El Cid, all the depth of Ben Hur, more personal

Didn't read the whole thing but I hope that's not the only references to Miklos in such a subject!

"I don't dig him?" haha
I understand ... :)

I always get chills when I hear the scores from Dances With Wolves.

In no specific order:

Braveheart - James Horner
The Age of Innocence - Elmer Bersntein
Star Wars - John Williams
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Henry Mancini
Lord of The Rings - Howard Shore
Once Upon A Time In America - Ennio Morricone
The Shawshank Redemption - Thomas Newman
Vertigo - Bernard Herrmann
Lawrence of Arabia - Maurice Jarre
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Alexandre Desplat

That's my top 10 :D

ah yes, maurice jarre.

i quite love his score to mad max beyond thunderdome

This is my list:

Star Wars: John Williams
Out of Africa: John Barry
Vertigo: Bernard Herrmann
Krull: James Horner
Under fire: Jerry Goldsmith
Breakfast at Tiffany's: Henry Mancini
Ben Hur: Miklos Rosza
Bride of Frankenstein: Franz Waxman
Lord of the Rings trilogy: Howard Shore
The Empire Strikes Back: John Williams
Cutthroat Island: John Debney
Batman: Danny Elfman
The Omen: Jerry Goldsmith

That's are my top 13!!!

I do not define the standarts. Melody, musical structure, intelligence of the variation, orchestration, are only a few universal standarts.
Editing is not composing. But that's what the "media venture people" do in most cases. Klaus Badelt and John Powell have understood that and opened their own studios.

Example "The Pacific".
Take Michael Kamen's "Band of Brothers" and mix it with John Williams' "Saving Private Ryan ", a pinch of Trevor Rabin's "The Great Raid". Ready is the main theme.
And what else? Helpless variations, a trivial orchestration, no thematic structure. A comparison with the Music by John Williams and Michael Kamen demonstrates this.
Is that bad? No, just simply irrelevant, boring and completely useless. Typical elevator music, not really good, not really bad.



Ok. So what are the greatest or 5 greatest scores, based on that?


HAHA! Who's going to hell NOW, Sean!?!?! Hehehe :D


Hell ain't bad place to be ;) Just kidding. I don't believe in hell. Cheerio :D

Ok. So what are the greatest or 5 greatest scores, based on that?

This is an incredibly difficult question. Perhaps it would help to identify music that influenced
other composers, Music that set new standards in composing, structure, genre, ...

Bernard Herrmann: Psycho, Vertigo, ...
Miklos Rosza: Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, ...
Alex North: Spartacus, ...
Max Steiner: Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, ...
John Williams: Star Wars, Schindlers List, ...
Jerry Goldsmith: Planet of the Apes, Legend, ...
Danny Elfman: Batman, Edward Scissorhands
John Powell: Bourne Identity
John Barry: Goldfinger, Out of Africa, ...
Ennio Morricone: Dollar Trilogy, Once Upon A Time In America, ...
Nino Rota: The Godfather, Romeo & Juliet, ...
Elmer Bernstein: The Man With The Golden Arm, The Magnificent Seven, ...
Don Davis: The Matrix
Vangelis: Blade Runner

Did I forget someone? From my perspective it is easier to identify best composers,
the problem is that these people have often written several great works.
I can not decide because the personal listening experience also plays a role.

For example: My favorite JW is "The Fury", my favorite JG "POTA", EB "Gangs
of New York", JP "How to train your Dragon", ...

John Powells "HTTYD" shows visible weaknesses in orchestration and accentuation.
On the other site fantastic ideas, wildness. Certainly his best work. Stronger influence
on other composers? Certainly not. But "The Bourne Identity". "Chase Across DC" (Salt)
written bei James Newton Howard? Partly...

Really difficult. Perhaps via the genre influence?

Epic: John Williams
Thriller: Bernard Herrmann
Action: Jerry Goldsmith

The best one hundred would probably make more sense ...

This is an incredibly difficult question. Perhaps it would help to identify music that influenced
other composers, Music that set new standards in composing, structure, genre, ...

Bernard Herrmann: Psycho, Vertigo, ...
Miklos Rosza: Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, ...
Alex North: Spartacus, ...
Max Steiner: Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, ...
John Williams: Star Wars, Schindlers List, ...
Jerry Goldsmith: Planet of the Apes, Legend, ...
Danny Elfman: Batman, Edward Scissorhands
John Powell: Bourne Identity
John Barry: Goldfinger, Out of Africa, ...
Ennio Morricone: Dollar Trilogy, Once Upon A Time In America, ...
Nino Rota: The Godfather, Romeo & Juliet, ...
Elmer Bernstein: The Man With The Golden Arm, The Magnificent Seven, ...

Did I forget someone? From my perspective it is easier to identify best composers,
the problem is that these people have often written several great works.
I can not decide because the personal listening experience also plays a role.

For example: My favorite JW is "The Fury", my favorite JG "POTA", EB "Gangs
of New York", JP "How to train your Dragon", ...

John Powells "HTTYD" shows visible weaknesses in orchestration and accentuation.
On the other site fantastic ideas, wildness. Certainly his best work. Stronger influence
on other composers? Certainly not. But "The Bourne Identity". "Chase Across DC" (Salt)
written bei James Newton Howard? Partly...

Really difficult. Perhaps via the genre influence?

Epic: John Williams
Thriller: Bernard Herrmann
Action: Jerry Goldsmith

The best one hundred would probably make more sense ...

I would go a step further in that it is impossible to list the greatest scores. I agree with you though, that identifying music that influenced
other composers, set new standards in composing, structure, genre etc is vital to the discussion.
For example: Wolfgang Korngold's score for "King's Road", Gustav Holst's orchestration for "The Planets" and Walton's "Orb and Sceptre" (the model for "The Throne Room") all inspired the "Star Wars" trilogy.
As you write, personal listening experience also plays a role.

I'd like to offer a thought here: Musical skills are important, but equally important is the composer's sensitivity and ability to evoce certain feelings, memories and thoughts in the listener.
Like maybe you have happy memories of someone you whatched "Casablanca" with the first time or discovered new ways to arrange music while whatching "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" for example.

It takes a certain level of know how and sensibilty also from the listener to fully appreciate what the composer is trying to communicate. I think it's all about communicating or rather translate and enhance the films message to the listener here.
As a composer you've got to know how and what musical sounds, pitch, dissonance and harmonic structure etc people respond to in certain ways. That seems to be very different depending on who you are and what you have experienced, in what mood you are when listening, if you're alone, if you're tired, alert etc.

Chinatown and Blade Runner.

Touch of Evil runner up.

never posted in the forums, but I'm going to try and break the chain of "star wars" and "star treks" with what I truly believe is the greatest score ever made

Original 1927 Score by Gottfried Huppertz for "Metropolis"

I'm with that guys opinion :)

The Lion King & Titanic. nothin else really sticks out for me.

Since there are only three, I'll narrow it down:

Horner: Star Trek II
Horner: Aliens
Williams: All Star Wars movies

I could really go on and on with Horner, eg Braveheart, Titanic, Star Trek III, etc. In recent times Zimmer has really been a big deal too. I don't know if anyone has listened to the score for Antz, but if you read through the credits you'll see it has Zimmer as executive producer, mainly conducted and written by Harry Gregson-Williams, and assisted by Steve Jablonsky.

Edit: I guess I can go ahead and add Vince Dicola for Transformers the Movie 1986. That soundtrack and movie will stick with me until the day I die.

The lack of taste in these quarters never xeases to astound me.

The lack of taste in these quarters never xeases to astound me.

Member??? (http://www.hans-zimmer.com/)

... but not really, right?

James Newton Howard's King Kong hands down. I have been humming the themes all week and that's pretty impressive given how very little of pretty much everything JNH had to work with.

My own list:

Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky
Rozsa - Quo Vadis
Herrmann - Vertigo
Goldsmith - Star Trek The Motion Picture
Williams - The Empire Strikes Back
Barry - Somewhere In Time
Horner - Krull/Willow (tie)
Elfman - Batman

I wrote that list a while back in this thread. I'd now narrow it down to:

Sergei Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky - I'm somewhat cheating with this because I'm mostly familiar with (and prefer) this work in its concert version, but it really has just about everything. Impeccable orchestration, martial fire, waves of sorrow, exaltations of joy... it runs the gamut. The Jarvi/SNO recording is just fantastic.

Bernard Herrmann - Vertigo - Reminiscent of Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde", but who cares? Gorgeously written, deeply psychological and tragic. Not as iconic as "Psycho" but, for me, a far more satisfying listen.

John Williams - The Star Wars Trilogy - "Empire" is the best of the three, but taken altogether Williams' achievement is staggering. When listened to in excellent sound (i.e. NOT the goddamn Special Editions) they are all immensely enjoyable and overwhelming. Shore attempted something similar in "LOTR," but his scores are overlong and the thematic material isn't as varied or interesting. Williams himself couldn't sustain it over the prequels with a only handful of great new themes and a lot of filler underscore. But the Original Trilogy is top notch.

These three achievements are all capable of standing on their own, apart from their filmic contexts quite well and are worthy of concert performance.

two way tie between superman the movie and star wars the empire strikes back

Trying to come up with some that haven't been listed, I'll make my standard "most influential" in my lifetime ...besides John Williams.

The Last Temptation of Christ (or Peter Gabriel's 'Passion') - May not be in your collection, but it is certainly in other composers' collections. Listen to Passion then listen to Gladiator.
Edward Scissorhands - The definitive 'wintery' sound. Heard a Walgreens commercial the past couple years?
American Beauty - Really all of Thomas Newman's more subtle, unconventional, and experimental stuff. I think his influence has been incalculable, especially on TV scores. All the quirky synths, xylophones, etc. you hear in medical and legal dramas? Newman-influenced.

The Village (James Newton Howard)
Horse Whisperer (Thomas Newman)
Last Samurai (Hans Zimmer)
Braveheart (James Horner)
Signs (James Newton Howard)

Probably The Last Valley

Jan Kaczmarek - Unfaithful
Hans Zimmer - King Arthur
Rachel Portman - Joy Luck Club
Mark Isham - Life as a House
Javier Navarrete - Fireflies in the Garden
Georges Delerue - Dien Bien Phu
Taro Iwashiro - Blood and Bones
Zbigniew Preisner - Secret Garden
Armand Amar - Ao le dernier Neanderthal
Alexandre Desplat - King's Speech
James Horner - Life before her Eyes

i am trying to limit myself :)
they might not be the best scores ever made, but for me they are.

