My 75 All-Time Favorite Original Movie Scores

Listed are a total of fifty-four composers and seventy-five scores.

The Italian progressive rock group, Goblin (Claudio Simonetti, Massimo Morante, Fabio Pignatelli, Agostino Marangolo and Maurizio Guarini) is considered ONE composer on “Suspiria.”

Three of the composers listed have a backup composer (Goblin with Dario Argento, Trevor Jones with Randy Edelman and Tyler Bates with Tim Williams, giving a total of fifty-seven composers overall).

Forty-two (forty-five, counting the three backups) composers are represented once. Seven are represented twice. Three are represented thrice, and two have five of their scores honored. Of the composers, fifty-four are male, and one is female. This used to be—and still is—a very masculine profession, but female composers, like Mica Levi, are finally making headway.

The seventy-five scores are divided almost equally between Jewish (total thirty-five) and non-Jewish (total thirty-nine) composers, with one, “The Last of the Mohicans,” being composed by Trevor Jones (not Jewish) and Randy Edelman (Jewish).

One of John Barry’s scores is listed twice; it’s the same score but with an orchestral arrangement in “You Only Live Twice” and an arrangement for harmonica in “Midnight Cowboy” – Barry received no screen credit for his work on “Cowboy.” However, I have counted both scores for Barry’s TOTAL of three.

Of the seventy-five original scores listed, six are Oscar winners: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Way We Were (1973) and Midnight Express (1978). Twenty-four received an Oscar nomination. One received a nomination that was then rescinded: Nino Rota for The Godfather (1972). The other forty-four of my seventy-five favorite movie scores (almost 60%) were NOT nominated by AMPAS – a reflection of that branch of the Academy’s questionable taste!

Gone with the Wind (1939): Max Steiner

Rebecca (1940): Franz Waxman

Citizen Kane (1941): Bernard Herrmann

King’s Row (1942): Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Laura (1944): David Raksin

Double Indemnity (1944): Miklós Rózsa

Notorious (1946): Roy Webb

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946): Hugo Friedhofer

The Third Man (1949): Anton Karas

Sunset Boulevard (1950): Franz Waxman

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951): Alex North

Rebel Without a Cause (1955): Leonard Rosenman

The Big Country (1958): Jerome Moross

Vertigo (1958): Bernard Herrmann

North by Northwest (1959): Bernard Herrmann

Psycho (1960): Bernard Herrmann.

The Magnificent Seven (1960): Elmer Bernstein

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961): Henry Mancini

Lawrence of Arabia (1962): Maurice Jarre

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962): Elmer Bernstein

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962): Frank De Vol

The Haunting (1963) Humphrey Searle

Eight and a Half (1963): Nino Rota

The Pink Panther (1964): Henry Mancini

Contempt (1964): Georges Delerue

Juliette of the Spirits (1965): Nino Rota

A Man and a Woman (1966): Francis Lai

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966): Ennio Morricone

Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967): Toshiro Mayuzumi

You Only Live Twice (1967): John Barry

(the same score as “Midnight Cowboy” arranged for the symphony)

The Fox (1968): Lalo Schifrin

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968): Ennio Morricone

The Wild Bunch (1969): Jerry Fielding

Midnight Cowboy (1969): John Barry

(the same score as “You Only Live Twice” arranged for harmonica: Barry does not receive an on-screen credit)

Straw Dogs (1971): Jerry Fielding

The Godfather (1972): Nino Rota

Last Tango in Paris (1973): Gato Barbieri

The Way We Were (1973): Marvin Hamlisch

Chinatown (1974): Jerry Goldsmith.

The Parallax View (1974): Michael Small

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975): Bruce Smeaton

Taxi Driver (1976): Bernard Herrmann.

Carrie (1976): Pino Donaggio

Rocky (1976): Bill Conti

1900 (1976): Ennio Morricone

The Other Side of Midnight (1977): Michel Legrand

Suspiria (1977): Goblin and Dario Argento

Midnight Express (1978): Giorgio Moroder

Halloween (1978): John Carpenter

Tess (1979): Philippe Sarde.

American Gigolo (1980): Giorgio Moroder

Altered States (1980): John Corigliano.

Dressed to Kill (1980): Pino Donaggio

Body Heat (1981): John Barry

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): John Williams.

Diva (1981): Vladimir Cosma.

Blade Runner (1982): Vangelis

Sophie’s Choice (1982): Marvin Hamlisch

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983): Ryuichi Sakamoto

Koyaanisqatsi (1983): Philip Glass

The Mission (1986): Ennio Morricone

The Moderns (1988): Mark Isham

Cinema Paradiso (1989): Ennio Morricone

The Last of the Mohicans (1992): Trevor Jones with Randy Edelman

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992): Wojciech Kilar

The Piano (1993): Michael Nyman

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999): Gabriel Yared

There Will Be Blood (2007): Jonny Greenwood

Revolutionary Road (2008): Thomas Newman

Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy (2011): Alberto Iglesias

Under the Skin (2014): Mica Levi

Phantom Thread (2017): Jonny Greenwood

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018): Nicholas Britell

Spencer (2021): Jonny Greenwood

Pearl (2022): Tyler Bates (& Tim Williams)

TABLE: MY 75 FAVORITE ORIGINAL MOVIE SCORES: COMPOSERS

Bernard Herrmann (5)	Vladimir Cosma (1)	Michael Nyman (1)
Ennio Morricone (5)	Frank De Vol (1)	David Raksin (1)
	Georges Delerue (1)	Leonard Rosenman (1)
John Barry (3) *	Hugo Friedhofer (1)	Miklos Rozsa (1)
Jonny Greenwood (3)	Philip Glass (1)	Ryuichi Sakamoto (1)
Nino Rota (3)	Goblin (& Dario Argento) (1)	Phillipe Sarde (1)
	Jerry Goldsmith (1)	Lalo Schifrin (1)
Elmer Bernstein (2)	Alberto Iglesias (1)	Humphrey Searle (1)
Pino Donaggio (2)	Mark Isham (1)	Michael Small (1)
Jerry Fielding (2)	Maurice Jarre (1)	Bruce Smeaton (1)
Marvin Hamlisch (2)	Trevor Jones (& Randy Edelman) (1)	Max Steiner (1)
Henry Mancini (2)	Anton Karas (1)	Vangelis (1)
Giorgio Moroder (2)	Wojciech Kilar (1)	Roy Webb (1)
Franz Waxman (2)	Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1)	John Williams (1)
	Francis Lai (1)	Gabriel Yared (1)
Gato Barbieri (1)	Michel Legrand (1)
Tyler Bates (& Tim Williams) (1)	Mica Levi (1)
Nicholas Britell (1)	Toshiro Mayuzumi (1)
John Carpenter (1)	Jerome Moross (1)
Bill Conti (1)	Thomas Newman (1)
John Corigliano (1)	Alex North (1)