The Best of 90s Scores (Top 10)

Without further ado (hehe), here is the Top 10 to complete this list.  As I said before, there are many great scores that did not make this list, but these are my picks for the very best.

10.  Much Ado About Nothing - Patrick Doyle, 1993

            So this is Doyle twice in a row.  Much Ado gets a slight advantage due to its more highly theatrical sound, appropriate for a Shakespeare movie.  It starts very strong with the Overture and never really lets up.  Doyle can kill you with strings, like "You Have Killed A Sweet Lady," or he can use horns like few others like "The Gulling of Benedick."  He has the hauntingly beautiful "Pardon Goddess of the Night" and he ends like he began with the triumphal "Strike Up the Pipers."  Branaugh knew what he was doing paring with Doyle.

9.  Tombstone - Bruce Broughton, 1993

            There is no better Western sound in the last 50 years than Broughton.  He has a few good ones, but this is definitely his best.  It's epic, violent, dramatic, thrilling, and beautiful.  It starts off strong with the old piano sound, then goes straight into the full orchestra that blows you away.  The love theme is great, but of course you come here for the gunfights.  It doesn't get any better than the montage music "Wyatt's Revenge."  I could listen to this all day.

8.  The Hunt for Red October - Basil Poledouris, 1990

            One of the real strengths of this score is that, while there is a sound, each cue is individual, so there is little chance for it to be repetitive.  The Hymn is one of the best of the decade.  "Chopper" is still one of my favorite cues, those strings going a mile a minute.  The whole score makes you feel like you're underwater, trying to figure out what exactly is happening and trying not to die.  There are a lot of good Poledouris scores, but this is the best.

7.  Waterworld - James Newton Howard, 1995

            I've mentioned a number of good action scores in the 90s, and while others might have a better action sound, this is the best of the bunch.  Newton Howard creates a sound that shows why he was the best of the decade.  He kept getting matched up with Costner, which meant he got a few chances for hugely epic scores, and each one was great, but Waterworld stands out.  For setting up a final clash, nothing is better than "Deacon's Speech."  For action, you can't go wrong with "Escaping the Smokers" or "Smokers Sighted" or "The Skyboat."  If I could only take one action score from the 90s, this would be it.

6.  Dances with Wolves - John Barry, 1990

            This movie has such a great sound, for a long time this was the only John Barry for me (I didn't discover his Bond scores until much later).  It's perfect for driving on open highways, transporting you back to a different time.  The Buffalo Hunt is especially good, either the film version or the album version.  And any time the Pawnees show up, the drums create an atmosphere unlike in any other movie. 

5.  Apollo 13 - James Horner, 1995

            One of the things I love about Apollo 13, and why it might be Horner's best, is that each cue is unique but there's an amazing thread that runs throughout.  "The Launch" is one of the great lengthy pieces in cinematic history, and you can't listen to it without feeling the awe and wonder, and triumph, of spaceflight.  "Dark Side of the Moon" has always been one of my favorite reflective sounds.  Then there is the anticipation building to triumphal success in "Re-Entry and Splashdown."  And, just when you think you know what this movie sounds like, Horner throws in the completely different, electronic End Credits, where most reuse cues from the movie, he wrote a new and amazing conclusion.  How this did not win Best Score I'll never know.

4.  The Shawshank Redemption - Thomas Newman, 1994

            Ok, I'll start with this, it's impossible to think of this and not hear the cue as Andy exits the sewers and has his Christ-moment in the pouring rain.  It's one of the most iconic scenes ever, and Newman lets the orchestra sound off.  While that is clearly the highlight, this movie is full of great music and it's Newman's masterpiece.  I say that with the belief that Newman is one of the top 5, at least, composers of the last 30 years.  There are so many emotions in this movie, it's hard to describe how meaningful this score is without tying it to what's on the screen.  It's probably the most serious score Newman has written, and it's dominated but the "Stoic Theme" appropriately enough.  And when Red shows up in Zihuatanejo, the release is felt by the audience as well as the orchestra.  Again, how this did not win Best Score is beyond me.

3.  The Fugitive - James Newton Howard, 1993

            Slight spoiler alert, but I love that I unintentionally did not choose any duplicates for composers in the Top 10, save this guy.  There were a lot of great composers in the decade, but he really took the reins (he ended the decade with his first collaboration with Shyamalan, one of the best composer/director collaborations of all time).  Regarding this score, it's the perfect blend of cop action score and a jazzy sound.  It's a big reason why The Fugitive is, in my opinion, one of the most perfect movies.  The back-to-back of "Helicopter Chase" and "The Sewer" is one of the best nine minutes of score anywhere.  But this score is more than just action, which it does brilliantly, it's also thoughtful, like "No Press" or "Memorial Hospital."

2.  Jurassic Park/The Lost World - John Williams, 1993/1997

            How do I convey my love for Jurassic Park?  Before there was Star Wars (for me) there was Jurassic Park.  It was the movie that made me want to be a paleontologist (until I realized how much science was involved).  And, like most Spielberg movies, Williams creates the iconic sound.  Now it's nearly impossible to think of dinosaurs and not hear that horn theme.  There's the awe and grandeur of the "Journey to the Island" and the shear horror of "The Raptor Attack."  He has the lullaby of "Remembering Petticoat Lane" and the jungle madness of "Dennis Steals the Embryo."  Oh, and of course there is the impending doom leading to the improbable savior of "T-Rex Rescue & Finale."  The Lost World is kind of up a notch with quite a bit more frenzy, most particularly with "Rescuing Sarah," but the best of the movie has to be "The Hunt" and the creepy sounds as raptors pick them off one by one in "The Long Grass."  As much as I love this music, somehow it's not #1.

1.  Edward Scissorhands - Danny Elfman, 1990

            Elfman's score for Edward Scissorhands is perfect, the best example of the second best collaboration between director and composer in film history.  "The Ice Dance" is, of course, the stand-out cue and the one that his most aped by other movies/commercials.  I also love the quirky suburbia that is created, the almost absurd perfection of these people's lives.  It can be heard best in the clockwork "Ballet de Suburbia" but also in the phenomenal "Edwardo the Barber."  There's also the mechanical "The Cookie Factory" which movies into the entirely sweet "Etiquette Lesson," and of course you really feel for Edward when his maker dies and he is left alone.  It all builds up to the almost overpowering "Grand Finale" before the bedtime story sound of the End Credits.  It's hard to choose a best score of the decade, but this is Elfman at the height of his powers, sandwiched right between the equally laudable Batman and the great Dick Tracy.  And somehow, it didn't even get nominated for Best Score.  It's an iconic sound that any story book-type movie or commercial has tried to copy.  It's fun, it's sweet, it's weird, it's emotional, it speaks for Edward, and it set the tone for the best decade in movie music history.