Music and film have had something of a symbiotic relationship since the dawn of cinema, but the film score as we know it today was really born in 1933. There have been some pretty memorable musical scores written for the movies over the last 90 years, but here's our ranking of the 20 best movie scores of all time...
Contents
- Best movie scores of all time: 20 to 16
- 15 to 11
- 10 to 6
- The top five
- And the greatest movie score of all time is...
Best movie scores of all time: 20 to 16
20. Henry V by William Walton (1944)
The actor Laurence Olivier and composer William Walton worked together on several Shakespearean films, including Hamlet and Richard III. Henry V, a film that was commissioned by the Ministry of Information to help the war effort and was shot in Technicolor, remains one of the finest that they collaborated on and its score received an Oscar nomination.
The stirring film gradually leads the audience from the confines of the Globe Theatre out to the fields of the Battle of Agincourt where Henry (Olivier) triumphs. The score has plenty of period feel, from brass fanfares, drumming and unusual modal harmonies. Walton even drew upon Auvergne folksongs for his theme for the French princess, Katharine. Walton told Olivier that the film would have been ‘terribly dull’ without the music.
Essential Recording: Henry V – Suite Philharmonia Orchestra/William Walton Warner Classics
19. Mary Poppins by Richard M Sherman and Robert B Sherman (1964)
Loved by children and families around the world, Mary Poppins is packed full of brilliant songs by the Sherman brothers. From the exuberant tongue-twister ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ to the catchy dance number ‘Step in time!’, there’s plenty of scope for orchestral fun. And of course Mary Poppins includes one of the great Disney songs, the heartfelt ‘Feed the Birds’, with its stirring strings and choir.
18. The Pink Panther by Henry Mancini (1963)
Hollywood went ‘Pop’ in the 1960s, directors and producers turning their backs on the traditional sound of the studio orchestra. Out were the lush strings, and ballsy brass, in were rock and roll, rhythm and song. One composer who capitalised on this shift was Henry Mancini, a great dramatic composer but one who could really ‘groove’. His style, a mix of big band, pop, jazz and orchestral saw him create some of the most colourful scores of the era.
Not least of all was this immortal score, for director Blake Edwards’s first Pink Panther film. The sultry saxophone became a movie star and an iconic theme was born. The Pink Panther in question? Not a big cat at all, but a big rock… a rare diamond that has caught the eye of a surprising thief. The hapless Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellars) is on the case, and probably falling over it.
17. Rocky by Bill Conti (1976)
The sequence is iconic: Rocky Balboa, a down on his luck boxer with a dream, is out on the streets of Philadelphia, training. Each time he runs up the 72 steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and each time, with perseverance it gets easier and easier.
Bill Conti’s music is with him all the way, and when he makes it to the top, triumphantly punching the air, we’re all punching it with him. This film, written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, is a classic; it was made on a shoestring and won three Oscars. Conti’s song’ Gonna Fly Now’ was nominated, but his contribution pop-orchestral contribution to the film remains iconic.
16. The English Patient by Gabriel Yared (1996)
Gabriel Yared’s score to Anthony Minghella’s 1996 epic brilliantly combines the influences of JS Bach and Middle Eastern music to magnificent effect. At its heart, Yared places a stunning piece of faux Bach, a stirring yet texturally simple three-part piano solo that utterly defines the tenor of the film.
Best movie scores of all time: 15 to 11
15. Edward Scissorhands by Danny Elfman (1990)
Tim Burton’s modern fairytale inspired Danny Elfman to dig deep. A mechanical man with scissors for hands is taken in by a suburban family. He’s the talk of the town, but soon he is turned upon. Being so different is too much for some of the community, and it’s not long before poor Edward is run out of town. That’s not before he has captured the heart of the family’s daughter, Kim.
It’s a fantastic tale, hugely comedic and achingly romantic. Danny Elfman, Burton’s go-to composer, created a sweet, luscious and occasionally humourous underscore for the film. Choir, orchestra, celesta, and some great violin solos, all make for one of the composer’s greatest ever works. Enough to melt the hardest of hearts. It’s one of Elfman’s personal favourites, too.