LOST (Michael Giacchino) definitely

2nd best would probably be The Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore)

In the order, my 10 favorites scores of all time :

1 The Empire Strikes Back - John Williams
2 Conan The Barbarian - Basil Poledouris
3 Back to the Future - Alan Silvestri
4 Young Sherlock Holmes - Bruce Broughton
5 Batman Returns - Danny Elfman
5 Predator - Alan Silvestri
6 E.T. - John Williams
7 Star Trek The Motion Picture - Jerry Goldsmith
8 Hook - John Williams
9 Aliens - James Horner
10 The Avengers - Alan Silvestri
10 Silverado - Bruce Broughton

1. Titanic - James Horner
2. The Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore
3. Lady in the Water - James Newton Howard

Without any doubt - my answer ist

Basil Poledouris - Conan the Barbarian

I can't say how many times I've been listening to this music. How many miles I drove in my car listening to this soundtrack.
So many things in life fade away - people, things, places - but this wonderful music always stays with me.

Movie score

Lord of the rings
star wars
Most of Harry Potter

TV

Uchuu Senkan Yamato - Hiroshi Miyagawa

Moonraker

Jerry Goldsmith - Star Trek The Motion Picture
John Williams - Star Wars - A New Hope
Tangerine Dream - The Keep
Vangelis - Blade Runner
Jerry Goldsmith - Alien

nosferatu, heart of glass, etc by popol vuh have got to be in there along with the american classics Herrman, Goldsmith, Waxman...

In no-particular order:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Jerry Goldsmith
The Living Daylights - John Barry
American Beauty - Thomas Newman
The Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King - Howard Shore
Gladiator - Hans Zimmer, Lisa Gerrard and Klaus Badelt.

... of all time.

Single most depressing thread on FFShrine. ;)

My standard answer is that if you cant find at least 6 every year that meets that criteria, then you're not trying.

N� 1 : The lord of the rings trilogy - Shore

Another of my favorites :

Classic :

Ben-Hur /El Cid - Rozsa
Alexander Nevski / Ivan the terrible - Prokofiev
King Kong - Steiner
The Ghost And Mrs. Muir / Psycho - Herrmann
Mutiny on the Bounty -Bronislau Kaper
The Agony And The Ecstasy / Spartacus / A Streetcar Named Desire - Alex North
To Kill A Mockingbird - Elmer Bernstein
The Robe - Alfred Newman
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly / Once Upon a Time in the West - Morricone
Romeo & Juliet - Nino Rota

Moderns :

Star Wars A New Hope / E.T. / Hook - Williams
Braveheart - Horner
Conan the barbarian - Poledouris
The Dark Crystal - Trevor Jones
The lion king / Inception - Zimmer
Dances with wolves - Barry
Cutthroat Island - Debney
Stargate - David Arnold
Matrix - Don Davis
Hellraiser Christopher Young
Bram Stoker's Dracula - Wojciech Kilar

Sorry if I have put many , hard to choose just one .

The GREATEST score? Well, there was this one girl in college, LOL

My standard answer is that if you cant find at least 6 every year that meets that criteria, then you're not trying.

Are you saying that you believe that every year there are no less than six film scores that approach or surpass the greatest film music ever written?

Does this standard apply to the movies themselves? Books? Sculptures? Paintings? Every year there are six scientific discoveries that rival the greatest of all time?

Think about the phrase "greatest of all time." That phrase does not simply mean "great" or "fantastic" or even "super awesome." It means that we are talking about the best. That means that the composition is the best, the listening experience is the best, the music works in its filmic, dramatic context the best out of all of the countless scores written since the birth of cinema in the late 19th century. Obviously "best" is according to one's personal taste but by declaring something the "greatest of all time" you are by definition putting it on a pedestal. It should be unsurpassed. Maybe, maybe six scores in a decade could be seriously considered, and of those only one or perhaps two (depending on the decade) would be legitimate contenders for the title. Without such strenuous selectivity and criteria, the phrase "greatest of all time" becomes meaningless.

Six scores may come out in a single year that I may really enjoy, but six scores that tick all of the boxes, that demonstrate a musical acumen that would make Herrmann and Rozsa and Prokofiev and North and Bernstein and Goldsmith and Williams all weep with envy? I don't think so.

Of all the great film composers, each has only perhaps two or maybe three scores out of their entire career that might qualify for the title of "Greatest Score of All Time." That is the momentousness of the achievement. Such an evaluation requires hindsight and, most importantly, context, both of which require the passage of time.

Your criteria are too low, my friend.

Alexander Nevsky followed by the Empire Strikes back and Conan the Barbarian. Then honorable mentions to Fall of the Roman Empire and mostly a bunch of Rozsa and Barry stuff.

What is the greatest fruit ever created?

What is the greatest vegetable ever created?

Who has the most beautiful body- a man or woman?

What is the best pet?

THIS is a vexing question with no real productive outcome, based clearly and singularly on individual taste. There is no answer. Why not just discuss String Theory and whether or not it is valid? Or better yet: Do you believe in Santa Claus & the Easter Bunny?

a very very good point! the topic is very broad and complex to be made into a contests of who will emerge on the top of the lists with the most votes. i have my favorites, you have yours. we all have some favorite scores that might be yours too or maybe not but that's just about it. endless.

It is an unanswerable question on absolute terms; we all have different tastes, exposures, education, etc. The fun is entirely in the discussion.

Subjectively, Inception by Hans Zimmer.

Objectively, The Omen, by Jerry Goldsmith.

It is an unanswerable question on absolute terms; we all have different tastes, exposures, education, etc. The fun is entirely in the discussion.

Different exposures? Yes. Different education? Sure. Different tastes? Yes, but that doesn't enter into it. While the styles in film music are VARIED, such a thing as compositional quality can be measured along defined lines of music vocabulary and grammar, plus of course dramatic viability and historical context. As all art forms, can: literature, painting, sculpting, etc.

Can't really name one in particular, so I'll just go with some that I really love and have inspired me:

John Williams - Jaws, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Indiana Jones
Vangelis - Blade Runner
Ennio Morricone - Once Upon A Time In The West
Hans Zimmer & Mark Mancina - The Lion King
Hans Zimmer - The Da Vinci Code
James Horner - The Land Before Time
Jerry Goldsmith - Basic Instinct
John Barry - Dances With Wolves
Howard Shore - Lord of The Rings
Danny Elfman - Batman

Different exposures? Yes. Different education? Sure. Different tastes? Yes, but that doesn't enter into it. While the styles in film music are VARIED, such a thing as compositional quality can be measured along defined lines of music vocabulary and grammar, plus of course dramatic viability and historical context. As all art forms, can: literature, painting, sculpting, etc.

There are certainly more informed opinions than others, but how can you deny that personal taste will factor into it? Unless there is but one choice that overwhelmingly surpasses every other possible choice, you're going to find disagreement at even the highest level.

This year, for the first time since its inception, Citizen Kane was not atop the "Sight & Sound" list of the greatest films of all time, drawn from the personal lists of hundreds of film scholars and professionals. Instead, Vertigo claimed that honor. Both films are the work of masters of their craft, both have top-notch production values, great writing, great acting, great scores, great cinematography. Both have been widely imitated. How is one to choose between them? Or The Godfather? Or Lawrence of Arabia? (And we've not even gone beyond English-language films.)

How does one choose between Beethoven's Ninth and Stravinsky's Rite? I think we're actually closer in opinion than we are apart in that I agree that it is possible to separate viable choices from the "chaff," so to speak, but at a certain level of accomplishment I believe that objective criteria becomes less useful, even irrelevant. At that point, it does come down to personal taste.

Best love theme: Jenny from the Rocketeer
Best album: Empire Strikes Back
Best main theme overall: Indiana Jones (Because John Williams couldn't decide which of two themes he liked better so he combined the two separate ideas into one piece.)

Just a few of the ones that have stayed with me off hand:

Raiders of the Lost Ark (my first) - J. Williams
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - H. Shore
The Thin Red Line - H. Zimmer
The Empire Strikes Back - J. Williams
The Rocketeer - J. Horner (this one sweeps me away)

For me, I like the feeling of wonder and/or elation, of a kind, after listening to these and other scores/soundtracks that I consider fantastic.

last samurai - hans zimmer
the thin red line - hans zimmer
c'era una volta il west - ennio moricone

1-CONAN THE BARBARIAN
2-ALIEN
3-JAWS

Subjective topic as you'll get millions of different opinions from million different people. But as long as it can remain spirited and not spiritual out of control, it's fun to talk about.

My list is in no particular order

Movies:
Dark City
The Crow
Batman 1989/Returns/Begins/TDK Rises
E.T.
All Star Wars movies
LOTR trilogy expanded scores
Inception
Nightmare Before Christmas
Edward Scissorhands
Mortal Kombat

TV:
various wrestling themes
Buffy/Angel

Greatest score ever? I won't even try. I do know my favorites though...

Arnold: Independence Day, Tomorrow Never Dies
Barry: From Russia with Love, The Living Daylights
Giacchino: The Incredibles
Goldsmith: Star Trek 1, 5 & First Contact, Mulan
Gregson-Williams: Kingdom of Heaven
Horner: Star Trek 3, Apollo 13
Poledouris: Conan the Barbarian, The Hunt for Red October
Powell: The Bourne Supremacy, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda 1-2 (with Zimmer)
Shore: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit
Williams: Star Wars 4-5, Harry Potter 1 & 3, Indiana Jones 1 & 3
Young: Spider-Man 3
Zimmer: The Last Samurai, Pirates 3

2001: A Space Odyssey and TRON Legacy deserve honorable mentions too!

