Top Film Scores: 33-21

I must apologize. I’m sort of in a Harry Potter stupor and it’s hard for me to concentrate on much else at the moment. But I’ll try and collect my thoughts for the next chunk of list.

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33. A Room With a View (1985), Richard Robbins. I’m almost not sure if it’s fair to include this film, as I believe the title theme is an excerpt of “O mio babbino caro” from the opera “Gianni Schicchi” by Giacomo Puccini. Nonetheless, it’s one of my favorite films and there are some truly wonderful moments. One of my absolute favorite parts of the film occurs after George kisses Lucy and begins jogging home excitedly in the rain through the beautiful Italian countryside. The music subtly gives us a sense of his excitement.

32. The Lion King (1994), Hans Zimmer. This is a great film score. I’m not talking about Elton John at all, but I suppose his songs are okay too. The instrumental music in this movie is very moving and it is worth getting a recording of the soundtrack and having a listen. Like in “Prince of Egypt”, Zimmer has a knack for bringing even cartoon characters’ emotions to life with a very moving and dramatic score.

31. Willow (1988), James Horner. While we’re on the subject of James Horner plagiarizing himself, I am certain that he took a part of this “Willow” score and placed it in his later film “The Mask of Zorro” (1998). It is in a scene toward the end, the gold mine in California is being wired with explosives; there is a little menacing turn of the trumpet that’s a dead copy from “Willow”…but no matter. This film is one of my beloved childhood favorites, and it is due in large part to the score. The best moment–for me–comes in a very specific scene. The heroes’ theme blossoms before our ears, breaks free, soars. It is toward the beginning, when Willow’s caravan is traveling across the countryside on their great quest. In one particular moment they cross a bridge and we hear this theme erupt, full-fledged, beautiful and heroic. I’ll never forget it.

30. Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1988), Ennio Morricone. This is a foreign film I watched with my AP English class in my senior year of high school. When I saw who the composer was, my admiration for the music increased greatly (and you’ll see why later). The melody is simple and charming, intimating to us the special bond of friendship formed between an old man who works as a projectionist at the village theatre, and a young boy who falls in love with movies.

29. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), T-Bone Burnett, Hoyt Ming, Pete Roberts and William Tyers. I was hesitant to include this film because it’s not your normal film score (by normal I just mean all instrumental music, like I’ve been judging most every other film). But it’s such an awesome mixture of folk songs that I knew it had to be on here somewhere. Who doesn’t love the moment toward the end when Everett and his buddies Pete and Delmar sing the hit song “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” decked out on stage in their fake beard disguises?

28. Shawshank Redemption (1994), Thomas Newman. For me, this music is vintage Newman. It’s simple, folksy, provocatively mundane, yet with brief hints of pristinely transcendent beauty in the upper strings. We hear it first when we arrive at Shawshank Prison with Andy Dufresne. The subtle, plodding music swells to an exciting climax as, toward the end of the film, Dufresne makes his incredible breakout to freedom. We never even saw it coming until the moment it arrived; yet it was being prepared all along right under our noses (and the music reflects all of this perfectly!) It stays there like Dufresne, imprisoned but hopeful, waiting patiently, waiting for the right moment. When the moment comes, we can’t believe our eyes…or ears.

27. Batman (1989), Danny Elman. Elfman’s theme is paramount. It is Batman himself, and though there are later movies being made, I don’t think any melody will ever character the Dark Knight better than that minor horn call up to the flat-six (sorry, I’m speaking in music theory terms here. Don’t know how else to explain it!)

26. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Michale Kamen. This is a riveting and exciting score. We are pulled into the world of Robin Hood right from the start of the opening credits as the F-horns–in supreme hunting horn fashion–fairly usher us into the dark forests of medieval England.

25. Cast Away (2000) and Forrest Gump (1994), Alan Silvestri. Yes, it’s a dead tie! The only tie on this list, in fact. Why did I pair them evenly? Well there is an astounding number of similarities in both movies. Both musically and directorially they are nearly two sides of the same coin (in my opinion). Both are Robert Zemeckis films starring Tom Hanks with music by Alan Silvestri. When we observe the music closely, we may find that the similarities are distinct.

Cast Away takes quite a unique approach, as we hear not a single note of music from the moment Hanks’ plane crashes until he is floating on a tiny raft away years later. As he looks back longingly on the island that has become his home, the strings enter very unintrusively and tell us of Hanks’ feelings. It is a very powerful moment, and a brilliant idea between Zemeckis and Silvestri to save the music for this part. Thanks to the talents of Silvestri, I think I am safe in saying that most of us cried when an anthropomorphized volleyball floated away serenly on the ocean.

Forrest Gump also has many moving moments. Not only is it a great story of one special man’s journey, but the music helps us to feel what Gump feels in particularly emotional moments. One of my favorite of these poignant moments comes when Forrest is back home alone, after many years of adventures in the “wide world”, riding his lawn mower and thinking of Jenny. Again, it’s a very sentimental melody in the strings that helps us relate to the deep emotions of Gump.

23. The English Patient (1996), Gabriel Yared. I like to use the expression “hauntingly beautiful” at times (to a fault); and I can’t think of a better way to describe this score. There are moments, orchestrationally, of sheer beauty in the style of the great Romantic composers. A little turn of the oboe over a bed of seductive strings is the sound we remember most–effervescent, immaterial, excited and fermenting, like the forbidden and intense passions the main characters feel for each other.

22. Restoration (1995), James Newton Howard. The music is in the style of the great English baroque composer Henry Purcell. Newton Howard utilizes period instruments and composes mostly in the idiom of the time our story takes place: roughly the late 1600’s. I will not lie, this film has one of the greatest scenes I have ever seen in any movie…ever. It comes when the character Robert Merivel exclaims, “I see!”

Well…you’ll just have to see it for yourself. This is an awesome movie.

21. The Godfather (1972), Nino Rota. What a fitting way to round out our list before hitting the Top 20. The theme for this trilogy is perfect: dark, twisting, Italianate melody. Rota weaves it through his entire score like a thread, Michael’s thread, which tells us the sad dark story of a young man’s depraved journey into ever increasing fear, mistrust, and eventual loneliness.