This is all Nic Allardice’s fault.
Nic has been demanding that I do a Shirley Walker Odyssey for years… probably since we first met one another. I always liked the idea but never fully committed – first because so much of her work is difficult to track down and second because… well… everyone has heard of Walker but she is so rarely discussed. All the major review sites have between 0-4 reviews of her scores despite her decades in the industry, and when was the last time you saw a thread here or on the Facebook page where she was discussed in more than just a passing manner.
Two years ago, I decided to do mini ten-score Odysseys on composers I’d always wanted to explore in-depth but either had too many scores (to the point where I would be spending years on their work) or too many barely existent works. This allowed me to sample their style without being too committed. I almost did Walker then, but once again, I found it so difficult to get my hands on many of her most notable works that I had to punt once more. Ultimately, I covered Ennio Morricone, Elmer Bernstein, Pino Donaggio and Maurice Jarre. I suspect I’ll be visiting more of the first two quite soon.
Now, finally, I have gotten my hands on just about every major work of Walker… and instead of just a mini-Odyssey, I’m just going to cover it all. First because she is awesome, and second because she fucking deserves the spotlight.
It’s a grave injustice that she seems to have fallen through the cracks of history. Her only works available on Apple Music are “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm,” “Mystery Men” (where she wasn’t the primary composer) and “Batman: The Animated Series,” which you need to search for separately because she is not properly categorized as primary composer on the albums. Like… what the actual fuck? So even if you wanted to explore Walker, it would be incredibly difficult to track her down without messaging someone like me who has access to most of her released and unreleased material.
And yes, so much of it remains unreleased that it should be a crime. Her most lasting work aside from animated “Batman” is the “Final Destination” franchise, and none of her three scores have ever gotten a legitimate release despite her themes continuing in Tim Wynn’s excellent score for this year’s “Final Destination: Bloodlines.”
In addition to her composing work, Walker is also one of the most notable conductor/orchestrators in the history of film… crafting their sound in ways essential to their success. Here are just a few films she did one or both on: “Batman,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Backdraft,” “True Lies,” “A League of Their Own,” “White Fang,” “Days of Thunder,” “Child’s Play 2” (you’re welcome, Luke), “Darkman,” “Dick Tracy,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Nightbreed,” “Scrooged,” “Children of a Lesser God” and “Batman Forever.”
Finally, it should be noted that she was one of the only female composers during this time period to merit any kind of critical or commercial success (she won two Emmys), so the fact that so little of her work is available is fucked up for other reasons too.
All this is to say that, if you’ve never heard Walker’s work, or only heard her “Batman” work, you absolutely need to explore more. She’s an incredible composer, has had as much of an impact on film/television music history as any of her contemporaries and deserves your time and attention. Now, 700 words into the article, let’s finally get started on discussing her various notable works. And if any of them sound amazing to you but you can’t track them down, shoot me a message. I assume I can’t promise anything for legal reasons, but do it anyway. Just in case.
Oh, and the scores below are listed in chronological order, not the order in which I think you should explore them.
Notable Works
The Black Stallion – Primarily Composed by Carmine Coppola
After cutting her teeth playing synthesizers on Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now,” Walker was brought back to the team on the Francis-produced “The Black Stallion,” a great film with a mediocre score. Carmine Coppola was already replacing William Russo as composer… and director Carroll Ballard kept demanding revisions and re-scoring so deep into post production that Carmine ultimately threw up his hands and walked away, with a group of musicians including Walker ultimately doing a bunch of the last-minute replacement music.
As I wrote, the score ain’t great and you should go listen to “The Black Stallion Returns” by Georges Delerue instead, which is incredible. I must give Shirley a lot of credit though – her contributions are really the only time this score comes to life at all, primarily the titular cue (which is much too short) and the very good “The Rescue.” Since I need to cover so much in this article, these are all going to be capsule takes, so for further reading, I highly recommend Christian’s review of this score, which gets more into the history of the troubled work and the nitty gritty of who wrote what/what merits exploration. Or just listen to the sequel instead.
Score: **
Ghoulies Co-Composed with Richard Band
For this blatant rip-off of “Gremlins,” I was hoping for a score that followed Jerry Goldsmith’s well-loved parody work… but this isn’t half as much fun. It’s a perfectly fine suspense work (that weirdly uses one of James Horner’s most notable motifs at least 15 times) with some fun and nastiness… but not enough. I haven’t seen the movie because obviously, but since the poster is one of the titular characters pulling itself out of a toilet, I hoped that this would match that freak. But it’s only in rare moments like the “End Titles” (I love the hitting of the piano there) where it really takes off.
