I’m just curious if any of you know whether or not this has ever
happened to a film score? Composer writes a solid or at least
good filmscore and then basically disappears.

No, seriously, this is a great thread, Joan. Unfortunately, I don't know of any I can mention. It'll be interesting to see what others might have to say.

Marco Beltrami. He's said that he didn't listen to many film scores, mainly Chris Young. We can tell. The Minus Man was a decent enough stretch, but there wasn't really anything there to score. Get out of horror while (if) you still can.

Elia Cmiral. This is way too early, I'm still upset at how bad the Battlefield: Earth score is.

David Arnold. This is one that I can definately see being an odd topic of discussion later in life. "Hey, remember when that David Arnold guy did those couple of Bond movies and then disappeared off the face of the Earth?" Seriously, folks, he's a ONE NOTE composer. I'm sick of hearing StarGate in all of his scores (and I mean ALL of them!). Write something different, or end up being a one-hit wonder.

I'm bitter tonight,
Shaun

Battlefield Earth was an excellant score. Not as good as Ronin, but still an impressive score for such a picture. People here know how passionate I am about Elia's work (heck, I even have a webpage on him), but I can respect your opinion. I can see why someone would say Battlefield Earth was a disappointing score, but I highly enjoy it. It's been played dozens of times in my CD already.

But I do agree with you on David Arnold. This guy has talent (it's called StarGate and Last of the Dogmen), but until he puts that talent to good use, he's low on my list of favorite composers.

NP: Sleepy Hollow - "The Chase" *****/***** (NO! This fantastic CD is only 3 tracks from the end. Has almost been an hour since I put this on!? NNNNOOOO!!!!)

I know he did a few films, maybe even more then that. However IMO, and would wager others as well. He will be always be remembered for his score to The Transformers: The Movie.

Which IMO is his best and only score! Sure it is a synth score. However I think he could do some great stuff if he were given the chance to do so.

Regards,
Sean Robert Abbey

The only score I can think of as a one hit wonder is Mike Oldfield's The Killing Fields (a score I still play often),I guess the difference here is that Oldfield doesn't have to rely on a career in scoring films as he's still a successful recording artist in his own right, his Tubular Bells (a snippet of which was pointlessly used in The Excorcist) still has steady sales to this day. As for his some-time collaborater, the contemporary classical composer David bedford?, well, I would love to see him tackle a full film score (those beautiful,but all too brief orchestral pieces in Killing Fields were his doing), but I suspect he see's himself as a 'serious' composer, either that or someone just isn't noticing.

Scott

I don't know if Wendy Carlos fits in this category or not, but has she even done any movies since her amazing score for TRON? If so, they've been very few and, I guess, obscure.

I REALLY liked a strange electronic (?) score for the oddball Chuck Norris vehicle THE HITMAN, composed by someone named Joel Derouin. The only other credit the IMDb has for him is some kind of soft-core porn called PLAY TIME (1994), which I doubt I would bother with even just to hear his music.

I halfway recommend THE HITMAN, by the way, as Chuck Norris pictures go, it's relatively smart and funny. Appears to be his attempt to corner the Steven Seagal market, though Norris has deservedly turned out to have longer career legs than the repulsive Stevey-boy. The picture is directed by Chuck's brother Aaron and sports very handsome cinematography by the underrated Joao Fernandes.

I've listened to Sleepy Hollow a lot more than I expected to also. It's quite addictive. Didn't you say once after watching the film that you couldn't recall any theme? Do you have different thoughts after listening to the album?

As for one (or two) hit wonders:

Arthur Rubinstein... Wargames. Nick of Time. *poof*

And don't even get me started on the tragedy of Elliot Frampton's career...

Bernardo Seagal's Custer of the West

Peter Schikele's Silent Running

Louis & Bebe Barron's Forbidden Planet

Alexander Lazslo's Forbbiden Island

Leonard Bernstein's On the Waterfront

Alexandre Tansman's Flesh and Fantasy

Denny Zeitlin's Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Carmen Dragon's Invasion of the Body Snatchers, come to think of it

Norman Dello Joio's Air Power

Elie Siegmeister's They Came to Cordura

And while not necessarily a one-hit wonder, but someone we haven't heard much from lately - Mark McKenzie.

And at first I thought the fantastic music from the three-way battle near the bridge (Ichabod, Brom, and the Horseman) was left off the album, but it's actually the last several minutes of "The Tree of Death." It starts at the seven minute mark.

For more Micheal Small, check out these thrillers, though they may not be your "cup of tea": KLUTE and THE PARALLAX VIEW, both excellent movies, both directed by Alan Pakula, and both featuring Small at the height of his career.

Another score to listen for is his music for the PBS adaptation of THE LATHE OF HEAVEN - it's re-running on PBS stations this summer, so check your t.v. listings and fire up the VCR - another excellent program.

Majestyx -

Loek Dikker really can't be considered a "one hit wonder" - he did score Paul Verhoeven's THE 4TH MAN, James Dearden's PASCALI'S ISLAND and many other European films.

What about Craig Safan? Don't get me wrong. I LOVE his score for "Last Starfighter," but that seems to be his claim to fame. I've seen his name attached to other projects, but definitely nothing major.

NP: "Jazz For When You're Alone"

As Chris said, father of Daryl Dragon means Carmen is a man. He scored more than just Invasion of the Body Snatchers but that's pretty much his one hit. He's mostly associated as being the regular Hollywood Bowl conductor during the 40s & 50s--there are a number of albums conducted by him out there. I'm sure he also did arranging and the like. I once heard 78s of a spoken version of Alice in Wonderland he underscored.

Howard L--if The Time of Your Life is the movie with Guy Madison and Mitchum and has this neat choral passage in the main title, the score is by Leigh Harline and not Carmen Dragon.

I have not thought of any more one hit wonders. Maybe Gil Mille's Andromeda Strain. He's scored lots of other things but I think this is the only score by him issued on record (I could be wrong about that) and the one most people associate him with.

So Carmen's a man? Is he the only man in the world called Carmen? Anyway, SUPERB score for Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.

Yes, those Michael Small paranoid thrillers are great, my favourite being Marathon Man. Carter Burwell's score for The Game seemed to me cut from the same cloth (maybe logically: The Game is, for me one of THE great paranoid thrillers), but Small's score would make for a more exciting listen on CD.

quote:

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Originally posted by S Smith:

What about Craig Safan? Don't get me wrong. I LOVE his score for "Last Starfighter," but that seems to be his claim to fame. I've seen his name attached to other projects, but definitely nothing
major.

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Personally I have two great scores from Craig
Safan. The Last Starfighter and Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. However since he did the music for the TV show Cheers, he *can't* be applied to this list.

Regards,
Sean Robert Abbey

No no no! I will not go on living a lie! The truth of the matter is that I am growing progressively senile, but during sleep, in the middle of the night, my muddled brain sometimes seems to function, and I wake up going "AAAAGGGHH!", as my errors are spelled out in neon lights in my head.