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Top Films from Selected Film Composers (N-Z)

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

Alfred Newman

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 All about Eve 1950 Joseph L. Mankiewicz 37
2 Wuthering Heights 1939 William Wyler 412
3 How Green Was My Valley 1941 John Ford 417
4 Gunga Din 1939 George Stevens 623
5 Dodsworth 1936 William Wyler 698
6 Young Mr. Lincoln 1939 John Ford 725
7 The Seven Year Itch 1955 Billy Wilder 817
8 Stella Dallas 1937 King Vidor 938
9 Ball of Fire 1941 Howard Hawks 986
10 Twelve O'Clock High 1949 Henry King 1002
11 Foreign Correspondent 1940 Alfred Hitchcock 1054
12 Gentleman's Agreement 1947 Elia Kazan 1064
13 The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1939 William Dieterle 1102
14 The Gunfighter 1950 Henry King 1203
15 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 1945 Elia Kazan 1384
16 The Diary of Anne Frank 1959 George Stevens 1427
17 A Letter to Three Wives 1949 Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1487
18 Heaven Can Wait 1943 Ernst Lubitsch 1499
19 The Prisoner of Zenda 1937 John Cromwell 1519
20 How the West Was Won 1962 John Ford, Henry Hathaway, and George Marshall 1625
21 The Robe 1953 Henry Koster 1645
22 The Mark of Zorro 1940 Rouben Mamoulian 1710
23 Airport 1970 George Seaton 1979
24 Dead End 1937 William Wyler 1990
25 Beau Geste 1939 William A. Wellman 2147
26 Leave Her to Heaven 1945 John M. Stahl 2194
27 The Gang's All Here 1943 Busby Berkeley 2314
28 Why We Fight 1: Prelude to War 1943 Frank Capra and Anatole Litvak 2316

Miklós Rózsa

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Double Indemnity 1944 Billy Wilder 41
2 Ben-Hur 1959 William Wyler 140
3 To Be or Not to Be 1942 Ernst Lubitsch 248
4 Adam's Rib 1949 George Cukor 358
5 The Lost Weekend 1945 Billy Wilder 380
6 The Asphalt Jungle 1950 John Huston 558
7 The Killers 1946 Robert Siodmak 574
8 The Thief of Bagdad 1940 Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, and Tim Whelan 709
9 Spellbound 1945 Alfred Hitchcock 1289
10 Lust for Life 1956 Vincente Minnelli 1525
11 The Four Feathers 1939 Zoltan Korda 1635
12 Quo Vadis 1951 Mervyn LeRoy 1871
13 El Cid 1961 Anthony Mann 2004
14 Providence 1977 Alain Resnais 2005
15 Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid 1982 Carl Reiner 2187
16 The Naked City 1948 Jules Dassin 2252
17 Time after Time 1979 Nicholas Meyer 2320

Howard Shore

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 The Silence of the Lambs 1991 Jonathan Demme 30
2 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001 Peter Jackson 60
3 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2003 Peter Jackson 96
4 Seven 1995 David Fincher 112
5 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2002 Peter Jackson 123
6 The Fly 1986 David Cronenberg 349
7 Videodrome 1983 David Cronenberg 455
8 Ed Wood 1994 Tim Burton 497
9 The Departed 2006 Martin Scorsese 522
10 Big 1988 Penny Marshall 608
11 Crash 1996 David Cronenberg 655
12 High Fidelity 2000 Stephen Frears 687
13 Dead Ringers 1988 David Cronenberg 707
14 Philadelphia 1993 Jonathan Demme 898
15 After Hours 1985 Martin Scorsese 944
16 A History of Violence 2005 David Cronenberg 994
17 Gangs of New York 2002 Martin Scorsese 1276
18 Mrs. Doubtfire 1993 Chris Columbus 1388
19 The Game 1997 David Fincher 1491
20 The Aviator 2004 Martin Scorsese 1495
21 The Brood 1979 David Cronenberg 1577
22 Naked Lunch 1991 David Cronenberg 1618
23 Dogma 1999 Kevin Smith 2059
24 Spider 2002 David Cronenberg 2366

Max Steiner

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Casablanca 1942 Michael Curtiz 3
2 Gone with the Wind 1939 Victor Fleming 17
3 The Searchers 1956 John Ford 28
4 King Kong 1933 Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack 47
5 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 John Huston 92
6 The Big Sleep 1946 Howard Hawks 163
7 White Heat 1949 Raoul Walsh 313
8 Now, Voyager 1942 Irving Rapper 361
9 Mildred Pierce 1945 Michael Curtiz 388
10 Arsenic and Old Lace 1944 Frank Capra 686
11 The Caine Mutiny 1954 Edward Dmytryk 884
12 Sergeant York 1941 Howard Hawks 919
13 The Life of Emile Zola 1937 William Dieterle 1027
14 Little Women 1933 George Cukor 1053
15 Dark Victory 1939 Edmund Goulding 1113
16 Angels with Dirty Faces 1938 Michael Curtiz 1145
17 Key Largo 1948 John Huston 1148
18 Jezebel 1938 William Wyler 1172
19 The Charge of the Light Brigade 1936 Michael Curtiz 1323
20 The Informer 1935 John Ford 1441
21 The Gay Divorcee 1934 Mark Sandrich 1756
22 Life with Father 1947 Michael Curtiz 2148
23 A Star Is Born 1937 William A. Wellman 2159
24 The Letter 1940 William Wyler 2259
25 Follow the Fleet 1936 Mark Sandrich 2354

