20 Best Film Scores and their Composers!

by robin_stevens_uk | created - 21 Aug 2013 | updated - 13 Feb 2014 | Public
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1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

PG-13 | 201 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

94 Metascore

Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.

Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom

Votes: 1,980,432 | Gross: $377.85M

Howard Shore!

2. Schindler's List (1993)

R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History

95 Metascore

In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall

Votes: 1,451,724 | Gross: $96.90M

John Williams

3. War of the Worlds (2005)

PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

73 Metascore

An alien invasion threatens the future of humanity. The catastrophic nightmare is depicted through the eyes of one American family fighting for survival.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto

Votes: 475,470 | Gross: $234.28M

John Williams

4. Enemy at the Gates (2001)

R | 131 min | Action, Drama, War

53 Metascore

A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Jude Law, Ed Harris, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz

Votes: 277,709 | Gross: $51.40M

James Horner

5. Platoon (1986)

R | 120 min | Drama, War

92 Metascore

Chris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David

Votes: 439,742 | Gross: $138.53M

The main theme by Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings

6. Gladiator (2000)

R | 155 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

67 Metascore

A former Roman General sets out to exact vengeance against the corrupt emperor who murdered his family and sent him into slavery.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed

Votes: 1,621,321 | Gross: $187.71M

Hansy

7. Psycho (1960)

R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

97 Metascore

A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin

Votes: 718,729 | Gross: $32.00M

Bernard Herrmann

8. Legends of the Fall (1994)

R | 133 min | Drama, Romance, War

45 Metascore

In the early 1900s, three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of Montana are affected by betrayal, history, love, nature, and war.

Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond

Votes: 183,210 | Gross: $66.64M

James Horner

9. Troy (2004)

R | 163 min | Adventure, Drama

56 Metascore

An adaptation of Homer's great epic, the film follows the assault on Troy by the united Greek forces and chronicles the fates of the men involved.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Julian Glover

Votes: 570,802 | Gross: $133.38M

James Horner

10. Jaws (1975)

PG | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Thriller

87 Metascore

When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary

Votes: 659,880 | Gross: $260.00M

John Williams

11. Million Dollar Baby (2004)

PG-13 | 132 min | Drama, Sport

86 Metascore

Frankie, an ill-tempered old coach, reluctantly agrees to train aspiring boxer Maggie. Impressed with her determination and talent, he helps her become the best and the two soon form a close bond.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel

Votes: 722,107 | Gross: $100.49M

Clint Eastwood

12. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

PG | 152 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy

65 Metascore

An orphaned boy enrolls in a school of wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world.

Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris

Votes: 856,526 | Gross: $317.58M

John Williams

13. The Godfather (1972)

R | 175 min | Crime, Drama

100 Metascore

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton

Votes: 2,013,964 | Gross: $134.97M

Nino Rota

14. I Am Legend (2007)

PG-13 | 101 min | Action, Drama, Horror

65 Metascore

Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure.

Director: Francis Lawrence | Stars: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson-Whitfield

Votes: 814,732 | Gross: $256.39M

James Newton Howard

15. Meet Joe Black (1998)

PG-13 | 178 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

43 Metascore

Death, who takes the form of a young man killed in an accident, asks a media mogul to act as his guide to teach him about life on Earth and, in the process, he falls in love with the mogul's daughter.

Director: Martin Brest | Stars: Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Claire Forlani, Jake Weber

Votes: 265,004 | Gross: $44.62M

Thomas Newman

16. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

R | 118 min | Drama, Fantasy, War

98 Metascore

In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.

Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú

Votes: 703,303 | Gross: $37.63M

Javier Navarrete

17. Dinosaur (2000)

PG | 82 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama

56 Metascore

An orphaned dinosaur raised by lemurs joins an arduous trek to a sanctuary after a meteorite shower destroys his family home.

Directors: Eric Leighton, Ralph Zondag | Stars: D.B. Sweeney, Julianna Margulies, Samuel E. Wright, Alfre Woodard

Votes: 67,268 | Gross: $137.75M

James Newton Howard

18. Amadeus (1984)

R | 160 min | Biography, Drama, Music

87 Metascore

The life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was deeply jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.

Director: Milos Forman | Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice

Votes: 428,320 | Gross: $51.97M

Mozart

19. Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)

G | 93 min | Biography, Drama, Family

Professor Wilson discovers a lost Akita puppy on his way home. Despite objections from his wife, Hachi endears himself to the family and grows to be Parker's loyal companion. As their bond grows deeper, a beautiful relationship unfolds.

Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Richard Gere, Joan Allen, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Sarah Roemer

Votes: 311,597

Jan A.P. Kaczmarek

20. Balto (1995)

G | 78 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama

An outcast Husky risks his life with other sled dogs to prevent a deadly epidemic from ravaging Nome, Alaska.

Director: Simon Wells | Stars: Kevin Bacon, Bob Hoskins, Bridget Fonda, Jim Cummings

Votes: 48,147 | Gross: $11.35M

James Horner again



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