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FMS FEATURE...

May 16, 2005
AFI Scores with Top-250 List
Balloting Underway to Determine Top 25

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The American Film Institute has chosen 250 classic movie scores as the basis of its latest list of all-time greats.

AFI is joining forces with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra – whose principal conductor John Mauceri is a longtime champion of film music – to present excerpts from the top 25 in a live concert Sept. 23 in Los Angeles.

AFI officials consulted with a group of film music historians, scholars, conductors and others active in the field to come up with the 250 finalists. Then earlier this month, a ballot was distributed to "a jury of over 500 leaders from the creative community, including composers, musicians, film artists (directors, screenwriters, actors, editors and cinematographers), critics and historians."

Excerpts of those scores that receive the greatest number of votes will be played live – and in order – by Principal Conductor John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra with classic scenes from many of the films projected on the Bowl's big screens.

Mauceri leads a program called "The Big Picture" at the Bowl every summer. But in a departure, this year's program will not be announced in advance to maintain the surprise of the final 25 until the evening of the performance.

This is the latest effort by the AFI to celebrate the first century of filmmaking. Since 1998, the series has included "100 Years, 100 Movies," "100 Stars," "100 Laughs," "100 Thrills, 100 Passons," "100 Heroes and Villains" and last year's entry, the especially controversial "100 Songs." On June 21, CBS will air its newest special, "100 Movie Quotes."

Interestingly, although the ballot trumpets "AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores," no television special is planned to celebrate this list.

Voters have been given the following criteria to make final selections:

  • "Film Score: An original music composition written to serve as the dramatic underscore to an American film released in the sound era.
  • "Creative impact: Film Scores that enrich the moviegoing experience by bringing the emotional elements of a film's story to life.
  • "Historical Significance: Film Scores that create a new sound and, therefore, present the film in a distinct fashion while advancing the art forms.
  • "Legacy: Film Scores that are also enjoyed apart from the movie and evoking the memory of its film source, thus ensuring and enlivening both the music and the movie's historical legacy."
Films must also be defined specifically as American ("an English language motion picture with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States") and feature-length, sound-era films ("AFI defines a feature-length film as a motion picture of narrative format that is typically over 60 minutes in length").

Ballots must be returned by June 3 in order to be tabulated. Voters are also being given the opportunity "to write in up to five additional scores" that they feel fit the criteria but were not included on the original list of 250.

Like every AFI list, this one is already generating considerable discussion in the film-music community.