Dimitri Tiomkin

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 It's a Wonderful Life 1946 Frank Capra 16
2 High Noon 1952 Fred Zinnemann 58
3 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939 Frank Capra 156
4 Red River 1948 Howard Hawks 234
5 Strangers on a Train 1951 Alfred Hitchcock 235
6 Rio Bravo 1959 Howard Hawks 279
7 Shadow of a Doubt 1943 Alfred Hitchcock 382
8 The Thing from Another World 1951 Christian Nyby 513
9 Giant 1956 George Stevens 605
10 The Guns of Navarone 1961 J. Lee Thompson 783
11 D.O.A. 1950 Rudolph Maté 1106
12 Lost Horizon 1937 Frank Capra 1128
13 Duel in the Sun 1946 King Vidor 1146
14 Only Angels Have Wings 1939 Howard Hawks 1154
15 Dial M for Murder 1954 Alfred Hitchcock 1176
16 Meet John Doe 1941 Frank Capra 1231
17 You Can't Take It with You 1938 Frank Capra 1389
18 Champion 1949 Mark Robson 1463
19 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral 1957 John Sturges 1939
20 Portrait of Jennie 1948 William Dieterle 2196
21 The Alamo 1960 John Wayne 2258

John Williams

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Star Wars 1977 George Lucas 8
2 Schindler's List 1993 Steven Spielberg 22
3 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982 Steven Spielberg 23
4 Jaws 1975 Steven Spielberg 24
5 Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 Steven Spielberg 29
6 The Empire Strikes Back 1980 Irvin Kershner 43
7 Saving Private Ryan 1998 Steven Spielberg 50
8 Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 Steven Spielberg 103
9 Jurassic Park 1993 Steven Spielberg 149
10 Return of the Jedi 1983 Richard Marquand 178
11 Superman 1978 Richard Donner 272
12 JFK 1991 Oliver Stone 423
13 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 1989 Steven Spielberg 450
14 A.I.: Artificial Intelligence 2001 Steven Spielberg 584
15 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1984 Steven Spielberg 676
16 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 2001 Chris Columbus 692
17 The Long Goodbye 1973 Robert Altman 721
18 Born on the Fourth of July 1989 Oliver Stone 781
19 Minority Report 2002 Steven Spielberg 796
20 Empire of the Sun 1987 Steven Spielberg 843
21 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 1999 George Lucas 876
22 Fiddler on the Roof 1971 Norman Jewison 881
23 Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones 2002 George Lucas 959
24 The Poseidon Adventure 1972 Ronald Neame 1038
25 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2004 Alfonso Cuarón 1123
26 Home Alone 1990 Chris Columbus 1158
27 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 2005 George Lucas 1252
28 The Towering Inferno 1974 John Guillermin and Irwin Allen 1267
29 War of the Worlds 2005 Steven Spielberg 1449
30 Nixon 1995 Oliver Stone 1460
31 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 2002 Chris Columbus 1909
32 Munich 2005 Steven Spielberg 1923
33 1941 1979 Steven Spielberg 1973
34 Stepmom 1998 Chris Columbus 2073
35 The Patriot 2000 Roland Emmerich 2239
36 The Accidental Tourist 1988 Lawrence Kasdan 2376

Hans Zimmer

Rank Title Year Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Gladiator 2000 Ridley Scott 113
2 Thelma & Louise 1991 Ridley Scott 228
3 The Lion King 1994 Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff 270
4 Rain Man 1988 Barry Levinson 347
5 The Thin Red Line 1998 Terrence Malick 357
6 True Romance 1993 Tony Scott 430
7 The Dark Knight 2008 Christopher Nolan 581
8 Batman Begins 2005 Christopher Nolan 592
9 As Good as It Gets 1997 James L. Brooks 635
10 A League of Their Own 1992 Penny Marshall 641
11 Black Hawk Down 2001 Ridley Scott 866
12 Driving Miss Daisy 1989 Bruce Beresford 955
13 The Rock 1996 Michael Bay 1058
14 Cool Runnings 1993 Jon Turteltaub 1309
15 The Ring 2002 Gore Verbinski 1422
16 Inception 2010 Christopher Nolan 1654
17 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 2006 Gore Verbinski 1874
18 Pearl Harbor 2001 Michael Bay 2029
19 The Last Samurai 2003 Edward Zwick 2101
20 The Prince of Egypt 1998 Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, and Simon Wells 2185
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This page was last modified on May 15, 2011