A brilliant film score can elevate a good movie to greatness—and transform a great one into something transcendent and unforgettable.
Music doesn’t just underscore a scene; it shapes our emotions, sets the tone, and stays with us long after the credits roll. From the playful swagger of The Pink Panther to the pounding urgency of Rocky, the music we associate with iconic films becomes part of their DNA—and part of ours too. These scores don’t merely accompany the story; they are the story, deepening character, heightening drama, and stirring something primal in the viewer.
The eerie, avant-garde tension of Planet of the Apes, the aching melancholy of The Godfather—these are not just background sounds, but emotional anchors that define a film’s atmosphere and legacy. In this list, we celebrate 20 of the greatest film scores ever composed: the ones that made their movies unforgettable, turned composers into legends, and proved that music is cinema’s secret superpower. Whether brash, brooding, or heartbreakingly beautiful, these soundtracks are essential listening—and an indelible part of film history.
Best movie scores of all time: 20 to 16
20. Henry V (1944)
Laurence Olivier and William Walton collaborated on several Shakespeare films, with Henry V—commissioned during WWII—among their finest. Walton’s Oscar-nominated score helps guide the film from the Globe Theatre to the Battle of Agincourt, blending rousing brass, martial drums, and modal harmonies. He even used Auvergne folksongs for Princess Katharine’s theme, later telling Olivier the film would’ve been “terribly dull” without the music’s emotional and historical power.
19. Mary Poppins (1964)
Loved by children and families around the world, Mary Poppins is packed full of brilliant songs by the Sherman brothers. From the exuberant tongue-twister ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ to the catchy dance number ‘Step in time!’, there’s plenty of scope for orchestral fun. And of course Mary Poppins includes one of the great Disney songs, the heartfelt ‘Feed the Birds’, with its stirring strings and choir.
18. The Pink Panther (1963)
Hollywood went ‘pop’ in the 1960s. Out were the lush strings, and ballsy brass: in were rock and roll, rhythm and song. One composer who capitalised on this shift was Henry Mancini, a great dramatic composer but one who could really ‘groove’. His style, a mix of big band, pop, jazz and orchestral saw him create some of the most colourful scores of the era. Not least of all was this immortal score, for director Blake Edwards’s first Pink Panther film. The sultry saxophone became a movie star and an iconic theme was born.
17. Rocky (1976)
The sequence is iconic: Rocky Balboa, a struggling boxer with a dream, is out on the streets of Philadelphia, training. Each time he runs up the 72 steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and each time, with perseverance it gets easier and easier. Bill Conti’s music is with him all the way, and when he makes it to the top, triumphantly punching the air, we’re all punching it with him. Written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, Rocky is a classic; it was made on a shoestring and won three Oscars.
16. The English Patient (1996)
Gabriel Yared’s score to Anthony Minghella’s 1996 epic brilliantly combines the influences of JS Bach and Middle Eastern music to magnificent effect. At its heart, Yared places a stunning piece of faux Bach, a stirring yet texturally simple three-part piano solo that utterly defines the tenor of the film. Yared is pictured far right, with (from left) producer Saul Zaentz, Juliette Binoche, Minghella and Kristin Scott Thomas.
Best movie scores of all time: 15 to 11
15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Tim Burton’s modern fairytale inspired Danny Elfman to dig deep. A gentle man with scissors for hands is welcomed into a suburban family, but his differences spark fear. Though he wins the daughter's heart, Edward is ultimately rejected by the community and forced into isolation. It’s a fantastic tale, hugely comedic and achingly romantic. Elfman created a sweet, luscious and occasionally humorous underscore for the film. Choir, orchestra, celesta, and some great violin solos, all make for one of the composer’s greatest ever works.
14. The Mission (1986)
Among Ennio Morricone's many wonderful soundtracks is the Oscar-nominated score to Roland Joffe’s 1986 film about a Jesuit priest's attempt to try and convert a South American tribe. The famous ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’ theme appears when Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) tentatively plays a tune to befriend members of the Guaraní tribe.
The composer apparently took inspiration from Irons’s random finger placements on the oboe. The subsequent uplifting theme, with its string accompaniment, has become famous in its own right.
