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Top Films from Selected Film Composers

The lists below include only films for which the composers contributed original music regardless of whether they were credited.

John Barry

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Midnight Cowboy 1969 John Schlesinger 120
2 Dances with Wolves 1990 Kevin Costner 165
3 Goldfinger 1964 Guy Hamilton 213
4 Zulu 1964 Cy Endfield 407
5 Out of Africa 1985 Sydney Pollack 445
6 Dr. No 1962 Terence Young 624
7 Body Heat 1981 Lawrence Kasdan 639
8 The Lion in Winter 1968 Anthony Harvey 720
9 From Russia with Love 1963 Terence Young 728
10 Walkabout 1971 Nicolas Roeg 729
11 The Ipcress File 1965 Sidney J. Furie 880
12 Petulia 1968 Richard Lester 1330
13 On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969 Peter R. Hunt 1912
14 Peggy Sue Got Married 1986 Francis Ford Coppola 2080
15 Born Free 1966 James Hill 2202
16 Seance on a Wet Afternoon 1964 Bryan Forbes 2232
17 You Only Live Twice 1967 Lewis Gilbert 2237
18 Robin and Marian 1976 Richard Lester 2358
19 Somewhere in Time 1980 Jeannot Szwarc 2401
20 Jagged Edge 1985 Richard Marquand 2495
21 The Knack... and How to Get It 1965 Richard Lester 2499

Georges Delerue

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Platoon 1986 Oliver Stone 111
2 Jules and Jim 1962 François Truffaut 154
3 The Conformist 1970 Bernardo Bertolucci 184
4 Hiroshima mon amour 1959 Alain Resnais 281
5 Day for Night 1973 François Truffaut 322
6 Contempt 1963 Jean-Luc Godard 373
7 A Man for All Seasons 1966 Fred Zinnemann 428
8 Shoot the Piano Player 1960 François Truffaut 596
9 Women in Love 1969 Ken Russell 851
10 Steel Magnolias 1989 Herbert Ross 1221
11 Beaches 1988 Garry Marshall 1266
12 Silkwood 1983 Mike Nichols 1274
13 Julia 1977 Fred Zinnemann 1287
14 Two English Girls 1971 François Truffaut 1438
15 Salvador 1986 Oliver Stone 1562
16 King of Hearts 1966 Phillippe de Broca 1570
17 The Day of the Jackal 1973 Fred Zinnemann 1665
18 An Italian Straw Hat 1928 René Clair 1678
19 The Last Metro 1980 François Truffaut 1814
20 Love on the Run 1979 François Truffaut 1909
21 Black Robe 1991 Bruce Beresford 2076
22 Get Out Your Handkerchiefs 1978 Bertrand Blier 2383

Danny Elfman

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Edward Scissorhands 1990 Tim Burton 354
2 Good Will Hunting 1997 Gus Van Sant 474
3 Batman 1989 Tim Burton 493
4 The Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 Henry Selick 567
5 Spider-Man 2002 Sam Raimi 574
6 Men in Black 1997 Barry Sonnenfeld 610
7 Chicago 2002 Rob Marshall 680
8 Beetlejuice 1988 Tim Burton 749
9 Spider-Man 2 2004 Sam Raimi 940
10 Pee-wee's Big Adventure 1985 Tim Burton 1177
11 Mission: Impossible 1996 Brian De Palma 1298
12 Midnight Run 1988 Martin Brest 1365
13 Big Fish 2003 Tim Burton 1473
14 Sleepy Hollow 1999 Tim Burton 1519
15 Spy Kids 2001 Robert Rodriguez 1602
16 A Simple Plan 1998 Sam Raimi 1609
17 To Die For 1995 Gus Van Sant 1617
18 Dick Tracy 1990 Warren Beatty 2034
19 Planet of the Apes 2001 Tim Burton 2225
20 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2005 Tim Burton 2334

