A Civil Action (album)
From AwardAnnals
| Album: | A Civil Action |
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| Artist: | Danny Elfman |
| Genres: | |
| Label: | Hollywood Records |
| Find it: |
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Reviews
Amazon.com
How would you like to pinch-hit for Mark McGwire? Danny Elfman reportedly faced a similar dilemma with A Civil Action: he stepped in to score Steven Zaillian’s adaptation of Jonathan Harr’s bestseller when the legendary composer Ennio Morricone bowed out. Elfman’s score is an amalgam of a number of modern influences: edgy, percussive minimalism, haunting, effective choral flourishes, and electronically generated/altered elements are combined with a spare use of the orchestra to create a work that relies more on mood than on melody. The score’s atmospherics may occasionally recall music by other modern film composers (Stewart Copeland and Thomas Newman come to mind), but Elfman (with help from long-time arrangement collaborator Steve Bartek) ultimately leaves his own distinct stamp on it. —Jerry McCulley
Related works
- 1995 NBCC–Nonfiction winner
- 1996 LATimes–Current Interest finalist
- 1995 NBA–Nonfiction finalist
- Score: 22.45
Two of the nation’s largest corporations stand accused of causing the deaths of children. Representing the bereaved parents, the unlikeliest of heroes emerges: a young, flamboyant Porsche-driving lawyer who hopes to win millions of dollars and ends up nearly losing everything—including his sanity.
A Civil Action is the searing, compelling tale of a legal system gone awry—one in which greed and power fight an unending struggle against justice. Yet it is also the story of how one man can ultimately make a difference. With an unstoppable narrative power reminiscent of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, A Civil Action is an unforgettable reading experience that leaves the reader both shocked and enlightened.
