Justin’s complaints about the score in Gods and Generals remind me of a quote from an excellent Frank Zappa interview, which can be found poorly transcribed online. Of condescending, leading film scores, Zappa sez:

The thing that always amazes me the most about scoring for films is where they don’t use music. That’s what’s important. To me, films that are heavily laden with score material are almost like sitcoms with too much laugh track. When there’s too much [sings beginning of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony] DAH-DAH DAH DAH. When the cellos come in, you know, the guy’s saying, “Dramatic now. Appreciate this dramatic moment. Alert! Alert! Drama coming up. Major 7th chord — they’re in love! Look out, here comes the love!” It’s offensive to me. I find the films where you can really. . . . If the sound effects are well recorded, and the natural sound of what’s going on is interspersed with just a little bit of music, to me it works a lot better.