BOT's Top 100 Film Scores Countdown (2021): Fast Five Edition (TOP 10 WEDNESDAY EVENING EST)

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Next set starts

 

 

95. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

 

Original Music by Ennio Morricone

 

 

 

204 Points

Top 10 Placements: 1

 

Prior Placements:
2015- #79
2017- #76
2019- #48

 

 

Ennio Morricone becomes our first composer to repeat in the 100 with his lush score for Sergio Leone's Prohibition-era crime epic. Though it nearly fell off the list this time, this film is also the first film to appear all 4 times I have done the Score list. Morricone uses a pan flute heavily throughout the film, utilizing the talent of renowed Romanian pan-flute player Gheorghe Zamfir, in some cases to an eerie, chilling effect in some scenes where the grim or tragic air gets contrasted with the flute notes. Morricone had originally wrote some of the music for projects the prior decade, but ended up re-purposing the unused material for this movie.

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94. Wall-E (2008)

 

Original Music by Thomas Newman

 

 

213 Points

 

Prior Placements:
2015- #70
2017- #44
2019- #44

 

 

Similar to Once Upon a Time in America, this film score has taken a bit of a tumble from 2 years ago but has managed to hang on. Thomas Newman's score has a crisp artificial feel to it that reflects the primary characters of the film being robots and AI, and Newman resisted making the score fully orchestral in order to better capture the tone of space and mechanics. Newman began writing the score in 2005, three years before the film came out, and has reflected that in hindsight he would have liked to have started even earlier. Newman's work would be nominated for an Oscar, but would lose to Slumdog Millionaire, which came in at 278th for this list.
 

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93. How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

 

Original Music by John Powell

 

 

214 Points

 

Prior Placements:
2015- #16
2017- #35
2019- #33
 

 

And now we have a film that has taken an even steeper fall since 2019, dropping 60 places. John Powell carved out a pretty good career working at Dreamworks Animation, composing for several films there, and his work for the first How to Train Your Dragon movie fairly easily rests as the most acclaimed of the bunch. Powell's work for the film is heavily influenced by Scottish and Irish musical styles, with substantial use of instruments like the penny whistle and bagpipes. Powell also collaborated with Icelandic singer Jonsi and the band Sigur Rós in developing elements of the score. Powell's work was nominated for an Oscar, but ended up losing to a film that is itself no stranger to the Top 100.

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Ok, I think this one is gonna draw some reactions

 

 

 

92.  Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

 

Original Music by Alan Silvestri

 

 

 

 

216 Points 

 

 

In a bit of a surprising turn of events, the third Avengers movie makes its debut in the Top 100, having failed to come that close the first time it was eligible. After being absent from the MCU for six years, Alan Silvestri was brought back into the fold to handle composing duties for the swan song for Phase 3, and the whole initial era, of the MCU. Silvestri would remark that his work on this film was quite different from his prior composing experiences giving the range of tones and character motifs to cover. He found that one of the biggest aspects was to go beyond giving just a theme to Thanos, but creating what he termed "his own 'sensibility'".
 

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91. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

 

Original Music by Bernard Herrmann

220 Points

 

 

 

Prior Placements:
2017- #58
2019- Honorable Mention
 

 

After a strong debut in 2017, this classical supernatural romance story has settled into a position in the lower floor of the Countdown, with recurring composer Bernard Herrmann making his first appearance on the 100 for this iteration. Herrmann, looking back, considered this film to be his finest work as a film composer. His work was recognized by the American Film Institute as one of 250 film scores nominated for inclusion in its 100 Years of Film Scores list

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And that wraps up the second pod. A third pod of 5 will be featured later tonight.

 

 

One thing I will do is over the course of the countdown reveal the Next 10 Out, being the 10 films that were next in line to be honorable mentions. I will reveal them a couple at a time, in alphabetical order.

