Music » Movie Score Music

Originally released in 1971, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory was an imaginative film that drew as much inspiration from the leftover vibes (and drugs) of the psychedelic '60s as it did from Roald Dahl's fanciful children's book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. If you doubt it, check out this special 25th anniversary edition of the original soundtrack album, which features lyrics and music by Anthony Newley, who was a major influence on David Bowie and whose work on this film has clearly inspired '90s rockers from Veruca Salt (who took their name from the spoiled rich girl) to the Butthole Surfers (who could easily cover the sinister, trippy "Wondrous Boat Ride". C'mon, everybody, let's sing: "Oompa loompa/Doomp-ity-do/I've got another lesson for you...." --Jim Derogatis

Most modern Hollywood films have musical "temp tracks" laid in as they're edited, usually classical standards or music from other soundtracks that helps shape the dramatic and emotional intentions of works in progress. Sometimes these temp tracks become the score (as in "2001"), but more often they serve as a template for the film's eventual scorer. That said, we'll boldly climb out on a limb and opine that director Ridley Scott was listening to a whole lot of Holst's The Planets as he was cobbling together his modern gladiator epic. Credit Hans Zimmer for taking "Mars, the Bringer of War" and hammering its familiar harmonic and rhythmic Sturm und Drang into something serviceably fresh; cohort Lisa Gerrard generally handles the more ethereal, atmospheric passages. As epic in scope as its thematic inspiration (and with enough occasional nods to "authenticity" to make it work), this is nonetheless a work of often surprising nuances, and one that recasts the traditional heroic orchestral score in deliciously dark and ominous tones. Warning: repeated listening may inspire the invasion of neighboring countries. --Jerry McCulley

Leonard Bernstein's musical update of Romeo and Juliet, with a young Stephen Sondheim's brilliant lyrics, had already galvanized Broadway with its vivid reinvention as a parable of racial intolerance and generational conflict. But director Robert Wise's lavish widescreen presentation broke fresh ground by taking the story to its most impressionable audience, the teenagers who could identify directly with Tony and Maria, and opened up Jerome Robbins's kinetic choreography through bravura camera work. The original soundtrack album was not merely a huge seller but a unique touchstone for an otherwise rock-oriented audience, and its release on CD benefits from an expanded program untenable in its initial LP release, as well as a 20-bit digital transfer. With Richard Beymer, Marni Nixon (Hollywood's vocal doppelgänger of choice, here standing in for Natalie Wood), and Rita Moreno dominating, the show's bounty of terrific songs and exciting instrumental pieces remains an ear-filling treat, mixing operatic passions, tart social commentary, and high comedy. From "Tonight" to "One Hand, One Heart," "America" to "Jet Song," this is a landmark in American musical theatre and film beautifully realized on disc. --Sam Sutherland

A 1996 Academy Award nominee for Best Dramatic Score, Braveheart is one of composer James (Titanic) Horner's most accomplished works. Utilizing the full range of the London Symphony Orchestra, the Choristers of Westminster Abbey, and a small ensemble of traditional folk instrumentalists, Horner largely eschews the bombast typical of the genre and cuts a more emotionally complex--and satisfying--musical course through this 14th-century tale of betrayal and rebellion. This album presents ample evidence of why Horner is currently at the peak of his profession. --Jerry McCulley

Meet Joe Black, director Martin Brest's remake of the '30s semiclassic Death Takes a Holiday, took widespread critical potshots for its three-hour length and laconic pace. Ironically, composer Thomas Newman's score is a compelling exercise in musical economy--spare, emotionally longing arrangements where the spaces resonate almost as much as the notes. The composer (youngest son of the great film scorer Alfred Newman and cousin to Randy Newman) shows the same deft handling of emotional nuance he displayed on The Shawshank Resemption, The Horse Whisperer, and Oscar and Lucinda (winner of Best Original Score at the 1998 Australian Film Awards), here underplaying the story's romance and otherworldly aspects with a few piano notes and a masterful use of strings and winds. Yet another tribute to the Newman gene pool and an impressively mature work from one of Hollywood's brightest young film composers. --Jerry McCulley

Release Date: 1990-10-25, Audio CD, RCA

While director Jeannot Szwarc's 1980 time-travel romance nearly drowned in a sea of its own bathos, the score of the Christopher Reeve/Jane Seymour vehicle has become something of a word-of-mouth classic. Chalk that status up to the great English composer John Barry, whose lushly romantic score has largely overshadowed the film it was written for. Note to Titanic fans: if you liked the score for that film, you may fall in love with (or to) this one as well. Ironically, much of the action of Somewhere in Time takes place in 1912, the year the Titanic sank. --Jerry McCulley

It's hard not to start feeling sentimental after hearing the loose collection of love ballads that comprise the Notting Hill soundtrack. The romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant is filled with the modern sounds of love--as sung by everyone from pop harmonizers (Boyzone, 98 Degrees) to classic soulsters (Bill Withers, Al Green). The Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'" adds a garage-rock edge, but if you're not up for slow-burning love tunes, this soundtrack probably isn't for you. Two guitar-based score tracks from composer Trevor Jones fill out Notting Hill and add nice instrumental touches to the disc. --Jason Verlinde

Release Date: 1992-06-29, Audio CD, Virgin Records Us

It's hard to believe now that Walt Disney's bold 1940 impressionistic experiment in wedding then-state-of-the-art animation with classical music was a rather resounding failure upon its release. The clich? proves the rule: Fantasia was decades ahead of its time (Disney even launched a "psychedelic"-themed rerelease campaign in the late '60s). It's even harder to fathom that then-Disney management spent over a million dollars in the early '80s replacing the muscular Leopold Stokowski score with a digitally recorded clone, then another undisclosed fortune to digitize Leo and put him back alongside Mickey at the conductor's podium in the '90s! This much-traveled Stokowski score will gain no points for subtlety (a symphonic Shaq attack is more like it), but it was Walt's first--and only!--choice and has never sounded better. --Jerry McCulley