Star Wars Tops AFI’s List of Greatest Film Scores of All Time

American Film Institute (AFI) revealed the top 25 film scores of all time in The Big Picture-AFI’s 100 Years of Film Scores, a one-night only presentation produced by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association in cooperation with AFI. A jury of over 500 film artists, composers, musicians, critics and historians selected John Williams’ iconic score from the classic film STAR WARS as the most memorable film score of all time. John Williams is additionally noteworthy as the most represented composer on the list with three scores making the top 25.

Rounding off the top 10 were film scores ranging in theme from sweeping epics to westerns, including: GONE WITH THE WIND (#2), composer Max Steiner; LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (#3), composer Maurice Jarre; PSYCHO (#4), composer Bernard Herrmann; THE GODFATHER (#5), composer Nino Rota; JAWS (#6), composer John Williams; LAURA (#7), composer David Raksin; THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (#8), composer Elmer Bernstein; CHINATOWN (#9) composer Jerry Goldsmith; and HIGH NOON (#10), composer Dimitri Tiomkin.

Spanning a century of film music and counting down from 25 to number one throughout the evening, Principal Conductor John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra performed excerpts from each of the winning scores, many of them accompanied by favorite movie scenes shown on the Bowl’s big video screens. While television broadcasts have announced the previous eight installments of AFI’s 100 Years… series, this event marks the first time an AFI countdown was revealed before a live audience.

The Honorees Are …

FILM TITLE

1 STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE
1977 John Williams

2 GONE WITH THE WIND
1939 Max Steiner

3 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
1962 Maurice Jarre

4 PSYCHO
1960 Bernard Herrmann

5 GODFATHER, THE
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 BLVD.
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

Created as a sidebar to AFI’s popular AFI’s 100 Years… series, AFI’s 100 Years of Film Scores continues the mission of this program-to reignite an interest in classic American cinema. This theme additionally befits the Hollywood Bowl’s annual movie night, which brings to life the music of the world’s most beloved films.

AFI’s 100 Years… series has garnered considerable attention from movie lovers around the world-and consistently sparks national discussions of America’s film history. Previous programs within this series have included AFI 100 Years … 100 Movies (1998), …100 Stars (1999), …100 Laughs (2000), …100 Thrills (2001), …100 Passions (2002), …100 Heroes & Villains (2003), …100 Songs (2004) and …100 Movie Quotes (2005).

About the Jury Process

AFI distributed a ballot with 250 nominated movie scores to a jury of over 500 leaders from the creative community, including composers, musicians, film artists (directors, screenwriters, actors, editors and cinematographers), critics and historians. The jurors were asked to consider the following criteria in making their selections:

FILM SCORE

An original music composition written to serve as the dramatic underscore to an American film released in the sound era.*

CREATIVE IMPACT

Film Scores that enrich the moviegoing experience by bringing the emotional elements of a film’s story to life.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Film Scores that create a new sound and, therefore, present the film in a distinct fashion while advancing the art forms.

LEGACY

Film Scores that are also enjoyed apart from the movie and evoking the memory of its film source, thus ensuring and enlivening both the music and the movie’s historical legacy.

*AFI defines an American film as an English language motion picture with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States. Additionally, only Film Scores from feature-length American films released in the sound era (1927 to present) will be considered. AFI defines a feature-length film as a motion picture of narrative format that is typically over 60 minutes in length.