AFI Top 25 Film Scores

 

 

While Star Wars deserves the top spot without question, I don't necessarily agree with the rest of the list.  Star Wars brilliantly demonstrates what a film score should be - it needs to be easily identifiable with the movie, and it should evoke the emotions and essence of the story.  As someone said, the score is very much a character in Star Wars.  John Williams is a genius. 

 

And yes, Lord of the Rings should be on this list.

 

1 STAR WARS    2 GONE WITH THE WIND    3 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA    4 PSYCHO    5 THE GODFATHER   6 JAWS   7 LAURA   8 THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN   9 CHINATOWN   10 HIGH NOON   11 THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD   12 VERTIGO   13 KING KONG (1933)   14 E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL  15 OUT OF AFRICA  16 SUNSET BLVD.   17 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD   18 PLANET OF THE APES   19 A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE   20 THE PINK PANTHER   21 BEN-HUR   22 ON THE WATERFRONT 23 THE MISSION  24 ON GOLDEN POND    25 HOW THE WEST WAS WON

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjMNNpIksaI

Out of Africa

Score (#15); Passions (#13)

Well, let's see...the scenery was beautiful, and Robert Redford was Robert Redford, so those are good things.  The score was ok, but not fabulously memorable.  I didn't care for Meryl Streep's character, so that tainted the whole thing for me.  I also didn't like how - and I know this is historically accurate - the Europeans belittled the native Africans.

Basically, it was Dr. Zhivago or The English Patient or any other such movie, set in Africa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwSKkKrUzUk

How the West Was Won

Score (#25); Stars - James Stewart (#3), Henry Fonda (#6), Spencer Tracy (#9), Gregory Peck (#12), John Wayne (#13)

Holy cavalcade of stars!  This movie is actually 5 different stories about taming the west, covering river rafts, trapping, gold mining, wagon trains, riverboats, the Civil War, buffalo stampedes, the railroad, and Indians.  It wasn't bad, but although they managed to loosely tie the stories together, it felt a bit disjointed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5HRSmLlaiA

The Pink Panther

Scores (#20)

So not my type of humor.  It just didn't keep my interest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhHwnrlZRus

Sunset Boulevard

Top 100 (#12/16); Score (#16); Stars - Buster Keaton (#21), William Holden (#25); Quotes - "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up" (#7), "I am big!  It's the pictures that got small" (#24)

I wasn't expecting this to be film noir, but it worked.  I liked it because it was different - it's hard to peg.  Silent screen star Norma Desmond still believes, 30 years later, that she's wonderfully famous and doesn't want to face the fact that people have forgotten her.  She's living in the past, and once struggling screenwriter William Holden stumbles into her world, he finds he can't easily leave it.

Gloria Swanson was campy and overdramatic, but that's what the character called for.  I think Holden had the same clause in his contract that Matthew McConaughey must have - one that says he has to appear shirtless in every movie.  And I loved that Ms. Desmond's bridge club was made up of cameos by other silent film stars, including my favorite, Buster Keaton.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKfBCitChcg

The Godfather

Top 100 (#3/2); Thrills (#11); Score (#5); Stars - Marlon Brando (#4), James Caan (Current); Quotes - "...an offer he can't refuse" (#2); Top Ten - Gangster (#1)

This is one of my favorite guy movies. Very well written (it's generally a good thing when the author of a book gets to play a prominent role in writing the screenplay) and very well acted.

The Godfather is the I Ching. The Godfather is the sum of all wisdom. The Godfather is the answer to any question.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB8xPnhpzAM

Vertigo

Top 100 (#61/9); Thrills (#18); Score (#12); Stars - James Stewart (#3); Passions (#18); Top Ten - Mystery (#1)

Don't shoot me, but I didn't love this movie. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. Maybe my Jimmy Stewart expectations are too high. At any rate, I had pretty much figured it out, so that killed the suspense factor. I never did get why Barbara Bel Geddes was there - maybe that's why they inexplicably wrote her out of the end of it. There wasn't a whole lot of vertigo-ness. And I couldn't help wondering why everyone at the hearing was wearing blue.

