Another AFI list, this time the top 25 music scores

[trekgeezer]

Here they are:

# 1. Star Wars (1977) John Williams

# 2. Gone With the Wind (1939) Max Steiner

# 3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Maurice Jarre

# 4. Psycho (1960) Bernard Herrmann

# 5. The Godfather (1972) Nino Rota

# 6. Jaws (1975) John Williams

# 7. Laura (1944) David Raksin

# 8. The Magnificent Seven (1960) Elmer Bernstein

# 9. Chinatown (1974) Jerry Goldsmith

# 10. High Noon (1952) Dimitri Tiomkin

# 11. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) Erich Wolfgang Korngold

# 12. Vertigo (1958) Bernard Herrmann

# 13. King Kong (1933) Max Steiner

# 14. E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) John Williams

# 15. Out of Africa (1985) John Barry

# 16. Sunset Boulevard (1950) Franz Waxman

# 17. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Elmer Bernstein

# 18. Planet of the Apes (1968) Jerry Goldsmith

# 19. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Alex North

# 20. The Pink Panther (1964) Henry Mancini

# 21. Ben-Hur (1959) Miklos Rozsa

# 22. On the Waterfront (1954) Leonard Bernstein

# 23. The Mission (1986) Ennio Morricone

# 24. On Golden Pond (1981) Dave Grusin

# 25. How the West Was Won (1962) Alfred Newman

Here's the article.

[Mr. Hockstatter]

They forgot Blood Dolls.  

Well, maybe they omitted it on purpose.

[ulthar]

Mr. Hockstatter wrote:

> They forgot Blood Dolls.  
>

And the theme song to Killer Klowns (don't recall much of the rest of the score, but that song will be in my mind forever).

[odinn7]

What?!?!?!  No soundtrack for The One? No Charlies Angels? No Chupacabra: The Dark Seas? What the hell! Another fake list. Star Wars? Whoever heard of that tripe.

[Scottie]

And where's Blood Feast's score in all of this mess? Don't they know that H.G. Lewis wrote AND played the tune all by himself? What is this world coming to. Star Wars.... seriously, who ever heard of that thing?

[ulthar]

odinn7 wrote:

> What?!?!?!  No soundtrack for The One? No Charlies Angels? No
> Chupacabra: The Dark Seas? What the hell! Another fake list.
> Star Wars? Whoever heard of that tripe.
>

Well, if

# 23. The Mission (1986) Ennio Morricone

could make the list, I'm wondering why his score for The Thing did not.  I think I heard/read that Carpenter was not initially thrilled with the score (or early drafts of it), but imo it really works to set the tone for the movie.  It's like from the first note, you get a glimpse of that final scene.

I have to admit, in all seriousness, that I don't recall the scores from most of those movies (the ones that I've seen).

And finally, WHERE IS PULP FICTION????  One of the best Soundtracks EVER (though not original score, so I guess it's disqualified).

[SaintMort]

I love that John Williams is on there 3 times when there's nothing original about any of his scores, they're all stolen from classical works while Danny Elfman possibly the greatest and most unique composer in film got NOTHING!

[AndyC]

Tsk, tsk, tsk. Most unique? Unique is something you either are or are not. There can be no degrees, and no comparisons.

Can you tell I'm an editor? If you really want to get me going, use 'may' when you mean 'might.'

[Mitch McAfee]

Its great to see John Barry came in at #15 for his score to Out Of Africa!

A little known fact - the love theme was originally composed for Star Crash!!!

[2xSlick]

I'm with Saint Mort on this one. How did they come up with the Star Wars theme as the best? He's done that theme three times with Superman and Indiana Jones. IJ's score was a good remix of that song, much more toe tapping involved. I love the psycho theme but it is also a rip off of something else as well. Can't remember which piece it's from though. And everyone knows best theme song goes to Ghost Busters.

[Mr. Hockstatter]

Hard to believe The Omen didn't make the list.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Thanks, 2XSlick. I forgot about the score for "Ghostbusters." I loved that score. Another score I loved, off the top of my head, was the one for "The Alamo." The John Wayne version. (I'll try to think of some more.)

Therefore, they may be the top 25 music scores as selected by AFI, but the only two I enjoyed, were #8 and #10. Which is typical for any listed selected by AFI.

[dean]

As usual, these lists are a matter of interpretation and what have you.  Dissappointed that Ennio Morricone only got one look in, but that's the way it is I guess.

Other 'classic' theme songs I get a kick out of:

*Close Encounters of the Third Kind
*Bladerunner
*Terminator
*Jaws [Yeah I know it's already on the list, but I love the funky version I have on a movie soundtrack CD, it just seems so innappropriate considering the movie!]
*Back to the Future [it's fun]
*Batman [the Original]
*The Diva Dance/Opera song from The Fifth Element is great, though I guess it probably isn't a theme song exactly...

Also a great song which I find is relatively unnoticed alot of the time is one of the main climactic songs from the film 'Plunkett and Maclaene.'  It's a fantastic song, and a good movie too, but the song seems like it was lifted from some epic blockbuster like Lord of the Rings, instead of this film.

I have too many damn soundtracks lying around at home, but those are some personal favourites of mine.

Saintmort wrote:

>>>>I love that John Williams is on there 3 times when there's nothing original about any of his scores, they're all stolen from classical works while Danny Elfman possibly the greatest and most unique composer in film got NOTHING!

Well, Danny Elfman is a great composer, I really enjoyed his theme song from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but I actually find it hard to remember some of his music in comparison to John Williams.  Kind of wierd considering I really like Danny Elfman's work, but I find I can only remember some of his stuff, whereas Williams has sort of embedded himself into my head a bit easier [as you can no doubt tell from some of the other theme songs I just listed]

Damn accessible music...

[BoyScoutKevin]

(IMHO) The AFI should go back and start again. Where are the instrumental scores for . . .

Bridge Over the River Kwai
Casino Royale
Flash Gordon
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
The Medicine Man
Rat Race

I did like one more from their list, and that is #20.