Score: **1/2
Chicago Joe and the Showgirl – Hans Zimmer Credited as Co-Composer
This is a 1990 British neo-noir based on the real life “Cleft Chin Murder,” which is something you can probably learn about on an episode of “My Favorite Murder.” It has zero footprint in history beyond being an early star vehicle for Keifer Sutherland. Hans Zimmer was legally contracted to score the movie, but couldn’t actually deliver for whatever reason, so Walker stepped in and wrote the entire thing… even though Zimmer retained co-composing credit.
It’s a great, jazzy noir score, complete with some almost operatic female vocals that will give you goosebumps. I could be mistaken, but Walker seems to use some pre-existing jazz standards in the underscore to great effect, but her own main theme is also excellent. The finale cue is of particular note here – one of my favorite cues in all of Walker’s works I’ve explored. Simply orgasmic.
Because of the Zimmer connection, I’m absolutely stunned this has never gotten an official release, and was one of the most difficult to track down. A pity.
Score: **** UNRELEASED
Memoirs of an Invisible Man
This is a barely remembered John Carpenter comedy film that was more notable for leading man Chevy Chase’s antics and the outstanding special effects. Carpenter was originally planning to re-team with his “Starman” composer Jack Nitzsche, but things fell apart at the last minute and Walker was hired as his replacement… simply because Chase remembered seeing her being a badass conducting “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and dropped her name to Carpenter. Chase was an asshole in general, but I will always be grateful to him for this.
Setting aside her “Batman” work, this is my favorite thing Walker has composed. The first cue hints at comedy (which makes sense because the film (allegedly) is one), but it’s really just a blockbuster action/thriller/romance. All of Walker’s themes are outstanding, and there wasn’t a moment I was not fully engaged. The fact that she did this last minute with this quality is almost unbelievable. It’s essential listening, and you should read Jon Broxton’s excellent review for more info.
This is a perfect starting point for Walker.
Score: *****
Escape From L.A. Co-Composed by John Carpenter
Walker and Carpenter clearly got along well on “Memoirs,” because he hired her to help co-compose his sequel to the minor classic “Escape From New York.” It bombed at the box office and got negative reviews at the time but (like most of Carpenter’s oeuvre) has become a cult hit in the decades since. Carpenter thinks of it as one of his favorite movies, and I like it a lot too, though the heinous transphobia gets in the way of a lot of my enjoyment.
I often find Carpenter’s scores frustrating because he conjures excellent themes and then does absolutely nothing interesting with them, resulting in mediocre-to-bad overall works that horror fanboys who have only listened to the themes on compilations will regard as masterpieces. And yeah, most of that is true here too despite Walker being the one guiding the ship – Carpenter’s original “Escape From New York” theme gets some nice reprisals, but none of (I assume) her new themes make much of an impact aside from one for the villains, and the majority of the score – especially on the expanded album! – is either underwhelming or batshit crazy, with nothing in between. That said, the final quarter is at least interesting, and I genuinely like “Hang Glider Attack,” which feels almost Bond-esque.
Score: **
Turbulence
1997’s “Turbulence” is a terrible rip-off of the “Die Hard” franchise, specifically “Die Hard 2: Die Harder” (still the best fucking title, bruh) that bombed at the box office but was pushed so hard in video stores by MGM that it ultimately became a minor success financially and spawned its own direct-to-DVD franchise. A little side note: “Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying” was scored by Don Davis (!) the same year he wrote “The Matrix” (!!).
Anyway, this is a great action score. Walker handles the suspense/thriller/horror sections with gusto, and the dovetailing of the Christmas carols into the underscore (though I wish there was more) is brilliantly rendered. I certainly like it way more than Michael Kamen’s first “Die Hard” score – come at me!
One bit of advice, though. You should make a point of listening to the final few cues first, because that’s when Walker makes the grand statements of her themes which only get partial or very subtle play earlier – listen to the big moments as an appetizer, then go back to the start so you can pick up on the smart ways she sets them up for later.
Score: ****
Superheroes
The Flash
This was a super-expensive one-season wonder superhero series starring (sexy!) John Wesley Shipp that is really only remembered because of its impact on the much more successful CW version of “The Flash”, where Shipp was cast as Barry Allen’s father and would later reprise this character in an alternate universe, as well as Mark Hamill reprising the role he began here as The Trickster. Sorry about the run-on sentence… heh.