Anyways, it was fine, but it's not one of my favorites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idpCUocQkGw

Planet of the Apes

Thrills (#59); Score (#18); Quotes - "Get your stinking paws off me..." (#66)

Okay, seriously, this was just plain ridiculous. I suppose you could look at it as a statement for evolution or animal rights or something, but it was really just dumb. Why would Charlton Heston agree to such a thing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDt6Awnex0A

Chinatown

Top 100 (#19/21); Thrills (#16); Score (#9); Quotes - "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown" (#74); Villains - Noah Cross (#16); Top Ten - Mystery (#2)

Overall, it was okay. Jack Nicholson plays a detective who starts out investigating one thing, but finds it's just the tip of the iceberg in a different case. So that part was interesting enough. I don't like Faye Dunaway though. And Chinatown wasn't really a part of this story. It referred to something that happened in the past (which was never really explained). They'd just say things like "It's just like Chinatown." Whatever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX5XpFm7jps

A Streetcar Named Desire

Top 100 (#45/47); Score (#19); Stars - Marlon Brando (#4), Vivien Leigh (#16); Quotes - "Stella! Hey, Stella!" (#45), "I have always depended..." (#75); Passions (#67)

I really need to see this movie again. It's been a long time since I've seen it, and I don't remember much. I remember that it was hot, and that people weren't happy. Vivien Leigh's Blanche was a bit like an older Scarlett O'Hara. And Brando, well, my Guys and Dolls post tells what I think of young Brando.

Yep, I need to see this movie again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zeea5UzPPg

King Kong

Top 100 (#43/41); Thrills (#12); Score (#13); Quotes - "...It was Beauty killed the Beast" (#84); Passions (#24); Top Ten - Fantasy (#4)

I have to disagree. It wasn't Beauty killed the Beast. It was the greedy men who took him out of the jungle in the first place. Stupid people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuRQH_hLcTw

Star Wars

Top 100 (#15/13); Thrills (#27); Score (#1); Cheers (#39); Quotes - "May the Force be with you" (#8); Heroes - Han Solo (#14), Obi-Wan Kenobi (#37); Top Ten - Science Fiction (#2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFvQOc4xS2k&feature=related
Few movies have made such a phenomenal impact on pop culture. Eric Foreman's obsession with the movie on That '70s Show was typical for the time. Star Wars was huge. Even kids like me, whose dads didn't let them see PG rated movies, knew every character. People saw it dozens of times - in the theater (remember, this was the olden days, before VCRs or Beta).
Why was it such a supergalactic hit? Simple - thrilling special effects (come on - this was 35 years ago), gallant heroes, a beautiful princess, funny sidekicks, and the most imposing villain to hit the big screen since who knows when. And to top it off, there was the magnificent John Williams score (which my favorite reader's piano teacher called "the definitive symphony for the 20th century"). What other score is so richly identified with a story?
Star Wars is worth every thrill and cheer. Very nicely done, Mr. Lucas!

Laura

Thrills (#73); Score (#7); Top Ten - Mystery (#4)

A good film noir mystery. If you ask me, though, the real mystery is what was young, beautiful Gene Tierney doing with old, creepy Clifton Webb?

And just so you know - the following song is not part of the score:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhHrOgOkXZw

On the Waterfront

Top 100 (#8/19); Score (#22); Stars - Marlon Brando (#4); Cheers (#36); Quotes - "...I coulda been a contender..." (#3); Heroes - Terry Malloy (#23)

This was a good movie, and Marlon Brando was great, but the one who really impressed me was Karl Malden. I liked his character, a priest who was concerned not only for men's souls but for the men themselves. He kind of reminded me of Reverend Alden (and I love him).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XLbRI0kdLg

Jaws

Top 100 (#48/56); Thrills (#2); Score (#6); Stars - Richard Dreyfuss (Current); Quotes - "You're going to need a bigger boat" (#35); Villains - The Shark (#18)

Any kid who went swimming in the late 1970s knows the theme. What Psycho did for showers, Jaws did for swimming. This was largely due to Steven Spielberg's masterful use of suspense. He knew just when the shark should attack, and when to simply tease. Sure, when you really look at it you can see how fake the shark looks, but audiences didn't care. Jaws was a huge hit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6T-a73rccU&feature=related

On Golden Pond

Score (#24); Stars - Katharine Hepburn (#1), Henry Fonda (#6); Cheers (#45); Quotes - "...You're my knight in shining armor..." (#88); Passions (#22)

I need to see this movie again. I love it. This is what romantic movies should be about - not two young people hopping into bed, but two people whose love has stood the test of time. That's passion.

