Top 10 Movie Composers!

[lonzoe]

What are your top 10 movie composers? And why?

 

[Drizzle]

I only have five favorites, but as it stands:

1. John Williams
He's number one. He cannot make a bad score. All of his work has been great, and everyone hums along to his music. Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones, E.T, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter...the man can do no wrong.

2. Howard Shore
The Lord of the Rings soundtrack was amazing. Among the best music I've ever heard in movies, especially in Return of the King.

3. Danny Elfman
He's done some great stuff, especially on Tim Burton's films and his SPider-Man theme.

4. Hans Zimmer
He's done some great work on stuff like Gladiator, the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and Batman Begins

5. James Horner
He's got some impressive credits to his resume, like his work with James Cameron's films.

 

[Warhammer]

I'll do 5, too.

Top 5:

1. John Williams
2. Jerry Goldsmith
3. James Horner
4. Hans Zimmer
5. Alan Silvestri

Honorable mention: John Ottman

 

[KenK]

No love for Alan Silvestri?!?

 

[Warhammer]

I had just edited my post to put him in.
I didn't even see your post, KenK.

Honest.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Klaus Badelt (Equilibrium)
Trevor Jones (Dark City)
John Barry (James Bond)

 

[Warhammer]

I forgot all about Trevor Jones.
That movie had one of the best scores, ever.

 

[Catman]

1. Ennio Morricone
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fGIelcG0r3s

2. Danny Elfman
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X4ydxgekFls

3. John Williams
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iiNQc4RomWE

4. Bernard Herrmann
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xji5kKR8pIw

5. John Barry
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YBUmKNBNpgQ

 

[Leto Atrides]

Bernard Herrman - Hitchcock's main composer. Just watch Vertigo.

James Horner - Not always the best composer from a purely musical standpoint, but has a great sense how to score movies and capture it's mood. See: Rocketeer

Eric Wolfgang Korngold - Amazing adventure movie scorer, did most Errol Flynn movies. Terribly dramatic and rousing. See: Captain Blood.

Ennio Morricone - Genuinely good composer. See: Good Bad and the Ugly or Cinema Paradiso.

John Williams - He's the icon he is for a reason. See: Indiana Jones, Saving Private Ryan, Jaws (BTW, yes, his best work is with Spielberg)

Max Steiner - Pretty much invented movie composition, and carried it through it's early years. See: King Kong for why he's important, Gone With the Wind for him at his best.

Elmer Bernstein - Scored 8 million different films, including like half of all 80s comedies. Was a great sport at scoring, say, Ghostbusters or Stripes and keeping it low key without phoning it in, then pulling out all the stops when he was allowed. See: Magnificent Seven, To Kill A Mockinbird

Aaron Copland - He's already amazing, IMO one the best American composers ever, check out Applachian Spring or Rodeo for that. But also did a great job of adapting his style to film. And he also invented Western (as a genre) movie music.

 

[SolidSnakeMGS]

1 - John Williams
2 - James Horner
3 - Jerry Goldsmith <-- shame that he wasn't already mentioned
4 - Ennio Morricone
5 - Dmitri Tiomkin
6 - Maurice Jarre
7 - Bernard Herrman
8 - Alan Silvestri
9- James Newton Howard
10-Basil Poledouris <-- also a shame he wasn't already mentioned

Some aren't in order, but John Williams is #1 and will always be #1!

 

[JTStarkiller]

To avoid being repetitive (I also love JNH, Zimmer, Williams, etc.), I'll add these (along with my favorite of their works)...

