Thomas Newman: The Period Film Composer

[happyfilmluvguy]

You may or may not know who Thomas Newman, the man is, but you will probably know his work. Newman has scored many period films such as Shawshank Redemption, Road to Perdition, Cinderella Man, and The Good German. Mr. Newman has a way about dramatic material and his musical notes. With classical pieces, whether uplifting and triumph, such as in the last scene of Cinderella Man, when down and out James Braddock wins the title against Max Baer, or dark and haunting such as in Road to Perdition, when little Michael Sullivan witnesses his father during a shoot out.

But Thomas Newman does score much more than period films, and with each musical piece, comes an enlightening story that tells itself, even when the images of the movie are not present. It's difficult to come up with a memorable tune when scoring a movie. Nino Rota's The Godfather is by far recognizable to the ear, as Max Steiner's Gone With The Wind opening title. I believe Thomas Newman does just that in every score he composes. Truly a great film composer and one that can tell a story with his music.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Somehow, his work has never really gotten to me - it's effective, but I don't love it. I don't find myself humming it or feeling the need to get the soundtrack albums.

Of the three currently working Newmans scoring films, I find that I like Randy's scores the best (Ragtime, Pleasantville, etc.)

And for those of you who may not know, the Newmans represent an entire dynasty of film composers, starting with golden age master Alfred Newman (who got an equal number of Oscar nominations to John Williams!) and including:

His brother Lionel Newman scored three dozen films and several TV series, adapting and conducting scores for hundreds of other films.

His brother Emil Newman scored over 50 films.

His son David Newman has scored over 70 films, including Hoffa, Galaxy Quest, The Nutty Professor (1996 film), The War of the Roses, and Ice Age.

His son Thomas Newman has scored over 50 films, including Finding Nemo, The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption, Road to Perdition, and American Beauty.

His nephew Randy Newman is noted not only for his film scoring work, but also for a series of popular albums as a singer/songwriter.

(I grabbed this from the Wikipedia article on Alfred Newman. It's worth looking all of them up - they all did some really impressive film scores!)

 

[imoldfashioned]

I love his themes for Little Women--I've heard them recycled into many a trailer as well.