Well, we come to the end of the this mini-journey looking back at the less discussed works by James Horner that I had yet to hear. As always, the prior installments in this series can be found below:
Part 1: https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=133826
Part 2: https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=133940
Part 3: https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=133964
Part 4: https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=134075
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The Chumscrubber (2005)
Here’s another title that I’m pretty sure everyone has forgotten outside of the small collective that are either massive fans of all things Jamie Bell or from our little niche that like to say “hey, did you know James Horner scored an Indie dark comedy about teens and drugs?”. Anyway, here we have The Chumbscrubber a film that indeed centers around teens and drugs in suburbia as well as other topics including communication gaps between parents and children amongst others. The film was a commercial and critical flop upon release in 2005 and has all but disappeared into film obscurity as has the accompanying score… but should it?
Can’t speak for the film itself, but as for Horner’s highly eclectic musical accompaniment… this thing is actually pretty good. Now, before one enters the world of Chumbscrubber it should be made clear that this is *NOT* a standard Horner drama though thanks to this little journey of mine, it’s actually not *that* odd within the composer’s larger repertoire. Stylistically this is a combination of Danny Elfman-esque wackiness (as presented in the opening “Spreading Happiness All Around”) with synth heavy New Age inspired dramatics… and the seemingly random appearance of electric guitar theatrics in the track “Parental Rift”. Thematically Chumscrubber is based around two ideas: a waltz-eque identity that liberally barrows from Shostakovich’s “Suite #2 for Jazz Orchestra” (you know, from Eyes Wide Shut) and a secondary, more morose and introspective theme that is essentially a slight reworking of the previous years The Forgotten though ironically more refined (“Dolphins”). These two themes make up the majority of the brief scores runtime accompanied by various orchestration techniques and short passages that come from such varied sources as Field of Dreams and even Jade.
Despite this very strange confluence of styles, I can’t help but find myself really liking this effort from Horner. For anyone who only knows of the composer’s higher profile titles this will be a complete shock and probably not rate very highly, but for me… I love the strangeness of it all. The blatant Elfman emulation is indeed blatant but works surprisingly well while the hazy New Age material fits perfectly within Horner’s legacy of synth heavy scores from the prior two decades. In the end, ones milage will vary GREATLY for Chumscrubber (and the grating electric guitar solo is indeed annoying), but if you have an adventurous palette (musically speaking), definitely give this little score a chance. To that end, I can’t believe I’m about to give this…
Score:
4/5
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All The King’s Men (2006)
The second theatrical adaptation of the 1946 Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name by author Robert Penn Warren, All The King’s Men is a political drama detailing the rise and fall of the fictional Governor Willie Stark (Sean Penn) in the American Deep South. Unlike the prior 1949 adaptation which won the Oscar for Best Picture and is lauded as an American Cinema Classic, the 2006 version was a massive commercial disaster with critics largely tearing into the film and condemning it as “Oscar bait”. That said, if one wants to see the film for themselves, copies of the DVD seem to regularly find themselves in the discount racks at second-hand media stores.
As for the score, this is one heavy and dark effort from Horner that is largely defined by its overbearing weightiness as oppose to any thematic material. That said, Horner does offer up a handful of recurring ideas throughout the work with two themes in particular standing out: the darkly noble primary theme that dominates “Main Titles” and a secondary idea on piano & strings that sounds akin to something Thomas Newman might have created… as well as, oddly enough, the “Lonely Man theme” from the 70’s The Incredible Hulk TV show (“Jack’s Childhood”). Also noteworthy is yet another variant on Horner’s favorite four-note motif, this time sounding more like the “sinking motif” from Titanic than the standard (and infamous) “Danger Motif”, though at times it can also sound like Jerry Goldsmith’s The Shadow. According to Clem’s review Horner was instructed to make something “Shakespearean” that didn’t sound like his normal work, and to some degree he succeeded though for the seasoned Horner listener all of the composer’s tropes are clearly on display. That said blatant recycling is kept to a minimum… well, outside of the laughable appearance of Braveheart in the second half of “Give Me the Hammer and I’ll Nail ‘Em Up!”.
