AFI’s 100 Years of Film Scores

In 2005, as part of the AFI 100 Years… series, the AFI unveiled its 100 Years of Film Scores list of the top 25 film scores in American cinema. There’s some great film composers not represented, Hans Zimmer and Howard Shore are maybe too recent with Morricone’s work on The Mission from 1986 being the most modern score on the list. John Williams stands out as having three mentions.

1	Star Wars	1977	20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd.	John Williams
2	Gone with the Wind	1939	MGM, Selznick International	Max Steiner
3	Lawrence of Arabia	1962	Columbia, Horizon Pictures	Maurice Jarre
4	Psycho	1960	Paramount	Bernard Herrmann
5	The Godfather	1972	Paramount	Nino Rota
6	Jaws	1975	Universal	John Williams
7	Laura	1944	20th Century Fox	David Raksin
8	The Magnificent Seven	1960	United Artists, Mirisch Company	Elmer Bernstein
9	Chinatown	1974	Paramount	Jerry Goldsmith
10	High Noon	1952	United Artists, Stanley Kramer Productions	Dimitri Tiomkin
11	The Adventures of Robin Hood	1938	Warner Bros.	Erich Wolfgang Korngold
12	Vertigo	1958	Paramount	Bernard Herrmann
13	King Kong	1933	RKO	Max Steiner
14	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	1982	Universal, Amblin Entertainment	John Williams
15	Out of Africa	1985	Universal	John Barry
16	Sunset Boulevard	1950	Paramount	Franz Waxman
17	To Kill a Mockingbird	1962	Universal	Elmer Bernstein
18	Planet of the Apes	1968	20th Century Fox	Jerry Goldsmith
19	A Streetcar Named Desire	1951	Warner Bros.	Alex North
20	The Pink Panther	1964	United Artists, Mirisch Company	Henry Mancini
21	Ben-Hur	1959	MGM	Miklós Rózsa
22	On the Waterfront	1954	Columbia, Horizon Pictures	Leonard Bernstein
23	The Mission	1986	Warner Bros., Goldcrest Films	Ennio Morricone
24	On Golden Pond	1981	Universal, ITC Entertainment	Dave Grusin
25	How the West Was Won	1962	MGM, Cinerama Releasing	Alfred Newman, Ken Darby

AFI’s Top 100 Movie Songs: E-Z Play Today Volume 134 (Paperback)
AFI’s 100 Years – 100 Movies (CBS Television Special) DVD
AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Stars: American Film Institute (CBS Television Special) DVD
Becoming AFI: 50 Years Inside the American Film Institute (Hardcover)