Danny Elfman wrote the main theme to this series, which the CW’s “The Flash” reprised for Shipp’s character, along with Walker’s Trickster theme. All these tributes are really cool, but would have been cooler if this wasn’t a mediocre show with Elfman doing a bland variation of his own Batman theme. Walker has clearly been told to mimic Elfman’s style as closely as possible, especially for the Pilot episode, and this is the one time where all she does is mimic another composer instead of adding in her own voice, which is a shame. In other words, it’s all good stuff but not memorable or all-that-interesting.
Her work on the Captain Cold and Trickster-centric episodes is more her style, but I’m going to be honest… the themes and circus-style music are a little annoying. So while I am giving a solid rating to the work, I don’t think I’ll be revisiting it more often.
Score: ***
Batman: The Animated Series
Here it is, folks. Walker’s magnum opus.
One of the biggest complaints our community makes is that albums are way too long, so I’ll address what held me back for so long from exploring this music. There are four volumes of music, all multi-CD sets with hours upon hours of material, crafted by Walker and several other very talented composers like Lolita Ritmanis and Michal McCuistion. It’s a daunting task for anyone to approach.
But trust me. Just start. Worry about the length later.
There is a 14-minute “Gotham City Overture” on the first album that will tell you everything you need to know about Walker’s approach to Batman. Yes, Elfman also wrote this main theme (in exactly the style of his feature work), but you’ll be able to tell within the first few minutes that this is different. Walker employs not only action, gothic vibes but also cutting near-parody works, perfectly juggling all the styles in ways that are simply astonishing.
I guarantee you’ll want to hear more.
I had planned to just listen to Walker’s contributions of the music to give myself a break, but ended up happily diving into the whole thing over the last month. And the quality of each episode – the sometimes-audacious creative swings Walker and company take – kept me coming back for more and more. This is a composer working at the peak of her talents, able to tap into any and every genre then figure out a way to make it work within the Batman tapestry.
This is essential listening for any score fan. It’s some of the best superhero scoring ever, full stop. And it’s waiting for you – dive in.
Score: Top 100 Scores of All Time
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
The massive success of the animated series led to what was envisioned as a direct-to-video spin-off film to be upgraded to a theatrically released feature, one that was released to indifference but has become beloved. Walker ditched the pre-existing main series theme, wrote her own, and then hired a big-ass choir to chant it, reversing the names of her friends and collaborators to create the lyrics of said chant. This is both the most awesome and nerdy thing ever, and testament to this badass’ genius.
But even better than the new main theme is the romantic theme between Bruce and (SPOILER ALERT!) the titular character, at least when she is unmasked. This music runs the gamut of emotions, everything from tender to twisted, and the action is blockbuster level… easily as good as anything from any other theatrically released Batman score. Yeah, I wrote it and I’m not taking it back. Try to seek out the expansion if you can – the original album is great but the expansion is twice the length and twice the fun. If you are daunted by the investment in all those “Animated Series” albums, start here and let Walker win you over herself.
Score: *****
Superman: The Animated Series
Besides providing the pretty-darn-good main theme song for this show, Walker was hands off during most of the early episodes. She returned for a major arc with the Jack Kirby-created New Gods and Darkseid, and provided some of the weirdest, most electronic, grooviest work of her career. They really are eccentric cues, and the album is worth seeking out specifically for the Walker cues. The rest of the music is good… but if you’ve just finished exploring the entirety of “Batman: The Animated Series” like I did, it kinda pales in comparison. Her stuff I would give four stars to. Everything else…
Score: ***
The Morgan/Wong Era
Space: Above and Beyond
Aside from Bruce Timm, perhaps the most important filmmaking collaborators for Walker were the writing/producing/directing duo of Glen Morgan & James Wong. Creative partners, they had found major success on Fox for their work on “The X-Files,” and when they were given a deal with the network to create and showrun their own series, they created the one-season wonder “Space: Above and Beyond,” a terribly titled sci fi series – I am a fan of their work so I looked some stuff up on YouTube, and those special effects are yikes even for the standards of television at the time.
But Walker’s score is bananas good. The main theme she creatives is addictive, and she reprises it a lot so you’re gonna find yourself humming it for days. The music belongs in a full-on space epic: so complex, brutal, brash that it leaves you out of breath. Walker was clearly composing the $200 million dollar version of this series, not whatever the $28.45 version that was actually airing.
