Losing Scores

What is it with musicians and small aircraft crashes? In the past 56 years, accidents involving private planes have claimed the lives of numerous recording artists, including Buddy Holly (along with Ritchie Valens and “The Big Bopper”), Patsy Cline, Otis Redding, Jim Croce, Ricky Nelson, and John Denver. On June 22, 2015, 61-year-old James Horner was killed when his S312 Tucano turbo prop crashed into the Los Padres National Forest near Ventucopa, California. He was the only one aboard.

A flight enthusiast, James Horner appeared in the 2009
PBS documentary "The Horsemen Cometh."

The name James Horner might be unfamiliar to several, but as a film composer, he created some of the most evocative scores in recent memory, among them “Field of Dreams,” “Glory,” “Braveheart,” “Titanic,” and “Avatar.” He was known for his distinctive integration of electronic music with choral and orchestral elements in his soundtracks, as well as for his frequent use of Celtic motifs.

James Horner proudly brandishes the two Oscars he won for "Titanic" (1997), one
for Best Original Score and one for Best Original Song ("My Heart Will Go On").
Originally, director James Cameron wanted Irish New Age artist Enya to compose
the score and used her music as a temporary soundtrack for a rough cut of the film.

Certain movies have enriched our lives with unforgettable soundtracks that stir the blood, bring tears to the eyes, and inspire the spirit to soar, from “The Adventures of Robin Hood” (the one with Errol Flynn, not Kevin Costner or Russell Crowe) and “Gone with the Wind” to “Psycho” and “The Magnificent Seven” to “Lawrence of Arabia” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” to “Jaws” and “Star Wars.”

The funny thing is that film music “began not as a result of any artistic urge,” as author Kurt London noted in the 1970 book Film Music, “but from a dire need of something which would drown the noise made by the projector.” During the silent film era, this would be accomplished via the services of an in-house pianist or organist, even a full orchestra (as pictured below).

In Germany, an influential powerhouse in silent cinema, filmmakers provided original, full orchestral music scores for such movies as “Die Nibelungen” (1924) and “Metropolis” (1927). “Nosferatu” (1922), the first, albeit unauthorized, adaptation of Dracula, also had a score written specifically for showings.

Just as famous novelists were lured to filmdom in the 1930s and 1940s – William Faulkner, Raymond Chandler, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and John Steinbeck among them - a number of noteworthy classical music composers wielded their batons in Hollywood. In 1929, Austro-Hungarian-born composer Max Steiner, whose paternal grandfather purportedly discovered Johann Strauss II, moved to Hollywood, where he became one of the first classically trained musicians to write scores for motion pictures, earning himself a nickname as “The Father of Film Music” and 24 Academy Award nominations. He composed the soundtracks for “King Kong” (1933), “Gone with the Wind” (1939), “Casablanca” (1944), and “The Searchers” (1956).

Like his Austro-Hungarian countryman, composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold was considered one of the founders of movie music. His Oscar for 1938’s “The Adventures of Robin Hood” marked the first time the award was given to the composer instead of the head of the studio’s music department.

Aaron Copland, a prolific composer best known for such works as “Appalachian Spring,” “Fanfare for the Common Man,” and “Lincoln Portrait,” wanted to write scores for motion pictures as a challenge to his abilities as a composer, as well as for an opportunity to expand the audience for his more serious work. He provided the eloquent, often poignant scores for “Of Mice and Men” (1939), “Our Town” (1940), “The Red Pony” (1940), and “The Heiress” (1949).

In 1954, composer and legendary New York Philharmonic conductor Leonard Bernstein composed the fitting jangly urban score for “On the Waterfront,” a controversial dramatization of union corruption on the docks of Hoboken, New Jersey, starring Marlon Brando as a conflicted longshoreman.

Internationally, Sergei Prokofiev, best known for his orchestral delight “Peter and the Wolf,” composed the rousing score for the 1938 historical epic “Alexander Nevsky,” directed by Sergei Eisenstein, of “Battleship Potemkin” fame. Prokofiev eventually reworked the score into a stand-alone cantata. On the other hand, British composer William Walton, who collaborated with Laurence Olivier when the latter produced, directed and starred in the Shakespearean adaptations “Henry V” (1944), “Hamlet” (1948), and “Richard III” (1955), considered film music ineffective when performed out of context, and it was only after his death that his movie scores were arranged as suites.

