Last week I posted not only my criteria for choosing top movie scores, but also the bottom half of my top 20 choices. You can read about those and here.
Without further ado, here are the Top Ten Movie Scores of All Time
10. Somewhere in Time - John Barry
The most romantic movie ever made needed a strong emotional theme. While classic compositions from Rachmaninoff accecuate the sound, Barry's timeless (no pun intended) score cuts to the heart with all of its tragedy and triumph. It still boggles me that no one has tried to make a musical out of the building blocks that Barry left.
9. Willow - James Horner
For years I thought this was a John Williams score, which is a compliment to Horner. It is every bit as epic and memorable as any Williams score. "Willow in the World" is filled with awe-and child-like magic, the festival theme is full of life and fun, the villains themes are dark and forboding. But "Madmartigan" is a song that raises my spirits and fills me with the call to high adventure.
8. The Mission - Ennio Morricone
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There are some pieces of music that break your heart every time you hear them. The music from The Mission is one those things. Morricone is best known for his work on the Spaghetti Westerns. But I believe this is his masterpiece. The music conveys not only the violence and forboding of this tragic story, but it is filled the beauty that this world has to offer. There is a line where the bishops says, "With an orchestra, the Jesuits could have subdued the whole continent." When you listen to "Garbiel's Oboe" you believe that this could be true. That song raises your soul to the heights of heaven only to feel it is just out of reach of this world. When the heavenly and hellish songs collide in the end, the darker tones push out the brighter ones. But Morricone's genius is that it is only the heavenly songs that linger in your memory.
7. Up - Michael Giachino
One of the great things about this score is the versatile use of the main theme. With a few simple notes, Giacchino can convey fun, nostalgia, romance, adventure, and utter, utter heartbreak. It is quite incredible how he can make every song sound different while using the same sequence of notes. That take a real mastery, espeically considering how powerfully you feel contradicatory emotions depending on how those notes are arranged.
6. Superman - John Williams
Few scores are as iconic as this one. Williams forever merged character who existed for forty years with a song that will forever be associated with him. It has all the triumph, power, and virtue that you associate with Superman. The musical theme for Krypton has all the grandeur of that great society. "The March of the Villains" is a fun throwback of buffoonish bad guys. The love theme glides on air like the two main characters. And the theme before he turns back the world is so empty and heartbreaking. A truly great score.
5. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi - John Williams
What makes this Star Wars score rise so high in the ranks are the "Return of the Jedi" theme where Luke rescues Han. That piece of music embodies all of the great and timeless adventure of the Saga. The score also encorporates so many of the previous themes like "Imperial March" and "Yoda's Theme." "The Emperor's Theme" has a ghostly forebodance to it that is haunting. But there are two pieces that rise above the others. The first is the final confrontation between Luke and Vader. It builds to such an emotional climax that you can feel the entire story riding on this moment. The use of the men's chorus gives it an almost religious significance, like the ultimate battle between good and evil. The second is "Yub-Nub." Rarely is there a more joyful song to end a story.
4. Schindler's List - John Williams
This is so unlike most of John Williams' work. He has to work on more subtle emotions through most of the score. But when he pulls at the heartstrings, it rips you in two. You can feel the spirit of the Jewish people pervade this score, their centuries of struggle and the calamity they are enduring. His main theme has such highs and lows that it touches the depths of the human heart. Through its horrible saddness, there is light: just enough life to give us hope in the world.
3. Braveheart - James Horner
Horner gave us a score that captures the grandeur of this movie. His use of the bagpipes is so versatile that I am literally shocked how he pulled it off. He makes them fun and thrilling, but also hauntingly beautiful. But he doesn't rely on that instrument as a crutch. He pulls out a beautiful orchestration. In the final scenes, the gentle and uplifting music contradicts the horror on display. And yet it works so well down to the very last note that closes out the movie with a perfect marriage of sound and image.
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Howard Shore
Shore established the sounds of Middle-Earth with this movie. I remember before the movie came out I heard "Concerning Hobbits." From that one song alone, I was transported. The Shire felt like a real place in a way that no other fantasy world did. And that is what Shore did with the entire score. He made Tolkien's world feel like a lost history with a real cultural treasure. His Fellowship theme is one of the greatest adventure compositions ever. "To the Bridge of Khazad-dum" might be one of the greatest chase sequence songs ever written, all the way down to its heartbreaking end. But "The Breaking of the Fellowship," carries all of the movie's big themes and strong emotions to its powerful conclusion.
1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - John Williams
There is no topping this score. It is soaked into every part of the movie and into every part of popular culture. The main theme alone deserves endless credit. But Williams also gave us Wagnerian works like "Princess Leia's Theme" along with fun earworms like "Mos Eisley Cantina." Every piece of music is in this score is utterly transportive. Whenever I hear it, I am reminded of the words from Field of Dreams, "The memories will be so thick, people will have to wipe them from their faces." I am not ashamed to say that when I am driving, if I hear the final Death Star battle sequence, I grip the wheel a little tighter and I can feel myself racing down the trench until Han Solo has my back and I take that final shot. This might be the perfect score.
HONARABLE MENTIONS
Back to the future
A Beautiful Mind
Aliens
The Last of the Mohicans (1993)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curst of the Black Pearl
Krul
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Thoughts?
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