The Village - James Newton Howard
The Horse Whisperer - Thomas Newman
The Last Samurai - Hans Zimmer

Hook - John Williams
Star Wars- John Williams
Batman - Danny Elfman

Home Alone 1&2-Harry Potter Trilogy-John Williams
Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas/Corpse Bride/Batman Returns-Danny Elfman
Stephen King,s It-Richard Bellis
Dark Knight Rises/Pirates of the Carribbean 2,3&4-Hans Zimmer
Lord of the Rings Trilogy- Howard Shore
The Snowman-Howard Blake

1) The Empire Strikes Back
2) Star Trek: The Motion Picture
3) Alien
4) Ben Hur

1) E.T.
2) The Empire Strikes Back
3) Star Trek: TMP
4) LOTR: FOTR

Nekromantik
Braveheart
Christine
A Clockwork Orange

Best Game:
Final Fantasy VII

My Sister:
Legend
Heathers

Kings Row

Invaders From Mars (original)

Between Two Worlds

Lost Horizon

Leprechaun - Score - Kevin Kiner

Puppet Master Collection - Richard Band

Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D - Andrew Lockinton

not the best but good ones

1. LOST - Michael Giacchino
2. The Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore
3. Star Wars, Home Alone, Indiana Jones - John Williams
4. Titanic - James Horner
5. The Deathly Hallows - Alexandre Desplat

PSYCHO by Bernard Herrmann...'nuff said!

It's difficult to name just a few, but I would certainly include Alexander Nevsky and Ivan th Terrible of Prokofiev.

Does the greatest score ever made have to go well with the movie it was made for? Might the greatest score be for a terrible movie?

i say most definitely. we're just talking music here :)

Star Wars Saga - John Williams
Titanic - James Horner
Lord of the Rings Series - Howard Shore
Harry Potter 1,2,3 - John Williams
Psycho - Bernard Herrmann

Yeah, I can't say only one..

Seems there are many younglings in this thread ;)
Nobody mentions John Barry?

Dances With Wolves is the greatest
Other honorable mentions include


The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, Ennio Morricone
Bladerunner, Vangelis
Chariots Of Fire, Vangelis
IMHO Wall-E, Thomas Newman (Vastly Under-rated)
Somebody else said this one and if you haven't heard it you haven't lived, The Snowman by Howard Blake

Greatest? No. Most beautiful?

Debora Lurie - An Unfinished Life

It's difficult to name just a few, but I would certainly include Alexander Nevsky and Ivan th Terrible of Prokofiev.

Personally, I much prefer the cantata for Alexander Nevsky to the score. I almost always prefer concert arrangements though.

My top 5:
1. Star Wars (just plain Star Wars--no bloody IV V or VI, just the original album) (Williams)
2. ST: TMP (Goldsmith)
3. Conan the Barbarian (Poledouris)
4. El Cid (Rozsa)
5. Nevsky (Prokofiev--though I know this more from the cantata form as I said)

Those are soundtracks I can listen to through and through without any "dead spots".
Honorable mentions:

- Raiders, Indy II (Williams)
- Krull (Horner)
- Ben Hur (Rozsa)
- Empire of the Sun (Williams)
- Bram Stoker's Dracula (Kilar)
- Glass's Dracula (I refuse to watch the movie without it)
- ET (Williams)
- Starship Troopers (Poledouris)
- Batman Returns (Elfman)
- Battlestar Galactica (Philips)
- You Only Live Twice (Barry)
- Stardust (Eshkeri)

Casino Royale - Burt Bacharach
The Great Race - Henry Mancini
Patton - Jerry Goldsmith

Superman, Totally, one of the best scores ever alongside Empire, STTMP (full) and Transformers 2007 (and don't discount "The Rock")

Hook - John Williams
Far and away - John Williams
Lawrence de Arabia - Maurice Jarre
The Claim - Michael Nyman
The Hours - Philip Glass

THE MISSION (ENNIO MORRICONE)
CONAN THE BARBARIAN (BASIL POLEODOURIS)
SUPERMAN (JOHN WILLIAMS)

1- Raiders of the Lost Ark
2- Poltergeist
3- Psycho
4- Star Wars
5- The Fog (1980)

Once Upon A Time In The West

1 - The Godfather Saga by Nino Rota
2 - For a Few Dollars More / Once Upon a Time in the West by Ennio Morricone
3 - The Others: Bram Stoker's Dracula by Kilar, BTTF by Silvestri, Batman Returns by Elfman etc. Don't forget Rozsa's El Cid.
Also I prefer Williams' Superman than his Star Wars scores.

Jaws---John Williams
Star Wars---John Williams
First Knight---Jerry Goldsmith

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Howard Shore
Schindler's List - John Williams
Alien 3 - Elliot Goldenthal
Vertigo - Bernard Herrmann
The Godfather - Nino Rota
The Thin Red Line - Hans Zimmer

This "poll" has been going on for a long time, haha. Many of the answers are telling of the poster's age range. Nothing wrong with that. Goes to show that for many, a score needs to have some kind of personal connection to register with a listener. While that's natural, I would submit that orchestral movie scores are the modern day evolution of classical music.

While scores are created specifically to support, supplement, and serve as an emotional guide for the film it's written for, great scores stand on their own. I have many scores for which I've never seen the film it was written for and it allows me to hear the music on it's own merits. It also allows me to attach my own thoughts or experiences to that music. I would challenge a lot of younger movie score enthusiasts to try this. Have a look through some of the great scores listed here and pick a few of the most frequently mentioned to try, especially if you've never seen the film it went with. I could make a huge list of scores to try but I'm going to try and keep mine short, in keeping with the original intention of the thread.

When thinking about what criteria would constitute a score qualifying for the "greatest score ever written", I settled on these:
• The music has to have helped define the film. In many cases, the music has (or should) outshine the film itself.
• The must be iconic - it should be easily recognizable and should have helped to create a new standard for the genre in which the film was contained.
• The music must stand on it's own as an enjoyable and fulfilling listening experience.
• Lastly, the music must be diverse. It has to be rich, complex, and cover a myriad of tempos, compositional styles, and moods.

That being said, here's my short list:

1. John Williams - Star Wars - A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back
2. Basil Poledouris - Conan the Barbarian
3. John Barry - Dances With Wolves

4. Jerry Goldsmith - Star Trek: The Motion Picture
5. Ennio Morricone - The Man With No Name Trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly)
6. Michael Kamen - The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
7. Maurice Jarre - Lawrence of Arabia
8. John Williams - Superman
9. Danny Elfman - Batman
10. Bronislau Kaper - Mutiny On The Bounty
11. John Williams - Jaws
12. Bernard Herrmann - Beneath the 12-Mile Reef

And a few Honorable Mentions:

Miklos Rozsa - Ben Hur
Howard Shore - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Tom Twyker, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Hiel - Cloud Atlas
James Horner - Braveheart
John Williams - Raiders of the Lost Ark

Someone mentioned the lack of Golden Era films being listed. I agree that more should be on the list, and probably on my own list, but them not being on my list is less a result of my age and more a result of the inspirational underpinnings of that era's scores. Many of those great first generation composers in hollywood were heavily influenced by Stravinsky's work, which is wonderful, but tends to be a "harsher" listening experience (for lack of a better term). It wasn't until later that composers like Bernard Herrmann started infusing styles from the Romantic period of classic music, which, in my opinion, led to more "lush" sounding scores, and I happen to prefer the more lush sounds. I think that comes from more sections of the orchestra overlapping, and playing through from one section of a score to another. I wish I knew the terminology better so I could articulate what I mean. The romantic influences made scores sound less "choppy". That's my two cents on that, anyways.

I think most of the scores I mention speak for themselves, but I wanted to say that while it felt strange to include Elfman's Batman score, I think it's as iconic - and different - as William's Superman score. I feel that each of those scores perfectly encapsulates the overall tone and mood that each character is intended to generate. I love how completely different they are and I think they play wonderuflly against one another.

Also, with Bernard Herrmann, I could have listed The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Arognauts, or Mysterious Island just as easily as Beneath the 12-Mile Reef. Other scores by Herrmann might be more well known, but he absolutely defined the sound and epic scale of sci-fi and fantasy films. If you want to get a feel for where some of John Williams's influence comes from, listen to any of these Bernard Herrmann scores.

I think Miklos Rozsa's score for Ben Hur captures everything that's great about the golden era of film scores and does it without sounding as "harsh" as many of its contemporaries.

Lastly, I really feel that Mutiny on the Bounty and Lawrence of Arabia should be higher on the list. I struggled to not have them in the top three, but the other scores above them are just that great. This really is an impossible task but it's a lot of fun to try.

Stargate
The Empire Strikes Back
Vince Dicola's score for Transformers: The Movie
E.T.
Jurassic Park

1. Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
2 Superman The Movie
3. Back to the Future
4. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
5. Conan The Barbarian
6. Lord of the Rings 1-3
7. Indiana Jones And the Last Crusade
8. Tenacious D - Pick of Destiny
9. The Longest Day
10. The Last Dragon

In no particular order.

Once Upon a Time in the West

once upon a time in the west

---------- Post added at 03:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:59 PM ----------

and 2nd conan the barbarian

Hans Zimmer - The Thin Red Line

The Empire Strikes, I had much deliberation on this, but I think it is extremely difficult to top!

No question in my mind

Orchestral -> Star Wars
Synth -> Blade Runner

These two for me stick out.

Without repeat any compositor (someone could repeat easily)
This my list:

Bernard Herrmann 1958 VERTIGO
Roque Ba�os 2004 THE MACHINIST
Vangelis 1982 Blade Runner
Jerry Goldsmith 1979 ALIEN
Ennio Morricone 1986 THE MISSION
Hans Zimmer 2001 GLADIATOR
Alan Silvestri 1987 PREDATOR
John Williams 1991 JFK
James Newton Howard 1999 SIXTH SENSE
John Debney 1995 CUTTHROAT ISLAND
Basil Poledouris 1982 CONAN THE BARBARIAN
Elmer Bernstein 1962 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Miklos Rozsa 1961 EL CID
Richard Rodney Bennett 1974 MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS

Chariots of Fire
Blade Runner
1492 - Conquest of Paradise

Many of the answers are telling of the poster's age range. Nothing wrong with that. Goes to show that for many, a score needs to have some kind of personal connection to register with a listener.

More obviously, it shows that only a minority of people - a tiny minority - can muster the intellectual discipline to differentiate between "best" (never ever one single score) and "favorite". ;)

E.g., "Star Wars - A New Hope" is a much WEAKER score than "The Empire Strikes Back" - objectively, while the earlier score is more historically relevant because it singlehandedly put symphonic film music back on the map.

More obviously, it shows that only a minority of people - a tiny minority - can muster the intellectual discipline to differentiate between "best" (never ever one single score) and "favorite". ;)

E.g., "Star Wars - A New Hope" is a much WEAKER score than "The Empire Strikes Back" - objectively, while the earlier score is more historically relevant because it singlehandedly put symphonic film music back on the map.