 

Here are the first 2:

 

 

112th (tied): 1917 (2019) by Thomas Newman

 

 

 

 

111th: Akira (1988) by Shoji Yamashiro

 

 

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Last set of the day

 

 

 

90. The Hunt for Red October (1990)

 

Original Music by Basil Poledouris

 

 

226 Points

Top 10 Placements: 2

 

 

Prior Placements:
2017- #59
2019- #92

 

 

We start our final pod of the day with the music to one of those iconic Dad Movies, coming in just about where it left off in 2019. Greek composer Basil Poledouris' music is heavily skewed towards mechanical and electronic styles to fit with the tense tone of the submarine techno-thriller, and also heavily samples a Russian choir throughout, especially in the main theme for the titular submarine. The film's score mostly went under the radar at the time, though it did win a 1991 Film Music award from Broadcast Music, Inc., which collects licensing/royalty fees worldwide for songwriters and composers

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89. The Mission (1986)

 

Original Music by Ennio Morricone

 

 

226 Points

Vote Tiebreaker Over Hunt for Red October

 

 

Prior Placements:
2015- #62
2017- #52
2019- #80
 

 

Dipping slightly from 2019, The Mission wins the tiebreaker over Red October due to appearing on one more submitted list. Ennio Morricone is a busy man, making his third appearance on the 100 in only 12 films. He is certainly angling to compete for most placements, though we will see if he actually has a shot at dethroning Johnny W. Morricone designed the score for the film to act as a tug of war between two dueling motifs, a Spanish style of music inspired by Catholic liturgical sounds, and a native style of music featuring instruments indigenous to South America. While it won the Golden Globe for Original Score, it came up short at the Oscars.

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88. The Godfather Part II (1974)

 

Original Music by Nino Rota & Carmine Coppola

 

 

226 Points

Vote Tiebreaker over The Mission

 

 

Prior Placements:
2015- #28
2017- #74
2019- #54
 

 

And as it turns out we have another tiebreaker as Godfather Part II ekes out the tiebreak over The Mission due to having one additional list submitting it. After producing a lush and lavish score for the original film, Nino Rota was joined in composing duties by Carmine Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola's father. While expanding and crafting variants on iconic themes from the first film, the two also collaborated to produce several new musical themes and setpieces, and their efforts resulted in an Academy Award, an honor denied to the first film on the grounds of one of the first film's prominent themes not being original.

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87. Suspiria (1977)

 

Original Music by Goblin

 

 

229 Points

 

 

Prior Placements:
2015- #73
2017- #65
2019- #90
 

 

Another film that has settled into about the same spot as last time around, the Italian horror film with its prog-rock soundtrack continues to capture the minds of list submitters. This was just one of Goblin's collaborations with Dario Argento, but it is probably their most well known. The band crafted the score for the film before the movie even started shooting. The score is designed to be unsettling and disorienting, to keep the audience off balance as the film winds its way into deeper horror and suspense, and it's popular legacy indicates that the plan certainly worked.

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86. Taxi Driver (1976)

 

Original Music by Bernard Herrmann

 

 

234 Points

 

Top 5 Placements: 1

 

 

Bernard Herrmann returns to the 100 with Taxi Driver, which shows up in the Countdown for the first time ever. This was actually the final film score composed by Herrmann before his death in December 1975 and the film is dedicated to his memory. The main theme for the film builds upon a lonely saxophone tune that sets the atmosphere for misanthrope Travis Bickle's world of a decaying New York City. Herrmann's work for Taxi Driver was acclaimed, resulting in one of his five Oscar nominations for Score (you'd think he would have more given how many famous film scores he generated over the years).
 

[The Panda]

Wall-E and HTTYD good drops

 

Criminally low for the Mission

 

WTF at IW, the movie only has one good track on its score.

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Kicking off the day with a new pod of 5

 

 

 

85. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

 

Original Music by Jerry Goldsmith

 

 

235 Points

Top 10 Placements: 1

 

 

Prior Placements:
2015- #41
2017- #47
2019- #26
 

 

 

Jerry Goldsmith's first appearance on the 100 is a major drop from 2019 and from this film's historical appearances in general. His musical score for the first Star Trek movie blends grand orchestral themes with discordant electronic notes that are used to highlight the alien mechanical nature of V'Ger. Goldsmith had originally been sought to score the Star Trek television pilot 14 years earlier but that opportunity had fallen through. Goldsmith stated his work for Star Trek was inspired in part by Star Wars, in that he wanted to convey the majesty and wonder of exploring space through vibrant orchestral music. His theme for the character Ilia was used as an overture for the film, and Star Trek 1 is one of only 2 films between 1979 and 2000 that used a musical overture.