14. The Mission by Ennio Morricone (1986)
Ennio Morricone is one of the most prolific film composers of all time, with several hundred film soundtracks under his belt, including iconic 1960s Spaghetti Westerns like The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
Among Morricone’s finest soundtracks is the Oscar-nominated score to Roland Joffe’s 1986 film The Mission about a Jesuit priest's attempt to try and convert a South American tribe. The famous ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’ theme appears when Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) tentatively plays a tune to befriend members of the Guaraní tribe.
The composer apparently took inspiration from actor Jeremy Irons’s random finger placements on the oboe. The subsequent uplifting theme, with its string accompaniment, has become famous in its own right.
Essential Recording: The Mission – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack London Philharmonic Orchestra/Ennio Morricone Virgin CDV-2402
13. Planet of the Apes by Jerry Goldsmith (1968)
Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004) was one of Hollywood's most versatile composers. His music, fuelled by imaginative orchestrations, great energy and fine melodies, graced some of the big (and small) screen's most memorable titles. The Waltons, Dr. Kildare, The Omen, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Alien, Gremlins, Basic Instinct, and so much more besides, were each elevated by Goldsmith's art.
While he could match John Williams in terms of orchestral heft and romantic sweep, he was also brilliantly skilled in creating unusual, avant-garde sonorities. A standout score in that regard is Planet of the Apes, the film that sees an astronaut stranded on a planet ruled by intelligent apes, only to discover he has stumbled into Earth's distant future.
The score sees Goldsmith unpack all manner of unusual percussive and tonal sounds, sitting within the more traditional brass, strings and piano of the Fox Orchestra; together they chop, saw, bang and hoot their way through what is a truly evocative piece of 12-tone composition.
Essential Recording: Planet of the Apes – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Studio Orchestra/Jerry Goldsmith Varèse Sarabande VSD-5848 (1997)
12. Gone With the Wind by Max Steiner (1939)
Steiner was only given three months to compose what ended up being his most famous work, and when the film was released it was the longest-ever film score, at almost three hours. Steiner sometimes worked for 20 hours at a time and it took five orchestrators to help produce the score.
Each character was given its own musical motif with ‘Tara’s Theme’ being the most famous, representing the Georgia plantation. The theme has a rich Romantic quality. In a key scene it is used as Scarlett (Vivien Leigh) is seen in silhouette with her father, a foreboding sunset in the background.
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Although the film won ten Oscars, Steiner missed out on getting one for the score, despite a nomination. He was beaten by The Wizard of Oz composer Herbert Stothart.
Essential Recording: Gone with the Wind – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack MGM Studio Orchestra/Max Steiner Sony 88697638242
11. King Kong by Max Steiner (1933)
Often referred to as the ‘father of film music’, Austrian-born composer Max Steiner moved to Hollywood in 1929, becoming one of the first composers to craft narrative music for film in a way still done to this day. Among his many successful film scores are The Searchers and Casablanca, with the most famous being Gone With the Wind (1939, see below).
One of his earliest original scores was for RKO's thrilling King Kong, a film seemingly ahead of its time in terms of its visual effects. The big-screen adventures allowed Steiner to flex his muscles and show just exactly what a fully synchronised dramatic score could achieve. The result was ear-opening indeed, Steiner unleashing a battery of brass, percussion and thrilling/soaring strings to create a sense of the sheer scale of the giant Ape, the mysterious fog-bound Skull Island and the most unlikely of love stories.
Essential Recording:
King Kong – The Complete 1933 Film Score by Max Steiner
Moscow Symphony Orchestra/William Stromberg
Naxos 8.557700 (2005)
Best movie scores of all time: 10 to 6
10. Interstellar by Hans Zimmer (2014)
Christopher Nolan's film about a former NASA pilot-cum-Farmer who finds himself leading an expedition into the farthest reaches of space to find a habitable planet is mind-bending and brilliant. It's science-fiction... or is it? Science-faction perhaps, given the level of research and detail that went into every inch of celluloid.
Nolan turned to his regular composer Hans Zimmer for the music, and the Hollywood titan birthed what is probably the best things he has ever written... so far. Okay, he won as Oscar for Dune, but he should have won for this. The score is expansive, occasionally quiet to the point of inaudibility, but with a meditative tranquility that enraptures the listener.
Zimmer creates an unusual soundscape, but populates it with traditional orchestral elements and his trumpt card: a ver real pipe organ - performed by Roger Sayer in London's Temple Church. This is epic music and occasionally so transportive you think you, too, have travelled to another world.
