Nine Film Scores We Can't Believe Are Not in the Hall of Fame

Superman, John Williams

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? etc. etc. Superman  (1978) is surely one of John Williams’s classic movie scores. His music for Star Wars,Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park, E.T. and Harry Potter have all made it into the top 300. But for reasons which are frankly a mystery to us, Superman is nowhere to be seen. 

The Magnificent Seven, Elmer Bernstein

Elmer Bernstein’s 1960 score for the Western classic The Magnificent Seven is a Classic FM favourite, but glance at last year’s Hall of Fame and the iconic music for John Sturges’s film is nowhere to be found. Let’s fix that.

Raiders of the Lost Ark, John Williams

The score for everyone’s favourite (and completely daft) American adventure film is right up there with the best movie music ever written –and yet it’s missing from the Classic FM Hall of Fame. What gives? 

Gone with the Wind, Max Steiner

This iconic 1939 score is notably absent from the Hall of Fame. Max Steiner’s music provides the sweeping musical backdrop to the fiery romance between Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. Frankly, my dears, we think it should be in the top 300 this year.

Lawrence of Arabia, Maurice Jarre

Peter O’Toole and his amazing blue eyes star in this epic re-telling of the life of T.E. Lawrence. Maurice Jarre’s atmospheric music includes not one but two overtures. If that doesn’t merit an entry in the Hall of Fame, we don’t know what does.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Ennio Morricone

Arguably, the most iconic score for a Western ever written, the music for this Clint Eastwood classic is unforgettable (sorry in advance for the earworm…). Surely that iconic whistle warrants a Hall of Fame vote?

Cinema Paradiso, Ennio Morricone

Can you believe the only Morricone score in last year’s Hall of Fame was The Mission? No. Neither can we. What about the completely charming Cinema Paradiso? If the film and the delightful score don't make you want to a) go to Sicily and/or b) become a projectionist, we’ll eat our standard-issue movie-director cap.

The Godfather, Nino Rota

But the most famous cinematic jaunt to Sicily is surely the trip in The Godfather . And Nino Rota’s score for Francis Ford Coppola’s American crime classic is surely part of the reason for its fame. Inhale the Sicilian atmosphere captured in Rota’s famous Love Theme and tell us you don’t want to immediately go and vote for this soundtrack.

The Piano, Michael Nyman

The 1993 film about a mute pianist and her daughter is as haunting a movie as you could wish for. Set on the coast of New Zealand, Jane Campion’s film is scored beautifully by Michael Nyman – and it’s a bit of a mystery to us why this wonderful score isn’t among the top 300 at the moment.

(C) 2015 by CLASSIC FM London