David Julyan (Memento and The Prestige)
Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain)
Cliff Martinez (Solaris)
Shirley Walker (Batman: TAS)
John Murphy (28 Days Later and Miami Vice)

 

[bingy13]

1. Ennio Morricone (Cinema Paradiso; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; The Mission)
2. Jerry Goldsmith (Star Trek, Alien, The Omen, Gremlins, Mulan, The Mummy, Rudy, The Shadow, Twilight Zone)
3. John Williams (Superman, Saving Private Ryan, The Witches of Eastwick)
4. Howard Shore (The Fly, Silence of the Lambs, The Departed, se7en, Mrs. Doubtfire)
5. John Barry (From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, The Lion in Winter)
6. Thomas Newman (Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Road to Perdition)
7. Danny Elfman (Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Spider-Man)
8. Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Vertigo)
9. Alan Menken (Pocahontas, Aladdin)
10. Tan Dun (Hero; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

Honorable Mentions:
Elliot Goldenthal (Frida, Titus, Batman & Robin)
Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles, Ratatouille)
Alan Silvestri (Back to the Future)
John Carpenter (Halloween)
James Newton Howard (Unbreakable, King Kong, Atlantis)
Klaus Badelt (The Promise, Rescue Dawn, The Time Machine)
…and I guess Hans Zimmer (The Lion King)

 

[SolidSnakeMGS]

James Newton Howard (Unbreakable, King Kong, Atlantis)

Have you heard his scores to Signs and Wyatt Earp? Great soundtracks.

 

[millennium movies]

John Powell, Marco Beltrami, Hans Zimmer, John Williams come to mind.

 

[Warhammer]

1 - John Williams
2 - James Horner
3 - Jerry Goldsmith <-- shame that he wasn't already mentioned
4 - Ennio Morricone
5 - Dmitri Tiomkin
6 - Maurice Jarre
7 - Bernard Herrman
8 - Alan Silvestri
9- James Newton Howard
10-Basil Poledouris <-- also a shame he wasn't already mentioned

Some aren't in order, but John Williams is #1 and will always be #1!

I'll do 5, too.

Top 5:

1. John Williams
2. Jerry Goldsmith
3. James Horner
4. Hans Zimmer
5. Alan Silvestri

Honorable mention: John Ottman

.

 

[SolidSnakeMGS]

^ Ok, my bad. GJ!

 

[Ash J. Williams]

1. John Williams
2. John Carpenter
3. Danny Elfman
4. John Barry
5. Joseph LoDuca
6. David Lynch
7. Klaus Badelt
8. John Du Prez

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[co2]

1.Williams: The gretest ever. A living legend and genius. I have his greatest hits CD. 2 disk set and I can listen from front to back. If you don't have it..it's time to do yourself a favor.

2. Morricone: Another genius. He and Williams are so good at the Wagnerian style of giving a character a particular theme. I love watching Leone westerns as much for the music as the films themselves.

3. Goldsmith: Alien , the original Planet of the Apes, Rudy and Star Trek. He can disturb you or uplift you. very versatile.

4. Horner: Braveheart, Aliens..which has been used in countless movie trailers.

5. Silvestri: Forrest Gump and many other classics

6: Elfman: What can I say...Batman and too many others.

 

[SamuraiSon6]

honorable mention: Klint Mansell - The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream

see The Fountain's "Death is the Road to Awe", its an amazing piece which fits perfectly with the scene in the movie

 

[SolidSnakeMGS]

1.Williams: The gretest ever. A living legend and genius. I have his greatest hits CD. 2 disk set and I can listen from front to back. If you don't have it..it's time to do yourself a favor.

I'm not gay, but will you have my children? And we can name them all John!!

 

[Dwarf lord]

1. Bernard Hermann
2. John Williams
3. Hans Zimmer
4. Howard Shore
5. Jerry Goldsmith

 

[Leto Atrides]

1.Williams: The gretest ever. A living legend and genius. I have his greatest hits CD. 2 disk set and I can listen from front to back. If you don't have it..it's time to do yourself a favor.

4 disk set, suck on that.

 

[L.A.]

Wow no love for Thomas Newman!!! Come on people!!! He did Road to Perdition and the Shawshank Redemption!!!

[YT]
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[Leto Atrides]

Wow no love for Thomas Newman!!! Come on people!!! He did Road to Perdition and the Shawshank Redemption!!!

Someone already mentioned him, and in fact cited those two movies.

 

[Argyle of Sock]

1) Howard Shore
2) Jerry Goldsmith
3) John Williams
4) Danny Elfman
5) Hans Zimmer

And I'd like to mention Bear McCreary, who is not a movie composer, but is, in my opinion, the best composer for television. Gotta love that accordion!