It seemed only inevitable that film composers would eventually borrow (or, in a more modern term, “sample”) familiar motifs and themes from classical music. Elmer Bernstein, whose impressive résumé included the scores for “The Magnificent Seven,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “The Great Escape,” studied composition under Aaron Copland, and the influence showed throughout his career. (Although Elmer Bernstein was not related to Leonard Bernstein, the two men shared a resemblance and became friends; in professional music circles, Leonard was referred to as “Bernstein East” and Elmer was nicknamed “Bernstein West.”)

Interestingly, after he created a straightforward dramatic score to counterpoint the anarchistic mayhem in “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” Elmer Bernstein enjoyed a revival in his career, providing the scores for such high-profile comedies as “Airplane!” “Stripes,” and “Ghostbusters.”

Not surprisingly, Aaron Copland’s expressive style influenced the movie soundtracks of a number of other film composers, notably Jerry Goldsmith (whose memorable scores included “Planet of the Apes,” “Papillon,’ “Patton, and “Chinatown”) and the prolific John Williams (best known for his collaborations with Steven Spielberg, including “Jaws,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the “Indiana Jones” films, “E.T. the Extraterrestrial,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Saving Private Ryan,” along with the original “Star Wars” trilogy and “Superman”), as well as James Horner (pictured below).

James Horner’s scores for “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” and “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” included veiled excerpts from Prokofiev’s “Alexander Nevsky” and “Romeo and Juliet,” while elements of Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” snuck into Horner’s music for “The Land Before Time.” For the soundtrack to “Willow,” Horner was influenced by Robert Schumann’s “Rhenish Symphony.” Horner’s rousing score for the climactic battle scene in “Glory” borrowed heavily from Carl Orff and Richard Wagner. A Filmtracks review of “Titanic” said Horner was “skilled in the adaptation of existing music…with just enough variation to avoid legal troubles.”

Like over 90% of Hollywood, James Horner got his start working for independent producer Roger Corman. In 1980, Horner’s first two scoring assignments were for “Humanoids from the Deep” and “Battle Beyond the Stars,” the latter a cheesy but enjoyable reworking of “The Magnificent Seven” that has developed a loyal cult following. Horner’s score for “Battle Beyond the Stars” was shamelessly reused by penny-pinching producer Corman for “Space Raiders,” “Wizards of the Lost Kingdom,” and “Barbarian Queen.”

Cowboy (George Peppard) and Saint-Exmin (Sybil Danning) share a
a tender moment in "Battle Beyond the Stars," producer Roger
Corman's version of "The Magnificent Seven in Space."

Coincidentally, early in his career, James Cameron was employed by (who else?) Roger Corman, as a miniature model maker who worked in the art department on the abovementioned “Battle Beyond the Stars.” James Horner must have made an impression on the fledgling filmmaker because Cameron later collaborated with the composer on “Aliens,” “Titanic,” and “Avatar.” Cameron praised Horner’s score for “Titanic” as “everything I dreamed, perfectly capturing the aching, bittersweet heart of the film.” At the time of Horner’s death, Cameron commented he and Horner “were looking forward to our next gig.”

James Cameron and James Horner enjoy a laugh together.

James Horner was equally known for his work with director Ron Howard, who hired the “brilliant composer” to score “Cocoon,” “Willow,” “Apollo 13,” “Ransom,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “A Beautiful Mind,” and “The Missing.”

James Horner works with director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer.

At one point in his career, Horner was called upon to hastily conjure up a replacement music score for the 2004 wannabe epic “Troy,” starring Brad Pitt as Achilles. Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared (best known for “The English Patient”) had worked on “Troy” with director Wolfgang Petersen for over a year, but when preview audiences deemed the music too “old-fashioned,” he was summarily sent packing without an opportunity to fix or change the score.

A brooding Brad Pitt interprets Homer's Achilles as a
buff James Dean in "Troy."

Horner had to compose the new score for “Troy” in less than four weeks. Although he was later accused of plagiarizing Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Benjamin Britten, Horner’s score would be singled out as one of the sole redeeming features in an otherwise disappointing mishmash.

Actually, the abrupt dismissal of a film composer is a recurring practice in moviemaking, and it goes without saying that, regardless of the frequency, the abandoned musician is hurt, if not downright angry.

From 1955, classically trained composer Bernard Herrmann enjoyed a decade-long, successful collaboration with Alfred Hitchcock, highlighted by memorable scores for “Vertigo,” “North by Northwest,” “Psycho,” and “Marnie.” For Hitchcock’s “Torn Curtain,” a 1966 Cold War thriller starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, Herrmann’s initial score dissatisfied the director, who, under pressure from the studio, was worried about becoming old-fashioned and felt that Herrmann’s music should change with the times. Universal Pictures wanted an upbeat soundtrack with jazz and pop influences, hoping Herrmann might also write a song for Julie Andrews.