Jerry Goldsmith

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Chinatown 1974 Roman Polanski 19
2 Alien 1979 Ridley Scott 54
3 L.A. Confidential 1997 Curtis Hanson 105
4 Patton 1970 Franklin J. Schaffner 178
5 Planet of the Apes 1968 Franklin J. Schaffner 279
6 Poltergeist 1982 Tobe Hooper 719
7 Hoosiers 1986 David Anspaugh 754
8 Basic Instinct 1992 Paul Verhoeven 762
9 The Omen 1976 Richard Donner 840
10 Gremlins 1984 Joe Dante 1003
11 Total Recall 1990 Paul Verhoeven 1036
12 Seconds 1966 John Frankenheimer 1068
13 Papillon 1973 Franklin J. Schaffner 1093
14 The Mummy 1999 Stephen Sommers 1118
15 Rudy 1993 David Anspaugh 1359
16 Seven Days in May 1964 John Frankenheimer 1419
17 First Blood 1982 Ted Kotcheff 1551
18 Lonely Are the Brave 1962 David Miller 1552
19 Star Trek: First Contact 1996 Jonathan Frakes 1589
20 Air Force One 1997 Wolfgang Petersen 1779
21 Tora! Tora! Tora! 1970 Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, and Toshio Masuda 1832
22 Star Trek: The Motion Picture 1979 Robert Wise 1859
23 Rambo: First Blood Part II 1985 George P. Cosmatos 1994
24 Mulan 1998 Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook 2000
25 The Secret of NIMH 1982 Don Bluth 2042
26 Six Degrees of Separation 1993 Fred Schepisi 2348
27 Lilies of the Field 1963 Ralph Nelson 2352
28 Von Ryan's Express 1965 Mark Robson 2395

Bernard Herrmann

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Citizen Kane 1941 Orson Welles 1
2 Psycho 1960 Alfred Hitchcock 9
3 Vertigo 1958 Alfred Hitchcock 10
4 Taxi Driver 1976 Martin Scorsese 16
5 North by Northwest 1959 Alfred Hitchcock 28
6 The Birds 1963 Alfred Hitchcock 238
7 The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951 Robert Wise 240
8 The Magnificent Seven 1960 John Sturges 404
9 Jason and the Argonauts 1963 Don Chaffey 609
10 The Ghost and Mrs. Muir 1947 Joseph L. Mankiewicz 960
11 The 7th Voyage of Sinbad 1958 Nathan Juran 1122
12 Marnie 1964 Alfred Hitchcock 1444
13 Cape Fear 1962 J. Lee Thompson 1549
14 The Man Who Knew Too Much 1956 Alfred Hitchcock 1585
15 The Wrong Man 1956 Alfred Hitchcock 1593
16 Portrait of Jennie 1948 William Dieterle 1850
17 The Devil and Daniel Webster 1941 William Dieterle 1890
18 Jane Eyre 1944 Robert Stevenson 2151
19 Fahrenheit 451 1966 François Truffaut 2385
20 The Trouble with Harry 1955 Alfred Hitchcock 2514

Alfred Newman

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 All about Eve 1950 Joseph L. Mankiewicz 35
2 Wuthering Heights 1939 William Wyler 299
3 How Green Was My Valley 1941 John Ford 342
4 Gunga Din 1939 George Stevens 388
5 Dodsworth 1936 William Wyler 578
6 Young Mr. Lincoln 1939 John Ford 659
7 The Seven Year Itch 1955 Billy Wilder 670
8 Twelve O'Clock High 1949 Henry King 704
9 The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1939 William Dieterle 759
10 Stella Dallas 1937 King Vidor 787
11 Foreign Correspondent 1940 Alfred Hitchcock 882
12 Ball of Fire 1941 Howard Hawks 890
13 The Diary of Anne Frank 1959 George Stevens 912
14 Gentleman's Agreement 1947 Elia Kazan 1081
15 The Gunfighter 1950 Henry King 1115
16 The Prisoner of Zenda 1937 John Cromwell 1253
17 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 1945 Elia Kazan 1319
18 A Letter to Three Wives 1949 Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1352
19 Heaven Can Wait 1943 Ernst Lubitsch 1467
20 How the West Was Won 1962 John Ford, Henry Hathaway, and George Marshall 1489
21 Beau Geste 1939 William A. Wellman 1511
22 The Mark of Zorro 1940 Rouben Mamoulian 1513
23 The Robe 1953 Henry Koster 1606
24 Dead End 1937 William Wyler 1802
25 The Song of Bernadette 1943 Henry King 1853
26 The Snake Pit 1948 Anatole Litvak 1993
27 Airport 1970 George Seaton 2102
28 Leave Her to Heaven 1945 John M. Stahl 2169
29 Why We Fight 1: Prelude to War 1943 Frank Capra and Anatole Litvak 2265
30 You Only Live Once 1937 Fritz Lang 2309
31 Alexander's Ragtime Band 1938 Henry King 2332
32 Les Misérables 1935 Richard Boleslawski 2425
33 Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing 1955 Henry King 2469