I disagree; it's much stronger thematically, with a lot fewer stretches of "mood music" or "sonic wallpaper." It's better to listen to AS MUSIC.

really interesting picks everyone!

These are among my most played over the years

Chinatown - Jerry Goldsmith
Perfume, Story of a Murderer - Tom Tykwer, et al.
Blade Runner - Vangelis
Colpo Rovente - Piero Picconi
Guns for San Sebastian - Ennio Morricone
Giu La Testa - Ennio Morricone
Forbidden Planet - Bebe and Louis Barron
Clockwork Orange - Walter Carlos
The Fifth Element - Eric Serra
TV:
Battlestar Galactica - Bear McCreary
TOS The Cage - Alexander Courage

some more but that will give some idea

John Williams: Jurassic Park
John Williams: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
John Williams: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Happy somebody finally mentioned "How to Train Your Dragon". The movie might not have the prestige of others but the music makes you close your eyes and fly.

The Blue Butterfly - Stephen Endelman.

1 - Road To Perdition - Thomas Newman
2 - Rambo 4 - Brian Tyler
3 - Vertical Limit - James Newton Howard
4 - White Fang - Basil Poledouris
5 - Escape From New York - John Carpenter
6 - Red Dawn - Basil Poledouris
7 - Bad Company - Trevor Rabin

Just a few of my all time Fav's.

I disagree; it's much stronger thematically, with a lot fewer stretches of "mood music" or "sonic wallpaper." It's better to listen to AS MUSIC.

"Mood music" lol it's like when my brother will quip "it's just long stretches of boring". Once you learn to appreciate film music for what it is, you quickly understand that almost every passage has meaning and intention. Empire is the best part of the OT as it develops new themes whilst creating a cohesive tapestry of ideas reflecting the conflicts and relationships of the characters on screen. Symphonic scores today lack much of what those scores introduced as a means of conveying a narrative not telling you what to feel as bluntly as Zimmerites might do.

---------- Post added at 10:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:41 PM ----------


Happy somebody finally mentioned "How to Train Your Dragon". The movie might not have the prestige of others but the music makes you close your eyes and fly.

The film received positive critical acclaim...

The score worked wonderfully in tandem with the film.

Here's my list:

The Hunt for Red October by Basil Poledouris
Conan The Barbarian by Basil Poledouris
Alien by Jerry Goldsmith
War of the Worlds by John Williams
Empire Strikes Back by John Williams
Batman Begins by Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard
United 93 by John Powell
Blade Runner by Vangelis

Has anyone mentioned Red Dawn - Basil Poledouris yet? That is an all time great. Also Bat 21 - Christopher Young.

Top 3:

1. Blade Runner - Vangelis
2. Conan the Barbarian - Basil Poledouris
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark - John Williams

Has anyone mentioned Red Dawn - Basil Poledouris yet? That is an all time great. Also Bat 21 - Christopher Young.

Thank you for expanding my wishlist.

so... today it will be:

Psycho: Herrmann
The Invaders: Fronti�re
Alien: Goldsmith

Tough to narrow down but reading through the replies was very interesting. I am a middle ager and was brought up on the golden age -- Steiner was and is my favorite. I think many scores that are highly rated have 1 or 2 wonderful tunes that often get manipulated in surprising ways, but this method always leaves me less impressed. Star Trek 1 has some great effects and a rousing main theme. I love Goldsmith and have almost every one of his scores. BUT, listen to other Goldsmith scores before thinking the Trek movies are his top tier. For Williams, dig a little deeper and you find utter genius. My suggestion is to listen to his concertos to understand the level he can attain. But the exciting part is so many people being obsessed with film scores. I was a young boy when Charles Gerhardt released the classic series and bought every CD and listened in QUAD sound. Giving a few choices is oh so wrong but here are mine:


Star Wars -- all six movies represent the greatest work for a series. If the ultimate comparison is Wagner, then Williams here creates a series of leitmotivs that elevate space opera to a series of emotions that is without equal. Superman 1 is the only serious rival.

Gone With The Wind -- my all time favorite score. Steiner composed 24/7 on benzedrine and created a work that in a single film has never been equaled. The excerpts that Gerhardt did are great sounding but get the 2 cd rhino complete score to understand how the themes are used and developed. The greatest scored single scene in all film is the end of part 1. King Kong is among the first great scores. Max showed that a great tune works wonders with a true composer to work harmonic/tempo/time sig/etc magic throughout a movie.

Picking a third is just too hard. Alex North and David Raksin showed how an intellectual approach can be used. Elmer Bernstein is in a class unto himself and certainly can handle the widest range. Jerry Goldsmith invented and perfected using electronics in film scoring. Herrmann showed us minimalism before we had the word could build tension. Miklos Rosza brought Hungarian folk music via Bartok to epics, noir, romance, and adventure. Franz Waxman showed how having a great tune can be transcended by varying everything (Peyton Place for one). Lalo and Dominic bought real jazz, Ennio is another force unlike anyone. Hans and his cohorts are hit and miss but can be very effective. Howard Shore can blow me away.

Close with what I think is the best main title: The Bad and the Beautiful -- sets the tone in a melody that just keeps going --

And one nitpik: ET -- love John but this score is more of an homage to Howard Hanson, it really catches a few moments of the film, but ruins the ending for me. Heresy I know. plus that damn theme for solo piano is just too hard... And I love AI (if this helps)

Kudos to everyone on this list.

Back To The Future - Alan Silvestri
Breakheart Pass - Jerry Goldsmith
Superman - John Williams
Once Upon A Time In The West - Ennio Morricone
The Bridge At Remagen - Elmer Berstein
Conan The Barbarian - Basil Poledouris
Star Trek 2 - James Horner
The Shawshank Redemption - Thomas Newman
The Time Machine (2002) - Klaus Badelt
Tron Legacy - Daft Punk

Back To The Future - Alan Silvestri
Breakheart Pass - Jerry Goldsmith
Superman - John Williams
Once Upon A Time In The West - Ennio Morricone
The Bridge At Remagen - Elmer Berstein
Conan The Barbarian - Basil Poledouris
Star Trek 2 - James Horner
The Shawshank Redemption - Thomas Newman
The Time Machine (2002) - Klaus Badelt
Tron Legacy - Daft Punk


The Shawshank Redemption is a pretty amazing soundtrack, Some of Thomas Newman's Best work.

James Newton Howard - The Postman

1 -- Romeo and Juliet -- Nino Rota

2 -- The last valley - John Barry

3 -- C'era una volta il west -- Ennio Morricone

"Mood music" lol it's like when my brother will quip "it's just long stretches of boring". Once you learn to appreciate film music for what it is, you quickly understand that almost every passage has meaning and intention. Empire is the best part of the OT as it develops new themes whilst creating a cohesive tapestry of ideas reflecting the conflicts and relationships of the characters on screen. Symphonic scores today lack much of what those scores introduced as a means of conveying a narrative not telling you what to feel as bluntly as Zimmerites might do.

---------- Post added at 10:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:41 PM ----------



The film received positive critical acclaim...

The score worked wonderfully in tandem with the film.

Exactly. Williams brought forth the use of operatic leitmotif to tell the story musically. Every character in the film has a theme, some concepts have themes...it all gets woven together and expands as the film does, which is why listening to complete, chronologically ordered scores by him is a must. Each score matures in it's film. This is especially true for Empire. However, I do believe Star Wars tops it on the list, for redefining the entire world of film score, and for giving birth to the styles and themes Empire builds on. Empire is a far more complicated score, but so is it's film. New Hope was the kickstart. Actually, I suppose you could consider the entire original trilogy as one nearly unbeatable film score....

Inception!

Inception was good, although I don't know if anything can compare to the Lord of the Rings films in my book.

Commenting on the ones I know which had an impact on me 1. Born Free - John Barry, 2 Gladiator - Zimmer & Gerrard, 3. Star Trek TMP - Jerry Goldsmith, 4 Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore, 5. Dances with Wolves - John Barry, 6. The Joy Luck Club - Rachel Portman

My favorites:

1. Star Wars - John Williams
2. Inception - Hans Zimmer
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - Hans Zimmer

The Shawshank Redemption is a pretty amazing soundtrack, Some of Thomas Newman's Best work.

I'm suprised that The road to Perdition does not enjoy high esteem, for me it's Newman's best score, better than The Help, Oscar & Lucinda, Meet Joe Black or The war

Hoosiers - Jerry Goldsmith (Intrada edition)

The Mission - Ennio Morricone

Poltergeist - Jerry Goldsmith

1. Superman: The Movie
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Star Wars (A New Hope)
4. Jurassic Park
5. Dracula (1979, John Williams)
6. Batman and Batman Returns (Danny Elfman)
7. Supergirl (Jerry Goldsmith)
8. Batman Begins (Hans Zimmer/ James Newton Howard)
9. Signs (James Newton Howard)
10. Inception (Hans Zimmer)

All you people crack me up..almost nobody listens to anything from the Golden Age, probably because most of you are 20 somethings I would imagine.
Exceedingly well said,Wildwood. I couldn't agree with you more!

I don't think I could choose the greatest single score of all time. I will list 8 scores,and any one of them could get my vote as to being number one. In no particular order:

The Big Country
North by Northwest
How The West Was Won
The Great Escape
The Magnificent Seven
Ben-Hur
Spartacus
The Adventures of Robin Hood

I guess the reason because here are not so many Golden Age classics in this thread is, because these classic scores mostly doesn't have that repetitive pop song hooks that newer ones have. John Williams revolutionized the world of scores, because his scores were the first ones that charted worldwide like pop albums.

Greatest - choices:

01 - Girl with a Pearl Earring - Alexandre Desplat
02 - Death On The Nile - Nino Rota
03 - Edward Scissorhands - Danny Elfman
04 - E. T. - John Willams
05 - Thelma & Louise - Hans Zimmer
06 - On Her Majesty's Secret Service - John Barry
07 - Spellbound - Mikl�s R�sza
08 - Spirited Away - Hayao Miyazaki
09 - The Piano - Michael Nyman
10 - Titanic - James Horner

Other Favourites:

Dans La Maison / In the House - Philippe Rombi
The 39 Steps - Louis Levy
Oblivion - M83
Pan's Labyrinth - Javier Bavarrete
The Island - Steve Jablonsky
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - John Williams & Patrick Doyle
The Big Blue - Eric Serra
In Time - Craig Armstrong
S1Mone - Carter Burwell
Breakfast At Tiffany's - Henry Mancini

My TOP 5 would be (using different composers, otherwise Mr. Herrmann would be 1, 3, 4 and 5):

1. Vertigo
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. How The West Was Won
4. The Curse Of The Golden Flower
5. A Single Man

Anything James Newton Howard.

