The Greatest Game Ever Played (Original Score)

Actor/director Bill Paxton's weepy golf drama concerning the underdog-led 1913 U.S. Open is treated with ample sentimentality and sepia-tone goodness by composer Brian Tyler (Bubba Ho-Tep, Darkness Falls, Constantine). With echoes of similarly themed sports dramas like The Natural, Miracle, and Field of Dreams, Tyler's score is rousing, lush, and romantic to a fault, with a sweeping main theme that conjures up images of trophies being thrust into the air with credits rolling over them. Tyler, to his credit, doesn't fully succumb to the "soaring strings" complex, as his tendency to insert liberal amounts of piano and acoustic guitar give the soundtrack a much needed identity. Opera star Dawn Upshaw and an almost sneering Joe Jackson — he also appears briefly in the film — perform a couple of standards, "The Band Played On" and "Hello Hello Who's You're Lady Friend," respectively, while Jackson contributes his own "Angel" for Upshaw to sing.