CHECK THE SCORE: 2 Years Without the Sax, Remembering David Sanborn and the Sound That Changed Action Cinema

By Klep Napier l Wearecritix.com

Two years without the sound that quietly reshaped action cinema still feels unreal. David Sanborn, born July 30, 1945, passed away on January 12, 2024, and yet his voice remains everywhere if you know where to listen. When I think about Lethal Weapon, I don’t start with explosions or punchlines. I start with that saxophone. Lonely, reflective, and human. A sound that didn’t just score the film, it spoke for it.

David Sanborn

Sanborn’s relationship with music was deeply personal long before Hollywood ever entered the picture. As a child, he survived polio, and the saxophone initially became a tool for recovery, strengthening his lungs and giving him focus. What began as therapy evolved into purpose. By his teenage years, Sanborn was already playing with blues legends, developing a tone shaped by resilience and emotional honesty. That lived experience matters, because you can hear it in every note he played on screen.

By the time the 1980s arrived, Sanborn was one of the most in demand musicians in the industry, moving effortlessly between jazz, rock, R&B, and pop. He was never confined by genre, which made him a perfect collaborator for film composers looking to push boundaries. That openness is what ultimately led the late, great composer Michael Kamen to bring Sanborn into the sonic world of Lethal Weapon.

Sanborn didn’t land the gig by accident. Kamen understood that Martin Riggs needed more than orchestral power. He needed a soul. Pairing Sanborn’s saxophone with Eric Clapton’s guitar created an emotional language that felt bruised and reflective. The sax didn’t announce itself loudly. It arrived in moments of solitude, grief, and quiet reckoning, functioning like Riggs’ inner voice when words would have failed.

Lethal Weapon scene demonstrating the saxophone theme underscoring

the emotional state of Riggs and Murtaugh

These moments right there are the magic. The saxophone doesn’t compete with the action, it contextualizes it. It gives the chaos weight. Sanborn’s contribution brought undeniable main character energy to the franchise, allowing vulnerability to coexist with violence. His sound made the audience feel the exhaustion behind the badge, the pain beneath the jokes, and the humanity inside a genre that rarely slowed down to acknowledge it.

In the decades since, action and thriller scores have leaned heavily into percussion, electronics, and sheer volume. What’s often missing is intimacy. The willingness to let a single instrument breathe emotion into the frame. Few films since have dared to let a saxophone carry that kind of narrative responsibility, and fewer still have understood how powerful restraint can be.

Marking this anniversary isn’t about mourning silence, it’s about celebrating resonance. Two years after his passing, David Sanborn’s saxophone still speaks, still lingers, still teaches filmmakers and composers how emotion can live inside action. He didn’t just play music for a franchise. He changed how action cinema could feel. And that is a legacy worth celebrating, today and always.

#RIP