Really love The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe Narnia film soundtrack.

Ben-Hur
Spartacus
El Cid
King of Kings

After 35 years of listening to scores there's a number I still like to visit again and again:

- The Black Hole (John Barry) (my first score, always special to me)
- Krull (James Horner) (the best piece of music he ever did)
- Gremlins (Jerry Goldsmith) (after Barry my favourite composer)
- Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (John Williams) (best of the Star Wars-films, with the best of the Star Wars-scores)
- Taxi Driver (Bernard Herrmann) (his last score, an intense piece of music)
- The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (Ennio Morricone) (tough choice!)
- RoboCop (Basil Poledouris) (we miss you Basil!)
- Tron (Wendy Carlos) (a neo classic classic, never before and never again will there be such music for a film)

Honorable mentions:

- Moonraker (John Barry) - similar to The Black Hole, but not as dark and most certainly very Bond!
- Thunderball (John Barry) - the best of the (early) Bonds in many respects
- Flash Gordon (Howard Blake) - charming score with a lot of great themes "hiding" behind the bombast of the Queen-music
- Young Sherlock Holmes (Bruce Broughton) - what a rollercoaster of a great, classic score!
- Cutthroat Island (John Debney) - the best pirate film score of the 90s, shame on you Badelt & Zimmer, you talentless hacks
- Girl With A Pearl Earring (Alexandre Desplat) - heart stealer, ear stealer, one of the few hopes for good scores in the future
- Transformers: The Movie (Vince DiCola) - under rated pop classic, a score from the 80s which SOUNDS like the 80s
- The Nightmare Before Christmas (Danny Elfman) - a musical with a wonderful - film - music
- Babylon 5 (Christopher Franke) - the Bear McCreary of his time, the series would be nothing without it (just watch Crusade!)
- The Incredibles (Michael Giacchino) - forget David Arnold, Giacchino is the rightful heir to John Barry's throne!
- Dawn of the Dead (Goblin) - Morricone done by a progressive rock band
- Jerry Goldsmith - too many titles to quote here
- Fahrenheit 451 & Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann) - timeless classics, yes, they belong together, men and their obsession for women
- Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan (James Horner) - for some this is his best score
- The Rocketeer (James Horner) - most certainly the SECOND best score he ever did
- Falling Down & Atlantis - The Lost Empire (James Newton Howard) - oh, James, I really want to love your music, but sometimes there's simply too much Zimmer going on
- The Dark Crystal (Trevor Jones) - an almost forgotten classic in sooo many respects
- Die Hard (Michael Kamen) - we miss you, Michael!
- The Three Musketeers (Michael Kamen) - sounds like classic music but is (great) film music
- Patlabor 2 (Kenji Kawai) - another overlooked anime classic
- Le Roi Et L'Oiseau (Wojcech Kilar) - and another overlooked classic
- Lifeforce (Henry Mancini) - just kidding
- Deep Star Six (Harry Manfredini) - a rather cheap movie, riding on the wave of deep sea/Abyss-ripoffs, but with nice music
- Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior (Brian May) - most certainly not the one from Queen and missed too
- The Avengers & Soldier (Joel McNeely) - here's one good composer really waiting to be (re-)discovered
- The Lighthorsemen (Mario Millo) - forgotten classic movie, forgotten classic score
- Watership Down (Angela Morley) - another forgotten name, one of the few female composers of her time
- The Big Country (Jerome Moross) - bombastic western score, before Morricone wiped the slate clean
- Mission to Mars (Ennio Morricone) - just like the movie, it's actually way better than you're being told by the critics
- The Untouchables (Ennio Morricone) - one of those people like to forget
- Dragonslayer (Alex North) - a tough listen to people who are not into "real" classic music, Filmtracks for example
- Spartacus & The Shoes of the Fisherman (Alex North) - easier listen for Filmtracks, great scores all along
- Battlestar Galactica (Stu Philips) - the series may have been a Star Wars-ripoff, the (most excellent) music certainly not!
- Cherry 2000 (Basil Poledouris) - there are so many more good Poledouris-scores around!
- The Hunt for Red October (Basil Poledouris) - i told you!
- Les Mis�rables (Basil Poledouris) - and don't forget Conan - The Barbarian!
- The Saint (Graeme Revell) - well, here's the one score they'll (rightfully) remember you for, Graeme
- The Lord of the Rings (Leonard Rosenman) - Shore may paint the greater canvas, but Rosenman goes the straighter direction
- Fantastic Voyage (Leonard Rosenman) - it's 12 tone-music! and Nimoy should have hired James Horner (once again) for Star Trek IV
- The Godfather (Nino Rota) - need I say anything else?
- The Godfather Part II (Nino Rota) - well, this here! ;)
- Ben Hur (Miklos Rozsa) - timeless classic
- The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes - forgotten timeless classic, get the original recording, not the re-recording done under sedation!
- Blue Thunder & War Games (Arthur B. Rubinstein) - two more (almost) forgotten classics from the 80s
- The Last Starfighter (Craig Safan) - great classic score for one of the (very) first movies to use cgi-effects
- Pirates (Philippe Sarde) - the best pirate film score of the 80s, no Zimmer involved & none required
- The Four Musketeers (Lalo Schifrin) - the way classic music sounds - great - when composed as film music
- The Fifth Element (Eric Serra) - we'll forgive you Goldeneye, Eric! one day. maybe.
- South Park - Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Marc Shaiman) - the one thing nobody expected from South Park - a great musical with great music!
- The Hindenburg (David Shire) - beautiful music!
- The Fly (Howard Shore) - What music? What films? Lord of the... what? I can't hear you! ;)
- Predator & Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Alan Silvestri) - yep, in a package. because they're the same good.
- Back To The Future I-III (Alan Silvestri) - yep, another package and because they're even better!
- Total Annihilation (Jeremy Soule) - oops, it's not film music but for a game! shame on me... (listen to it anyway)
- Fortress & Robot Jox (Frederic Talgorn) - yes, this man CAN compose decent music!
- Le Brasier & Asterix At The Olympic Games (Frederic Talgorn) - see what I mean?
- MDK (Tommy Tallarico) - oops, another game score. won't happen again! (but most certainly listen to it!)
- Dune (Toto) - some call this as "failed" as the movie, but it's one of the best pop-meets-classic score-operas of the 80s!
- Perfume (Tom Tykwer with Johnny Klimek & Reinhold Heil) - worth every second!
- Blade Runner (Vangelis) - great classic of the 80s with dozen of recordings, just watch the threads!
- Shirley Walker - we miss you, Shirley, we really do!
- Green Lantern - The Animated Series (Frederik Wiedmann) - the force is strong with this one!
- John Williams - a dozen, maybe more
- Troy (Gabriel Yared) - too bad he made one the best scores of recent time for the WRONG movie - and director
- Hellbound: Hellraiser II (Christopher Young) - "horror opera" sums it up, excellent score!
- Zimmer Hans - just kidding ;)

1. The Phantom Menace - John Williams
2. The Mummy - Jerry Goldsmith
3. Cutthroat Island - John Debney

In no specific order, here are my current top 25:

1. Jesper Kyd - Assassin's Creed 2
2. Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill 2
3. Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy 7
4. Jeremy Soule - Skyrim
5. Michael McCann - Deus Ex: Human Revolution
6. Nathan McCree - Tomb Raider 2
7. Bear McCreary - The Battlestar Galactica Saga + The Walking Dead
8. Christopher Drake - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
9. Clint Mansell - The Fountain
10. Eric Serra - The Fifth Element
11. John Powell - How to Train Your Dragon Saga
12. Henry Jackman - Wreck-It Ralph
13. Howard Shore - LOTR-Saga
14. James Newton Howard - The Hunger Games
15. John Williams - Memoirs of A Geisha
16. Michel Legrand - The Three Musketeers
17. Mark Mothersbaugh - The Lego Movie
18. Alan Silvestri - The Avengers
19. Michael Giacchino - Lost Saga
20. Nathan Barr - True Blood Saga
21. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Social Network
22. Trevor Rabin & Harry Gregson-Williams - Armageddon + Enemy of the State
23. James Horner - Cocoon
24. Yoko Kanno - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
25. Andrew Hale & Simon Hale - L.A. Noire

Honorable mentions:
Tangerine Dreams, Woody Jackson, The Alchemist & Oh No - Grand Theft Auto V
Mark Mancina - Bad Boys
Hans Zimmer - The Ring

Too many to mention, love a lot of what other members have put forward.

Carpenter is a big favourite with me as his scores remind me of cinema going in the 70s/80.

I have to say for me though the one score I love is 'Once Upon a Time in America'

The Adventures of Robin Hood - Erich Gorngold

North By Northwest - Bernard Hermann

Star Wars - John Williams

My list:
1/ La Dolce Vita Rota / Henry V William Walton/ Agony Schnittke
2/ La Strada Rota/The Double life of Veronique Preisner/L'Atalante Maurice Jaubert
3/ Hamlet, Shostakovitch/Alamo Tiomkin/Les mis�rables Arthur Honnegger
4/The Private life of Elisabeth Korngold /The King and the Bird Kilar
5/America America Hadjidakis / Pithamagan Illayaraja
6/Indochine et Une femme Fran�aise Patrick Doyle
7/Total recall Goldsmith / Cleopatre North
8/North by Norwest Hermann and Chihiro Journey Joe Hisaischi
9/Satantango Vig Mihaly and The Hopful River Coulais
10/Les enfants du paradis Cosma/ Lust For Life, Rozsa
11/ sweeney Todd Sondheim/ Der K�nige Der Letzen T�ge, Kilar
12/ Prowokator Michal Lorenc/ Gorky Park James Horner
13/ L'Eclipse, l'ann�e derni�re � marienbard Fusco/ Alien 3 Goldenthal
14/Wihistle Down the Wind, Malcom Arnold, Urga Artemiev
15/Armarcord Rota, Brutti Sporchi et Cattivy Trovajoli
16/ Addio Africa Riz Ortolani, Les Gonnies Dave Grusin
17/Glory James Horner, Roja A.R Rahman
18/Kids Return Hisaischi Rebecca Franz Waxmann
19/Brainstorm Horner and Tess Philippe Sarde
20/Citizen Kane Herman and Mayrig Jean Claude Petit
21/Henry V Patrick Doyle/ Time Of Gypsies Goran Bregovic
22/Ran Toru Takemitsu and The Moon in th Glitter Yared
23/ War of Wolrd John William/ Bridge of the kwai river Arnold
24/Abyss Alan Silvestri and The mission Morriconne
25/Crouching Tiger Tan Dun, A Woman Decision Kilar
26/ Providence, Rozsa/ The eyes without face Jarre
27/ La Balia Crivelli and Oc�an Coulais
28/ Eminent Domain Preisner, Jaws John William, The Egyptian Newman and Herman
29/Stalker Artemiev/ Ten Commandements Bernstein
30/Odd man out Alwyn/Oliver Twist Arnold Bax/Dil Se A R Rahman
31/Angel Phillipe Rombi/ Troy Yared/ Queen Margot Goran Bregovic
32/Pirates Sarde/ L'Arcidiavolo Trovajoli
33/ Esther Kahn Howard Shore/ Le Boucher Perre Jensen
34/Hook, Harry Potter 3, Empire of the sun, Catch me if you can, John William
35/The Woman on the beach, Heisler/ The Informer Max Steiner
36/Chcken Run John Powell
37/The Young Girls of Rochefort Legrand
38/Dark Water Kawai/ Star Treck Goldsmith
39/All About my mother Alberto Iglesias/ The red Circle Eric de Marsant
40/Thalapathi Illayaraja/ Mondo Cane Ortolani/Himalaya Coulais

