1990 was a good year for the movies, but what's more interesting is that there are a lot of interesting stories to tell about the songs that adorned these movies. We begin with a movie that included, among many notables, the Pop Queen of that time, Madonna herself.
Warren Beatty was a huge movie star. He was also an Oscar-winning film director, for 1981's Reds. It took him almost 10 years before he directed another film and he surprised the industry by choosing Dick Tracy as his next project. Beatty, however, compensated for the levity of the subject matter by experimenting on the film's form. He enlisted the help of master cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and used color-saturated sets and costumes, achieving a true comic-book texture that was never before so impressively believable. Also, he used a ton of great actors and stars for the bit parts, from Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman to the aforementioned Madonna. Most were very hard to recognize under heavy and elaborate makeup. Plus, he had musical legend Stephen Sondheim (Send In The Clowns, Sweeny Todd, West Side Story) write the songs, the most prominent being Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man), performed by Madonna. This is the film version:
This is the version from the Oscar ceremony:
There was another eligible song from Dick Tracy: it's called What Can You Lose? and is performed by Madonna and Mandy Patinkin:
Madonna wasn't the only Pop/Rock Star to have an Oscar-eligible song: Blaze of Glory was a #1 US hit for Jon Bon Jovi. He also wrote it. It was featured in the movie Young Guns II:
Back To The Future Part III had ZZ Top and Doubleback:
Billy Idol's big hit Cradle of Love could be heard in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane:
Meryl Streep was no Pop Star, but she was (and still is) Hollywood Royalty. The public didn't think of Meryl as a singing actor at the time. After all, it was 16 years before Altman's A Prairie Home Companion and 18 years before Mamma Mia!. In that year's Postcards from the Edge, however, a movie about the complicated mother-daughter relationship of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher (Meryl was Carrie and Shirley MacLaine was Debbie), Meryl proved that she could sing too. The song was I'm Checkin' Out and was written by Shel Silverstein:
Reba McEntire performed the song for the Oscars:
Who is Shel Silverstein, you may ask? He's the man who wrote one of Johnny Cash's greatest hits, A Boy Named Sue:
He also wrote Sylvia's Mother, a big international hit for Dr. Hook:
Wild at Heart was David Lynch's follow-up to Blue Velvet and that year's winner of the Palme d'Or in the Cannes Film Festival. Nicolas Cage was over-the-top as usual, Willem Dafoe and Harry Dean Stanton were good in their supporting roles, but they who shone the most were two women; real-life mother-daughter Diane Ladd and Laura Dern. It was no surprise that Lynch put a few golden oldies to very good use: songs like Baby Please Don't Go and Love Me Tender. Wicked Game, performed by Chris Isaak, was the closest to being Oscar-eligible, but unfortunately, it wasn't, having been released as a single a few months earlier:
Another director who is both a fan and a connoisseur of good music is Martin Scorsese. Goodfellas, the story of Henry Hill and his life in the mob, covering his relationship with his wife Karen Hill and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito in the Italian-American crime syndicate, was considered by many to be the best picture of the year; among them, the New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, and Kansas City Film Critics. In the film, Scorsese used snippets from dozens of hit songs. Among them, the classic rock ballad, Layla:
There was another mob-themed movie that was vying for awards' attention: the hotly anticipated third part of a movie whose first two parts are two of the best movies ever: the final part of the Godfather trilogy. The Godfather: Part III wasn't as good as the first two parts. While it did have its moments, including an operatic finale (virtually), it also had its weaknesses. One of the most obvious problems is that it covers little new territory. The plot is highly derivative of the original. There were also a couple of strikingly weak performances: Sofia Coppola (as Michael's daughter) swallows words and speaks "valley girl." Thankfully, she soon realized that she would make a much better film director than actor. Also, George Hamilton as Pacino's business attorney stuck out like a sore thumb. The film included the Oscar-eligible song Promise Me You'll Remember (Music: Carmine Coppola • Lyrics: John Bettis). It was performed by Harry Connick, Jr.:
Carmine Coppola is Francis' father. John Bettis is an American lyricist who has co-written many famous Pop songs over the years. Among them, a few of the Carpenters' most enduring hits, like Yesterday Once More:
... Madonna's Crazy for You:
... Michael Jackson's Human Nature:
... And The Pointer Sisters' Slow Hand:
The first AIDS-themed film to be seriously considered at the Oscars was Longtime Companion. It was a tender and thoughtful study of the emergence and devastation of the AIDS epidemic chronicled in the lives of several gay men living during the 1980s. The central scene in the film - one of the most emotionally affecting scenes in any film on dying - involves Bruce Davison as the lover of a dying man. The struggle has been long and painful, but now it is almost over, and what Davison has to do is hold the hand of his lover and be with him when he dies. The fight has been so brave that it is hard to end it. "Let go," Davison whispers. "It's all right. You can let go now." The scene plays for a long, quiet time, and it is about the absolute finality of death, but it is also about why we are alive in the first place. Man is the only animal that knows it will die. This scene shows how that can be the source of courage and spiritual peace. Davison originally made his mark with the student-protest classic The Strawberry Statement.