Miklós Rózsa

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Double Indemnity 1944 Billy Wilder 40
2 Ben-Hur 1959 William Wyler 101
3 To Be or Not to Be 1942 Ernst Lubitsch 197
4 Adam's Rib 1949 George Cukor 270
5 The Lost Weekend 1945 Billy Wilder 341
6 The Asphalt Jungle 1950 John Huston 557
7 The Killers 1946 Robert Siodmak 622
8 The Thief of Bagdad 1940 Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, and Tim Whelan 627
9 Spellbound 1945 Alfred Hitchcock 1062
10 Lust for Life 1956 Vincente Minnelli 1086
11 The Four Feathers 1939 Zoltan Korda 1156
12 El Cid 1961 Anthony Mann 1192
13 Quo Vadis 1951 Mervyn LeRoy 1317
14 Providence 1977 Alain Resnais 1705
15 The Naked City 1948 Jules Dassin 1785
16 Julius Caesar 1953 Joseph L. Mankiewicz 2009
17 King of Kings 1961 Nicholas Ray 2036
18 The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes 1970 Billy Wilder 2137
19 Criss Cross 1949 Robert Siodmak 2171
20 Time after Time 1979 Nicholas Meyer 2379
21 Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid 1982 Carl Reiner 2460

Howard Shore

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 The Silence of the Lambs 1991 Jonathan Demme 39
2 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001 Peter Jackson 104
3 Seven 1995 David Fincher 143
4 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2003 Peter Jackson 166
5 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2002 Peter Jackson 191
6 The Fly 1986 David Cronenberg 524
7 Big 1988 Penny Marshall 563
8 Ed Wood 1994 Tim Burton 615
9 Dead Ringers 1988 David Cronenberg 679
10 Videodrome 1983 David Cronenberg 723
11 High Fidelity 2000 Stephen Frears 730
12 Philadelphia 1993 Jonathan Demme 777
13 Crash 1996 David Cronenberg 793
14 The Departed 2006 Martin Scorsese 802
15 After Hours 1985 Martin Scorsese 1163
16 Gangs of New York 2002 Martin Scorsese 1209
17 Naked Lunch 1991 David Cronenberg 1224
18 The Game 1997 David Fincher 1377
19 Mrs. Doubtfire 1993 Chris Columbus 1512
20 A History of Violence 2005 David Cronenberg 1514
21 The Aviator 2004 Martin Scorsese 1662
22 Dogma 1999 Kevin Smith 1889
23 Cop Land 1997 James Mangold 2419

Max Steiner

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Casablanca 1942 Michael Curtiz 2
2 Gone with the Wind 1939 Victor Fleming 11
3 The Searchers 1956 John Ford 23
4 King Kong 1933 Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack 47
5 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 John Huston 69
6 The Big Sleep 1946 Howard Hawks 122
7 White Heat 1949 Raoul Walsh 249
8 Now, Voyager 1942 Irving Rapper 328
9 Mildred Pierce 1945 Michael Curtiz 371
10 The Caine Mutiny 1954 Edward Dmytryk 577
11 Arsenic and Old Lace 1944 Frank Capra 790
12 Jezebel 1938 William Wyler 811
13 Dark Victory 1939 Edmund Goulding 824
14 Little Women 1933 George Cukor 863
15 The Life of Emile Zola 1937 William Dieterle 871
16 Angels with Dirty Faces 1938 Michael Curtiz 898
17 Sergeant York 1941 Howard Hawks 923
18 Key Largo 1948 John Huston 990
19 The Informer 1935 John Ford 1133
20 The Charge of the Light Brigade 1936 Michael Curtiz 1321
21 A Star Is Born 1937 William A. Wellman 1679
22 Life with Father 1947 Michael Curtiz 1754
23 The Letter 1940 William Wyler 1835
24 The Fountainhead 1949 King Vidor 2239