Score: ****1/2
Final Destination
After “Space: Above and Beyond” was cancelled, Morgan & Wong returned to “The X-Files” for a little while (penning perhaps its single best episode: “Home”) before moving onto films. They took a potential “X-Files” episode written by Jeffrey Reddick and expanded the idea into one of the most original, ingenious slasher franchises ever.
Walker’s score starts way more noir than I was expecting, and only embraces the brutal horror about halfway through. But when she does – holy shit is it spectacular. The climactic set-pieces all but explode with action and tension, and feels almost Goldsmith-like in places. And that death motif that still remains in the franchise to this day makes a grand entrance here – it sticks with you like the best of ‘em.
Score: **** UNRELEASED
Final Destination 2
Morgan & Wong did not return for the first sequel, but Walker did! And I’ve placed the movie here because… well… it would be weird to have it as a one-off in the “Notable Scores” category with me explaining everything there.
Director David R. Ellis clearly encouraged Walker to lean into a more electronic palette here, which she did while still maintaining her central theme. As a result, the music feels very 2003, but luckily the orchestra drips more and more into the work as it progresses. The final quarter is by far the best part and makes up for many of the more awkward parts of the beginning, but is still a marked step down from the first.
Score: *** UNRELEASED
Willard
Morgan & Wong chose to reboot a little-remembered mediocre horror movie from the ‘70s about killer rats called “Willard” as their next project, casting Crispin Glover as the lead. The movie bombed critically and commercially and isn’t remembered at all today. But holy shit the music is awesome – it’s a grand thriller score with a wild sense of humor and extensive use of… wait for it… wait for it…
Accordions!
Yes, a bunch of accordions form the soul of the score, and if that idea doesn’t make you smile… you need to go touch grass. It has two great themes, Walker catches the racing of the rats perfectly with her flitting strings and it’s all so damn good that it’s almost convinced me to watch the movie!
Score: ****1/2
Final Destination 3
Morgan & Wong returned for the third “Final Destination” film, and though this might be the most aesthetically interesting movie in the franchise (with most of the best kills), it unfortunately abandons the humanity of the first two in favor of black humor.
It’s probably my favorite of the Walker trilogy though, bombastically summoning up both the horror and, sometimes, tongue-in-cheek humor of the situation perfectly. You know how when you listen to a great Christopher Young horror score and you can feel him having a ton of fun scaring you? Yeah, that’s exactly what this feels like too. Some tedious suspense sequences slightly pull it down, but it’s a fucking wild ride all the way through to the end.
Score: **** UNRELEASED
Black Christmas
Apparently not having learned their lesson from “Willard,” Morgan & Wong remade another little-remembered ‘70s horror film, this time to much studio interference and major damage to their careers. This was also Walker’s final score before the stroke that ultimately took her life, and is dedicated to her memory.
And it is a very good way to go out, all things considered. Sure, it’s not a masterpiece and I wish she would have had much more demented fun with Christmas carols (same as I felt with “Turbulence”), but this is a deeply thrilling and also sometimes comedic work that is far more complex and orchestral than I was expecting. The “End Credits” simply go crazy, dancing from one Shirley strength to the next, acting unintentionally as a grand final bow from the genius herself.
Score: ***1/2
If you want to know where to start with Walker, here are my Top 5 scores with links to my favorite cues:
1. “Batman: The Animated Series” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjhNY2vAGP0&list=RDCjhNY2vAGP0&start_radio=1
2. “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WgoiJs8vFE&list=RD1WgoiJs8vFE&start_radio=1
3. “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiUuqOIiZ7Y&list=RDSiUuqOIiZ7Y&start_radio=1
4. “Space: Above and Beyond” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHqbS89-iEE&list=RDGHqbS89-iEE&start_radio=1
5. “Willard” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esn6yRqrt6Q&list=RDesn6yRqrt6Q&start_radio=1
You know, I really hope that this article gets views. I really hope that, if you’ve never heard Walker’s work before, you give it a shot. And I really hope that, if you have only heard one or two of her scores, that you use this article to discover more.
Like everyone, I look at views on my articles to gauge everyone’s interest (my “Superman” post will be my highest ever and probably hit 1,000 views when all is said and done – I haven’t read any of the comments yet because I don’t enjoy being punched in the face, but I really hope at least one or two people got what I was going for), and I am worried this one will top out at like 150 views. Which is such bullshit… not because I put in a lot of work on it (even though I did), but because Walker is so fucking awesome and discovering her voice and work was a total pleasure for me.
Her name deserves to be screamed from the rooftops, her work deserves to be discussed much more than it is… and I really hope my writing here can do a small part in getting more attention on her oeuvre.
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