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84. Tron: Legacy (2010)

 

Original Music by Daft Punk

 

 

235 Points

Top 10 Placements: 1

Vote Tiebreaker over Star Trek: The Motion Picture

 

 

Prior Placements:
2015- #23
2017- #38
2019- #46
 

 

 

In a recurring trend, we get another film with a steep drop, this one having dropped each countdown since 2015. Tron Legacy wins the tiebreak over Star Trek 1 due to having more lists submitted. Director Joseph Kosinski wanted to honor the innovative electronic score of the first Tron film, so he turned to the French electronic duo Daft Punk to craft the music for the sequel. Though it took a year to get Daft Punk on board due to availability issues, the group did sign on due to being fans of the original movie. While the film score is heavily electronic, in keeping with the group's style, they worked in substantial orchestral elements to reflect their view that an orchestra represented a higher level of AI than a synthesizer.

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83. The Incredibles (2004)

 

Original Music by Michael Giacchino

 

 

235 Points 

Vote Tiebreaker over Tron Legacy

 

 

Prior Placements:
2015- #33
2017- #34
2019- #41
 

 

The change in list submissions compared to prior years have clearly resulted in a notable number of films dropping from their customary positions, with Michael Giacchino's first Pixar score no exception. The Incredibles is also the most heavily-submitted film to appear so far, appearing on 10 lists. Brad Bird wanted a retro-futuristic style of music like a 1960s adventure movie, and initially approached John Barry, who ultimately declined since he didn't want to revisit his earlier styles of music. The score was recorded on analog tapes to give it a more old-timey feel, and the film's recording engineer noted that brass instruments, which form a big part of the score, sound better on analog equipment instead of digital. This film was Giacchino's big break into film scoring, which has led to a very productive 17 years since.

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82. On Golden Pond (1981)

 

Original Music by Dave Grusin

 

 

236 Points

Top 10 Placements: 1

 

 

Prior Placements:
2017- Honorable Mention
2019- Honorable Mention
 

 

In a change of pace, instead of films dropping heavily, we have a film for the first time making the jump from honorable mentions into the 100 itself. For crafting the music to the film, the filmmakers sought out Dave Grusin, known for his jazz and piano-inspired compositions, and true to form, his work for the film heavily relies on a piano. Dave Grusin's work for the film would earn an Oscar nomination, but it would lose the award to a film that has historically done quite well for itself on the 100.

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81. The Ten Commandments (1956)

 

Original Music by Elmer Bernstein

 

 

236 Points

Top 10 Placements: 1
Top 5 Placements: 1

Vote Tiebreaker over On Golden Pond

 

 

Prior Placements:
2017- #63
2019- #85
 

 

 

A lot of tiebreaks had to occur in the first quarter of the Top 100, as a lot of films ended up bunched really close together. Eke-ing out the tiebreak over On Golden Pond is the epic musical score to the epic re-telling of the Exodus story. Elmer Bernstein, who in time would be one of the most famous film composers of his era, was at this point very much an unknown quantity. He was initially hired only to write diegetic music for the film, but when the DeMille's first choice for composer turned the gig down, Bernstein was given the assignment to compose everything for the movie. Bernstein in crafting the score used a variety of ethnic and unorthodox instruments, such as the shofar, the tiple, and the theremin. One inspiration for the musical style of the film was the operas of Richard Wagner, which is definitely evident in the broad and "Romantic" tone of the score.

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After the first 20 films, here are the composers who have shown up on the 100 so far:

 

 

Ennio Morricone- 3
Bernard Herrmann- 2
Alan Silvestri- 2
Elmer Bernstein- 1
Carmine Coppola- 1
Brad Fiedel- 1
Daft Punk- 1
Michael Giacchino- 1
Goblin- 1
Jerry Goldsmith- 1
Dave Grusin- 1
John Murphy- 1
Thomas Newman- 1
Jack Nitzsche- 1
Basil Poledouris- 1
John Powell- 1
Nino Rota- 1
Underworld- 1
 

 

 

The next pod of films will be around mid-afternoon.

[Fancyarcher]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture dropping is unfortunate, but YAY at On Golden Pond making it into the top 100, a genuine surprise. That score is short, but wonderful!

[chasmmi]

As with every list, the most stuff I disagree with / don't know in the first half, the better the chance that I am very happy with how the second half turns out.