Dimitri Tiomkin

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 It's a Wonderful Life 1946 Frank Capra 13
2 High Noon 1952 Fred Zinnemann 45
3 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939 Frank Capra 109
4 Red River 1948 Howard Hawks 183
5 Strangers on a Train 1951 Alfred Hitchcock 220
6 Rio Bravo 1959 Howard Hawks 280
7 Shadow of a Doubt 1943 Alfred Hitchcock 401
8 Giant 1956 George Stevens 412
9 The Thing from Another World 1951 Christian Nyby 482
10 Lost Horizon 1937 Frank Capra 690
11 The Guns of Navarone 1961 J. Lee Thompson 885
12 Only Angels Have Wings 1939 Howard Hawks 984
13 D.O.A. 1950 Rudolph Maté 988
14 Meet John Doe 1941 Frank Capra 1073
15 The Gunfighter 1950 Henry King 1115
16 You Can't Take It with You 1938 Frank Capra 1141
17 Dial M for Murder 1954 Alfred Hitchcock 1409
18 Duel in the Sun 1946 King Vidor 1421
19 I Confess 1953 Alfred Hitchcock 1692
20 Portrait of Jennie 1948 William Dieterle 1850
21 Friendly Persuasion 1956 William Wyler 1884
22 Cyrano de Bergerac 1950 Michael Gordon 2118
23 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral 1957 John Sturges 2175
24 The Alamo 1960 John Wayne 2267
25 The Sundowners 1960 Fred Zinnemann 2289
26 The Men 1950 Fred Zinnemann 2338
27 Naughty Marietta 1935 Robert Z. Leonard and W.S. Van Dyke 2362

John Williams

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Star Wars 1977 George Lucas 7
2 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982 Steven Spielberg 21
3 Schindler's List 1993 Steven Spielberg 22
4 Jaws 1975 Steven Spielberg 27
5 Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 Steven Spielberg 32
6 The Empire Strikes Back 1980 Irvin Kershner 46
7 Saving Private Ryan 1998 Steven Spielberg 67
8 Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 Steven Spielberg 103
9 Jurassic Park 1993 Steven Spielberg 131
10 Return of the Jedi 1983 Richard Marquand 199
11 Superman 1978 Richard Donner 314
12 JFK 1991 Oliver Stone 424
13 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 1989 Steven Spielberg 514
14 A.I.: Artificial Intelligence 2001 Steven Spielberg 648
15 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1984 Steven Spielberg 673
16 Born on the Fourth of July 1989 Oliver Stone 678
17 The Long Goodbye 1973 Robert Altman 744
18 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 2001 Chris Columbus 779
19 Minority Report 2002 Steven Spielberg 817
20 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 1999 George Lucas 857
21 Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones 2002 George Lucas 907
22 The Poseidon Adventure 1972 Ronald Neame 983
23 Empire of the Sun 1987 Steven Spielberg 1089
24 Home Alone 1990 Chris Columbus 1162
25 The Towering Inferno 1974 John Guillermin and Irwin Allen 1265
26 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2004 Alfonso Cuarón 1475
27 Stepmom 1998 Chris Columbus 1647
28 1941 1979 Steven Spielberg 1663
29 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 2005 George Lucas 1690
30 The Accidental Tourist 1988 Lawrence Kasdan 2072
31 Amistad 1997 Steven Spielberg 2092
32 Munich 2005 Steven Spielberg 2113
33 The Patriot 2000 Roland Emmerich 2181
34 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 2002 Chris Columbus 2410
This page was last modified on March 12, 2008