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10 Great Film Scores Snubbed By the Oscars


Not Mr. Big

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Some that come to mind:

Batman Returns

Edward Scissorshands

Hook

The Piano

A Single Man

W.E.

Dracula (Kilar)

Legend (Goldsmith)

Indochine

Last of the Mohicans

1492: Conquest of Paradise

King Kong (Barry)

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Some that come to mind:

Batman Returns

Edward Scissorshands

Hook

The Piano

A Single Man

W.E.

Dracula (Kilar)

Legend (Goldsmith)

Indochine

Last of the Mohicans

1492: Conquest of Paradise

King Kong (Barry)

I'd include BATMAN on this as well. I read somewhere that when the film came out some journalist took a cheap shot at elfman. He said that no one like elfman ( ie a composer that wasn't conservatory trained ) could have written a score like BATMAN and it was obvious he was taking credit for someone elses work.

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Some very nice choices in the list and in the thread

I'd add:

Ran by Toru Takemitsu

King of Kings by Miklos Rosza

The Russia House

There Will Be Blood

Final Fantasy

and by Williams

Sleepers

Seven Years in Tibet

The Phantom Menace

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Didn't King Kong (1933) come out a year before they started nominating scores for awards? In fact, it was probably a driving force behind recognizing film scores.

Also, the first score that came to my mind was Jurassic Park (what do they got in here, king kong?). An absolute classic that got snubbed for the simple reason of Universal putting all of their weight behind Schindler's List.

Since Ivan the Terrible was mentioned in the countdown, might as well mention Alexander Nevsky.

I don't believe Scott of the Antarctic got much recognition.

I'll agree with Conan the Barbarian, Krull, The Ten Commandments, Psycho, The Great Escape, and the Good the Bad and the Ugly needing to be nominated in their respective years.

Once Upon A Time In The West, Romeo and Juliet and Bullitt didn't get a nod in 68.

Not so much of a snub, but The Godfather got disqualified in 1972 for Nino Rota plagiarizing himself. A warning that doesn't seem to have frightened anyone. :P

The Robe (Alfred Newman) being snubbed caused Franz Waxman to raise a stink.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (Herrmann) wasn't nominated. In fact, the movie wasn't nominated for anything. Damn their hatred of sci-fi. It probably prevented Godzilla from getting a nod too.

Though different times account for different tastes, if Trent Reznor can win for the Social Network, Halloween could have at least been nominated 78.

Am I the only one who thought Gremlins was good enough for a nomination in 84?

1962 was such a stacked year for scores that Cape Fear, Hatari, The Miracle Worker, and Walk on the Wild Side got snubbed. Though I suppose that's not so much of a snub as it was too many chefs in the kitchen.

Goldfinger didn't get a nod in 1964.

Blade Runner also got snubbed in 1982. Strange given the big year for Vangelis in 1981.

1991 was a strange year. Nothing for Hook, Backdraft, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, City Slickers, or Silence of the Lambs.

1992 could have nominated Bram Stoker's Dracula. Poor Kilar.

Empire of the Sun should have gotten a nod in 87.

They seemed to dislike Danny Elfman with the snubs for Batman and Edward Scissorhands. Speaking of Batman in 1989, they also didn't nominate Glory by James Horner nor Henry V by Patrick Doyle.

I always felt that Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Cinema Paradiso were better scores than the Milagro Beanfield War in 1988. Enough to get nominated at least.

The Phantom Menace got snubbed because of the backlash against the movie. They didn't even have a goofy rule that year to prevent it. Sleepy Hollow also could have gotten a nomination that year.

I felt Ed Wood and Stargate could have been nominated in 1994.

I don't think Laura was nominated in 1944. Nor The Bride of Frankenstein in 1935. Nor Modern Times in 1936.

How about Cutthroat Island in 1995?

I think Gattaca got snubbed in 1997.

Requiem For a Dream was unique enough for a nod in 2000.

Life As A House by Mark Isham should have gotten something in 2001.

I will also agree that Jerry Goldsmith's version of Legend was incredibly worthy of a nomination.

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The blame lies not necessarily with the Academy: composers/studios sometimes do not submit scores (for a myriad of political reasons), so a score not nominated might just be a case of 'we want OUT OF AFRICA to win, so we don't submit THE MASK and BACK TO THE FUTURE'.It was reported on FSM Williams didn't even submit the STAR WARS prequels, while Goldsmith meagre harvest seems partly a result of his submitting every score he did, so that he divided votes too much.

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