Essential Recording: Interstellar – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Roger Sayer (organ); London Voices; Studio Orchestra et al Sony Classical 88875048122
9. Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence by Ryuichi Sakamoto (1983)
How many film composers can boast that they have both written the soundtrack for a film and also played one of the major roles on screen? Such is the case with Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose portrayal of the complex character of Captain Yonoi in Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence is accompanied by his own music.
That score – a masterpiece of early electronic music – blends classical and oriental influences as it brilliantly conveys the stifling heat and oppression of the prisoner-of-war camp in which the likes of Major Jack Celliers (David Bowie) and Lieutenant Colonel John Lawrence (Tom Conti) are held. Crowned by the gorgeous ‘Forbidden Colours’ theme tune, it deservedly won Sakamoto a BAFTA.
We included Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence in our round-up of the best Ryuichi Sakamoto recordings.
8. Lawrence of Arabia by Maurice Jarre (1962)
French composer Maurice Jarre rose to international attention with his score for David Lean’s epic film Lawrence of Arabia (1962), the story of how an Englishman helped the arabs fight against the Ottoman Empire during World War One.
Although the film’s soundtrack won Jarre an Oscar, the credit might have gone elsewhere. He was commissioned after both Walton and Malcolm Arnold were unavailable. And he was initially asked to contribute music alongside Britten and Khachaturian, who both dropped out. It was left to Jarre to compose two hours of music in just six weeks. He took a large-scale approach with a 104-piece orchestra, including 11 percussionists.
The exotic score included three ondes martenots and a cithara. For one of the film’s most iconic scenes, when Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif) appears from the shimmering distance in the desert, Lean opts for just natural sounds, including wind, giving a beautiful contrast to Jarre’s immense score.
Essential Recording:
Lawrence of Arabia – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Maurice Jarre
7. Titanic by James Horner (1997)
There’s no ignoring James Cameron’s Titanic, one of the most successful films of all time at the box office. The original soundtrack album, too, broke records selling over 27 million copies upon release. American composer James Horner had worked with Cameron on Aliens (1986) and while that wasn’t the happiest of experiences for Horner, this story was too great to ignore.
The epic film is a disaster film of course, but one with a love story at its heart. Horner delivered a rich tapestry, leaning into the doomed ship’s Irish roots with celtic instrumentation and melody. For the lovers, one of the composer’s most familiar tunes; it was turned into the No. 1 hit ‘My Heart Will Go On’.
Cameron didn’t want a song in his film, but Horner secretly recorded a demo with Celine Dion. He got his way, and that demo was the version heard in the film, it was that good. Beyond the romance, Horner lays on brilliantly dramatic music for their fate. His music for the sinking is some of the most thrilling music written for the screen.
6. The Godfather by Nino Rota (1972)
An iconic film, with an iconic score. The first part of Francis Ford Coppola's epic Corleone saga is one of the most quoted/referenced of all time, lines of dialogue and full scenes etched into audience memories. The music is by Italian composer Nino Rota (1911-79), who had created a lasting artistic partnership with legendary director Federico Fellini in their home country.
For this relatively rare Hollywood venture, Rota turned in a relatively sparse, but vital dramatic accompaniment and some killer themes. At the heart of the score is 'The Godfather Waltz', a now iconic melody for lone, foreboding trumpet, and the grandiose 'Love Theme from The Godfather', synonymous now with all things mafia. For the latter, Rota actually re-used a theme he'd written for a 1958 Italian film called Fortunella (albeit with a different rhythm and colouring), and it's for that reason his music for The Godfather wasn't eligible for an Original Score Oscar nomination.
Essential Recording: The Godfather – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Studio Orchestra/Nino Rota; Carmine Coppola Varèse Sarabande VSD-5848 (1997)
Best movie scores of all time: the top five
5. Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope by John Williams (1977)
It's hard to imagine a time before Star Wars, writer/director George Lucas's homage to the Saturday morning serials of his youth, not to mention all manner of mythical tropes and samurai films. This adventure 'in a galaxy far, far away' went on to spawn eight more instalments over an impressive 42 years.
