6. Backdraft (1991)
Zimmer’s association with director Ron Howard began with this macho firefighting drama, and it remains one of Zimmer’s most entertaining action scores. What’s striking is how organic the music sounds – devoid of the industrial/manufactured effects that would dominate his thriller writing from Crimson Tide onwards, Backdraft instead favours organic sounds and often startling avant-garde effects rarely heard from the composer nowadays. The movie’s many fire scenes often use cacophonous choir and timpani, and the main theme, culminating in ‘Show Me Your Firetruck’, is the kind of rousing symphonic anthem of which Jerry Goldsmith would have been proud.
5. Interstellar (2014)
It’s not a popular opinion but in the eyes of this writer, Zimmer’s collaboration with Christopher Nolan has, more often than not, yielded frustrating results, scores that add volume instead of nuance. One instance where it all came together was in the quasi-religious tones of Interstellar, the composer hitting on the inspired notion of using an organ to depict the spiritual sweep of astronaut Matthew McConaughey’s journey. The tone of the organ, at once alien and yet eerily human, helps depict the vastness of the solar system and also the acutely emotional frailties that exist at the heart of the story, a rare example of how a Zimmer score for a Nolan film is an active participant that adds to our understanding.
4. Rain Man (1988)
Hans Zimmer officially arrived in 1988 with his groundbreaking score for Barry Levinson’s road movie drama. The movie is the story of the reluctant bond between two estranged brothers, one autistic and played by Dustin Hoffman, the other a venal car salesman portrayed by Tom Cruise. Zimmer decided to compose the score from the point of view of Hoffman’s Raymond, conjuring a vivid mixture of didgeredoo, bamboo flutes and synthesisers to paint day to day life as an intoxicatingly surreal experience (Zimmer argued that Raymond might as well have been on Mars, accounting for the tone of the music). The end result is an engrossing musical journey that got Zimmer his first Oscar nomination.
3. The Lion King (1994)
For many, The Lion King is the scene of Zimmer’s greatest triumph – certainly, it’s hard to argue with the film’s Oscar win for Best Original Score, let along its victory in the Best Original Song category (for ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’). The reason for the score’s continued popularity is simple: Zimmer achingly depicts the beating, complex heart of this Disney masterpiece and renders it with a multitude of colours and themes as vibrant as an African sunset. The score’s multitude of vocalists and area-specific instrumental nuances help forge a direct emotional connection with the audience in a way that many recent Zimmer scores fail to do – and Zimmer has done a sublime job updating his work for the 2019 remake. As a point of contrast, the two ‘Stampede’ cues are presented below – what was impressive initially now gains from added layers of orchestration and complexity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFz1SGZpqvE
2. Beyond Rangoon (1995)
Director John Boorman’s drama is a depiction of the 1988 Burma uprising, starring Patricia Arquette in the lead role. The movie’s locations and themes offered Zimmer the opportunity to deliver one of his most dramatically mature and lusciously beautiful scores, wood flutes and gamelan (an Indonesian percussion ensemble) conveying the beauty of the landscape that’s about to be ripped apart. It’s a stirring reminder that Zimmer’s real gifts as a composer reside in the areas of sensitivity and cultural research.
1. The Thin Red Line (1998)
Reclusive director Terrence Malick stepped behind the camera for the first time in 20 years with this elliptical and confounding war drama (an intriguing contrast with the more visceral Saving Private Ryan, released the same year). In the process he extracted from Zimmer what is arguably his finest score: a musically profound depiction of the horrors of war, in which the composer’s stately elegies offer a brilliant – and brilliantly horrible – contrast between nature and man-made conflict. It would take a heart heart to listen to the slow-burning emotion of ‘Journey to the Line’ and not be moved. Interestingly, such was Malick’s approach that Zimmer in fact composed four hours of music in total – barely 50 minutes of which made it onto the album release. Regardless, this is music that truly mirrors the philosophical profundity of Malick’s vision, arguably Zimmer’s greatest work.
Sean Wilson
Originally published July 18, 2019. Updated July 21, 2019.
