The 50 best film scores of all time

27 August 2024, 12:14 | Updated: 27 August 2024, 12:15

Greatest film soundtracks: Gladiator, Titanic, The Lord of the Rings. Picture: Alamy

By Classic FM

From John Williams’ Harry Potter to Ennio Morricone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, these are the 50 film soundtracks you voted for as the greatest of all time.

Music can make or break a movie. And in a few special cases, it can jump out of the silver screen and take on a life of its own.

In the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame 2024, we asked you: what are the 50 greatest film scores of all time? And you chose soundtracks that didn’t just serve to support the film’s narrative – but that stayed with you long after the feature was over.

Special mention to Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Joker, Rachel Portman’s Chocolat and Angela Morley’s Watership Down who all made it into the final countdown but crept out of the top 50. To view the full top 100, click here.

The Holiday – Hans Zimmer

The 2007 romantic comedy starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black has become a Christmas favourite. And to the story, which sees Diaz and Winslet’s characters swap homes and fall in love with someone new, Hans Zimmer’s score adds plenty of romance and magic – a perfect fit for the mood of finding one’s true ‘home’.

Maestro
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – Ryuichi Sakamoto

Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto gained international fame for Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Not only did he write the music he also starred in it alongside David Bowie and Tom Conti. The film tells the story of four men in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during the Second World War, based on Laurens van der Post’s experiences during World War II as a prisoner of war.

Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
The Great Escape – Elmer Bernstein

Elmer Bernstein happily lived off the royalties from his jaunty, triumphant, catchy and extremely hummable theme to The Great Escape. He would probably have been bemused at its appearance at England football matches, where it has been a fixture since the mid-1990s. Bernstein’s music is the perfect accompaniment to the Second World War film, in which Steve McQueen, James Garner and Richard Attenborough mastermind a mass escape from a German prisoner of war camp.
Read more: 10 of John Williams’ all-time greatest film themes, ranked

Elmer Bernstein - Main Title - (The Great Escape, 1963)
James Bond Theme – Monty Norman

The most famous guitar riff in cinema has featured in every official Bond film since Dr. No (1962), when it accompanied the opening title. It appeared again over the opening credits for From Russia with Love, and from then on became as integral to the James Bond universe as corny one-liners and gadgets. The guitar riff heard in the original recording of the theme was played by Vic Flick, who was paid a one-off fee of £6 for recording the tune.

007 : James Bond : Theme
The Shawshank Redemption – Thomas Newman

The Shawshank Redemption centres on one man convicted of murder but, despite the circumstances, the film focuses on themes of hope and redemption. This 1994 movie was written and directed by Frank Darabont and based on a Stephen King novella. Nominated for an Oscar in 2004, Thomas Newman’s score reflects the emotional intensity of the film. A particular highlight of the movie was the beautiful ‘Sull’aria’ from Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro, which was broadcast live to the prisoners.

The Shawshank Redemption Opera Scene
The Third Man – Anton Karas

40-year old zither player Anton Karas was discovered by director Carol Reed and The Third Man’s cast members playing in a wine cellar in Vienna. Reed immediately decided that this was the music he wanted for the film and Karas was enticed to London, where he wrote and recorded the soundtrack over six weeks. What became The Third Man theme had already been in Karas’ repertoire, but he hadn’t played it in 15 years. The image of it being played on the zither’s vibrating strings even provides the background for the film’s title sequence. More than half a million copies of the tune were sold within weeks of the film’s release.

Anton Karas - Der Dritte Mann (The Third Man) Harry Lime Theme (HQ Audio)
Romeo and Juliet – Craig Armstrong

Shakespeare’s timeless play is updated to the hip modern suburb of Verona Beach. Director Baz Luhrmann’s collaboration with Craig Armstrong led to an enduring partnership, including the musical spectacular Moulin Rouge. An unconventional soundtrack to the very unconventional interpretation, the touching piano theme for the Balcony Scene has become the standout moment.

