For this movie about 1930s boxer Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe), director Ron Howard interrupted his longtime collaboration with composer James Horner and teamed up with Thomas Newman. It’s a wise decision: Newman has a lighter touch and his somber palette emphasizes the fact that Cinderella Man is more thoughtful drama than mere brawling flick (even a track titled "Pugilism" eschews obvious punchiness in favor of ominous, rolling tribal-like percussion. Elsewhere, "Weehawken Ferry" illustrates Newman's ability to write swelling, majestic music that's not bombastic. Typical of the subdued approach is Paul Giamatti’s version of "Londonderry Air," which he delicately whistles. The score is interspersed with a few lovely Depression-era tunes such as Chicago tenor saxist Bud Freeman’s "Tillie¹s Downtown Now," Roane's Pennsylvanians' "We’ve Got to Put that Sun Back in the Sky," and especially Eddie Cantor’s wonderfully biting "Cheer Up, Smile, Nertz" ("Our judges are queer/Our banks disappear/And all the while they tell us to smiiiiile").
1. Inside Out, The
2. Shim-Me-Sha-Wobble - Miff Mole & His Molers
3. Mae
4. Change Of Fortune
5. Weehawken Ferry
6. Cold Meat Party
7. All Prayed Out
8. Tillie's Downtown Now - Bud Freeman & His Windy City Five
9. Three Bucks Twenty
10. Corn Griffin
11. Shoe Polish
12. Londonderry Air - Paul Giamatti
13. Hope Of The Irish, The
14. Hooverville Funeral
15. Fight Day
16. Good As Murder
17. We've Got To Put That Sun Back In The Sky - Roane's Pennsylvanians
18. No Contest
19. Pugilism
20. Bulldog Of Bergen
21. Big Right
22. 9, 4, 2 Even
23. Cinderella Man
24. Turtle
25. Cheer Up! Smile! Nertz! - Eddie Cantor/Phil Spitalny's Music
Cinderella Man
