This Movie Guy: Happy Birthday, Danny Elfman!

Today, we're celebrating the 59th birthday of Academy Award-nominated composer Danny Elfman. A Los Angeles native, Elfman has made quite a name for himself in his thirty-year career, crafting himself into one of Hollywood's premiere film composers. His first composing work came in 1982's Forbidden Zone which he followed with 1985's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, the film which started his frequent collaboration with director Tim Burton. Elfman went onto score Burton's 1988 film Beetlejuice and his 1989 film Batman, and that was just the start. In the 1990s, Elfman scored such big-time films as Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Mission: Impossible, Men in Black and Good Will Hunting. He followed it up with the 2000s, in which he stamped his name across films like Spider-man, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Milk and Alice in Wonderland. Most recently, audiences have heard Elfman reprise a former score in Men in Black III as well as offer something a little bit new in Dark Shadows, and they'll next be able to hear his work in the upcoming 2012 film Frankenweenie. And so, to celebrate his birthday, I've compiled a list of my ten favorite of his scores, and I've managed to find snippets of each score for your listening pleasure. Once again, happy birthday, Danny Elfman!

10. Sleepy Hollow

1999