Some of my favorite scores are actually from TV-movies of the 80s or 90s, scored by composers like Levay, Hammer, Ferguson, Chang, Franke, Truman, Rubini or Tangerine Dream, to name a few.
Most of those are sadly unreleased.
These kind of films rarely had a budget for songs, so the score was often the only musical element through the entire film.
What are some of your favorite scores from TV-movies of the 80s and 90s?
Brad Fiedel and Lee Holdridge did a spate of them*, that I recorded straight onto cassette, which have never (nor will ever) get a release. One I only discovered quite recently was IMPULSE (1984) by Paul Chihara. Maybe BSX might release that in their collection series of his stuff.
Although you're specific enough in your post, I just want to reiterate that you're talking TV MOVIES here, not series. There will always be someone who overlooks this aspect.
In any case, I'll get back to you with some of my own favs later on.
Christ, this was more difficult than I had expected. Most of what I have are TV series and mini-series from the 80s and 90s. Not TV movies. But I found these, all of which I like, obviously (otherwise, I wouldn't own them):
ROSWELL (Elliot Goldenthal) MISSUS (Ennio Morricone) LA CASA BRUCIATA (Ennio Morricone) LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR (Georges Delerue) SIN OF INNOCENCE (Georges Delerue) RASCALS & ROBBERS (James Horner) DURANGO (Mark McKenzie) THE EWOKS MOVIES (Peter Bernstein) THE PARK IS MINE (Tangerine Dream) THOSE SECRETS (Thomas Newman)
I know that I have a whole bunch more, as individual tracks on various composer compilations and such (by people like Mark Snow, Jonathan Elias, Pat Leonard, you name it), but too much work going through all of that.
Brad Fiedel and Lee Holdridge did a spate of them*, that I recorded straight onto cassette, which have never (nor will ever) get a release.
One TV-movie scored by Brad Fiedel that I personally think is one of his best scores ever is the score to an early Annette Bening movie called Hostage, love that score. Will probably never get released, too bad it really deserves to be released.
I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones I could think of:
The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space (Walker) Don't Go to Sleep (Frontiere) Fresno (Morris) Invitation to Hell (Levay) Masada (Goldsmith/Stevens) Once Upon a Texas Train (Rubinstein) Secrets (Rubinstein) Seduced and Betrayed (Snow) True Women (Broughton) Where the Hell's That Gold?!!? (Rubinstein)
John Barry scored a Jodie Foster/Peter O’Toole vehicle for TV in 1983 called SVENGALI that I was struck by at the time but haven’t heard much mention of since. There are a few clips on YouTube that reflect his style from that period, and you get to hear Jodie sing. Probably more of a curiosity but I loved the whole thing as a teenager.
Silas Marner (Carl Davis) The Scarlet Pimpernel (Riz Ortolani) The Canterville Ghost (Howard Blake) The Snowman (Howard Blake) First Born (Hans Zimmer -- for me, his only really exceptional score) Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (Julian Nott)
Anyone ever seen that Samson and Delilah TV movie from '84? Maurice Jarre did the score but I've never heard it.
I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones I could think of:
The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space (Walker) Don't Go to Sleep (Frontiere) Fresno (Morris) Invitation to Hell (Levay) Masada (Goldsmith/Stevens) Once Upon a Texas Train (Rubinstein) Secrets (Rubinstein) Seduced and Betrayed (Snow) True Women (Broughton) Where the Hell's That Gold?!!? (Rubinstein)
Christ, this was more difficult than I had expected. Most of what I have are TV series and mini-series from the 80s and 90s. Not TV movies. But I found these, all of which I like, obviously (otherwise, I wouldn't own them):
ROSWELL (Elliot Goldenthal) MISSUS (Ennio Morricone) LA CASA BRUCIATA (Ennio Morricone) LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR (Georges Delerue) SIN OF INNOCENCE (Georges Delerue) RASCALS & ROBBERS (James Horner) DURANGO (Mark McKenzie) THE EWOKS MOVIES (Peter Bernstein) THE PARK IS MINE (Tangerine Dream) THOSE SECRETS (Thomas Newman)
I know that I have a whole bunch more, as individual tracks on various composer compilations and such (by people like Mark Snow, Jonathan Elias, Pat Leonard, you name it), but too much work going through all of that.
The Park Is Mine and Those Secrets are indeed fine scores.
I don't think there is any TV material by Pat Leonard on that promo of his. On the Elias promo there is only one track from a TV movie, called Heart Of Justice.
MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis (Ken Harrison) The Lion King 2 (Nick Glennie-Smith) Max Q (Nick Glennie-Smith) Tarzan And The Lost City (Christopher Franke) - although maybe not a tv movie (?) Attila (Nick Glennie-Smith) - although early 2000, and a two-part tv mini series Colosseum: A Gladiator's Story (Ilan Eshkeri) - although "early" 2000, and a tv movie documentary Ring Of The Nibelungs (aka Kingdom In Twilight) (Ilan Eshkeri) - although "early" 2000
Not sure what makes them a distinct category? The low(er) budget? What about movies that after completion failed to have a theatrical release and turned up on TV instead? Are they - all of a sudden - different than what they were?