Craig Armstrong - Balcony Scene (from Romeo + Juliet OST)
Love Actually – Craig Armstrong

Much-loved Christmastime staple Love Actually marked Craig Armstrong’s first time composing for a romantic comedy and he came up with the trademark, halo-glow piano piece, ‘Glasgow Theme’. Not only is Armstrong a talented Scottish musician and composer who won a Grammy Award for his film score for Ray, but he used to be a face in the Scottish pop music scene as a member of Hipsway and Texas!

PM's Love Theme
Inception – Hans Zimmer

Before embarking on this score, Zimmer was told to let his imagination run wild. What emerged was a densely constructed, imaginative, electronic sound world, incorporating a guitar sound reminiscent of the music of Ennio Morricone played by Johnny Marr, former guitarist of The Smiths. Édith Piaf’s hit, ‘Non, je ne regrette rien’, which appears in the film, is also integrated into Zimmer’s score. The film’s iconic brass instrument fanfare even resembles a slowed-down version of the song.

Hans Zimmer - Time (Official Audio)
Ghost – Maurice Jarre

It’s fair to say that most people would probably think of ‘Unchained Melody’ when they think of Ghost, but Maurice Jarre’s spooky and supernatural score for the film is one of his best. His compelling musical storytelling of Sam and Molly’s love is one of the reasons audiences keep coming back to this classic film.

Ghost
Jaws – John Williams

One of the most iconic pieces of film music, the two-note shark motif that made going in the sea terrifying almost becomes a character in its own right. Rarely has a piece of film music so perfectly captured a film’s atmosphere. When Williams first played the two notes to Spielberg on a piano, the director initially laughed, thinking it was a joke. Williams described the theme, performed on the tuba, as “grinding away at you, just as a shark would do, instinctual, relentless, unstoppable”.

FSO - Jaws - "The Shark Theme" (John Williams)
Forrest Gump – Alan Silvestri

Alan Silvestri is one of the best action composers of all time, and it’s his partnership with director Robert Zemeckis that brings out the best in him – think of the Back to the Future trilogy. For Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump, Silvestri produced an Oscar-nominated score which chimes perfectly with the simplicity and naiveté of the eponymous hero. There’s hardly a moment here that won’t leave you feeling inspired and uplifted.

Forrest Gump Live - Hollywood in Vienna 2011
The Piano – Michael Nyman

A woman, her daughter and her piano arrive in 19th-century New Zealand for an arranged marriage. But her future husband refuses to move the piano from the beach. In a bid to get her piano back, she agrees certain favours with an illiterate neighbour. Michael Nyman’s profile rocketed following the success of The Piano and his film score went on to become a classical best seller.

The Heart Asks Pleasure First / The Promise (Edit)
Dangerous Moonlight – Richard Addinsell

Producers of the 1941 film Dangerous Moonlight had their eyes on Rachmaninov to write their score. The lugubrious Russian wasn't that keen, so the job of penning the music went to Richard Addinsell. Despite all that, it's fair to say that even he passed on much of the work, too: it fell to the arranger and orchestrator Roy Douglas to knit together the melodies and turn them into a fully orchestrated, heart-on-your-sleeve concert piece, known as the Warsaw Concerto. Full of indulgent harmonies and grand Romantic gestures, the piece remains hugely popular today.

Addinsell Warsaw Concerto Laszlo Kovacs Hungarian Symphony Orchester, Miskolc
Pirates of the Caribbean (Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End) – Hans Zimmer

The second, incredibly successful Pirates romp picks up where the first movie left off, at the wedding of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan. Before either can say 'I do', Captain Jack comes between them again in his quest to save his soul from Davy Jones and a watery grave. Hans Zimmer's score is just as over the top as Depp's portrayal of Jack Sparrow. It's music with its nostrils flared, its chest out and its tongue in its cheek.