13. Planet of the Apes (1968)
Jerry Goldsmith (1929–2004) was one of Hollywood’s most versatile composers, known for imaginative orchestrations, bold energy, and memorable melodies. His scores enriched classics like The Omen, Alien, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and The Waltons. While he matched John Williams in orchestral grandeur, Goldsmith also excelled in experimental sounds. Planet of the Apes is a standout—its avant-garde textures and percussion created a haunting, futuristic atmosphere, blending innovation with traditional orchestration in unforgettable fashion.
12. Gone With the Wind (1939)
The great Max Steiner was only given three months to compose what ended up being his most famous work. Each character was given their own musical motif, with ‘Tara’s Theme’ being the most famous, representing the Georgia plantation. The theme has a rich Romantic quality, and is used as Scarlett (Vivien Leigh) is seen in silhouette with her father, a foreboding sunset in the background. Although the film won ten Oscars, Steiner missed out on getting one for the score, despite a nomination. He was beaten by The Wizard of Oz composer Herbert Stothart.
11. King Kong (1933)
One of Max Steiner's earliest original scores was for RKO's thrilling King Kong, a film seemingly ahead of its time in terms of its visual effects. The big-screen adventures allowed Steiner to flex his muscles and show just exactly what a fully synchronised dramatic score could achieve. The result was ear-opening indeed, Steiner unleashing a battery of brass, percussion and thrilling/soaring strings to create a sense of the sheer scale of the giant Ape, the mysterious fog-bound Skull Island and the most unlikely of love stories.
Best movie scores of all time: 10 to 6
10. Interstellar (2014)
Christopher Nolan's film about a former NASA pilot-cum-farmer who finds himself leading an expedition into deep space to find a habitable planet is mind-bending and brilliant. Nolan turned to his regular composer Hans Zimmer for the music, and the Hollywood titan birthed what is probably the best thing he has ever written. Zimmer's unusual soundscape is populated it with traditional orchestral elements and his trump card: a very real pipe organ. This is epic music and occasionally so transportive you think you, too, have travelled to another world.
9. Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence (1983)
Ryuichi Sakamoto's score for the movie in which he also stars is a masterpiece of early electronic music. Blending classical and Oriental influences, it brilliantly conveys the stifling heat and oppression of the prisoner-of-war camp in which the likes of Major Jack Celliers (David Bowie) and Lieutenant Colonel John Lawrence (Tom Conti) are held. Crowned by the gorgeous ‘Forbidden Colours’ theme tune, it deservedly won Sakamoto a BAFTA. We included it in our round-up of the best Ryuichi Sakamoto recordings.
8. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
French composer Maurice Jarre rose to international attention with his score for David Lean’s epic story of how an Englishman helped the Arabs fight against the Ottoman Empire during WW1. Composers William Walton, Malcolm Arnold, Benjamin Britten and Aram Khachaturian all refused, so Jarre had to compose two hours of music in just six weeks. His exotic score included three ondes martenots and a cythara. Iconically, when Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif) appears from the shimmering distance in the desert, Lean opts for just natural sounds, including wind, giving a beautiful contrast to Jarre’s immense score.
7. Titanic (1997)
There’s no ignoring James Cameron’s Titanic, one of the most successful films of all time. American composer James Horner had worked with Cameron on Aliens (1986) and while that wasn’t the happiest of experiences for Horner, this story was too great to ignore.
Horner delivered a rich tapestry, leaning into the doomed ship’s Irish roots with Celtic instrumentation and melody. In particular, his scoring as the great ship sinks is some of the most thrilling music ever written for the screen.
6. The Godfather (1972)
Iconic film, iconic score. The first part of Francis Ford Coppola's epic Corleone saga is one of the most quoted films of all time, lines of dialogue and full scenes etched into audience memories. The music is by Italian composer Nino Rota (1911-79), who turned in a relatively sparse, but vital dramatic accompaniment and some killer themes. At the heart of the score is 'The Godfather Waltz', a now iconic melody for lone, foreboding trumpet, and the grandiose 'Love Theme from The Godfather', synonymous now with all things Mafia.