Conan The Barbarian - by Basil. The greatest fantasy score IMO ever - period.
Empire Strikes Back - Williams - The greatest sci-fi score IMO.
Aww, dammit, that's me up now for the rest of the night trying to decide on the third. I want to say a Horner score like Wrath of Khan... yep, Wrath of Khan... or maybe... grrr.

Six of the best in my opinion:

Serpico - Mikis Theodorakis
Heaven's Gate - David Mansfield
Three Days Of The Condor - Dave Grusin
The Molly Maguires - Henry Mancini
Funeral In Berlin - Konrad Elfers
Shiri - Lee Dong-joon

In no particular order, but there's so many to choose from and these just spring to mind, but it would be nice to put

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg - Michel Legrand
amongst them (but seeing as it's song all the way through, does this count). If it was alright then another definite would be
Les Mis�rables - Boublil & Sch�nberg

---------- Post added at 02:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:52 AM ----------

Oh and then there's
The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes - Miklos Rozsa

you see, there's just to many out there, and that's not including anything from the stuff that turner6 has been kindly sharing (music(als) from the 40's and 50's,)
or from the Dimitri Tiomkin, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Max Steiner stables.
All these could be candidates for all different reasons.

---------- Post added at 02:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:14 AM ----------

Oh!
and Ir'd really love to put 'Band of Brothers' by Michael Kamen in there, but does that count because it's actually TV.

and then there's also 'Gods And Generals - John Frizzell and Randy Edalman'.

Ben Hur
For a few dollars more
The good the bad and the ugly

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (David Shire)
The Big Country (Jerome Moross)
vertigo (b herrmann)
ben-hur
I Promessi Sposi (Ennio Morricone)

Jaws (Williams), Psycho (Herrmann) and Spartacus (North)

My Top 5 would be currently somewhere around
1. Clint Mansell - United
2. John Williams - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
3. Alexandre Desplat - Imitation Game
4. Hans Zimmer - Inception
5. Craig Armstrong - In Time

I'd love to get my hands on Mansells Einstein & Eddington but no luck indeed.

1. Titanic (James Horner)
2. Gladiator (Hans Zimmer)
3. Planet of the Apes (Jerry Goldsmith)
4. Predator (Alan Silvestri)
5. Star Trek III - The Search for Spock (James Horner)

Star Wars (A New Hope)
Star Wars (ESB)
Batman Begins (Hans Zimmer/ James Newton Howard)
King Kong (John Barry)
[...]
Hollowman (Jerry Goldsmith)

Out Of Africa
E.T.
Batman Begins
The Godfather Part 2
The Empire Strikes Back
Titanic

But if you ask me tomorrow you might get a completely different list.

B

Titanic (Horner)
Star Wars (Williams)
Lord of the Rings (Shore)
Braveheart (Horner)

"Vertigo"
"Rio Grande"
"Vertigo"

Going to move this to Film Music Discussion:
Anime, Film & Video Game Music Discussion (http://forums.ffshrine.org/anime-film-video-game-music-discussion/)

It's run a good time in here download section.

Conan the barbarian
the lord of the rings trilogy
the star wars trilogy (not the prequels)
Stargate

Superman (John Williams)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Jerry Goldsmith)
Sleeping Beauty (George Bruns)

GLadiator _HNA Z ZIMMER

My top 5 are
Game- Xenogears ost
Game- Chrono Cross
Anime- Fullmetal alchemist brotherhood
Anime- kenshin
Movie- Pirates of the Caribbean (mostly the first and second movie ost that i listen to.)

The red Violin Corriglianno
Henry V Walton
Hamlet Chostakovitch
Brainstorm Horner
Sweet Movie Hadjidakis
Danton Prodomid�s
The double life Preisner
The Withe Witch Doctor Hermann
El Cid Rosza
Citizen Kane Hermann
Tess/Pirates Phillipe Sarde
Casque d'Or George Van parys

I guess I'm a Zimmer fan.

Black Hawk Down
Batman Begins
Gladiator
Inception
The Last Sumarai

Non-Zimmer

First Blood
Smokin Aces
Stealth

1. Conan the Barbarian (1982) - Basil Poledouris
2. Amelie (2001) - Yann Tiersen
3. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - John Williams

disappointing that not a lot of people listen to the classics, like herrmann, rozsa, alfred newman, kaper, rota, korngold etc....

if anyone is interested Im going to recommend one title from each of those, you can take it or leave it, Im no one to give recommendations other than have been an avid listener for over 25 years of film music, but give it a try, these are classics for a reason

herrmann: vertigo
Rozsa: ben-hur
korngold: the adventures of robin hood
rota: il gattopardo
kaper: the glass slipper
alfred newman: the Robe

"The Adventures of Robin Hood", Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

It's "The Empire Strikes Back". C'mon, people. You shouldn't even have to think about this.

John Williams: Star Wars (1972); E.T; Raiders Of The Lost Ark; Schindler's List; Saving Private Ryan.
Hans Zimmer: Gladiator (2000); The Dark Knight & The Dark Knight Rises; Crimson Tide; The Last Samurai; Hannibal; The DaVinci Code; Interstellar.
James Horner: A Beautiful Mind; Braveheart; Enemy At The Gates; Legends Of The Fall.
John Addison: A Bridge Too Far.
Jerry Goldsmith: Alien (1979); Poltergeist; several Star Trek movies.
John Barry: Out Of Africa; Dances With Wolves; several James Bond movies; The Specialist.
Yann Tiersen: Am�lie.
Nicola Piovani: La Vita E Bella.
Michael Kamen: Band Of Brothers.
Vangelis: Blade Runner.
Klaus Doldinger: Das Boot.
Ennio Morricone: The Dollar Trilogy; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Once Upon A Time In The West.
Michael J. Lewis: Ffolkes (North Sea Hijack).
Rogier van Otterloo: Soldaat van Oranje (1977).
Nino Rota: The Godfather Trilogy.
Trevor Jones & Randy Edelman: The Last Of The Mohicans.
Howard Shore: The Silence Of The Lambs; The Lord Of The Rings & The Hobbit Trilogy's
Thomas Newman: The Shawshank Redemption; Meet Joe Black.
Harold Faltermeyer: Top Gun.

Just pick one.... I can't choose!

Do you know any that hans Zimmer didn't do?

Just a few:
Jerry Goldsmith - The Prize; A Patch of Blue
Nino Rota - The Godfather; The Taming of the Shrew
John Williams - E.T.; Jaws; Superman; Raiders of the Lost Ark; Schindler's List
Victor Young - Shane; Strategic Air Command; The Left Hand of God
Max Steiner - Gone With The Wind; A Summer Place
Franz Waxman - A Place In The Sun; Sunset Boulevard; Rebecca
Elmer Bernstein - To Kill A Mockingbird; Far From Heaven; By Love Possessed; From The Terrace
Alfred Newman - The Diary of Anne Frank; The Best Of Everything; The Robe; How Green Was My Valley
Hugo Friedhofer - The Best Years Of Our Lives
Miklos Rozsa - Ben-Hur; The V.I.P.'s; Ivanhoe
Gabriel Yared - Amelia; The English Patient; The Talented Mr. Ripley; Message In a Bottle; Sylvia; Autumn In New York
John Barry - Born Free; Dances With Wolves; Chaplin; Frances; James Bond Scores
Thomas Newman - The Road To Perdition; The Shawshank Redemption; Meet Joe Black
Bernard Herrmann - Vertigo; Psycho; North By Northwest
Johnny Green - Raintree County
Dimitri Tiomkin - Friendly Persuasion; The Sundowners; Giant
Alex North - Spartacus; Cleopatra; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; The Misfits
Ennio Morricone - Cinema Paradiso; Once Upon a Time In The West; Bugsy
Bronislau Kaper - Mutiny On the Bounty; Home From The Hill; Butterfield 8; Green Dolphin Street
Johnny Mandel - The Americanization of Emily; The Sandpiper
Andre Previn - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; Dead Ringer; Irma La Douce; Two For The Seesaw
George Duning - Picnic; Houseboat
Maurice Jarre - Lawrence of Arabia; Ryan's Daughter
James Horner - A Beautiful Mind; Braveheart
Henry Mancini - Breakfast at Tiffany's; Charade; Days of Wine and Roses