Organist plays Davy Jones' Theme from Pirates of the Caribbean on Vienna's main cathedral organ
How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell

This blockbuster animation won the hearts of children and adults alike, but John Powell’s soundtrack is pure action movie class. Something of a minor Hollywood legend, Powell has provided the soundtracks to some incredible money-shifting blockbusters throughout the years (try The Bourne trilogy, for starters). But with How To Train Your Dragon, he earned his first Academy Award nomination. It’s a soaring, adrenaline-pumping score – a bit like riding on the back of a dragon.

how to train your dragon - Flying theme
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves – Michael Kamen

This is a score that initially owed its success to the monumentally successful end title song, ‘Everything I Do, I Do It for You’, co-written by Michael Kamen with Bryan Adams. As the song chalked up 16 weeks at No.1 in the UK, and won a Grammy award and an Oscar-nomination, interest grew in the rest of Kamen’s rollicking, brassy soundtrack. The overture remains a favourite with school and military bands.

Michael Kamen - Robin Hood Suite (Robin Hood - König der Diebe) | WDR Funkhausorchester
Blade Runner – Vangelis

Composed in 1982 and presaging the ambient music genre that would follow in the wake of house beats by almost a decade, Vangelis’s music perfectly captures the mood of the dystopian, rain-lashed Los Angeles in which the film is set. Evocative and seductively melancholy.

Main Titles
Back to the Future – Alan Silvestri

Alan Silvestri’s Back To The Future is right up there with Star Wars and Indiana Jones as one of those iconic Hollywood themes – brassy, bombastic and thrilling. Silvestri’s score flits around Marty McFly’s increasingly wacky adventures, but among all the chaos and the pop culture references that run throughout the movie, at its heart it still all comes back to that one main theme.

"Back to the Future" with composer Alan Silvestri conducting in Vienna!
Lawrence of Arabia – Maurice Jarre

Jarre became involved in the 1962 epic after both William Walton and Malcolm Arnold had proved unavailable. Despite this, and the brief six weeks he was given to write the score, Jarre came through with music that perfectly captures director David Lean's vast desert setting and Peter O'Toole's Oscar-winning turn as Lawrence. One of cinema's most famous themes, Jarre's mix of orchestra and exotic percussion captures the romance of the desert.

Lawrence of Arabia - Main Theme - Maurice Jarre
Apollo 13 – James Horner

This Ron Howard-directed drama told the true story of the ill-fated 13th American mission to the moon. At a time when space flights had become routine to the American public, the impending tragedy and heroism of the astronauts and scientists suddenly grabbed headlines again. Horner's Copland-esque score for Apollo 13 is possibly his greatest – understated yet stirring, patriotic but with a reverence and dignity, which at times makes it feel more suited to a historical documentary.

Apollo 13 OST FULL - James Horner
The Dam Busters – Eric Coates

Eric Coates' brilliant theme to the 1955 film, The Dam Busters, is now so popular in its own right that it's often played at military flypasts in the UK. It's not surprising, given its catchy tune.

The Dam Busters- Eric Coates
Braveheart – James Horner

As Mel Gibson, playing Scottish nationalist William Wallace, cried "Freedom!", James Horner's stirring score helped transport us back to the 13th century. There were Horner's trademark traditional Celtic and Scottish influences, and not a few eyebrows were raised at the inclusion of some Irish themes, and a Kena flute from the Andes. Combined with the orchestra and a spine-tingling boys' choir, they create a stirring and beautiful, romantic score.

A Gift of a Thistle ("Brave Heart" OST)
Last of the Mohicans – Trevor Jones

It could have ended up being an electronic score if director Michael Mann had had his way, but thankfully this glorious 1992 soundtrack from Trevor Jones ended up as an orchestral affair. The film’s main character Hawkeye – played by Daniel Day-Lewis – had little to say, but the music spoke volumes. A majestic, thrilling but ultimately simple soundtrack.

