Tom and I were having a fun discussion the other day about movie themes. I have over 3,000 songs on my phone and I had just heard the theme for “The Big Country.” I love that movie theme. It is one of my favorites. Listening to it makes pictures of the west appear and I imagine myself riding over the range on a horse. It isn’t necessarily the most popular movie theme, but it is very evocative for me. It made me start thinking about other movie theme songs.
I wondered what movie theme songs were the most popular, memorable, beloved. Most of the ones that come immediately to my mind are John Williams themes: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws. I googled it (of course) and came up with lots of lists. Then I asked Tom which movie theme songs he thought of most memorable. I want you to think of movie theme songs also before I move on to the lists. Just one condition: the theme song can’t be from a musical. I got you started with the four I mentioned – what would you add? I’ll wait.
Here is the top 10 list that Tom and I came up with: Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Bridge Over the River Kwai, James Bond, Pink Panther, Psycho, Ghostbusters, and Chariots of Fire. Then we called John and asked him to play our game. John suggested some of the same ones on our list and added Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, Inception and Harry Potter. I asked my parents and they came up with Love Story and Dr. Zhivago.
In googling the top movie themes, I found several good lists. The first is “Greatest Film Themes of All Time” compiled by BBC Music Magazine and Radiotimes.com. Here is their top 20:
1) Star Wars: A New Hope – John Williams (1977)
2) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Howard Shore (2001)
3) Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Hedwig’s Theme) – John Williams (2001)
4) Jurassic Park – John Williams (1993)
5) The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – Ennio Morricone (1966)
6) Raiders of the Lost Ark – John Williams (1981)
7) Jaws – John Williams (1975)
8) The Godfather – Nino Rota (1972)
9) Superman: The Movie – John Williams (1978)
10) Pirates of the Caribbean – Klaus Badelt (2003)
11) Dr No ‘The James Bond Theme’ – Monty Norman (1962)
12) The Dark Knight – Hans Zimmer (2008)
13) Back to the Future – Alan Silvestri (1985)
14) Chariots of Fire – Vangelis (1981)
15) Titanic – James Horner (1997)
16) Gladiator – Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard (2000)
17) The Great Escape – Elmer Bernstein (1963)
18) Gone with the Wind – Max Steiner (1939)
19) The Pink Panther – Henry Mancini (1963)
20) Inception – Hans Zimmer (2010)
Collider has another good list with its “10 Iconic Movie Scores that are Instantly Recognizable.” Their top 10 list is Harry Potter, Titanic, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Star Wars, The Lion King, Rocky, Jaws, Psycho, James Bond, and Indiana Jones. After this the lists look very much the same, with a few variations.
After looking at the lists, it shouldn’t surprise you that John Williams is one of the best movie composers of all time. Is there anyone in the world that hasn’t heard at least one of his movie themes? I was surprised to see BBC Music Magazine ranked him as the second best movie composer of all times. If John Williams is second, who could possibly be first? They said it was Max Steiner who basically invented movie theme music.
If you need a topic of conversation at Christmas dinner, this is a good thing to bring up. We all have a movie theme that we instantly remember and that transports us to another time and another place. We might have some common themes, but we also have very individual ideas about a great movie theme. It is interesting to me to ask people what they think because the answers can be so different.
How about you? What did you come up with as the greatest movie theme?