In happier times, Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann posed for a gag photo.

Ultimately, according to Hitchcock biographer Patrick McGilligan, Herrmann stuck to his guns and told Hitchcock, “You can’t out-jump your own shadow. And you don’t make pop pictures…I don’t write pop music.” When the auteur filmmaker insisted the score be changed, Herrmann replied, “Hitch, what’s the use of my doing more with you? I had a career before you, and I will afterwards.” John Addison, who had won an Academy Award for his jaunty, quirky soundtrack for “Tom Jones” (1963), was recruited to score “Torn Curtain”…with no song for Julie Andrews.

Paul Newman finds out killing doesn't come easy in the real world
of espionage in "Torn Curtain."

Another composer who had a disconcerting run-in with Hitchcock was the typically unflappable Henry Mancini, who had written a score for Hitchcock’s second-to-last feature film, 1972’s “Frenzy,” a thriller about a serial strangler in contemporary London scripted by playwright Anthony Shaffer, of “Sleuth” fame. Hitchcock thought the music was too derivative of Bernard Herrmann’s scores. According to Mancini, “Hitchcock came to the recording session, listened awhile and said, ‘Look, if I want Herrmann, I’d ask for Herrmann.’” After secretive, behind-the-scenes drama, Mancini was fired.

Before: Henry Manicini tries to make Alfred Hitchcock smile. (below) After...

A frustrated Henry Mancini sits beside a visibly unimpressed Alfred Hitchcock.

To replace Mancini, Hitchcock hired Ron Goodwin, a journeyman composer best known for his militaristic scores for such films as “Where Eagles Dare,” “Battle of Britain,” and “Force 10 from Navarone.” Mancini never fully understood what happened, maintaining his score sounded nothing like Herrmann. The experience remained a painful memory for years to come.

Among composer Alex North’s numerous Academy Award nominations was “Spartacus,” the 1960 historical epic starring Kirk Douglas and directed by Stanley Kubrick. A few years later, North composed the score for Kubrick’s seminal science fiction saga “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Kubrick decided to scrap North’s music in favor of the now familiar classical excerpts, which the director had used as “guide pieces” during the filming. In an interview with filmmaker and author Michel Clement, Kubrick said, “However good our best film composers are, they are not a Beethoven, a Mozart or a Brahms. Why use music which is less good when there is such a multitude of good orchestral music available from the past and from our own time?”

Bowman (Keir Dullea) enters the Star Gate in "2001: A Space Odyssey."

Alex North knew nothing of the soundtrack replacement and was understandably devastated at the 1968 New York City premiere of “2001.” He later remarked, “Well, what can I say? It was a great, frustrating experience…I think the Victorian approach with mid-European overtones was just not in keeping with the brilliant concept of (author Arthur C.) Clarke and Kubrick.” All of North’s original music was recorded by his friend, film composer Jerry Goldsmith, and released on CD before North’s death in 1991. For the remainder of his sporadic, eccentric filmmaking life, Stanley Kubrick continued to prefer pre-recorded compositions over the “less good” efforts of film composers.

Immediately after working with director Sam Peckinpah on the contemporary rodeo drama “Junior Bonner” (1972), Steve McQueen immediately teamed up again with the filmmaker for what would become one of the biggest box office hits for both star and director, the action-packed 1972 heist picture “The Getaway.” Composer Jerry Fielding, a three-time Oscar nominee who had worked with Peckinpah on “The Wild Bunch,” “Straw Dogs,” and “Junior Bonner,” was brought on board for “The Getaway,” but McQueen was unhappy with the score and used his clout (it was, after all, his production company) to hire multiple Grammy Award winner Quincy Jones to pump up the film with a jazzier beat. Fielding recounted, “I got paid. But that wasn’t why I wrote the music.”

Even Sam Peckinpah was pissed off and bought a full-page ad to complain in Daily Variety, including the transcript of a letter the director wrote to Jerry Fielding thanking him for “the beautiful job you did with the music…Once again, congratulations. I am looking forward to the next one.” Before his death in 1980, Fielding worked with Peckinpah on the scores for “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia” and “The Killer Elite.”

Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw blast their way through "The Getaway."

Hired to score “The Exorcist” (1973) for director William Friedkin, Lalo Schifrin (best known as the composer of the theme for the TV series “Mission: Impossible” and for his work on a number of Clint Eastwood movies, notably “Dirty Harry”) wrote six minutes of music for the trailer to “The Exorcist,” but audiences were reportedly too frightened by the combination of images and music. Warner Bros. executives told Friedkin to instruct Schifrin to tone down the music, but Friedkin, who apparently had other plans in mind for the soundtrack, never relayed the message.