Best movie scores of all time: the top five
5. Star Wars: A New Hope (John Williams, 1977)
It's hard to imagine a time before Star Wars, writer/director George Lucas's homage to the Saturday morning serials of his youth, not to mention all manner of mythical tropes and samurai films. This adventure 'in a galaxy far, far away' went on to spawn eight more instalments over an impressive 42 years.
Given Lucas's desire to conjure a bygone era of storytelling, it makes sense that the music should do the same. So, composer John Williams (fresh from his Oscar for Jaws, of which more in a minute) set about creating his own love letter to the past, in music. Williams's score is knowing in its references, whether it's ceremonial Walton, rollicking Holst, Wagner's leitmotifs or swashbuckling Korngold.
It all makes for a great old-fashioned narrative thrillride, with memorable leitfmotifs for key characters, places and things, not to mention some edge-of-your seat orchestral set pieces as the Rebellion fights the evil Galactic Empire.
We ranked John Williams's best Star Wars film scores, worst to best. Do you agree with our choices?
4. Jaws (John Williams, 1975)
John Williams has written some of the most memorable film music of all time, including Indiana Jones and ET. But the soundtrack to Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is the one that really established him. This got him noticed by George Lucas, leading to the collaboration on Star Wars in 1977.
With Jaws, Williams undertook the challenge of portraying an animal that lives underwater with music rather than sound effects. Spielberg recalls fondly how Williams first introduced him to the Jaws theme, playing it on a piano. ‘What he played… with two fingers on the lower keys was dun, dun, dun-dun, dun-dun, dun-dun… sometimes the best ideas are the most simple ones and John [Williams] had found a signature for the entire score.’
Williams’s brief rhythmic theme consisted of three repeated bass notes. ‘I thought that altering the speed and volume of the theme, from very slow to very fast, from very soft to very loud, would indicate the mindless attacks of the shark,’ he recalls. At this year’s Oscars, Williams has a nomination for his score to Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
3. Psycho (Bernard Herrmann, 1960)
Alfred Hitchcock’s suspense thriller Psycho (1960) turned narrative convention on its head by bumping off the main character half way through. The famous shower murder, when serial killer Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), dressed as his mother, stabs his victim Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), is accompanied by the unforgettable screeching stabs of high-pitched strings.
This music exists, thanks to the persistence of composer Bernard Herrmann, who resisted the director’s initial requests for the scene to be silent. From the outset Herrmann was determined to only use strings for the whole score, which he thought would complement the starkness of Hitchcock’s black and white photography.
The feeling of impending disaster pervades the soundtrack: as Marion’s sister, Lila, arrives at Bates Motel to investigate her disappearance, the lower strings ominously creep up while the violins slide down.
2. Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann, 1958)
Unlike Psycho, the score for Alfred Hitchcock’s romantic thriller Vertigo is both thrilling and luscious. Bernard Herrmann leaned into his romantic side (for he was a romantic at heart) for his fourth collaboration with the director.
That said, Vertigo features just the kind of knotty, disorienting musical machinations Herrmann is known and loved for. The main theme is a kaleidoscopic masterpiece, and Herrmann used the rhythm of the Habanera to great effect. ‘The Nightmare’ is another classic cue, supporting brilliantly conceived visuals by Hitchcock and designer Saul Bass.
The crowning glory of the score, though, is the ‘Scene d’Amour’. Written for a key scene in which Scotty (Jimmy Stewart) transforms his new love into the woman of his dreams, it remains one of Herrmann’s greatest works.
Best movie scores: and the greatest film score of all time is...
1. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982, John Williams)
Beyond that iconic main theme, Williams’s Oscar-winning original score for Steven Spielberg’s classic film is a triumph. There’s magic, mystery, heartbreak and the thrill of the chase; the final 15 minutes of music truly lead the action and take centre stage. It's a real emotional rollercoaster, the finale leaving most audience members in a puddle of tears.
If the history books are to be believed, Spielberg turned off the projector on the recording stage during those final 15 minutes and let Williams simply conduct without having to meet the constraints of the edited film. In a rare move, he then went back to the edit suite and re-cut the sequence to the music. History made.
Pics: Getty Images
