My Top 20: Film Scores

With the BBC's recent 'Sound Of Cinema' season coming to a climax with their top 20 film soundtracks of all-time, I have decided to do my own and see what it is like compared with the BBC's.

Music in films these days are almost second nature. But when they introduced to the mainstream audience in the 1930's, it became an integral part of the film. Between then and now, certain film soundtracks have made movies more dramatic and memorable. Film music has gained many different forms. From a full orchestra to one man and a synthesizer, there have been many different genres of film music for everyone to enjoy.
Whenever I am bored or need to get some work done, having film music on in the background really does help. It reminds how great that certain film and it generally makes me feel happy at that moment in time. I have listened to many soundtracks and love plenty.

My top 20 film soundtracks was hard to choose. There were many of my favorites I had to say no to. I also had to enforce a few rules. Any film franchises e.g.(Harry Potter) would be consist of one of the film in this list. This is so I could have 20 different soundtracks, rather basically one soundtracks appearing in more than one film that got into the lost. Also, all the soundtracks are scores rather than songs. So if any Musicals make my top 20, it is solely based on the score, not the songs. Thankfully, even with these rules, I feel this is an impressive list with all of my all-time favorite film composers in it. Here it is:

20) Back To The Future - A pure fun movie where the music excels in. Throughout the entire film, the music is very effective. Composter Alan Silvestri make it slick, flow at a steady pace and just makes you want to drive fast.

All three of it scores are worthy of being in my list, but I chose part one of the trilogy as it just makes you remember witnessing one the great films of the 80's and witnessed all those memorable lines for the first time.

19) Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom - From a terrific opening musical number, to a great mix of classic theme and a bit of India in there. The score of the Temple Of Doom for me is the best of the quadrilogy of the greatest adventurer in film history.

The main theme is there, but composer John Williams gives it something else as we descend into the darkest realms of India.

18) The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring - Not only did Peter Jackson make Middle Earth jump of J.R.R Tolkien's pages, Howard Shore composed a wonderful soundtrack that makes you find another way into this fantasy world.

All three soundtracks are completely absorbing, but I went for the first one. It introduces you to many fascinating characters and the ending theme by Enya is just glorious when walking out of the cinema to.

17) Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Composed by many peoples favorite film music writer of this century, Hans Zimmer, this is just the perfect sound for pirates.
It says everything you want in a pirates movie, swashbuckling action, adventures on ships and searching for treasure.

The music romps along like nobody's business and you just want to challenge someone to do a duel and press play.
What makes Dead Man's Chest different to the others in this franchise, is the beautiful tunes for the villains.


16) Gladiator - My favorite work by Hans Zimmer is the Oscar Best Picture of 2000.

The greatest modern 'sword and sandals' movie must have memorable music, and it easily does.

From the battle scenes in the arena, to the sentimental scenes, all ending with an incredible song in the end credits.

15) Singin' In The Rain - Voted the best musical in my top 10 musical films a few months ago.

Therefore, the music has to be top-notch, and it is. Even though the songs are just genius, this list is all about the score.

It bounces a long so beautifully and makes you want to dance like Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor or Debbie Reynolds.

14) Bedknobs And Broomsticks - When listening to soundtracks, I almost forget how good this soundtrack actually is.

It tries to use everyone sort of instrument possible to get a different sound for each set-piece. From the grand medieval music, to the compilation of world music in the streets of London.

It is a surprising soundtrack for what I think is one of Disney's most under-rated films.

13) The Adventures Of Robin Hood - The film that basically gave birth the full piece orchestra film music. Composed by Eric Wolfgang Korngold, his score was way ahead of its time and he created something amazing which was set in the English countryside.

One of my favorite childhood films, and as I got older, I managed to appreciate the music a lot more and can't believe how good it is for a 1938 film.

12) Mary Poppins - Composed by The Sherman Brothers and Irwin Kostal, this hugely successful 1960's musical lit up many hearts in what was a troubled time for cinema.

Even if you take out the memorable song and dance numbers, the score itself is quite simply, brilliant.
It really messes with your emotions, and the more times you listen to it over time, the more you realise how sophisticated the music really is.
It helps the entire fun element of this timeless musical epic. But weirdly, it is rarely played by orchestras when doing a movie themed session.

11) West Side Story - An absolute tour de force by composer Leonard Bernstein. It raucousness and variety of pace is quite thrilling throughout.

Even the overture and opening scene alone is worth it being this high up in my list.

Every music backing up the song numbers, it is one show-stopper after the next. It is quite incredible that music like this can still be loved this generation, 50+ years after its initial release.

10) Once Upon A Time In The West - The first of three Ennio Morricone score's in my list. 

With very little dialogue in Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, it is therefore up to the music to tell the story, and Morricone does this perfectly.

With an almost operatic feel to it, the entire score sucks into this changing world of the Wild West.

9) For A Few Dollars More - In this second installment of the Dollars trilogy, Morricone continues to contribute Leone's vision of the Wild West.

This epic continued to redefine the western genre and score continues to show how important it is when telling a story.








 8) Jaws - Containing what is seen as the most popular movie theme of all-time, composer John Williams created something quite special in what was Steven Spielbergs break-through into becoming the most successful director of all-time.

Outside of the main theme, which still scares many people, it is quite a charming soundtrack.

Many people forget the rest of the soundtrack outside of the main theme, but I would recommend you re-listen to it as it is wrongly forgettable at times.

7) E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial - Probably John Williams' most personal soundtrack and what I believe it to be his personal favorite.

It also contains my favorite finale in terms of film music. It comes to a tremendous crescendo, and completes the story so well.

 6) The Good, The Bad And The Ugly - The most successful of Leone's spaghetti westerns that contains one of the most recognisable themes in film history.

It ends the Dollars trilogy better than expected, and the music by Morricone reaches new levels and ends perfectly with the most memorable showdown in the trilogy.

5) Hook - One of Spielberg's most under-rated films that contains such a brilliant swashbuckling soundtrack by John Williams. A lot of people forget how brilliant this film and music really is.

As soon as you hear it, you know you are going to be jetted off to some magical world and have lots of sword fights.

Everything about it shouts Neverland and I will never get bored of hearing it.

 4) A Fistful Of Dollars - Morricone's finest work in the film that blew the western genre out of the water. Sergio Leone created the beginning of something special and the score made the film even more ground-breaking.

With the lonely whistling, mysterious guitar music, and unusual combinations of certain instruments, it is now become common in American westerns since then.

3) 2001: A Space Odyssey - Quite a magical soundtrack for such a fascinating film without even really having a composer.

After director Stanley Kubrick hired composer Frank Cordell to create the score, Kubrick decided to go for the classic pieces mainly from the Johan and Richard Strauss.

Despite not having a score for the film, Kubrick choice was a stroke of genius as it gave us a new setting for how we see space.

 2) Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope - Another John Williams and the best, my favorite and his most successful and recognisable score.

After years of seeing sci-fi films as a future wasteland, director George Lucas takes us back to swashbuckling action, but in space.

This was the beginning of the most famous saga in film-history and the music gives it that extra edge over any other film franchise.

Every time I hear it, there is a smile on my face and I'm sure many others.

1) Blade Runner - Vangelis has created pure cinema in Ridley Scott's sci-fi epic.
It blew everyone away with its visuals, and the music made it even more spectacular.

With a hint of 1940's film-noir, the wonderful style of film-making needed something new in the music. Vangelis created something I don't think could be even more ground-breaking then Scott expected.

There is nothing like it, and there never will be.