Rudy, a score for which the original musicians continue to applaud him. I also have no gripe with The Ghost and the Darkness; I placed it seventh on my list, and enjoy it more and more with every listen. The sixth place finish for Air Force One reinforces the action genre preference.

My suggestion: try listening again to Goldsmith scores that are older than five years and encompass different genres. My first vote was for Under Fire. Understandably, this score is extremely hard to obtain on CD, but it is my favorite Goldsmith composition nonetheless. More of a mystery was a seventh place finish for the Academy Award nominated Hoosiers, which is perhaps the best score "as heard in film " ever! Where the film would have been without this score, I have no clue, but it is widely available on a British label (called "Best Shot") and I recommend it VERY highly. My third choice is a score that many people have heard, but many also find too long and dull. On the contrary, The Russia House must also be taken in context. You can't listen to it all of the time; however, if you're in the mood for jazz, there is none better. I've also discovered it to be the perfect late-night homework score (for some reason, it helped my grades!).

Finishing ninth was my final choice, Medicine Man; it is a score that exhibits the finest and most creative interpolation of electronics and large orchestra in Goldsmith's career. It has driving action and a sweeping string theme. I was surprised by the high finish for Mulan, and I can only guess that it was due to the fact that the score was just recently released. Small Soldiers was released at the very end of the voting period, and I suspect that a fair number of people would have voted for it as well. I was pleased by the respectable showing for both The Shadow and The 'Burbs. I thought I was the only one who enjoyed those scores! Thank goodness...

Overall, the tendancy to vote for recent and loud Goldsmith scores was very disturbing. If Star Trek: Insurrection had been available during that time, it most surely would have run off with the cake. The top finishers are all solid four-star scores, but lost in the mix were Goldsmith's lesser known masterpieces. I sincerely recommend investing in these older classics. They will not disappoint you!

Analysis of the John Williams Vote:

Due to the relatively small number of scores Williams has composed in the same time period, the votes massed to much greater numbers at the top. Although this vote was also swayed by a stronger response to more recent scores, I agree with most of the results. Almost every voter agreed on the top four scores, as they were a full 100 votes beyond the fifth place finisher. Jurassic Park is (and will be) the classic '90s Williams score (and perhaps the best by ANY composer in the '90s), topping even its powerful counterpart, Schindler's List. Even more amazing is the fact that Williams composed these two in the same year!

I was very relieved to see Hook in third place. I was worried that the huge financial failure of the film would usher the score into oblivion; but apparently, Williams fans like myself still recognize its thematic magnificence. The fourth place for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was probably predictable... anythind tied to the old Raiders/Star Wars years was bound to attract the voters. From there, the votes drop dramatically. Even so, Far and Away, with its rousing and haunting themes, finished in a solid fifth place. Interestingly, the top five finishers were already in place after only 6 days of voting!

Both receiving over 100 votes, Seven Years in Tibet and Empire of the Sun are scores worthy of their position. Amistad and Lost World likely benefited from their recent release status. Late in the voting, Saving Private Ryan gained much ground, although it failed to ultimately overtake Home Alone in the final few days of swapping places (how the two could be compared, I don't know --they're polar opposites!). Moreso than in any of the other votes, the Williams vote had a definite loser; Stanley & Iris finished with a pathetic three votes, far behind the equally struggling Rosewood . The unavailability of both scores on CD probably significantly hurt both Stanley & Iris and SpaceCamp at the polls.

Overall, the Williams vote finished in a very predictable order. The upcoming Star Wars prequel scores, beginning next year, will likely manipulate future Williams votes drastically.

What do you think? You can e-mail me your own responses to this summer's votes, and I'll post them here. They can be of any length and can concentrate on all three, or any one, of the votes. Send them to tyderian(at)filmtracks.com and I'll add them to this page within a day!

"It is difficult judging these votes because, at least for Williams and Goldsmith, much of their best/most popular work fell outside the voting bracket. I do not find it at all surprising that JP ranked as Williams best in the last decade - this score got many people interested in popular film scores for the first time. It is telling that Williams most recent five scores round out the top ten. Personally, I cannot believe that anyone who has been a fan for more than two years could possibly rank Lost World over JFK, and Born on the Fourth. This is not to say that these are necesarily superior to LW, but general feelings regarding the score and movie were negative, yet there it ranks with Williams most popular scores.