The Last Of The Mohicans (1992) Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Full OST
Gone with the Wind – Max Steiner

Max Steiner is one of the founders of film music as we know it today and his name is now attached to the annual 'Max Steiner Award' for film music which recognises his pioneering role in the early development of the craft. Steiner was drafted in to provide the music to Gone With The Wind and his sweeping score has really stood the test of time, still able to send shivers down spines and create goosebumps.

Tara's Theme ~ Gone with the Wind
Cinema Paradiso – Ennio Morricone

This touching 1988 Italian film celebrates both childhood and cinema. In keeping with the film’s study of a relationship between a child and a father figure, composer Morricone collaborated with his son Andrea for the film's score and their work won them a Bafta. While Morricone is best known for the experimental nature of his earlier work scoring westerns for Sergio Leone with natural sounds, electric guitars and harmonica, Cinema Paradiso is a more traditional orchestral score. However, it is a perfect accompaniment to the sentimental and romantic nature of the film itself.

Ennio Morricone - Cinema Paradiso (In Concerto - Venezia 10.11.07)
The Lion King – Hans Zimmer

Hans Zimmer’s remarkable African-influenced score for the Disney classic turned animated drawings of lions into living, emotionally alive creatures. Hired because of his work on The Power of One and A World Apart, both set in South Africa, Zimmer infused his score for The Lion King with many elements of traditional African music and choral arrangements from South African composer Lebo M. The Lion King soundtrack, with a little help from Elton John, went on to be phenomenally successful, winning Zimmer an Oscar for the music, and becoming a blockbuster stage show too.

Hans Zimmer - Remember (From "The Lion King"/Audio Only)
The Big Country – Jerome Moross

For a soundtrack that needed to be as sweeping as the action and location, director William Wyler turned to Jerome Moross who had orchestrated dozens of movies and had extensive experience composing for the concert hall, ballet and theatre. While Moross' Oscar-nominated score is somewhat reminiscent of the wild west ballets of Aaron Copland, The Big Country became his most important contribution to film music, clearly influencing many of the great western scores that followed.

The Big Country (Theme from "The Big Country" Original Soundtrack)
The Magnificent Seven – Elmer Bernstein

Undoubtedly one of the greatest Western themes ever, Bernstein drew upon Copland's Wild West ballets to create a galloping, expansive romp that has remained a worldwide favourite. Along with the iconic main tune, the score also contains allusions to twentieth-century symphonic works, including a reference to Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra in the tense, quiet scene just before the shoot-out.

The Magnificent Seven • Main Theme • Elmer Bernstein
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

John Williams’s close relationship with Steven Spielberg and the director’s own meteoric career meant that he was the composer for many major films of the period, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman and of course, E.T. for which Williams won his fourth Oscar. No one does the magic and wonder of childhood better than Spielberg, and no one could have produced more sympathetic and timeless scores.

John Williams - Flying Theme (E.T. the Extra-terrestial Soundtrack) [HQ]
Titanic – James Horner

For the biggest film of its time, composer Horner turned his back quite deliberately on the traditional idea of what a film score for a Hollywood blockbuster should sound like. Instead, he focused on the Irish background of Leonardo di Caprio’s character, Jack Dawson, and created a soundworld somewhat reminiscent of the likes of Enya and Clannad. Titanic earned Horner a fortune and two Oscars. And it also made Celine Dion, who sang the theme tune, a few pennies too.

FSO - Titanic - "Suite" (James Horner)
Saving Private Ryan – John Williams

Saving Private Ryan won five Oscars in 1998 but Best Soundtrack was not among them. Spielberg wanted to keep much of the film silent, to concentrate on the true horrors of war and to make sure that the harsh and real atmosphere was heard (and it clearly worked, hence winning the Best Sound Oscar). This put considerable limits on Williams, but he still managed a moving theme, played over the end credits and soon becoming a stand-alone hit, Hymn to the Fallen. The wordless chorus with a trumpet and snare-drum combination certainly tugs at the heart strings.

