The Ten Greatest Film Scores

Although I initially hesitated to write a piece on this topic, I figured I’d give it a go since I spend a lot of time watching movies and listening to classical music. Interestingly enough (for me anyway), I don’t spend much time listening to film scores. In fact, I never listen to film scores. For many people in the classical music business, film music takes on the form of a “lesser art.” I find that perspective to be completely moronic because even if the music is used to enhance and create a different art form doesn’t mean it’s at all “lesser.” Look back at the history of classical music and you’ll see that this has been the case for hundreds of years. Listen, for example, to Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, which was written as incidental music (meaning accompanying and interlude music) for Goethe’s play Egmont. Nobody denies that this is an incredible achievement of Beethoven’s middle period, yet it serves almost the same purpose as film music. 

Ballet music in general serves the same purpose. The primary consideration in the viewing of a ballet isn’t how good the music is, it’s how good the dancers are, with some exceptions. Does anybody object to the musical magnificence of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake or The Nutcracker or Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, The Firebird, and Petrouchka? No! They’d be out of their minds to say that any of these works are “lesser art forms.” I find this sort of snobbery outrageous and I think we’d be a lot better off if we just got rid of it once and for all. The score of a film is one of the most important things in cinematic history, and often it makes or breaks the movie. Its importance cannot be overstated. Take your favorite movie, and imagine what it would be like without the score. It’s impossible, right? Can you imagine Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’s final duel without those wailing trumpets or Star Wars without its bombastic and iconic opening theme? You can, but I promise the scenes are much less effective. That being said, here are the 10 greatest film scores of all time (excluding silent films).

10. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985, dir. Paul Schrader, score by Philip Glass)

Of all the movies I’ve seen, this is the one I instantly recall when I think of a movie that truly depends on its score. Paul Schrader, when telling Philip Glass what he wanted in terms of music said that the film was like a series of boats and that Glass needed to compose the river for the boats to float on. And what a river Glass composed. The opening motif of inverted triads links each of this film's chapters, and Glass’s signature style is on full display here in the most effective that it’s ever been. From his creative jazzy reconstruction of the opening motif in the chapter of the film that adapts Mishima’s novel Kyoko’s House to the repetition of the opening section during Mishima’s suicide, the score of this piece is nothing short of amazing in the way that it truly does tell a story and paints a thematic portrait of Mishima’s life. The juxtaposition of the visually striking and decadent set design contrasted with Philip Glass’s minimalist score works in a very enchanting way that effectively provides artistic variation. 

9. Manhattan (1979, dir. Woody Allen, music by George Gershwin)

"Chapter One. He adored New York City. He idol­ized it all out of proportion." Uh, no, make that: "He-he . . . romanticized it all out of proportion. Now ... to him ... no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin." Ahhh, now let me start this over. "Chapter One. He was too romantic about Manhattan as he was about everything else. He thrived on the hustle . . . bustle of the crowds and the traffic." "To him, New York meant beautiful women and street-smart guys who seemed to know all the angles." Nah, no . . . corny, too corny . . . for . . . my taste (Clearing his throat) ... I mean, let me try and make it more profound. "Chapter One. He adored New York City. To him, it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. The same lack of individual integrity to cause so many people to take the easy way out . . . was rapidly turning the town of his dreams in-" No, it's gonna be too preachy. I mean, you know . . . let's face it, I wanna sell some books here."Chapter One. He adored New York City, although to him, it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. How hard it was to exist in a society desensitized by drugs, loud music, televi­sion, crime, garbage." Too angry. I don't wanna be angry. "Chapter One. He was as ... tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat." I love this. "New York was his town. And it always would be."

Can you imagine a more New York experience than Woody Allen talking about New York while Rhapsody in Blue plays, all accompanied by beautiful black and white shots of the Manhattan skyline and streets? No, I didn’t think so. While this isn’t necessarily a score rather than the use of a certain composer’s work in a movie, I had to include it because I have never seen a more apt usage of Gershwin’s music anywhere, and also because I’m a huge fan of Woody Allen. The amazing thing about the use of Gershwin in Manhattan is that it perfectly suits the film in terms of the idealized version of New York that Allen is trying to show, and it’s no surprise that Allen was inspired to make the film out of his love for Gershwin’s music. The movie demonstrates Allen’s keen understanding of Gershwin’s idiom and its effectiveness in conveying the message and themes of the movie. He also uses very fine performances of Gershwin’s music, by the way. A remarkable synthesis of music and the moving image.