Friedkin originally wanted Bernard Herrmann to score the picture. According to the film’s special sound effects artist, Ron Nagle, Friedkin “went apeshit” at Schifrin’s recording sessions. Editor Bud Smith claimed that Friedkin took tapes of Schifrin’s recorded music and tossed them into the studio trash, declaring, “That’s where that music belongs.” Some say that Schifrin later used the rejected music for “The Amityville Horror,” which he denied in interviews.

Early in his career, director William Friedkin had a reputation for volcanic rages
on the set. Here he displays his warmer side with "The Exorcist" star Linda Blair.

Leonard Rosenman's career scoring motion pictures began auspiciously in 1955 with "East of Eden" and "Rebel Without a Cause," both starring his onetime roommate, James Dean. In 1977, he won an Oscar for "Bound for Glory" and an Emmy for the TV movie "Sybil." For whatever reason, his score for "The Last Hard Men" (1976), a violent, misogynistic western from 20th Century Fox, starring Charlton Heston, James Coburn, and Barbara Hershey, was rejected, and the studio lifted music from three of its earlier westerns - "Rio Conchos," "Stagecoach," and "100 Rifles" - all composed by the incomparable Jerry Goldsmith.

James Coburn has Charlton Heston at a disadvantage in "The Last Hard Men."

“Legend,” the 1985 adult fairy tale starring Tom Cruise and Tim Curry and directed by Ridley Scott (“Gladiator,” “Exodus: Gods and Kings”), was not initially a commercial success, but time has granted the film a cult status. Due to differences between the American and European versions of “Legend,” two different soundtracks were composed. The American release featured electronic music by Tangerine Dream, while the European version was scored by Jerry Goldsmith. Goldsmith’s score was restored in the “director’s cut” of “Legend” released on DVD in the United States in 2002.

Instead of looking at a picture of Tom Cruise in "Legend,"
we thought you'd prefer this one of British actress
Annabelle Lanyon as the fairy Oona from "Legend."

Ennio Morricone, one of international cinema’s most revered and beloved composers, had written and recorded a full score for the visually stunning fantasy drama “What Dreams May Come,” starring Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr. After editorial changes, the score was rejected, and Michael Kamen (“Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”) was hired to compose the soundtrack.

In 2007, Clint Eastwood presented Ennio Morricone with a special Academy
Award, honoring the composer for his contributions to the art of film music.

Our misadventures in soundtrack recording sessions conclude with a couple more calls on “Bernstein West,” Elmer Bernstein. Neither a hit with audiences nor critics, “Last Man Standing” (1996), a gritty action picture set in a dusty Depression-era Texas border town starring Bruce Willis and Christopher Walken, was directed by the usually reliable Walter Hill (“The Warriors,” “48 Hrs.,” “Broken Trail”).

“Last Man Standing” was an acknowledged remake of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s “Yojimbo” (1961), which starred Toshiro Mifune as a slovenly rogue samurai who plays two rival crime lords against each other to his own advantage. If that sounds familiar to Clint Eastwood fans it should, because spaghetti western auteur Sergio Leone borrowed the plot for Eastwood’s breakthrough role as the so-called “Man with No Name” in “A Fistful of Dollars.” Kurosawa himself admitted that “Yojimbo” was based on an American novel by 1930’s crime fiction author Dashiell Hammett, the creator of hardboiled private eye Sam Spade. But we digress.

Bruce Willis does what he's hired to do best in "Last Man Standing."

Originally hired to compose the soundtrack for “Last Man Standing,” Elmer Bernstein wrote half the score before director Walter Hill decided the music wasn’t what he was looking for. The film’s growling bluesy score was created by jazz slide guitarist Ry Cooder, who had collaborated with Hill on nine previous movie scores.

Elmer Bernstein first worked with Martin Scorsese when he adapted Bernard Herrmann’s score from the original psychological thriller “Cape Fear” (1962) for Scorsese’s 1991 remake. Bernstein subsequently scored “Age of Innocence” (1993) and “Bringing Out the Dead” (1999) for Scorsese. Bernstein’s score for Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York” (2002), recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios, was not used by the director. The replacement score was composed by Howard Shore, who would win Oscars for his soundtracks to “The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Return of the King” in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Shore’s score for Scorsese’s “The Aviator” won a Golden Globe Award.

Hail, hail, the gangs all here: Leonardo DiCaprio and
Daniel Day-Lewis star in "Gangs of New York."

Elmer Bernstein’s unused music for “Gangs of New York” was released as a limited edition CD in 2008, four years after the composer’s death.