Cinema in Concert - 08 - John Williams - Hymn to the Fallen
Ladies in Lavender – Nigel Hess

Nigel Hess struck gold with Classic FM listeners with his music for Charles Dance’s 2004 film. Set in picturesque 1930s Cornwall, the sweeping, lyrical score perfectly matches the stunning scenery and ocean vistas. For the main theme, Hess employs a full symphony orchestra alongside a solo violin, performed on the original soundtrack by the star violinist Joshua Bell.

(HD 1080p) Ladies in Lavender (OST), Joshua Bell
Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark – John Williams

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have a knack for producing great cinematic adventures, and this was certainly the case with Raiders of the Lost Ark, which introduced Indiana Jones to delirious audiences around the world. John Williams's blistering ‘Raiders March’, first heard on Raiders, went on to symbolise the reckless antics of Harrison Ford's Indy for three more cinematic outings. The score received an Oscar nomination but lost out to Vangelis' score for Chariots Of Fire.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Complete Soundtrack - John Williams
Interstellar – Hans Zimmer

Zimmer delivered magnificently for Interstellar, receiving an Oscar nod for his soundtrack. Painstakingly composed over two years, Zimmer visited London’s Temple Church to record its historic organ. An ensemble of 34 strings, 24 woodwinds, four pianos, and a 60-voice mixed choir were later added. The feeling of air and breath resonates throughout the music.
Read more: The 10 best Hans Zimmer soundtracks

Interstellar Main Theme - Extra Extended - Soundtrack by Hans Zimmer
The Godfather – Nino Rota

Rota's score for Francis Ford Coppola's gangster epic was removed at the last minute from the list of 1973 Academy Award nominees when it was discovered that Rota's famous 'Love Theme' used the same melody as one he had used previously in Eduardo De Filippo's 1958 comedy Fortunella. Confusingly, his score for The Godfather Part II went on to win the Oscar in 1974, even though it featured the same Love Theme that made the 1972 score ineligible. Whatever. It's an all-time classic.

The Godfather Theme Song
Pirates of the Caribbean – Klaus Badelt

Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer headed a team of 15 composers who worked on this score to get it completed quickly. Composer Alan Silvestri, who had collaborated with director Gore Verbinski on Mouse Hunt and The Mexican, was set to provide the score, but the producers went with Badelt instead. Johnny Depp swaggered and strutted as Captain Jack Sparrow, the music did too – thrilling, surging and just a little bit cheeky.

Pirates of the Caribbean (Auckland Symphony Orchestra) 1080p
Wilde – Debbie Wiseman

Classic FM composer in residence Debbie Wiseman's score for the Oscar Wilde biopic starring Stephen Fry has become as well loved as the film that inspired it. The poet, wit and general legendary cultural figure of Oscar Wilde himself also looms large over the work, and it's clear that Wiseman's inspiration was as much from his works than merely the work of the movie.

Wilde
Doctor Zhivago – Maurice Jarre

David Lean’s screen version of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago was a sumptuous, sprawling, epic about the life of a Russian doctor-poet who, although married, falls for a political activist's wife and struggles against all the odds to survive the turmoil of war. It won numerous Academy Awards including one for Maurice Jarre’s moving score. While the music largely lets the movie speak for itself, the memorable love theme, Lara’s Theme, is a constant reference point and became a worldwide hit.

Lara's Theme de Doctor Zhivago por La Orquesta de la Ciudad de Praga
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – John Williams

John Williams conjures up another magical score reminiscent at times of Saint-Saëns’s Danse Macabre. The first Harry Potter film introduced the instantly recognisable ‘Hedwig’s Theme’. With its use of the celesta in its introduction, it evokes another magical moment from musical history, Tchaikovsky’s ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy’ from The Nutcracker.

