FSM Board: Elliot Goldenthal & Batman (2024)

Same thing for the music. Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer/James Newton Howard, Michael Giacchino, Junkie XL. Every composer has done something unique. To me, Elliot Goldenthal did something unique. Something that no one did before/after him.

The scores for Batman Forever and Batman & Robin sound so different. So much different styles and ambiances, so much fun. It is also music that is full of depth, nuances and colours. In terms of score as the whole, I think Batman Forever is the best. But I can't express how much I love Batman & Robin's opening titles cue. It's a shame that it's still not officially released!!!

Only Goldenthal is hip enough to write true comic book music instead of overblown Wagner facsimiles.

I think that both of the scores are very underrated, and they aren't even Goldenthal's best or most underrated work.

It’s not remotely close except that it shares a i-vi chord progression. And that it has a rising and falling melodic arc… it’s like saying mailer’s 5th opening is exactly like Beethoven’s fifth because they both have 4 note introductory figures….

I would have loved to hear a new Goldenthal score, I would be excited if he scored anything, but it would have been cool to see him on a big movie since it has been a while since he did that.

I’m a big Goldenthal fan but his Batman scores are not favorites of mine. I feel like they just shriek at me hysterically for most of their durations. Not my thing, but to each his own.

Who else is writing such scores today? Gotham never sounded more colourfully neurotic, dangerous and sexy than here.

I imagine it was a temp track situation. Judge for yourself.

I imagine it was a temp track situation. Judge for yourself.

What a joke. No way. No.1 is doesn’t sound “the same”…and also when you listen to them next to each other it’s like a cartoon to a Rembrandt.

And if only for the choral motif for Nora Fries, I’d gladly buy a release of Batman and Robin.

His scores for these two movies are amazing. Hectic and frenetic at times, yes, but always with a stylistic base. Mirroring the kitch of Schumacher's intentions. I have the superb 50-minute score program that he prepared for BATMAN & ROBIN, and it's a scandal that this was never released to the public. Hopefully some day!

Also, one of the best concert experiences I've ever had was seeing and hearing his BATMAN music performed live at a steel mill in Krakow some 10 years ago. Sitting next to him was Hans Zimmer, who jumped up and applauded enthustiastically after the "Grand Gothic" suite ended.

We talked a bit about his scores for these movies in my two interviews with him. Lovely memories.

His scores for these two movies are amazing. Hectic and frenetic at times, yes, but always with a stylistic base. Mirroring the kitch of Schumacher's intentions. I have the superb 50-minute score program that he prepared for BATMAN & ROBIN, and it's a scandal that this was never released to the public. Hopefully some day!

Also, one of the best concert experiences I've ever had was seeing and hearing his BATMAN music performed live at a steel mill in Krakow some 10 years ago. Sitting next to him was Hans Zimmer, who jumped up and applauded enthustiastically after the "Grand Gothic" suite ended.

We talked a bit about his scores for these movies in my two interviews with him. Lovely memories.

Indeed, Goldenthal’s Batman music is Zimmer’s favorite Batman music: https://za.ign.com/hans-zimmer/158105/news/hans-zimmers-favorite-batman-score-is-not-the-one-youd-expect

It’s here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-SUl6_-aEc&pp=ygUSR29sZGVudGhhbCBiYXRtYW4g

That's a great way of putting it!

Goldenthal's BATMAN music was probably the last "Batman" music I really liked, though his sequel does very much play like a reiteration of his original effort. To Elfman's credit, BATMAN RETURNS does not do that.

A fun aside: I'd never seen a Hammer horror movie before the 90s, but I was aware of James Bernard. I remember renting THE HAUNTED PALACE from a Blockbuster and for some reason thinking it was a Hammer movie and that Bernard was its composer. Nah, cool music, but then Ronald Stein's name appears during the opening titles! Not to mention before the AIP logo.

Anyway, in Percepto's release of Stein's score, I think in the liner notes (by Bruce Kimmel?) the similarity of Toto's DUNE theme to Stein's HAUNTED PALACE is mentioned. Possibly coincidence, but it's similar.

It's a crime to music that Batman & Robin has never had a legit release. I wonder if things would be different had the soundtrack album actually had a suite from the movie instead of a medley of cues from Forever. I know Watertower is weird as far as having first priority of initial score releases (or that they used to; Lethal Weapon 4 was premiered by LLL). Funny enough, that track was the first time I heard Goldenthal's score outside the movie.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that his score to Batman & Robin can get the same treatment as David Arnold's to Godzilla via BSX: 2 CDs for the complete score and a third for the proposed album. Or even "just" the 50 minute version.

If something sounds like Toto's DUNE it must be Danny Elfman's overture to SCROOGED !!!

Done. The similarity is superficial at best. You might as well say that the theme from Dune was derived from Michael's Theme in The Godfather.