I love that it stars Hepburn and Fonda, two screen legends in beautifully written roles.

And what I love most about it is the resemblance of Norman and Ethel to my grandparents, Statler and Grandma Brandybuck. She loved to dance in the berry patch, and he could indeed be an old poop. But he was her knight in shining armor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT4KovVUc78

To Kill A Mockingbird

Top 100 (#34/25); Score (#17); Stars - Gregory Peck (#12); Cheers (#2); Heroes - Atticus Finch (#1); Top Ten - Courtroom Drama (#1)

The only thing better than this movie is the book on which it was based, and that's a pretty close match. I love this story - a girl growing up and learning about prejudices (towards the poor, to other races, and to the mentally challenged). Along the way, she is guided by her father. Atticus Finch is without a doubt the most honorable character in literature, and I am so glad AFI acknowledged that. A man with integrity, decency, and wisdom. I wish we could all be like Atticus.

This is one of the most powerful moments in all of moviedom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7CX_5D6y6E

E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Top 100 (#25/24); Thrills (#44); Score (#14); Cheers (#6); Quotes - "E.T. phone home" (#15); Top Ten - Science Fiction (#3)

Sometimes I think this is a sweet family movie about a lonely boy who finds a friend. And other times I think it's just a weird movie about an alien. Truth is, it's both.

The unfortunate thing about E.T. is that, while it could be a great family movie, the language is much stronger than most parents want their children to hear. By the time I felt my girls were old enough to watch it, they were really too old to fully enjoy the story. Best bet for families - watch it on TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS5tzGfOBGU&feature=related

Psycho

Top 100 (#18/14); Thrills (#1); Score (#4); Quotes - "A boy's best friend is his mother" (#56); Villains - Norman Bates (#2)

Now this is what a horror movie should be. Suspense, a great plot, a surprise twist. Just the right amount of creepiness and no over-the-top gore. No wonder Alfred Hitchcock is still the master. Well done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV0lSpgMsxM

The Magnificent Seven

Thrills (#79); Score (#8)
A tough guy and his henchmen storm into a small farming village, demanding food and money. The villagers have nothing to give him, especially as nothing has been harvested yet. The bandit warns them that he'll be back when the harvest is in, and they had better be ready to pay him.
The villagers are at a loss - they aren't strong enough to fight. They could hide the food, but he'd be sure to find out. So they send for help. And along come the magnificent seven to save the day.
Sound familiar? I know! That's why I totally loved this movie (once I figured it out - because I didn't think I would at first). And listen to the Coplandesque theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45KAjt7v4t4
And now listen to this (skip ahead to about 1:45):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrW_TTxP1ow&feature=related Coincidence? I think not.
Ok, as for the actual Magnicent Seven movie itself, I liked it. I liked Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen, and I absolutely loved this Charles Bronson quote, as he's berating three young boys who think he is much braver than their fathers:
Don't you ever say that again about your fathers, because they are not cowards. You think I am brave because I carry a gun; well, your fathers are much braver because they carry responsibility, for you, your brothers, your sisters, and your mothers. And this responsibility is like a big rock that weighs a ton. It bends and it twists them until finally it buries them under the ground. And there's nobody says they have to do this. They do it because they love you, and because they want to. I have never had this kind of courage. Running a farm, working like a mule every day with no guarantee anything will ever come of it. This is bravery. That's why I never even started anything like that... that's why I never will.
It may be a boy movie, but it's definitely worth seeing. It's now my favorite western. Or maybe second favorite, because I still love Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.