John Williams - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer´s Stone - Suite
Chariots of Fire – Vangelis

Greek synthesiser wizard Vangelis opted for a very modern, electronic score in contrast to the film's 1920s setting – a decision that worked. The famous theme has lived way beyond its original purpose and is widely used for sporting events in real life, forming a memorable moment at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, with Sir Simon Rattle, the LSO and Mr. Bean! Vangelis won an Oscar for his soundtrack.

London Symphony Orchestra - Chariots of Fire (London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – Ennio Morricone

Italian master, Morricone, certainly created one of the most iconic pieces of film music with his main theme, and the rest of the score to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly comes complete with all the classic Morricone traits – including whistling, yodelling and gunfire.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Main Theme)
The Mission – Ennio Morricone

Morricone created his most successful score for the Oscar-winning 1986 film. It tells the story of a Spanish priest who goes into the South American jungle to build a mission and convert a community of Guarani Indians, while fighting off the dastardly Portuguese colonials, who are trying to enslave the community. Morricone’s score skilfully mixes Amazonian rhythms with the Baroque style of the Jesuit missionaries.

The Mission
Jurassic Park – John Williams

Written in the same year as Schindler’s List, which was a major award-winner in 1993, John Williams’s score for Jurassic Park may have been somewhat overshadowed. However the dinosaur blockbuster enabled him to use an array of compositional techniques which he employed in many of his 1990s film scores. The minute this theme was first aired, it sounded like it had been around for millions of years, instantly an old friend. Majesty is somehow written into the score and befits the wonderful, enormous creatures that Spielberg brought to life on the screen.

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra perform epic 'Jurassic Park' at Classic FM Live
Out Of Africa – John Barry

John Barry – with a little help from Mozart's Clarinet Concerto – provided tender accompaniment to Streep and Redford's doomed, sub-Saharan love affair. The soundtrack, evoking the expanse of the landscape, won Barry an Oscar for Best Original Score and also sits at No.15 in the American Film Institute's list of top 25 film scores.

John Barry: "Out of Africa" Theme (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)
Dances with Wolves – John Barry

Reflecting the movie's political and ecological themes, Barry rejected the usual western clichés for a gentle depiction of the story's wide-open plains. As well as the hugely popular 'John Dunbar Theme', the 'Love Theme' is eloquent and ever so slightly haunting; while the music used to accompany Two Socks (the 'star' wolf) is also beautiful.

John Barry：Dances With Wolves
Gladiator – Hans Zimmer

An Oscar-nominated score for the epic that revived the sword and sandals blockbuster. For Gladiator, Hans Zimmer uses a simple but stirring melody throughout and, as a result, the film joins the ranks of those movies for which the music is a key part of its success. Lisa Gerrard’s haunting voice added a timeless and atmospheric quality.

Gladiator • Now We Are Free • Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
Star Wars – John Williams

In 1977, Star Wars caused a revolution; Williams brought a new hope to movie soundtracks, reviving the golden age of grand symphonic scores. He’s since composed for most of the Star Wars movies and most recently worked on ‘Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker’. From the brass blasts of ‘Imperial March’ to Princess Leia’s theme, every one of Williams’s motifs is pure class.

John Williams conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in the 'Imperial March'
Schindler’s List – John Williams

John Williams initially thought this heartrending movie would be too challenging to score, telling director Steven Spielberg: “You need a better composer than I am for this film.” Spielberg responded: “I know, but they’re all dead!” As it turned out, Williams captures perfectly the traditional music and sad plight of Europe’s Jewry, and the shame of man’s inhumanity to man.

Schindler's List Theme by Itzhak Perlman in Chile
The Lord of the Rings – Howard Shore

Canadian composer, Howard Shore, may have seemed an unusual choice for the most ambitious production in cinema history, but he triumphed. Nothing in recent years has come close for scale, drama, melody and skill. Shore’s score – which features some 80 different themes and motifs representing the various characters and locations – won him three Oscars, four Grammys and three Golden Globes.
The Lord of the Rings soundtrack: all you need to know about Howard Shore’s score

Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings | Classic FM Live