Where Goldsmith is concerned, I am not surprised by the results, but a little dissapointed. Total Recall deserves to be up there, but First Knight, Star Trek: FC, Rudy? It appears that the scores with the largest romantic themes rank highest with filmtracks visitors. It is a shame that something like The Edge (which admittedly has a romantic theme at its centre, but also some of the most effective suspense cues), one of last year's most musically meaty scores was 'edged' (forgive me) out in favor of a bunch of scores with nothing but huge heart on sleeve themes at their core and little else. Ironically, the only Goldsmith score of last year (his comeback year, as far as I was concerned) to make it into the top ten was Air Force One, another big-themed score. Air Force One also includes the best action writing since Total Recall, but this probably did not figure into most peoples votes. Most longtime Goldsmith fans consider the post-Recall era to be his 'lots of theme/no substance' period, with 1997 marking a bit of a return to form."


-- Mike Watson





"Is it possible to say which of Picasso's paintings are 'the best' or 'the most popular?' If you had a poll as to which DaVinci painting people like the most, undoubtedly the Mona Lisa would win--because it's the one most people know about.


Film music, although you and I have discovered it, is an artform which is only recently gaining some overdue recognition. (Though I have a fear: With the sucess of Titanic, most execs will think the way to sell a movie is to feature a hit romantic song, not to have a provocative, emotional score.)


Because we are the 'enlightened' in this art form, we have our favorites--which is only what this poll can distinguish: How many people have the same favorites. It doesn't make any one score "The Best Work by [composer]". I'd venture to say that Star Trek: First Contact had a broader audience than Rudy, or The Ghost and the Darkness, or anything that Goldsmith has done pre-1994...and thus, had a wider availability on CD. Why can you go into any music store and buy an album that the Flying Duck Lemons released 6 years ago, but you can't get the Jerry Goldsmith film score that was released the same year. Out of print, out of stock, out of memory. (Which is all the more annoying to us--Film score lovers have long memories....)


I'd hate to misquote here in my closing, but I believe it was composer John Scott who said, 'Film music is one of the most diverse artforms out there, because it expresses everything ever known to man.'"


-- Steve Townsley, lancelot75@juno.com






"I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was completely shocked that Star Trek: First Contact beat out Star Trek V by an incredible margin. My only thought on this is maybe that a lot of people simply can't separate it from the movie in their minds. Still, I think there were too many Goldsmith action scores up there in general, and not the right ones. (I'd also take Medicine Man over just about any other of his more recent action scores.)


Of course, I also feel that Goldsmith's work in general has gone downhill in the last decade or so... If I was listing his top 10 best scores, I doubt I would get to anything he's written in the last 15 years before about #8 or so. Sometimes I feel that the man who gave us difficult, challenging, REWARDING scores like Planet of the Apes and Alien has disappeared."


-- Jason Blalock, JKFT75E@prodigy.com






"In looking through the tabulations, I do see something of a trend in the voting. Of all three composers, action/adventure films seem to rank the highest of the vote getters. With the top five of Horner, you see four that are mainly action (Glory, Braveheart) and adventure (Apollo 13, Glory - they have their dramatic parts as well), with only Titanic standing out as the lone "dramatic" score.


With Goldsmith's top five, you have basically the same thing. Star Trek: First Contact and Total Recall are the "adventure" titles, First Knight and Ghost and the Darkness the adventure titles, and Rudy as the lone dramatic movie. Williams is the same. Far and Away and Hook are adventure films, Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade are the action films, and "Schindler's List" is the lone standout dramatic film.


These results prove a bias to the action/adventure films scored by these composers, which leads me to believe that these types of films are more memorable to the film score fans than the "dramatic" movies. Perhaps there are more recognizable themes involved, or the scores have a deeper impact on the listener. Personally, I like it when a score works both in the movie and standing alone, as that makes it even more enjoyable. These scores give more of a sense of involvement with the film.


Certainly there are better (or more worthy) scores from these composers that deserve to be in the top five (during the span of time indicated in the voting). But what makes it interesting is that each person is basing their votes on their individual tastes, and these tend to run towards the types of films shown here.


Perhaps a more interesting way of doing this vote is to break it up into decades, and then average in all of the votes at the end. That way all of the composer's works can be compared with each other."


-- Kevin Jung, ksjung@ix16.ix.netcom.com

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