The Longtime Companion finale is one of the most powerful endings to any film, the looking back at what has been lost while still looking forward to the hope that there will be a cure, that there will be an end, that perhaps we can be there when it comes. The Post-Mortem Bar plays through that tear-inducing scene, when the dead visit the living, even for a moment...
There were a number of films that showcased good performances: Penny Marshall's Awakenings featured two strong performances by Robin Williams and Robert De Niro as doctor and patient. Rob Reiner's ingenious adaptation of Stephen King's Misery featured a career-making performance by Kathy Bates. James Ivory's Mr. & Mrs. Bridge featured Hollywood's golden longtime couple, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Barbet Schroeder's Reversal of Fortune featured a chillingly enigmatic performance by Jeremy Irons and Jim Sheridan's The Field showcased the talent of veteran Richard Harris.
The two most notable, in my opinion, as far as performances were concerned, were The Grifters, Stephen Frears' sixth outstanding film in a row (after The Hit, My Beautiful Laundrette, Prick Up Your Ears, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, and Dangerous Liaisons), a film noir with traces of Greek tragedy and outstanding performances by all three of the leads, Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, and Annette Bening. The other was Cyrano de Bergerac, which featured a towering performance by Gérard Depardieu (he was also impressive in Peter Weir's Green Card), as well as astonishing craft work (production design and costumes).
Also admired for excellence in crafts were the aforementioned Dick Tracy, Franco Zeffirelli's version of Hamlet, Philip Kaufman's Henry & June, and Barry Levinson's semi-autobiographical Avalon, which also featured a good musical score by Randy Newman:
Sydney Pollack's Havana was probably the director's weakest collaboration with Robert Redford, but Dave Grusin's soundtrack was noteworthy:
Now let's move on to the year's highest-grossing films:
At #1 we find Ghost, a supernatural romantic comedy, in the spirit of The Ghost And Mrs. Muir and Blithe Spirit, with touches of suspense. The romance was provided by Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, both at their commercial peak, while the comedy was delightfully provided by Whoopi Goldberg. Maurice Jarre's score was very effective:
Most importantly, Ghost revitalized the fortunes of one of the best songs of all-time, which has quite an interesting history. Unchained Melody was written by Hy Zaret and the great Alex North. This is the original version from the relatively obscure prison film Unchained, performed by Todd Duncan. It picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Song in 1955:
Les Baxter and his Orchestra took the song all the way to #1 in the US in 1955:
Al Hibbler's version was released simultaneously - and peaked at #3 in the US:
June Valli had a top 30 hit with it:
In the UK it was a #1 hit for Jimmy Young:
It was also a top 20 hit for Liberace:
In 1963, Vito and the Salutations had a minor hit with it. This version was part of the soundtrack for Scorsese's Goodfellas:
The song's definitive version came out in 1965. It was produced by Phil Spector and performed by the Righteous Brothers. This version originally hit #4 in the US and #14 in the UK. When it was used in Ghost in 1990, it charted again, at #13 in the US and at #1 in the UK (there was also a re-recorded version that charted at #19 in the US):
It was a minor hit by the Sweet Inspirations in 1968:
... And then again by Heart, in 1981:
Leo Sayer made the UK top 100 with his version in 1986:
The version by Robson & Jerome is notable as the best-selling single of 1995 in the UK:
Gareth Gates' version in 2002 reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart in its first week of release with sales of 850,000 copies, eventually selling in excess of 1.35 million copies in the UK alone:
The second biggest hit of the year was Home Alone, a movie starring the charismatic Macaulay Culkin, together with Joe Pesci (who was already gathering Oscar buzz for his role in Goodfellas) and Daniel Stern as the cartoonish villains. The film was an ideal Xmas hit, even more so since it takes place at Christmas. The film score was by Oscar perennial John Williams:
There was also a cute song, Somewhere in My Memory, with music by John Williams and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. It was performed by a children's choir:
The third biggest hit of the year was Pretty Woman, Cinderella re-imagined as a street hooker with a heart of gold. Richard Gere was never more charming - and those still unconvinced by Julia Roberts' star-power after Steel Magnolias, they were unconvinced no more: Julia Roberts was here to stay.