Overall All the King’s Men is a very solid later career drama offering from Horner that while not reaching the heights of his best in the field, is still well worth exploring. A word to potential listeners, though: one might not exactly catch the thematic storytelling Horner is working with on first listen as it took me a few times, along with Clem’s review, to pickup on the scores nuances.
Score:
4/5
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The Life Before Her Eyes (2008)
Ending this series with yet another film that did horribly at the box office and was largely discarded by critics, The Life Before Her Eyes is a drama-thriller that follows the survivor of a school shooting 15 years after the incident as she continues to deal with survivors guilt and the crumbling relationships around her. Directed by Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) and starring Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Woods as the adult and teenage versions of the protagonist, the film pulls a Shyamalan style twist by the end which while perhaps well intentioned, did nothing to endure the film to viewers.
As for the score, unlike the prior Perelman/Horner collaboration which delivered a striking and haunting orchestral work (House of Sand and Fog), … Before Her Eyes once again returns Horner to his synth based stylings with solo instruments (piano, chamber string section) and vocal soloists (though this is also sampled… or maybe all sampled). Mixing the hazy synth sounds of Titanic, The Forgotten and The Name of the Rose, the end result is an incredibly dour work for Horner… though given the films premise, I suppose that is fitting. That said, the music Horner presents is both easily digestible yet also frustratingly nebulous in a “I’ve heard this, but I remember next to nothing about it” sort of way. The primary theme is pretty, though, particularly in its performances in tracks such as “Becoming Close Friends”, “The Gift of a Necklace” and the later portion of the closing track. The only real tension or break from the airy melancholy comes in the closing two tracks, well the entirety of “Two Worlds, The Past and the Future” and the opening minute of “Young Diana’s Future, A Future That Could Have Been”, the latter seeing Horner return to the tried and true anvil strikes (sampled this time).
Of the Horner synth dominated scores I’ve covered on this journey, Life Before Her Eyes is simultaneously one of the most easily accessible yet also most unremarkable efforts in this subgenre of the composer’s work. For those that enjoy Horner in morose, meandering mode than this is your dream score (looking at you, Riley). For everyone else, approach with due caution on this one and don’t be surprised if you end just taking the final 12 minute track as your main takeaway from this frustratingly dour outing.
Score:
2 1/2 out of 5
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Final Rankings of Scores Covered:
*Batteries Not Included (1987) (2 1/2 out of 5)
Red Heat (1988) (1 1/2 out of 5)
Once Around (1990) (3/5)
Class Action (1991) (2/5)
Bopha! (1993) (1/5)
Once Upon a Forest (1993) (3 1/2 out of 5)
The Pelican Brief (1993) (2 1/2 out of 5)
Jack the Bear (1993) (1 1/2 out of 5)
Jade (1995) (2 1/2 out of 5)
Radio (2003) (2 1/2 out of 5)
Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004) (2/5)
The Forgotten (2004) (1 1/2 out of 5)
The Chumscrubber (2005) (4/5)
All the King’s Men (2006) (4/5)
The Life Before Her Eyes (2008) (2 1/2 out of 5)
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The Road Goes Ever On and On....
Despite not finding very many buried treasures on this journey, this was a lot of fun and really helped me to see more of Horner's career outside of the Big Names we all know and love. With that said, I've decided to continue this series with some more composers that I'm woefully behind on, either from their lesser known works or simply their expansive back-catalogue. I'll be taking a break before starting my next "Journey..." series, which might be a few weeks or even months, but in the meantime I want to know who you want me to cover in the next series from the below options:
Jerry Goldsmith (there's so many that this will be a multi-chapter series)
Hans Zimmer
Basil Poledouris
And of course, thank you to everyone that read and followed this little adventure. Hopefully I didn't tick off some of you too much with my hot takes. 
Until next time,
~ Ben
