10 Best Drama Movie Scores

This list of emotive efforts is compiled in order of release.

The Godfather  (1972) – Nino Rota

Family and honor.  A certain sophistication and panache.  The ‘old country’.  Rules and etiquette, and people who will not hold back with if these are broken.  All in all, The Godfather.

Taxi Driver  (1976) – Bernard Herrmann

Herrmann’s final score invokes all his great Hitchcock ones from the past.  The contrast of innocence and sleaze that the movie revolves around (Travis Bickle’s childish naivety and his taste for firearms and porno theatres; Jodie Foster’s world-weary but pubescent prostitute) is clearly portrayed in this memorable piece.

The Deer Hunter  (1978)  – Stanley Myers

This is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written, period.

Chariots of Fire  (1981) – Vangelis

Nothing invokes victorious, slow-motion running like this slow-burning theme.  The Sun newspaper has been milking it for their London 2012 Olympics coverage for months.

Local Hero  (1983) – Mark Knoppfler

Dire Straits are a bit of a joke these days, used for throwaway gags in the likes of Shaun of the Dead (Simon Pegg’s Shaun has no qualms about lobbing one of their LPs at marauding zombies).  This pisses me off, as they were one of the best British bands of the ‘80s – and this haunting, gorgeous theme to Bill Forsythe’s wistful tale shows how evocative they could be.  Newcastle United F.C. fans will know what I mean.

Crocodile Dundee  (1986) – Peter Best

Best’s theme uses guitar, drum, and (notably) didgeridoo to create an outback atmosphere that builds slowly and gets under your skin, working towards a rousing climax.  Strewth!

7. Dances with Wolves (1990) – John Barry

You can almost feel the wind blowing through your hair as you survey the vast open frontier, the sun slowly setting across the flatland and bathing the scene in an amber glow.  Man I love this theme.

True Romance  (1993) – Hans Zimmer

I should, by rights, be putting the music from Terrance Malick’s Badlands ('Gassenhauer' from the classical suite 'Musica Poetica' by Carl Orff) here instead, seeing that Zimmer shamelessly rips it off.  But then, True Romance is a pretty shameless flick, and besides I’ve always thought that Badlands is overrated.  This theme is an oddly innocent counterpoint to the carnage the film throws up, and reminds us that at its core it is – aw, shucks! – just a sweet tale of love.

Braveheart  (1995) – James Horner

Nothing like a good emotional piece of full-on orchestral music to deepen the impact of an anti-English re-working of history.  Horner is really the best at this kind of epic, affecting score, and I should also mention the ace dance remix that moved ravers on the dance floor just as much in the late ‘90s.

Requiem for a Dream  (2000) – Clint Mansell

At one point, this music was used to add a bit of drama to every reality show and TV spot around.  Don’t think any of those featured heroin injections into abscesses or a dirty old man gleefully yelling “Ass to ass!” (although feel free to correct me).  Not to mention New Line ripped it off for thier The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers trailer, too.  Not hard to see why, as it’s one of the most powerful scores of modern times.

10 Best Horror Movie Scores

This list of spine-tinglers is compiled in order of release.

Psycho  (1960) – Bernard Hermann

Few pieces of film music are so utterly attached to their source as this classic.  That ree ree ree! of the knife stabbing is idiosyncratic and, together with masterful editing, helps the audience to fill in the blanks of what Hitchcock couldn’t show in the shower, resulting in an experience more traumatic than a thousand explicit Saw efforts.

The Exorcist  (1973) – Mike Oldfield

Oldfield's tubular sound creates eerily satanic church bells, ringing as you're chased through the courtyard at midnight by something that never actually shows itself but will never stop stalking you – and so is all the more terrifying.

The Omen  (1976) – Jerry Goldsmith

Less subtle than The Exorcist, but an equally unnerving religious-tinged bombast.  The son of the Devil is here, and he’s not going to obediently go and sit on the naughty step.

Jaws  (1975) – John Williams

No movie since Psycho has made people so afraid to be around water.  Amongst the most recognisable themes of all time; hell, the opening two notes alone are iconic...

Halloween  (1978) – John Carpenter

Escalating dread.  That's the feeling you get watching John Carpenter’s master work, not least because of its peerless score.  Carpenter’s music is often dismissed by purists as a catalogue of simplistic synthesizer-reliant relics; I have a place in my heart for all of them, but even the biggest music snob must bow down to the Halloween theme.

