: (Hans Zimmer) A universally
liked, fictional account of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball
League that existed as an alternative to professional baseball in the
1940's,
translated positive reviews into
massive fiscal success in 1992. Sporting an all-star ensemble cast and
an effective balance of interpersonal dramatics and confrontation on the
diamond, the film is a unique entry in the sports genre and reaffirmed
its director, Penny Marshall, in the mainstream. It takes a few major
liberties with the actual historical circumstances of the league, but
the innocuous tale with an enormous heart was endearing enough for CBS
to quickly attempt a failed television series based on the concept and
starring some of the film's supporting actors. (Another television
series followed decades later, not to mention an attempt to actually
create an all-female baseball league.) The casting of Madonna as one of
the players on screen led to a hit song from her for the picture, and
although the official soundtrack album didn't include "This Used to Be
My Playground" due to contractual licensing reasons, it did feature
several light rock and vintage jazz pieces that symbolized the spirit of
the film. Short-changed on that product was Hans Zimmer's score,
however. The composer and director enjoyed a fruitful relationship in
the years following
, with similar
assignments allowing Zimmer to explore his more humorously zany side.
There was about an hour of almost completely orchestral music recorded
by Zimmer for the assignment, and it represented a distinct change from
the synthetically-dominated tone of his previous works. He had only just
written his first orchestral score two years prior, and his non-action
sound was still defined by the contemporary style of
. While extending from the same generally
upbeat personality of those early Zimmer ventures,
was a remarkably organic turn for the composer at the time,
especially in its dominance of woodwinds.
This score emulates the style of Randy Newman so well
that you would have difficulty differentiating between
A League of
Their Own and the jazzy portions of
The Natural. Some refer
to the 1992 Zimmer score as a direct spin-off of that famous Newman work
but without the ultra-heroic title theme. In many ways, that's a pretty
accurate claim, though the outright silly parts of
A League of Their
Own have a Western influence that goes beyond Newman's similar
Western tilt to his Americana jazz and whips up the dust with the
frenzied enthusiasm that David Newman or Marc Shaiman might bring to the
same film. Either way, it's a score that sounds almost nothing like the
mass majority of Zimmer's career work. Big band swing and vintage jazz
isn't exactly Zimmer's specialty, but he nails it with authority in
here, and he is quick to credit conductors Shirley Walker and Nick
Glennie-Smith, orchestrator Bruce Fowler (who also wrote some of the
newsreel-associated throwback cues himself), and various musicians on
piano and percussion for helping guide the finished product. The
ensemble allows rambling percussion, plucked basses, and uninhibited
piano under an abundance of brass in sequences so wild that they make
the most rambunctious portions of Danny Elfman's
Dick Tracy seem
tame. Sure, Zimmer and his team do rely upon a few obvious sources of
inspiration in
A League of Their Own, but he has his tongue
firmly lodged in his cheek some of the time as well. References to
Beethoven and common pop culture melodies are joined by a solo trumpet
that only reminds of Ennio Morricone when applied to the final at-bats
between sisters in the pivotal game. Occasional synthetic accompaniment
does contribute, but it does so in a supporting, Jerry Goldsmith kind of
way. Thematically, Zimmer develops a familiar rolling rhythm of jazzy
progressions for the game sequences throughout the film, culminating in
"Final Game." Starting in earnest in "Tryouts," wild cymbal tapping and
imaginative woodwind lines highlight these otherwise brass-dominated
portions. The sheer energy in cues like "Life Magazine Montage" is
remarkable, because Zimmer's comedy material rarely approaches this
level of density.
The other half of the score for
A League of Their
Own is occupied by tender character development, to which Zimmer
applies an orchestral variant on his typical synthetic melodies of
simple, pleasing tonalities of the era. Although the bridge section of
the dramatic theme for the leads has some similarities with the family
theme in
Backdraft, the tone here couldn't be any more different.
From simple and appealing piano solos to organic versions of the
clarinet solos that were so endearing in
Driving Miss Daisy,
Zimmer creates a tear-jerking environment without cranking up the volume
to melodramatic levels. The final two, reverent cues in particular,
"Hall of Fame" and "Final Goodbyes and Hellos," are tastefully handled.
Once again, some of the credit for this success in well-rounded
execution is owed to Fowler and Walker's orchestrations, which spread
counterpoint across the entire spectrum to even solo violins and
trumpets in their highest ranks. Altogether,
A League of Their
Own is a very friendly and effective score that only misses the
highest ranking because of its inability to reconcile its two disparate
halves into one cohesive listening experience. You have to appreciate
either the jazzy baseball cues in one sitting or the respectful dramatic
ones in another. Some listeners may find the sentimental sappiness of
the closing cues to be excessive, but it functions well on screen. The
original commercial album contains only two tracks that pull music
together from mostly the final scenes of the film, though bootlegs with
decent sound in the 2000's eventually presented the recording sessions
complete with the harmless newsreel and stadium organ-related source
material. Finally, in 2025, Intrada Records pressed a similarly
satisfying presentation to an official limited CD of 59 minutes.
Although there are no extras or alternates on this product, this
selection also includes the bevy of music that was either fully or
partially dialed out of the film. (The sheer amount of unused music
recorded by Zimmer for this movie is surprising, as it's all of good
quality.) Whenever you become frustrated with the composer's stale
action mode of the 2000's and beyond, it's always refreshing to go back
and revisit the heart-warming music for
A League of Their Own to
remind yourself of the composer's early triumphs of style and
personality.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.84
(in 129 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 2.95
(in 299,896 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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