Top 25 Film Scores

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

The following table lists the top 25 film scores from 100 years of film, according to the American Film Institute. The awards were presented at a live concert performed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra on Sept. 23, 2005.

RankFilm titleStudioYearComposer
1.Star WarsTwentieth Century Fox1977John Williams
2.Gone With the WindMGM1939Max Steiner
3.Lawrence of ArabiaColumbia1962Maurice Jarre
4.PsychoParamount1960Bernard Herrmann
5.The GodfatherParamount1972Nino Rota
6.JawsUniversal1975John Williams
7.LauraTwentieth Century Fox1944David Raksin
8.The Magnificent SevenUnited Artists1960Elmer Bernstein
9.ChinatownParamount1974Jerry Goldsmith
10.High NoonUnited Artists1952Dimitri Tiomkin
11.The Adventures of Robin HoodWarner Bros.1938Erich Wolfgang Korngold
12.VertigoParamount1958Bernard Herrmann
13.King KongRKO1933Max Steiner
14.E.T. the ExtraterrestrialUniversal1982John Williams
15.Out of AfricaUniversal1985John Barry
16.Sunset Blvd.Paramount1950Franz Waxman
17.To Kill a MockingbirdUniversal1962Elmer Bernstein
18.Planet of the ApesTwentieth Century Fox1968Jerry Goldsmith
19.A Streetcar Named DesireWarner Bros.1951Alex North
20.The Pink PantherUnited Artists1964Henry Mancini
21.Ben-HurMGM1959Miklos Rozsa
22.On the WaterfrontColumbia1954Leonard Bernstein
23.The MissionWarner Bros.1986Ennio Morricone
24.On Golden PondUniversal1981Dave Grusin
25.How the West Was WonMGM, Cinerama Releasing1962Alfred Newman

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