Just a few:
Jerry Goldsmith - The Prize; A Patch of Blue
Nino Rota - The Godfather; The Taming of the Shrew
John Williams - E.T.; Jaws; Superman; Raiders of the Lost Ark; Schindler's List
Victor Young - Shane; Strategic Air Command; The Left Hand of God
Max Steiner - Gone With The Wind; A Summer Place
Franz Waxman - A Place In The Sun; Sunset Boulevard; Rebecca
Elmer Bernstein - To Kill A Mockingbird; Far From Heaven; By Love Possessed; From The Terrace
Alfred Newman - The Diary of Anne Frank; The Best Of Everything; The Robe; How Green Was My Valley
Hugo Friedhofer - The Best Years Of Our Lives
Miklos Rozsa - Ben-Hur; The V.I.P.'s; Ivanhoe
Gabriel Yared - Amelia; The English Patient; The Talented Mr. Ripley; Message In a Bottle; Sylvia; Autumn In New York
John Barry - Born Free; Dances With Wolves; Chaplin; Frances; James Bond Scores
Thomas Newman - The Road To Perdition; The Shawshank Redemption; Meet Joe Black
Bernard Herrmann - Vertigo; Psycho; North By Northwest
Johnny Green - Raintree County
Dimitri Tiomkin - Friendly Persuasion; The Sundowners; Giant
Alex North - Spartacus; Cleopatra; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; The Misfits
Ennio Morricone - Cinema Paradiso; Once Upon a Time In The West; Bugsy
Bronislau Kaper - Mutiny On the Bounty; Home From The Hill; Butterfield 8; Green Dolphin Street
Johnny Mandel - The Americanization of Emily; The Sandpiper
Andre Previn - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; Dead Ringer; Irma La Douce; Two For The Seesaw
George Duning - Picnic; Houseboat
Maurice Jarre - Lawrence of Arabia; Ryan's Daughter
James Horner - A Beautiful Mind; Braveheart
Henry Mancini - Breakfast at Tiffany's; Charade; Days of Wine and Roses

this is the list of someone whos listened to alot of music and who has also an excellent taste

or we just happen to have very similar tastes, eitherway :)

My list - I don't know if BEST, but BELOVED for sure:

Morricone - Once Upon A Time In America, C'era Una Volta Il West, Tte Untouchables
Elmer Bernstein - The Age of Innocence, Far From Heaven (my beloved autumn score)
Barry - Body Heat, Out Of Africa, Dances With Wolves, Playing By Heart (also Americans, but it's not the soundtrack)
Goldsmith - Under Fire, Chinatown, Russia House
Lorenc - 300 mil do nieba (300 Miles To Heaven), Psy 2. Ostatnia krew (Pigs 2. The Last Blood)
Kilar - Dracula, Portrait of a Lady
Williams - Schindler's List, JFK (except atonal music), also "Seven Years in Tibet" theme is a masterpiece
Poledouris - Farewell To The King, Lonesome Dove, Les Miserables
Jerome Moross - The Big Country
Trevor Jones - Fields of Freedom
Conti - North & South, Book I (complete edition; the longest score I can listen over and over again)
Howard Shore - Looking For Richard
Rota - Il Gattopardo, The Godfather I & II (only Rota's music, not Carmine Coppola's)
Goldenthal - Michael Collins
Vangelis - 1492
Rozsa - Ben Hur
Sakamoto - The Last Emperor, Wuthering Heights.

Of course, that's not all...

"The Empire Strikes Back". If I had a gun at my head, and somebody told me to take only one, and I had to flamethrower my many, many thousands of other scores, there wouldn't even be a second's worth of hesitation. It's the greatest film score ever written.

All you people crack me up..almost nobody listens to anything from the Golden Age, probably because most of you are 20 somethings I would imagine.

I'm with you. Herrmann's farts are more melodic than anything that's come out of John Williams.

Top Top Scores of All Time:
3 by Bernard Herrmann
3 by Miklos Rozsa
3 by Victor Young
Ennio Morricone's Once Upon a Time in the West

Nino Rota: The Godfather Trilogy

Korngold you mean



The Adventures of Robin Hood - Erich Gorngold

North By Northwest - Bernard Hermann

Star Wars - John Williams

---------- Post added at 12:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:30 AM ----------

I'd say it must be Conan the Barbarian

1. Lord of the Rings
2. The Fountain
3. Star Wars
4. Blade Runner
5. K-19
6. Oblivion
7. One Upon a Time in the West
8. Gladiator
9. Gallipoli
10. Dark Knight trilogy

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
2. Star Wars
3. The Godfather Trilogy
4. Gladiator
5. Blade Runner
6. The Dark Knight Trilogy
7. Indiana Jones Trilogy
8. Once Upon A Time In The West and the Dollar Trilogy
9. Crimson Tide
10. Dances With Wolves
11. The Last Of The Mohicans
12. The Last Samurai
13. E.T.
14. The Shawshank Redemption
15. Meet Joe Black
16. Soldier Of Orange - Rogier van Otterloo (never released on CD)

;-)

So you've heard them all?

So many good ones. Favourites... hard to say but theres a few that i play more often.

The Mission (morricone)
Cinema Paradiso (morricone)
In Bruges (burwell)
Star Wars (williams)
Amadeus
The Revenant (sakamoto)

John Scott - Anthony and Cleopatra

---------- Post added at 05:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:24 PM ----------

Alex North - Under the Volcano

---------- Post added at 05:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:24 PM ----------

Jerry Goldsmith - Chinatown

---------- Post added at 05:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:25 PM ----------

Georges Delerue - Agnes of God

---------- Post added at 05:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:25 PM ----------

John Williams - A.I.

Gravity!

1. Complete lord of the Rings
2. Blade Runner
3. Alien
4. Das Boot
5. Donnie Darko
6. Godzilla Ultimate Edition
7. Myst II: Riven
8. Species
9. The Stand
10. Star Gate
11. Dune
12. Star Trek Motion Picture

Braveheart
Jaws
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

My other personal favorites:
Gattaca
The Last of the Mohicans
The Lion King
The Crow
Dances with Wolves
Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves
The Mission (1986)
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Man of Steel
Gladiator
Too many others to name.....

Oh wow, it's hard to really say, since there are so many different kinds of scores. You have grand orchestral works like John Williams, and the Golden Age folks like Alfred Newman, Dimitri Tiomkin, Franz Waxman and so on, or you have the electronically influenced works of the more modern era, or the minimalistic approach of folks like Desplat, or Philip Glass.

But a good summery can be:

Star Wars - John Williams (especially A New Hope, and Empire Strikes Back. Say what you will, but the music was always amazing)
Kundun - Philip Glass
The Hours - Philip Glass
John Williams' multitude of collaborations with Steven Spielberg
Superman: The Movie - John Williams
Batman - Danny Elfman
Her - Arcade Fire
Gravity - Steven Price
The Queen - Alexandre Desplat
Gone with the Wind - Max Steiner
King Kong - Max Steiner
Bernard Herrmann's scores for Alfred Hitchcock (The Trouble with Harry, The Wrong Man, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, Marnie)
Taxi Driver - Bernard Herrmann
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Howard Shore
WALL-E - Thomas Newman
The Social Network - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

And many, MANY more....

1- The Empire Strikes Back
2- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
3- Psycho

(Runner-ups : Conan The Barbarian (Poledouris one), Superman : The movie (Williams), Blade Runner.

1. Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End - Hans Zimmer
2. Skyfall - Thomas Newman
3. Up - Michael Giacchino
4. Sherlock Holmes - Hans Zimmer
5. How To Train Your Dragon - John Powell

Star Wars - John Williams
The Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore
Batman - Danny Elfman
Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Jerry Goldsmith
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Nicholas Hooper

I'd say that it depends on my mood, but as for the classics, Steiner's themes for The Adventures of Don Juan certainly are catchy (even if I first heard them in another film). For music that makes the movie, ooh boy, brace yourselves, I'll say that, for a "feature-length toy commercial," Vince DiCola's The Transformers: The Movie [from 1986, mind you] score made the film, well beside the rock songs in it... For under-appreciated, Reijiro Koroku's score for The Return of Godzilla desperately needs mentioning, as it established my liking for non-mainstream soundtracks (its Americanized counterpart, Godzilla 1985, scared the daylights out of me as a kid at the beginning, whereas its ending made me cry, partially due to the interplay of the music with the action).

CONAN - BASIL POLEDOURIS

1. Back To The Future - Alan Silvestri
2. Star Trek (2009) - Michael Giacchino
3. The Lion King - Hans Zimmer

(honourable mentions - Blade Runner, Apollo 13, The Amazing Spider-Man)

I’m sure our answers always change but this is a great way to figure out our ages I’m sure ;)

1. Empire strikes back
2. Star Trek the Motion Picture
3. E.T.

personal ranking of Soundtrack (Casual Order)

1) Bullit (Lalo Schifrin)
2) Jaws (John Williams)
3) The Alamo (Dimitri Tiomkin)
4) 36 Hours (Dimitri Tiomkin)
5) El Cid & Ben Hur (Miklos Rozsa)
6) The Man With The Golden arm (Elmer Bernstein)
7) To Kill a Mockingbird (Elmer Bernstein)
8) QBVII & Masada (TV) Jerry Goldsmith
9) The Collector (Maurice Jarre)
10) How The West Was Won (Alfred Newman)
11) North By Northwest (Bernard Herrmann)
12) The Kentuckian (Bernard Herrmann)
13) Exodus (Ernest Gold)
14) Capricorn One (Jerry Goldsmith)
15) The Wrong Box (John Barry)
16) Under Fire (Jerry Goldsmith)
17) Divorzio all'Italiana & Sedotta e Abbandonata (Carlo Rustichelli)
18) Una Vita Difficile (Carlo Savina)
19) The Giant (Dimitri Tiomkin)
20) I Soliti Ignoti & L'Audace colpo dei Soliti Ignoti (Piero Umiliani)

I have a huge collection with extended score albums so let's see the best ones. In alphabetical order;