8. Double Indemnity (1944, dir. Billy Wilder, score by Miklós Rózsa)

Very few people realize that before his move to Hollywood, Rózsa was considered one of the major figures on the twentieth-century European classical music scene. He had trained in Leipzig, and his compositions were performed by great conductors such as Bruno Walter, Eugene Ormandy, Charles Munch, and Leonard Bernstein. Later in his career, after he had already established himself as a distinguished film composer, Jascha Heifetz recorded and championed his violin concerto. His work is characterized by lush orchestration and harmonies rooted in the German and Hungarian traditions, with the influences of Mahler and Bartók clear in many of his compositions. Although he composed numerous film scores, many of which were fantastic (they garnered him 17 Academy Award nominations), his finest work in the realm of cinema has to be the famous score to Double Indemnity. I don’t know what it was about the collaboration between Wilder and Rózsa, but they did some of their finest work with each other. The story and suspense of Double Indemnity perfectly suited Rózsa’s dark, brooding, chromatic style. If Wilder made the movie that represented the apex of the Noir genre, Rózsa defined the sound of it. The influences of Schubert are palpable, and Wilder himself told Rózsa that he wanted music that was similar to Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony (No. 8), which opens with a dark, brooding melody in the Cellos and Basses. The Unfinished Symphony itself is heard in the movie when Walter and Lola go to the Hollywood Bowl to hear an orchestral concert.

7. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, dir. Steven Spielberg, score by John Williams)

I had to include something by John Williams, and he never wrote a finer score than Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sure, I could’ve picked one of his other scores that are considered to be “better” like Star Wars or Schindler’s List, but when it comes down to it, this is undoubtedly his finest work. Action, adventure, romance, bombast, and excitement, everything you want from a fun-filled blockbuster perfectly executed in John Williams’s score. Indiana Jones’s bull-whip and fights can’t be divorced from the main theme. The use of brass and pounding rhythms in the strings and percussion are unmissable and unforgettable. The superb playing of the London Symphony is not to be missed. This is one of the scores that defined action and opened up new avenues in the world of film music, and it is arguably John Williams’s finest work. 

6. There Will be Blood (2007, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, score by Jonny Greenwood)

The collaboration between Paul Thomas Anderson and Jonny Greenwood has resulted in some of the greatest, eeriest scores ever written. Jonny Greenwood’s use of radically varied string textures is evident in the scene in this movie where the oil well explodes and everyone is running, all accompanied by pounding percussion and sudden, dissonant crescendos in the violins. It is one of the most amazing and uncomfortable moments in any movie, and it provokes intense anxiety even though the catastrophe has already happened. Greenwood, by his admission, is and was incredibly influenced by the music of Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, and his use of extended techniques and incredibly dissonant harmonies demonstrates this. For a movie that is so ugly and terrifying in its depiction of how money affects our morals and values, Jonny Greenwood’s ugly and terrifying score lends itself to the subject matter perfectly. I debated between putting Jonny Greenwood’s score for Phantom Thread (also directed by Paul Thomas Anderson) on here, but ultimately this one won. I think it just suits the movie better. Whether or not the music is better is a different question.

5. Vertigo (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, score by Bernard Herrmann)

It’s quite easy, really. If you don’t like Vertigo, you don’t like movies. I had to include something that Bernard Herrmann did here because he was one of the most original film composers, and his collaborations with Hitchcock are legendary. As Herrmann himself put it, “[Hitchcock] only finishes a picture 60 percent. I have to finish it for him.” Whether or not you believe it’s true, it’s hard to imagine a Hitchcock picture without music by Herrmann. I could’ve picked Psycho, I could’ve picked practically anything they did together, but I settled on Vertigo. Why? Because at its heart Vertigo is a film about death and obsession. The spiraling and circular imagery is reflected in Herrmann’s score (think about the opening rooftop scene where the music moves in spirals, only occasionally interjected by loud dissonances from the brass section) and the constant tension and relief (or excitement and despair, in this case) is perfectly represented. Think about the final scene, where Judy falls off of the bell tower and Scottie stands in amazement looking down, realizing that his fear of heights has been cured, only far too late. The ending of the score encapsulates the atmosphere and themes of the film: love, death, obsession, and suspense.

4. Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (1958, dir. Louis Malle, score by Miles Davis)

Miles Davis and his band sat in front of a screen watching Louis Malle’s film and improvised along to it. That’s how this score was made. Unique in the Miles Davis discography, I believe that this shows what an amazing improviser Miles was at heart. Sure, you can get a sample of it in his other albums, but what you’re getting here is pure, raw, Miles improvisation one year before the release of Kind of Blue. He was often outshined by his sidemen (Coltrane, Bill Evans, even Hank Mobley), but here, he’s the star of the show. This score is what most people remember about this movie. You don’t even have to watch it. Just listen to the score and you’ll know what the movie’s about.

3. Casablanca (1942, dir. Michael Curtiz, score by Max Steiner)

I want you to sit back, really sit back, and imagine Casablanca without the score. It’s fucking impossible. There are so many brilliant moments in the movie, but I think mine has to be when the plane is leaving in the finale and the strings build along with the horns in increasing dissonances. It’s perfect. How Max Steiner (who also wrote the score for Gone With the Wind) managed to create a perfect score to go along with a perfect movie is completely beyond me. It’s incredibly varied and the subtleties of texture are amazing when you consider the entire thing is based on the French national anthem. The influence of Wagner is apparent when you pay attention to the different leitmotifs that Steiner uses. Overall, the heroic and noble nature of Rick and the fragile beauty of Ilsa is due in no small part to how the music characterizes them. 

Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By. Who could forget that?

2. The Godfather (1972, dir. Francis Ford Coppola, score by Nino Rota)

I think that behind Star Wars, the most recognizable theme from all of the movies is the love theme from The Godfather. Hell, it was even made into a pop song. Nino Rota’s score is iconic. Its use of Italian motifs and beautiful woodwinds perfectly complements the decadent and Shakespearean nature of the movie. The final scene where the door closes on Diane Keaton and Michael looks at her while the theme is playing is one of the most chilling scenes in all of cinematic history. This score is so rich, so distinct, and so beautiful in its phrasing and its orchestration, that for for sheer aesthetics, there isn’t another score that touches it. Shoutout to that guy from Bensonhurst who got his car horn to do the theme from this movie.

1.  8 ½ (1963, dir. Federico Fellini, score by Nino Rota)

The best film score is 8 ½. Fellini was probably the greatest genius to ever pick up a film camera (besides Ingmar Bergman) and Rota did the score to the majority of his films. Fellini said that Rota was his most important collaborator. Like Mishima, this is another one of those movies where the score helps the drift along its path. Who could ever forget that little boy with the flute in the final scene, or the dance circle where the woodwinds accompany a march-like rhythm? Not only is this score so beautifully written and performed (like all of Nino Rota’s scores, but it helps the movie become the movie. When the characters develop, so do the themes. Rota helped Fellini create the greatest movie ever made, and this score to me is still the best. What’s interesting about this is that it characterizes Guido’s (the main character) flaws. The music is immature in mood and childlike, and it represents Guido’s infantilization and refusal to grow up. Only when Guido has killed his ego and accepted his failures as a person and a filmmaker, does the theme achieve its full potential and come to a natural (and fitting) conclusion. It is the supreme representation of the synthesis of music and film.

Honorable Mentions: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Star Wars, Under the Skin, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Psycho, Phantom Thread, Jurassic Park, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire, Under the Skin, Akira, Suspiria (1977), The Pink Panther, Taxi Driver, A Man Escaped, Jaws, Lord of the Rings, The Mission, Chinatown, On the Waterfront, Sunset Boulevard, Henry V (1944), Alexander Nevsky, The English Patient, Help, A Hard Day’s Night, Ivan the Terrible, Ran, Princess Mononoke, Cinema Paradiso, Shaft, Magnolia, Amarcord.