Given Lucas's desire to conjure a bygone era of storytelling, it makes sense that the music should do the same and so composer John Williams - fresh from his Oscar for Jaws, set about creating his own love letter to the past, in music. Williams's score is knowing in its references, whether it's ceremonial Walton, rollicking Holst or thrilling film scores by Korngold.
It all makes for a great old-fashioned narrative thrillride, with memorable leitfmotifs for key characters, places and things, not to mention some edge-of-your seat orchestral set pieces as the Rebellion fights the evil Galactic Empire.
It went in so small way in whetting a renewed appetite for symphonic film scoring in Hollywood, the London Symphony Orchestra finding itself in demand for years to come. Oh, and it won Williams another Oscar.
Essential Recording: Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack London Symphony Orchestra/John Williams Walt Disney Records D002585302
We ranked John Williams's best Star Wars film scores, worst to best. Do you agree with our choices?
4. Jaws (1975)
John Williams has written some of the most memorable film music of all time, including Indiana Jones and ET. But the soundtrack to Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is the one that really established him. This got him noticed by George Lucas, leading to the collaboration on Star Wars in 1977.
With Jaws, Williams undertook the challenge of portraying an animal that lives underwater with music rather than sound effects. Spielberg recalls fondly how Williams first introduced him to the Jaws theme, playing it on a piano. ‘What he played… with two fingers on the lower keys was dun, dun, dun-dun, dun-dun, dun-dun… sometimes the best ideas are the most simple ones and John [Williams] had found a signature for the entire score.’
Williams’s brief rhythmic theme consisted of three repeated bass notes. ‘I thought that altering the speed and volume of the theme, from very slow to very fast, from very soft to very loud, would indicate the mindless attacks of the shark,’ he recalls. At this year’s Oscars, Williams has a nomination for his score to Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Essential Recording: Jaws – The 25th anniversary edition Music composed and conducted by John Williams Decca 467 0452
3. Psycho by Bernard Herrmann (1960)
Alfred Hitchcock’s suspense thriller Psycho (1960) turned narrative convention on its head by bumping off the main character half way through. The famous shower murder, when serial killer Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), dressed as his mother, stabs his victim Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), is accompanied by the unforgettable screeching stabs of high-pitched strings.
This music exists, thanks to the persistence of composer Bernard Herrmann, who resisted the director’s initial requests for the scene to be silent. From the outset Herrmann was determined to only use strings for the whole score, which he thought would complement the starkness of Hitchcock’s black and white photography.
The feeling of impending disaster pervades the soundtrack: as Marion’s sister, Lila, arrives at Bates Motel to investigate her disappearance, the lower strings ominously creep up while the violins slide down.
Essential Recording:
Psycho – The Complete Original Motion Picture Score
Royal Scottish National Orchestral/Joel McNeely
Varsèse Sarabande VSD-5765
2. Vertigo by Bernard Herrmann (1958)
Unlike Psycho, the score for Alfred Hitchcock’s romantic thriller Vertigo is both thrilling and luscious. Bernard Herrmann leaned into his romantic side (for he was a romantic at heart) for his fourth collaboration with the director.
That said, Vertigo features just the kind of knotty, disorienting musical machinations Herrmann is known and loved for. The main theme is a kaleidoscopic masterpiece, and Herrmann used the rhythm of the Habañera to great effect. ‘The Nightmare’ is another classic cue, supporting brilliantly conceived visuals by Hitchcock and designer Saul Bass.
The crowning glory of the score, though, is the ‘Scene d’Amour’. Written for a key scene in which Scotty (Jimmy Stewart) transforms his new love into the woman of his dreams, it remains one of Herrmann’s greatest works.
Best movie scores: and the greatest film score of all time is...
1. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial by John Williams (1982)
Beyond that iconic main theme, Williams’s Oscar-winning original score for Steven Spielberg’s classic film is a triumph. There’s magic, mystery, heartbreak and the thrill of the chase; the final 15 minutes of music truly lead the action and take centre stage. It's a real emotional rollercoaster, the finale leaving most audience members in a puddle of tears.
If the history books are to be believed, Spielberg turned off the projector on the recording stage during those final 15 minutes and let Williams simply conduct without having to meet the constraints of the edited film. In a rare move, he then went back to the edit suite and re-cut the sequence to the music. History made.
Essential recording: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Studio Orchestra/John Williams (MCA Records/MCAD-11494)