Alien  (1979) – Jerry Goldsmith

Ridley Scott’s upcoming return to the Alien universe has been getting a lot of people very excited.  If he can deliver an experience that matches one tenth of the crippling, isolated, no-one-will-ever-hear-your-screams-let-alone-care terror of Goldsmith’s score for the one that started it all, than Prometheus will have been worth the wait.

The Shining  (1980) – Krzysztof Penderecki 

This score hints at the isolated, maddening horror the Torrence family are letting themselves in for at the Overlook hotel, with undertones of the Native American burial ground that someone decided to build a hotel on.  Not such a great investment when caretakers can’t stop hacking up their families.

The Thing  (1982) – Ennio Morricone

The best John Carpenter score that he never wrote.  The definition of minimalism, each du-dum throb mimics the audience’s heartbeat as they experience the unease of being in a hot terror sweat whilst trapped in a frozen, barren hell.

A Nightmare on Elm Street  (1984) – Charles Bernstein

Memorable, obliquely spine-tingling with a taunting undercurrent – this vastly underrated score is just like Freddy himself.  One of the many mistakes the turgid remake got wrong was abandoning it.

The Fly  (1986) – Howard Shore

Shore manages to capture the wonder of scientific discovery, the empowering catalyst of love, the doom of fucking with nature and the operatic tragedy that combining these elements propagates.  Impressive stuff.


See also:

5 Horror Remakes That Do the Originals Justice

5 of the Very Worst Horror Remakes 

10 Best Action/Adventure Movie Scores

10 Best Action/Adventure Movie Scores

This list of adrenaline-pumpers is compiled in order of release.

Superman: The Movie  (1978) – John Williams

Despite not considering myself a hardcore Man of Steel fan, when I sat down to watch Superman Returns in the cinema and heard the opening notes of the familiar theme, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end (and the movie is pretty damn underrated, too).

Raiders of the Lost Ark  (1981) – John Williams

The word ‘adventure’ expressed non-verbally.  No number of shitty it-was-all-aliens sequels could ever dilute its power. 

Conan the Barbarian  (1982) – Basil Poledouris

The ultimate ‘going into battle’ music.  As silly, fun and epic as the movie itself.

Back to the Future  (1985) – Alan Silvestri

Somehow manages to be both rousing and light-hearted at the same time. 

Die Hard  (1988) – Michael Kamen

The score that other action movies wish they had.  Exciting, tense, never repetitive, and communicating genuine peril.  Bravo.

Batman  (1989) – Danny Elfman

The best Batman theme, portraying all the moody majesty of the character and the dark torment that defines him.  Elfman does as iconic a job as Williams with Superman, but creates a totally different feel.

Jurassic Park  (1993) – John Williams

You don’t have to remember being a child in 1993 and watching this film in an era when the sight CGI dinosaurs still made jaws drop to appreciate one of the most gorgeous pieces of music ever written.  But it sure helps.

(And if you’ve never heard the glorious 1000% slower version, check it out immediately: http://soundcloud.com/birdfeeder/jurassic-park-theme-1000-slower)

The Rock  (1996) – Hans Zimmer, Nick Glennie-Smith 
& Harry Gregson-Williams

 This is the definitive Zimmer action score.  In six and a half minutes it delivers everything you need: tense, mysterious build-up; slow, mournful strings for the poignant sequences; a balls-out assault on the senses for shoot-outs… all infused with a po-faced military vibe.

Starship Troopers  (1997) – Basil Poledouris

'Bombastic' is the only adjective that does this score justice.  It treats a silly, gory outer space romp as if something really important is afoot, providing the perfect lack of subtlety to go hand in hand with Paul Verhoeven’s playful fascist satire.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl  (2003) 
– Hans Zimmer

Pirates were not cool when POTC: TCOTBP came out – Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney needed to sell a totally non-zeitgeist subject matter to a cynical audience.  They already had one ace up their sleeve with a certain actor/character combination, but Zimmer provided the glue that sticks the whole enterprise together, channelling the vibe of classic swashbucklers into the modern age.


See also:
10 Best Horror Movie Scores

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7 Rounds of Jerry Bruckheimer vs Joel Silver