BOT's Top 100 Film Scores: The Countdown Thread (2015 Edition) (#1 Revealed Page 14, Full List Page 15)

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24. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)

Original Music by John Williams
349 Points

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWvKVNsVPmw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPp1tSh1qdw


Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone has an interesting accolade: It is the highest-ranking film on this countdown to not have a single list put it within their Top 10. This is a score that built support by consistent support rather than really high rankings. And it's a deserving addition for sure, as Williams crafts several strong cues that serve as a backbone for much of the series' music in the following years. The score does a great job of providing atmosphere for a wondrous world linked to our own, yet very much different.

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23. Tron Legacy (2010)

Original Music by Daft Punk
362 Points
Top 10 Placements: 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3L9n-HG5xY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj_v6RvGMh4


Another breakout film score from 2010, even people here who hated Tron Legacy with a passion still agree that the music for the film was very good. The band Daft Punk does a brilliant job at creating an electronica body of music that perfectly encapsulates the virtual world of The Grid and the harsh action within. A lot of the musical cues lean on the simpler side, but in a way that's what makes it work so well for the movie, as it builds and builds on you through the scene progression matched with cue escalation.

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22. Interstellar (2014)

Original Music by Hans Zimmer
362 Points
Top 10 Placements: 1
Top 5 Placements: 1

 

Wins Tiebreaker over Tron Legacy due to higher Top 10 Tiebreak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c95Xj-Q3uwM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3zvVGJrTP8


And with the fury of a thousand suns the Nol-Zim Collective has launched its most powerful assault yet, placing Space Organ: A Movie within the Top 25. I kid, Interstellar is one of the best outings in the Nolan-Zimmer collaboration period. A lot of traditional Zimmer synth is in the film, but pleasantly he refrains from most of the mechanical booms and crashes and has a more subdued, atmospheric music for much of the film, slowly cranking it up into shrieking or pulsing gears when the mood and events are right.

Plus that organ.

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21. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Original Music by Ennio Morricone
387 Points
Top 10 Placements: 4
Top 5 Placements: 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6BQKFs3-VM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcC5M0cDttQ


After a long gap, the Leone/Morricone tagteam returns with a trademark Leone western. Compared to prior Western collaborations between the two, the music for Once Upon a Time in the West is both harsher and softer, with a violent, shrieking harmonica cue that escalates into a powerhouse theme, as well as a romantic and hopeful theme for its female protagonist. The music strikes to capture the sharp dichotomy of the Old West, where bad men roam and steal and kill as civilization, hope, and the future are built on top of the bodies those men leave behind. And it works, yes it does.

[Empire]

Interstellar being this high is a joke. Shouldn't even be on the list.

[Avatree]

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by John Williams - also known as, according to James, "the only thing John Williams is known for"

 

 

I'm not gonna say Lion King doesn't deserve a place on the list but I suspect it found its way on to many people's lists thanks to its songs.

[MrPink]

Interstellar being this high is a joke. Shouldn't even be on the list.

 

YOU LIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

I AM HERE NUMBERS AND I AM REPPIN'

[Kalo]

Interstellar being this high is a joke. Shouldn't even be on the list.

 

I loved the interstellar soundtrack when I first heard it, but it does not hold up well, in fact I it kind of gives me a headache now.. it was on my list though.. 

[Fancyarcher]

Interstellar being this high is a joke. Shouldn't even be on the list.

 

I think it's a really great score, one of Zimmer's very best. It was in my top 40.

[Kalo]

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by John Williams - also known as, according to James, "the only thing John Williams is known for"

 

 

I'm not gonna say Lion King doesn't deserve a place on the list but I suspect it found its way on to many people's lists thanks to its songs.

 

No, I put Lion King for the score. 

[Blankments]

You forgot the best track from Tron, Numbers

 

[The Futurist]

Steven Spielberg nearly directed the first Potter hence Williams.

[ShouldIBeHere]

Lion King, Halloween AND Titanic UNDER Interstellar?

 

 

I can't even...   all three would have made my TOP 10, at least one my TOP 5.

 

Interstellar's score has no place on such lists.

Edited May 4, 2015 by ShouldIBeHere

[ddddeeee]

Steven Spielberg nearly directed the first Potter hence Williams.

The director had worked with Williams multiple times.

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Like Home Alone

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20. Rocky (1976)

Original Music by Bill Conti
392 Points
Top 10 Placements: 1
Top 5 Placements: 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siOlyuB4ToQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3P7fucxdpc


Rocky, the underdog movie that could about the underdog who could, is our first film the The Top 20. Conti's music is blue-collar pride and emotion, even in its softer moments having some heart and soul on its sleeve. The film also features one of the most famous main themes in contemporary film music, one that has seeped into society. The music isn't anything unique or new, but it's an everyman kind of score that's done pretty darn well.

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19. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)

Original Music by John Williams
409 Points
Top 10 Placements: 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_K_Vl4l8gg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z52K7iVvh08


The Star Wars Original Trilogy finally arrives on the countdown with the threequel outing of the group. John Williams had two films worth of previous cues to play around with and he certainly weaves them in a good deal. But he also creates a few new themes and cues, one of which has become a big part of the franchise going forward (The Emperor/Sith theme). The excitement, emotion, and drama are all present in the music as Williams helps bring the trilogy to its conclusion.

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18. Chariots of Fire (1981)

Original Music by Vangelis
411 Points
Top 10 Placements: 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6GiDC2bx40


After a long long gap, Vangelis returns to the countdown with what is certainly his most famous film score. Back in the early 80s it remained quite uncommon to use synth music in film scores but that didn't stop Vangelis' work here from catching fire and taking the Academy and soundwaves by storm. His main theme for the film is one of the more well known ones out there as well.

[Plain Old Tele]

Two Greeks on the list!

Edited May 5, 2015 by Telemachos

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Two Greeks on the list!

 

Wait for it...

17. Blade Runner (1982)

Original Music by Vangelis

419 Points

Top 10 Placements: 4

Top 5 Placements: 3

#1 Placements: 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV95Yu6gZSY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRUD2Daz5q8

After such a long absence, it is a bit amusing for Vangelis to show up on back-to-back spots, and with two incredibly different movies at that. Vangelis brings his synth music to the table for the brooding, sci-fi neo-noir Blade Runner and it immediately sets the film apart from many sci-fi outings. The music is eerie, mechanical, and almost magically intriguing as it pulls you into the bleak futuristic LA inhabited by Runners and Replicants. And of course there's a saxophone thrown in at times, because nothing hits with neo-noir like jazz saxophone.