This article was recently posted online, listing the top 50 soundtracks of all time. As a fan of film music, I eagerly clicked on this list – and was profoundly disappointed. Apparently the author of this list barely considered any movie score produced prior to 1970, and the top on the list contained much of the “electronica hum” scores that have become all the rage the past ten years. Comments on Fark about the list were even more critical and dismissive than mine.
So, in response, for my dozens of readers, I have presented my alternate Top 15 list of best scores, below. You may disagree with my choices, but I hope you will consider that my choices are… umm, let’s just say, closer to correct than the previously linked article.
15. Fargo, Carter Burwell
What a score – music so wonderful every time they reprise the Fargo theme on the FX TV series I get a chill down my back.
14 Dances with Wolves, John Barry.
One of John Barry’s last scores, and his best. My father LOVED this movie – I liked it well enough, but it was the music that impressed me when I first watched it. If one can wear out a CD by repeated playing, I think I did so with the CD of this score.
13. Conan the Barbarian, Basil Poledouris
Imagine watching this movie without the score. The pretentious dialogue, the weak acting by many (especially its lead), and the rail-thin plot would be obvious. But the score pasted over all the issues, and made John Milius’ film an epic adventure hard to not enjoy.
12. Psycho, Bernard Herrmann
Psycho is the perfect score for horror – ever-present, subtle when it needs to be, and absolutely bold when the moment is right – specifically in its infamous shower sequence. You can say Herrmann’s Vertigo or Taxi Driver is a “better” score, but it doesn’t have the cultural impact this one did.
11. Blade Runner, Vangelis
Another score that enhances the film, making a good movie a classic.
10. Superman: The Movie, John Williams
It was REALLY hard to not stack this list with John Williams scores, and had to tear off many from my top 15 (Close Encounters, Raiders, Empire of the Sun were all worthy of consideration, among others). But this one… This one stayed. Superman: The Movie is a modern miracle of a film, making a cynical America in the late 70s feel optimism and hope for the first time in a long while (Star Wars had a similar effect). The score is a major factor in that response. It is joyful, fun, bold, and absolutely heroic. The main theme still gives me chills.
9. Goldfinger, John Barry
The second Barry score on this list, and justifiably so. The Goldfinger score is THE James Bond movie score (though On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has it’s champions), and has been played with/adapted/copied by Bond composers ever since (including Barry himself).
8. Blue Velvet, Angelo Badalamenti
While the songs included in the film get much of the attention, Badalamenti’s score is the dark underpinning of the whole film. There’s a reason David Lynch has worked almost exclusively with Badalamenti the past thirty years, and this film is the best demonstration of why Lynch did so – If it works, don’t try and change or fix it.
7. The Rocketeer, James Horner
I could list three other Horner scores here (The Wrath of Khan, ALIENS, Titanic) but to me The Rocketeer is his best score and one of the best film scores ever. It is sweeping, majestic, and beautiful. It is the first (and last) time I ever saw a movie where the opening theme, played over credits, brought me to tears.
6. The Empire Strikes Back, John Williams
A score that could have just recycled themes from the original Star Wars, but instead Williams crafted a majestic set of themes and leitmotifs that can’t be beat. While I love the original Star Wars, it is the music for Empire that I return to time and time again.
5. Halloween, John Carpenter
Another fantastic score, and definitely in the top 10. Carpenter returned triumphantly to score the recent 2019 Halloween sequel, and his work there is almost as strong as in the original. Almost.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0rSZfDJxpI&list=PL7v_KFM4xhO2ESrrIA9_Y_Hz7qKtq_ssj
4. Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Jerry Goldsmith
WOW. You look at it today, and you can’t imagine the impact it had to many (including myself) in 1979. Not only was Star Trek on the big screen, but it was accompanied by an amazing score that was the equal to (if not better than) the music John Williams made for Star Wars two years earlier. I personally think it’s much better. There’s good reason why they chose the main theme from this film as the title music for Star Trek: The Next Generation. In many ways, it’s a better “Star Trek” theme than the original.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt9dOIdGIeM&list=PLXdHrql-MTnh7DHEhYHI2gJuRgmnCQhgY
3. Jaws, John Williams
The fact that this is not listed in the aforementioned article’s top 10 list floors me. The movie, like Conan the Barbarian, is so enhanced by Williams’ music that it is hard to imagine the film without it. The “hook” (the Jaws Theme) is so simple, but so brilliantly played with throughout the film. I dare say if you go to the furthest reaches of the Earth, and hum that main theme to someone you meet there, they would immediately say “Jaws.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14nTUjAeFas&list=PL7v_KFM4xhO35aVJHH3z0MKvU4Y6d3WEm
2. Back to the Future, Alan Silvestri
It is amazing that this is Silvestri’s first real orchestral score – it is SOO good, and his thematic underpinnings and timings (especially the way it complements and adds to the drama at the conclusion) is glorious. See it performed live if you can.
1. The Godfather, Nino Rota
I don’t even need to rationalize this choice. Magnificent, and I think you cannot get better.
JUST OUTSIDE THIS LIST (in no particular order):
Raiders of The Lost Ark, John Williams
Batman, Danny Elfman
Star Wars, John Williams
Planet of the Apes, Jerry Goldsmith
The Pink Panther, Henry Mancini
Up, Michael Giacchino
Citizen Kane, Bernard Herrmann
2001; A Space Odyssey, Various
Inception, Hans Zimmer
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Howard Shore
Vertigo, Bernard Herrmann
Patton, Jerry Goldsmith
North by Northwest, Bernard Herrmann
Chinatown, Jerry Goldsmith
Gone with the Wind, Max Steiner