# Talkclassical best film score award - 1990



## HansZimmer

For the first part of the Talkclassical best film score award, today I'll launch this little competition (poll) between the film scores which were nominated at the Academy Awards (Oscars) in 1990 for the award "best original score".

The poll will close on May 12.

For the 1990 best original score award, five films were nominated:

The Little Mermaid (animated film of the Disney): score composed by Alan Menken. This is the final winner
Field of Dreams: score composed by James Horner, who is famous for his work for the film Titanic
Born on the Fourth of July: score composed by John Williams
The Fabulous Baker Boys: score composed by Dave Grusin
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: score composed by John Williams

In the poll you only have to vote your favourite one between the five.

You only have to take in consideration the material you find here below. In some of the films you can find music that HAS NOTHING TO DO with this competition, because not all the music you hear in the film is original and because not all the music is a part of the score (for example in "The Faboulous Baker Boys" the main carachters play the piano in night clubs, but the music they play HAS NOTHING TO DO with this competition).
With the videos I post here below, I make sure to give you only the music of the ORIGINAL SCORE.


*The Little Mermaid (winner)*







*Field of Dreams*







*Born on the Fourth of July







The Fabulous Baker Boys*







*Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade





*


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## pianozach

I'm a big fan of the way Williams invokes Romantic era orchestrations, arranging, and composing. He dragged it out for many of his scores, mostly for the big blockbuster epic cinematic films.

While I appreciate his score for Born On the Fourth of July, the overly patriotic sensibilities he invokes so well (including the gratuitous use of solo trumpet) just don't click with me. So, it's Indiana Jones for me.

It's funny, I very much like Horner's scores as well, and he could have gone pure Americana with Field of Dreams; after all, what's more American than baseball. The selection has some lovely arrangements for the string section, but overall, it's just a bit too laid back.


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## HansZimmer

pianozach said:


> I'm a big fan of the way Williams invokes Romantic era orchestrations, arranging, and composing. He dragged it out for many of his scores, mostly for the big blockbuster epic cinematic films.
> 
> While I appreciate his score for Born On the Fourth of July, the overly patriotic sensibilities he invokes so well (including the gratuitous use of solo trumpet) just don't click with me. So, it's Indiana Jones for me.
> 
> It's funny, I very much like Horner's scores as well, and he could have gone pure Americana with Field of Dreams; after all, what's more American than baseball. The selection has some lovely arrangements for the string section, but overall, it's just a bit too laid back.


Thanks for your vote and feedback.

I think it's not easy to choose, because there is in general wonderful material for the 1990.

However, Field of Dreams has only one good theme and Born on Fourth of July two or three good themes. The two suites are a bit repetitive.

Indiana Jones and Little Mermaid not only have good scores, but their scores are more complex than others. I think I will vote Little Mermaid because in my opinion it's main theme is better than the one of Indiana Jones.


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## larold

I wouldn't say any of these were the best score from 1990 ... not with _Sense And Sensibility_ and _The Piano _ scores being written that year. _Emma_ was pretty good too.


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## pianozach

HansZimmer said:


> Thanks for your vote and feedback.
> 
> I think it's not easy to choose, because there is in general wonderful material for the 1990.


1989. The 1990 Academy Awards were for films released in 1989.

But yes, there were indeed many interesting and wonderful scores for films released that year, most of which did not get nominated for Best Score.

Danny Elfman - Batman
Maurice Jarre - Dead Poets Society
Michael Kamen - Licence to Kill
James Horner - Glory
Ennio Morricone, Andrea Morricone - Cinema Paradiso
Alan Silvestri - The Abyss
Hans Zimmer - Black Rain
Jerry Goldsmith - Leviathan
Ennio Morricone - Fat Man and Little Boy

And I'm leaving out quite a few for the sake of brevity. Even Benjamin Britten got a composer credit for War Requiem, as did Jerry Lee Lewis for Great Balls of Fire!. Herbie Hancock did the music for Harlem Nights.

There were a few sequels, for which the scores usually get ignored:

Alan Silvestri - Back to the Future Part II
Kamen, Clapton, Sanborn, Harrison - Lethal Weapon 2
Randy Edelman - Ghostbusters II
Jerry Goldsmith - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier


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## HansZimmer

pianozach said:


> 1989. The 1990 Academy Awards were for films released in 1989.
> 
> But yes, there were indeed many interesting and wonderful scores for films released that year, most of which did not get nominated for Best Score.


For sure, but you know... you have to choose only five of them. The Academy Awards can not make everyone happy, there will be always someone who will say "this film score was better than the one which won".


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## pianozach

To submit potential nominees, a preferential voting system has been put into place.

Members are required to rank their entries in order of preference. For almost all categories, the nominees are selected (voted on) by members that work in that category.

The final nomination list is revealed based on how many first-preference votes a film receives.

If an entry wins more than 50 per cent, it earns a nomination.

So . . . it's a popularity contest by your peers to earn a nomination, and a popularity contest by all Academy members to win the award


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## arpeggio

There were many great scores in 1990.
For me it was a toss-up between Indiana and Mermaid. I went with Indiana.


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## HansZimmer

arpeggio said:


> There were many great scores in 1990.
> For me it was a toss-up between Indiana and Mermaid. I went with Indiana.


Most users are voting Indiana Jones.

My opinion is that is that the score of Indiana Jones is in general good except the main theme, while the Little Mermaid is in general very good and has en excellent main theme.

I think that Little Mermaid is the best one for two things: complexity and beauty. Born on the Fourth of July and Field of Dreams are very good, but in a ten minutes concert they are repetitive. The Little Mermaid has less repetition in ten minutes: the main theme is repeated two times and it worths.


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## Ethereality

Disney and John Williams are usually about even, but in this versus, _The Little Mermaid_ is the obvious winner. I love this scene/animation. Classic.


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## pianozach

HansZimmer said:


> For sure, but you know... you have to choose only five of them. The Academy Awards can not make everyone happy, there will be always someone who will say "this film score was better than the one which won".


You might also get a sense of soundtrack "greatness" by including soundtracks nominated at the *Grammy Awards*. They are actually more geared to *music* than the Oscars.

The Grammy Awards are generally presented a month _earlier_ than the Academy Awards

The 1990 Grammys (for music from 1989)

Winner: Dave Grusin - The Fabulous Baker Boys
Danny Elfman - Batman
James Horner - Field of Dreams
John Williams - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Peter Gabriel - The Last Temptation of Christ

While the *Academy of Motion Pictures* did not nominate *Batman* and *Last Temptation*, the *Recording Academy* did not nominate *The Little Mermaid* (The Oscar winner) or Williams' *Born On the Fourth of July.*


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