Lists, and not baseball, have become America’s favorite pastime, and for fifteen years now, I have been passing as much time as anybody I know.  Well, we’ll be continuing the series of lists that run in conjunction with my series of posts of 1939.  Having begun this companion series with an essay on movie music and already prepared a list on the greatest film composers, I will now provide for your viewing pleasure the following list of the greatest movie scores.  Where the list of composers, which featured Alfred Newman in the top 10, led into my review of Wuthering Heights, this list will pick up where I left off and lead us into a review of Gone With the Wind, the music for which is ranked number 2 on my all-time list.  You’ll find a great variety of genres in this list, from new age to tribal/folk to classical to jazz to whatever-genre-the-Good-the-Bad-and-the-Ugly-is.

The most represented director on the list is John Williams, who has nine films in the top 100.  In a tie for second place is Ennio Morricone and Max Steiner with eight apiece.  There is a two-way tie for fourth place: Bernard Herrmann and Elmer Bernstein both have seven.  I have provided links to YouTube videos that show the score so you can hear it for yourselves.  If a movie has been reviewed on this blog, the film review will be included next to the name inside the parentheses.

Anyway…enjoy!

1. Star Wars (The Franchise)—John Williams
2. Gone With the Wind—Max Steiner (view film review here)
3. Lawrence of Arabia—Maurice Jarre
4. The Lord of the Rings (The Franchise)—Howard Shore
5. Psycho—Bernard Herrmann (view film review here)
6. Schindler’s List—John Williams
7. Cinema Paradiso—Ennio Morricone
8. Vertigo—Bernard Herrmann (view film review here)
9. King Kong—Max Steiner
10. The Godfather—Nino Rota (view film review here)
11. Doctor Zhivago—Maurice Jarre
12. The Lion in Winter—John Barry
13. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly—Ennio Morricone
14. Ivan the Terrible—Sergei Prokofiev
15. To Kill a Mockingbird—Elmer Bernstein
16. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial—John Williams
17. The Magnificent Seven—Elmer Bernstein
18. Jurassic Park—John Williams
19. How the West Was Won—Alfred Newman
20. Laura—David Raksin (view film review here)
21. Chinatown—Jerry Goldsmith
22. The Adventures of Robin Hood—Erich Wolfgang Korngold
23. The Great Escape—Elmer Bernstein
24. King Lear—Dmitri Shostakovich
25. The Pink Panther—Henry Mancini
26. Harry Potter (The Franchise)—John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper, Alexander Desplat
27. Wuthering Heights—Alfred Newman (view film review here)
28. Once Upon a Time in America—Ennio Morricone
29. Breakfast at Tiffany’s—Henry Mancini
30. The Third Man—Anton Karas
31. The Ten Commandments—Elmer Bernstein
32. Maléna—Ennio Morricone
33. Alexander Nevsky—Sergei Prokofiev
34. Sunset Boulevard—Franz Waxman
35. Once Upon a Time in the West—Ennio Morricone
36. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir—Bernard Herrmann
37. Jaws—John Williams
38. Kings Row—Erich Wolfgang Korngold
39. Dr. No—Monty Norman
40. On the Waterfront—Leonard Bernstein
41. Conan the Barbarian—Basil Poledouris
42. Modern Times—Charlie Chaplin
43. Now, Voyager—Max Steiner
44. The Omen—Jerry Goldsmith
45. Lt. Kije—Sergei Prokofiev
46. The Hunchback of Notre Dame—Alfred Newman
47. The Best Years of Our Lives—Hugo Friedhofer
48. The Devil and Daniel Webster—Bernard Herrmann
49. Casablanca—Max Steiner
50. Rebecca—Franz Waxman
51. The Mission—Ennio Morricone
52. A Fistful of Dollars—Ennio Morricone
53. The Sea Hawk—Erich Wolfgang Korngold
54. The Red Pony—Aaron Copland
55. Hook—John Williams
56. Ben-Hur—Miklós Rózsa
57. Raiders of the Lost Ark—John Williams
58. How Green Was My Valley—Alfred Newman
59. Braveheart—James Horner
60. Picnic at Hanging Rock—Bruce Smeaton
61. Pirates of the Caribbean (The Franchise)—Klaus Badelt
62. Titanic—James Horner
63. The Last Emperor—David Byrne and Ryûichi Sakamoto
64. Out of Africa—John Barry
65. Spellbound—Miklós Rózsa
66. Superman—John Williams
67. Romeo and Juliet—Nino Rota
68. 8 ½—Nino Rota
69. Beauty and the Beast—Alan Menken
70. The Wizard of Oz—Herbert Stothart (view film review here)
71. The Searchers—Max Steiner
72. High Noon—Dimitri Tiomkin
73. Citizen Kane—Bernard Herrmann (view film review here)
74. Adventures of Don Juan—Max Steiner
75. The Grand Budapest Hotel—Alexandre Desplat
76. Tron: Legacy—Daft Punk
77. Limelight—Charlie Chaplin
78. Batman—Danny Elfman
79. North by Northwest—Bernard Herrmann
80. Star Trek: The Motion Picture—Jerry Goldsmith
81. Dances With Wolves—John Barry
82. The Deer Hunter—Stanley Myers
83. The Red Violin— John Corigliano
84. A Place in the Sun—Franz Waxman
85. La Dolce Vita—Nino Rota
86. Anatomy of a Murder—Duke Ellington
87. The Fall of Berlin—Dmitri Shostakovich
88. Johnny Belinda—Max Steiner
89. The Lion King—Hans Zimmer
90. Of Mice and Men—Aaron Copland
91. A Streetcar Named Desire—Alex North
92. Taxi Driver—Bernard Herrmann
93. The Battle of Algiers—Ennio Morricone
94. Sweet Smell of Success—Elmer Bernstein
95. Charge of the Light Brigade—Max Steiner
96. The Social Network—Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
97. Bride of Frankenstein—Franz Waxman
98. All About Eve—Alfred Newman
99. Walk on the Wild Side—Elmer Bernstein
100. On Golden Pond—Dave Grusin
101. Rocky—Bill Conti