The film's title was taken from Roy Orbison's classic '60s hit:
The film's main love song, Roxette's It Must Have Been Love was unfortunately not Oscar-eligible:
Go West's King of Wishful Thinking, however, was:
The fourth biggest hit of the year was a surprise: Dances with Wolves was Kevin Costner's passion project; he was the producer, (first-time) director, and star of this epic and politically correct Western. The film kept getting enthusiastic reviews as easily as it was making big money: it became the highest grossing Western of all time. Because of the film's enormous success and sympathetic treatment of the Native Americans, the Sioux Nation adopted Kevin Costner as an honorary member. John Barry's score was awe-inspiring:
The fifth biggest hit of the year was Total Recall, Paul Verhoeven's sci-fi blockbuster, a blockbuster that was both intelligent and cinematically interesting. It starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, and an actress on the rise called Sharon Stone.
Of the films submitted for the Foreign Film Oscars, these are the ones that stood out: Zhang Yimou's Ju Dou (China), my favorite film of his - a classic. Certainly Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Cyrano de Bergerac (France). Gianni Amelio's sensitive and thoughtful Open Doors (Italy). Michael Verhoeven's original The Nasty Girl (Germany). Xavier Koller's well-intentioned Journey of Hope (Switzerland). Pavel Lungin's Taxi Blues (the Soviet Union). Goran Paskaljević's Time Of Miracles (Yugoslavia). Carlos Saura's ¡Ay Carmela! (Spain). Stavros Tsiolis's Love Under the Date-Tree (Greece). Lucian Pintilie's Carnival Scenes (Romania). Andrzej Wajda's Korczak (Poland). María Luisa Bemberg's I, the Worst of All (Argentina). Youssef Chahine's Alexandria Again and Forever (Egypt). Pekka Parikka's The Winter War (Finland). And Nicolás Echevarría's Cabeza de Vaca (Mexico).
The Nominations
Best Picture
Awakenings
Dances with Wolves
Ghost
The Godfather: Part III
Goodfellas
Best Director
Dances with Wolves: Kevin Costner
The Godfather: Part III: Francis Ford Coppola
Goodfellas: Martin Scorsese
The Grifters: Stephen Frears
Reversal of Fortune: Barbet Schroeder
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Awakenings: Robert De Niro
Cyrano de Bergerac: Gérard Depardieu
Dances with Wolves: Kevin Costner
The Field: Richard Harris
Reversal of Fortune: Jeremy Irons
Best Actress in a Leading Role
The Grifters: Anjelica Huston
Misery: Kathy Bates
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge: Joanne Woodward
Postcards from the Edge: Meryl Streep
Pretty Woman: Julia Roberts
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Dances with Wolves: Graham Greene
Dick Tracy: Al Pacino
The Godfather: Part III: Andy Garcia
Goodfellas: Joe Pesci
Longtime Companion: Bruce Davison
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Dances with Wolves: Mary McDonnell
Ghost: Whoopi Goldberg
Goodfellas: Lorraine Bracco
The Grifters: Annette Bening
Wild at Heart: Diane Ladd
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Alice
Avalon
Ghost
Green Card
Metropolitan
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
Awakenings
Dances with Wolves
Goodfellas
The Grifters
Reversal of Fortune
Best Art Direction/Set Decoration
Cyrano de Bergerac
Dances with Wolves
Dick Tracy
The Godfather: Part III
Hamlet
Best Costume Design
Avalon
Cyrano de Bergerac
Dances with Wolves
Dick Tracy
Hamlet
Best Cinematography
Avalon
Dances with Wolves
Dick Tracy
The Godfather: Part III
Henry & June
Best Film Editing
Dances with Wolves
Ghost
The Godfather: Part III
Goodfellas
The Hunt for Red October
Best Sound
Dances with Wolves
Days Of Thunder
Dick Tracy
The Hunt for Red October
Total Recall
Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing
Flatliners
The Hunt for Red October
Total Recall
Special Achievement Award for Visual Effects
Total Recall
Best Makeup
Cyrano de Bergerac
Dick Tracy
Edward Scissorhands
Best Documentary, Features
American Dream
Berkeley in the Sixties
Building Bombs
Forever Activists: Stories from the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter's Journey
Best Foreign Language Film
Cyrano de Bergerac (France)
Journey of Hope (Switzerland)
Ju Dou (China)
The Nasty Girl (Germany)
Open Doors (Italy)
Honorary Awards
Myrna Loy
(In recognition of her extraordinary qualities both on screen and off, with appreciation for a lifetime's worth of indelible performances.)
Sophia Loren
(For a career rich with memorable performances that has added permanent luster to our art form.)
As usual, I saved the music nominations for last. The nominees for Best Music, Original Score were:
Avalon: Randy Newman
Dances with Wolves: John Barry
Ghost: Maurice Jarre
Havana: Dave Grusin
Home Alone: John Williams
What about the songs? The nominees for Best Music, Original Song were:
Dick Tracy: Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man)
The Godfather: Part III: Promise Me You'll Remember
Home Alone: Somewhere in My Memory
Postcards from the Edge: I'm Checkin' Out
Young Guns II: Blaze of Glory
Here are all the films with more than two nominations each: Dances with Wolves (12), The Godfather: Part III (7), Dick Tracy (7), Goodfellas (6), Ghost (5), Cyrano de Bergerac (5), The Grifters (4), Avalon (4), Awakenings (3), Reversal of Fortune (3), The Hunt for Red October (3).
My choices would be: Dances with Wolves for Best Picture, Original Score, and Sound. Goodfellas for Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Film Editing. Ghost for Original Screenplay. Gérard Depardieu Best Actor and also Best Costumes for Cyrano. Best Actress and Supporting Actress for The Grifters (Huston and Bening). Supporting Actor for Bruce Davison (Longtime Companion). Dick Tracy for Best Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, and Makeup. Total Recall for Sound Effects, and finally Ju Dou (China) for Best Foreign Language Film.
But it wasn't for me to decide, was it? So, here are:
The Winners
It wasn't a good year for gangster films: The Godfather: Part III came away empty-handed, while Goodfellas only scored for Joe Pesci, the favorite, for Supporting Actor. Then again, Dick Tracy is a sort-of gangster film and it won three: Best Song for Sondheim, Art Direction/Set Decoration, and Makeup.
It was definitely a good year for Westerns: Dances with Wolves was the big winner of the night, with seven awards (Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, Cinematography, Film Editing, and Sound). Ghost got two good ones (Original Screenplay and Supporting Actress for Whoopi Goldberg).
Cyrano de Bergerac didn't offer Depardieu a win. Rumors that were meticulously spread at nomination time that Depardieu as a teenager had attempted rape surely played their part. Best Actor went to Jeremy Irons for Reversal of Fortune. Cyrano also failed to win the Foreign Language award; it did, however, win for Costume Design.
Neither Ju Dou nor Open Doors were the Foreign Language winner. Surprisingly, the award went to the Swiss entry, Journey of Hope. Another small surprise was relative unknown Kathy Bates defeating all her big-name rivals in the Best Actress race.
Finally, the Sound Effects Editing award went to The Hunt for Red October and Best Documentary went to American Dream. Even though, as you may have noticed, many of my personal preferences didn't actually win, I don't think that the awards were unjust. Well, maybe a couple, but never mind...
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