25th Hour (2002, Terence Blanchard)
An Affair to Remember (1957, Hugo Friedhofer, Harry Warren)
The Alamo (1960, Dimitri Tiomkin)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis)
Amelie (2001, Yann Tiersen)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959, Duke Ellington)
Back to the Future Trilogy (1985-1990, Alan Silvestri)
Batman Returns (1992, Danny Elfman)
The Dark Knight (2008, Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard)
Ben-Hur (1959, Miklos Rozsa)
Benny & Joon (1993, Rachel Portman)
The Betsy (1978, John Barry)
The Beyond (1981, Fabio Frizzi)
Blade Runner (1982, Vangelis)
Blood In Blood Out: Bound by Honor (1993, Bill Conti)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992, Wojciech Kilar)
Braveheart (1995, James Horner)
Candyman (1992, Philip Glass)
Canone Inverso - Making Love (2000, Ennio Morricone)
The Chorus (2004, Bruno Coulais)
El Cid (1961, Miklos Rozsa)
The Cincinnati Kid (1965, Lalo Schifrin)
Cinema Paradiso (1988, Ennio Morricone)
City Lights (1931, Charlie Chaplin)
Crimes of the Heart (1986, Georges Delerue)
The Crow (1994, Graeme Revell)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, Bernard Herrmann)
Deep Red (1975, Goblin)
Delicatessen (1991, Carlos D'Alessio)
Don't Look Now (1973, Pino Donaggio)
The Double Life of V�ronique (1991, Zbigniew Preisner)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982, John Williams)
Edward Scissorhands (1990, Danny Elfman)
The Elephant Man (1980, John Morris)
The English Patient (1996, Gabriel Yared)
The Fifth Element (1997, Eric Serra)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988, John Du Prez)
For A Few Dollars More (1965, Ennio Morricone)
Gladiator (2000, Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard)
Gods and Monsters (1998, Carter Burwell)
Gloomy Sunday - A Song of Love and Death (1999, Rezso Seress arr. Detlef Friedrich Petersen)
The Godfather Trilogy (1972-1991, Nino Rota & Carmine Coppola)
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (1966, Ennio Morricone)
The Graduate (Simon & Garfunkel, Dave Grusin)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014, Alexandre Desplat)
The Great Escape (1963, Elmer Bernstein)
The Great Silence (1968, Ennio Morricone)
Halloween I-II (1978-1981, John Carpenter)
Hanover Street (1979, John Barry)
Hellbenders (1967, Ennio Morricone)
Hellraiser (1987, Christopher Young)
JFK (1991, John Williams)
Highlander (1986, Michael Kamen & Queen)
Ilona Arrives with the Rain (1996, Luis Bacalov)
In Bruges (2008, Carter Burwell)
Stephen King's IT (1990, Richard Bellis)
Le Jaguar (1996, Vladimir Cosma)
Jurassic Park (1993, John Williams)
The Kid (1921, Charlie Chaplin 1971)
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989, Joe Hisaishi)
The King and the Mockingbird (1980, Wojciech Kilar)
King of Kings (1961, Miklos Rozsa)
La Belle et La Bete (1946, Philip Glass arr. 1994)
La Ragazza dalla Pelle di Luna (1972, Piero Umiliani)
La Strada (1954, Nino Rota)
Lady of the Camelias (1981, Ennio Morricone)
The Last of the Mohicans (1992, Trevor Jones, Randy Edelman)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988, Peter Gabriel)
Laura (1944, David Raksin)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, Maurice Jarre)
The Legend of 1900 (1998, Ennio Morricone)
L�on (1994, Eric Serra)
Lethal Weapon (1987, Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton, and David Sanborn)
Lieutenant Kij� (1934, Sergei Prokofiev)
The Light Touch (1952, Miklos Rozsa)
A Little Romance (1979, Georges Delerue)
Lola (1981, Peer Raben)
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003, Howard Shore)
Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955, Alfred Newman)
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973, Vladimir Cosma)
Madame Bovary (1949, Miklos Rozsa)
Man, Woman and Child (1983, Georges Delerue)
Marnie (1964, Bernard Herrmann)
The Mercenary (1968, Ennio Morricone)
The Message (1977, Maurice Jarre)
Miller's Crossing (1990, Carter Burwell)
The Mission (1986, Ennio Morricone)
Mouvements du Desir (1994, Zbigniew Preisner)
The Mummy (1999, Jerry Goldsmith)
National Treasure (2004, Trevor Rabin)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993, Danny Elfman)
Nights of Cabiria (1957, Nino Rota)
North By Northwest (1959, Bernard Herrmann)
Oldboy (2003, Yeong-wook Jo)
The Omen (1976, Jerry Goldsmith)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984, Ennio Morricone)
Once Upon a Time in The West (1968, Ennio Morricone)
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013, SQ�RL, Jozef van Wissem, Yasmine Hamdan, Wanda Jackson 1961)
Pan's Labyrinth (2006, Javier Navarrete)
Papillon (1973, Jerry Goldsmith)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006, Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil)
Phenomena (1985, Goblin)
Photographing Fairies (1997, Simon Boswell)
The Piano (1993, Michael Nyman)
The Pink Panther series (1963-1993, Henry Mancini)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, Klaus Badelt)
The Pledge (2001, Hans Zimmer & Klaus Badelt)
Police Academy (1984, Robert Folk, Jean Marc Dompierre)
The Portrait of a Lady (1996, Wojciech Kilar)
Psycho (1960, Bernard Herrmann)
Quartiere (1987, Ennio Morricone)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, John Williams)
The Rock (1996, Hans Zimmer & Nick Glennie-Smith)
Rocky I-IV (1976-1985, Bill Conti; Survivor; Vince DiCola)
Romeo & Juliet (1968, Nino Rota)
Rosemary's Baby (1968, Krzysztof Komeda)
The Rover (1967, Ennio Morricone)
Scarface (1983, Giorgio Moroder)
Schindler's List (1993, John Williams)
Scott of the Antarctic (1948, Ralph Vaughan)
Seabiscuit (2003, Randy Newman)
The Secret (1974, Ennio Morricone)
Seduced and Abandoned (1964, Carlo Rustichelli)
Senso '45 a.k.a. Black Angel (2002, Ennio Morricone)
Shane (1953, Victor Young)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994, Thomas Newman)
Since You Went Away (1944, Max Steiner)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008, A.R. Rahman)
Sodom and Gomorrah (1962, Miklos Rozsa)
Somewhere in Time (1980, John Barry)
The Snowman (1982, Howard Blake)
Spartacus (1960, Alex North)
Spellbound (1945, Miklos Rozsa)
Star Wars - Episode IV - III (1977-2005)
The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971, Nora Orlandi)
Subway (1985, Eric Serra)
Superman (1978, John Williams)
Szamanka (1996, Andrzej Korzynski)
The Tall Men (1955, Victor Young)
Tammy and the Bachelor (1957, Jay Livingston)
Taxi Driver (1976, Bernard Herrmann)
The Terminator (1984, Brad Fiedel)
Tess (1979, Philippe Sarde)
The Third Man (1949, Anton Karas)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968, Michel Legrand)
Three Colors Trilogy (1993-1994, Zbigniew Preisner)
Titanic (1997, James Horner)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, Elmer Bernstein)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948, Max Steiner)
Troy (2004, James Horner)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964, Michel Legrand)
The Untouchables (1987, Ennio Morricone)
Uranya (2006, Panagiotis Kalatzopoulos)
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1973, Lubos Fiser)
Vampyros Lesbos (1971, Manfred H�bler, Siegfried Schwab)
The Venetian Affair (1967, Lalo Schifrin)
Vengo (2000, Jose Fernandez, Dionysis Tsaknis, Gritos de Guerra, Ramon Pisa Borja, Emilio Fernandez de los Santos, Tomatito, Sheik Achmed Al Tuni, Tony Gatlif, Kudsi Erguner, Group Jose, Mohamed Hamza, Balighe Hanuli)
Vertigo (1958, Bernard Herrmann)
Veruschka (1971, Ennio Morricone)
White Dog (1982, Ennio Morricone)
Who Can Kill a Child (1976, Waldo De Los Rios)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988, Alan Silvestri)
The Wild Bunch (1969, Jerry Fielding)
Without Apparent Motive (1971, Ennio Morricone)
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967, Michel Legrand)

Some great single themes:

1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992, Vangelis)
The Blues Brothers (1980, Henry Mancini)
From Russia with Love (1963, John Barry)
Goldfinger (1964, John Barry)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969, John Barry)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961, Henry Mancini)
Bullets Don't Argue (1964, Ennio Morricone)
Casablanca (1942, Max Steiner)
Castle in the Sky (1986, Joe Hisaishi)
Dead Men Ride (1971, Bruno Nicolai)
The Deer Hunter (1978, Stanley Myers)
Emmanuelle (1974, Pierre Bachelet)
Eternity and a Day (1998, Eleni Karaindrou)
Exodus (1960, Ernest Gold)
Funeral in Berlin (1966, Konrad Elfers)
Gone with the Wind (1939, Max Steiner)
High Noon (1952, Dimitri Tiomkin)
Un Homme et Une Femme (1966, Francis Lai)
Jaws (1975, John Williams)
Johnny Guitar (1954, Victor Young)
Levy and Goliath (1987, Vladimir Cosma)
Limelight (1952, Charlie Chaplin)
Love Story (1970, Francis Lai)
Maddalena (1971, Ennio Morricone)
Modern Times (1936, Charlie Chaplin)
Requiem for a Dream (2000, Clint Mansell)
A Slightly Pregnant Man (1973, Michel Legrand)
Therese Desqueyroux (1962, Maurice Jarre)
The Wizard of Oz (1939, Harold Arlen, Herbert Stothart)
Zorba The Greek (1964, Mikis Theodorakis)

P.S.: I eliminated non-original film scores (like Amadeus).

Bridge Of Spies - Thomas Newman
Captain America: Civil War - Henry Jackman
Coco - Michael Giacchino
Dunkirk - Hans Zimmer
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them - James Newton Howard
Gladiator - Hans Zimmer
How To Train Your Dragon / 2 - John Powell
Interstellar - Hans Zimmer
Pirates Of The Caribbean Series - Hans Zimmer & Geoff Zanelli
Skyfall & Spectre - Thomas Newman
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - John Williams
The Avengers - Alan Silvestri
The Dark Knight - Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - Daniel Pemberton
Up - Michael Giacchino

Hi,

In no particular order, my list:

1) King Kong : Max Steiner (1933)
2) Blade Runner : Vangelis (1982)
3) Vertigo : Bernard Herrmann (1958)
4) Ben-Hur : Mikl�s R�zsa (1959)
5) The Bridge on the River Kwai : Malcolm Arnold (1957)
6) Conan the Barbarian : Basil Poledouris (1982)


To name a few....

In no particular order:
- Star Wars - in particular "Imperial March" from "Empire Strikes Back", but the main ones are all great
- Superman
- Mission Impossible
- Requiem For A Dream
- The Fountain
- Cinema Paradiso (Yo-Yo Ma version)
- Chariots of Fire
- The Piano
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Tron
- Yumeji's Theme (Theme from "In the Mood for Love")

Interstellar is my absolute favourite of all time
LOTR
Star Wars (Excellent for the movies and games, not really one I listen to by itself)

My Favorites are "The Last Run " by Jerry Goldsmith, "The Alamo" by Dimitri Tiomkin, "Death Rides A Horse" by Ennio Morricone.