The list, in alphabetical order:
  • 1. A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (John Williams, 2001)
  • 2. ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN (Max Steiner, 1948)
  • 3. THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (Erich Wolfgang Korngold, 1938)
  • 4. AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (Hugo Friedhofer, 1957)
  • 5. THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (Elmer Bernstein, 1993)
  • 6. AIRPORT (Alfred Newman, 1970)
  • 7. THE ALAMO (Dimitri Tiomkin, 1960)
  • 8. ALIEN (Jerry Goldsmith, 1979)
  • 9. ALL ABOUT EVE (Alfred Newman, 1950)
  • 10. ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY (Bernard Herrmann, 1941)
  • 11. ALTERED STATES (John Corigliano, 1980)
  • 12. AMERICAN BEAUTY (Thomas Newman, 1999)
  • 13. THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT (Marc Shaiman, 1995)
  • 14. ANATOMY OF A MURDER (Duke Ellington, 1959)
  • 15. THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN (Gil Melle, 1971)
  • 16. ANTHONY ADVERSE (Korngold, 1936)
  • 17. APOLLO 13 (James Horner, 1995)
  • 18. AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (Victor Young, 1956)
  • 19. AS GOOD AS IT GETS (Hans Zimmer, 1997)
  • 20. AUNTIE MAME (Bronislau Kaper, 1958)
  • 21. AVALON (Randy Newman, 1990)
  • 22. THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (David Raksin, 1952)
  • 23. BAMBI (Frank Churchill, Edward Plumb, 1942)
  • 24. BATMAN (Danny Elfman, 1989)
  • 25. BECKET (Laurence Rosenthal, 1964)
  • 26. BEN-HUR (Miklos Rozsa, 1959)
  • 27. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (Friedhofer, 1946)
  • 28. THE BIG COUNTRY (Jerome Moross, 1958)
  • 29. THE BLACK STALLION (Carmine Coppola, 1979)
  • 30. BLADE RUNNER (Vangelis, 1982)
  • 31. BODY HEAT (John Barry, 1981)
  • 32. BORN FREE (Barry, 1966)
  • 33. BRAVEHEART (Horner, 1995)
  • 34. BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (Henry Mancini, 1959)
  • 35. THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (Franz Waxman, 1935)
  • 36. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (Malcolm Arnold, 1957)
  • 37. BULLITT (Lalo Schifrin, 1968)
  • 38. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (Burt Bacharach, 1969)
  • 39. CAPTAIN BLOOD (Korngold, 1935)
  • 40. CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE (Alfred Newman, 1947)
  • 41. THE CARDINAL (Moross, 1963)
  • 42. CASABLANCA (Steiner, 1942)
  • 43. CASINO ROYALE (Bacharach, 1967)
  • 44. CAT PEOPLE (Roy Webb, 1942)
  • 45. CHARADE (Mancini, 1963)
  • 46. CHARIOTS OF FIRE (Vangelis, 1981)
  • 47. CHINATOWN (Goldsmith, 1974)
  • 48. CHOCOLAT (Rachel Portman, 2000)
  • 49. EL CID (Rozsa, 1961)
  • 50. THE CIDER HOUSE RULES (Portman, 1999)
  • 51. CITIZEN KANE (Herrmann, 1941)
  • 52. CITY LIGHTS (Charles Chaplin, 1931)
  • 53. CITY SLICKERS (Shaiman, 1991)
  • 54. CLEOPATRA (Alex North, 1963)
  • 55. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (Williams, 1977)
  • 56. CONAN THE BARBARIAN (Basil Poledouris, 1982)
  • 57. COOL HAND LUKE (Schifrin, 1967)
  • 58. THE COWBOYS (Williams, 1972)
  • 59. DANCES WITH WOLVES (Barry, 1990)
  • 60. DARK VICTORY (Steiner, 1939)
  • 61. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (Herrmann, 1951)
  • 62. DECEPTION (Korngold, 1946)
  • 63. DIAL M FOR MURDER (Tiomkin, 1954)
  • 64. DIRTY HARRY (Schifrin, 1971)
  • 65. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (Maurice Jarre, 1965)
  • 66. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (Rozsa, 1944)
  • 67. A DOUBLE LIFE (Rozsa, 1947)
  • 68. DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (Waxman, 1941)
  • 69. DUEL IN THE SUN (Tiomkin, 1946)
  • 70. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (Williams, 1982)
  • 71. EAST OF EDEN (Leonard Rosenman, 1955)
  • 72. EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (Elfman, 1990)
  • 73. ELMER GANTRY (Andre Previn, 1960)
  • 74. THE ENGLISH PATIENT (Gabriel Yared, 1996)
  • 75. EQUUS (Richard Rodney Bennett, 1977)
  • 76. EXODUS (Ernest Gold, 1960)
  • 77. FANTASTIC VOYAGE (Rosenman, 1966)
  • 78. FAR FROM HEAVEN (Elmer Bernstein, 2002)
  • 79. FARGO (Carter Burwell, 1996)
  • 80. FIELD OF DREAMS (Horner, 1989)
  • 81. FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS (Young, 1943)
  • 82. FORBIDDEN PLANET (Louis and Bebe Barron, 1956)
  • 83. FOREVER AMBER (David Raksin, 1947)
  • 84. FORREST GUMP (Alan Silvestri, 1994)
  • 85. FRIDA (Elliot Goldenthal, 2002)
  • 86. FRIENDLY PERSUASION (Tiomkin, 1956)
  • 87. THE FUGITIVE (James Newton Howard, 1993)
  • 88. GANDHI (George Fenton, Ravi Shankar, 1982)
  • 89. THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (Herrmann, 1947)
  • 90. THE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (Hans J. Salter, 1942)
  • 91. GLADIATOR (Hans Zimmer, 2000)
  • 92. GLORY (Horner, 1989)
  • 93. THE GODFATHER (Nino Rota, 1972)
  • 94. GOLDFINGER (John Barry, 1964)
  • 95. GONE WITH THE WIND (Steiner, 1939)
  • 96. THE GOOD EARTH (Herbert Stothart, 1937)
  • 97. THE GREAT ESCAPE (Elmer Bernstein, 1963)
  • 98. THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (Alfred Newman, 1965)
  • 99. GREEN DOLPHIN STREET (Kaper, 1947)
  • 100. THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (Tiomkin, 1961)
  • 101. HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE (Williams, 2001)
  • 102. HATARI! (Mancini, 1962)
  • 103. HAWAII (Elmer Bernstein, 1966)
  • 104. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER (Dave Grusin, 1968)
  • 105. THE HEIRESS (Aaron Copland, 1949)
  • 106. HIGH NOON (Tiomkin, 1952)
  • 107. HOFFA (David Newman, 1992)
  • 108. THE HOURS (Philip Glass, 2002)
  • 109. HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (Alfred Newman, 1941)
  • 110. HOW THE WEST WAS WON (Alfred Newman, 1962)
  • 111. THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (Alfred Newman, 1939)
  • 112. IN COLD BLOOD (Quincy Jones, 1967)
  • 113. IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (Jones, 1967)
  • 114. THE INFORMER (Steiner, 1935)
  • 115. THE INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS (Arnold, 1958)
  • 116. IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (Gold, 1963)
  • 117. IVANHOE (Rozsa, 1952)
  • 118. JANE EYRE (Herrmann, 1944)
  • 119. JAWS (Williams, 1975)
  • 120. JEZEBEL (Steiner, 1938)
  • 121. JOHNNY BELINDA (Steiner, 1948)
  • 122. KING KONG (Steiner, 1933)
  • 123. KING OF KINGS (Rozsa, 1961)
  • 124. KINGS ROW (Korngold, 1942)
  • 125. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (Goldsmith, 1997)
  • 126. LAURA (Raksin, 1944)
  • 127. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Jarre, 1962)
  • 128. THE LION IN WINTER (Barry, 1968)
  • 129. LORD JIM (Kaper, 1965)
  • 130. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (Howard Shore, 2001)
  • 131. LOST HORIZON (Tiomkin, 1937)
  • 132. THE LOST WEEKEND (Rozsa, 1945)
  • 133. LOUISIANA STORY (Virgil Thomson, 1948)
  • 134. LOVE IS A MANY-SPLENDORED THING (Alfred Newman, 1955)
  • 135. LOVE STORY (Francis Lai, 1970)
  • 136. MADAME BOVARY (Rozsa, 1949)
  • 137. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (Elmer Bernstein, 1960)
  • 138. A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (Georges Delerue, 1966)
  • 139. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (Elmer Bernstein, 1955)
  • 140. MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (Giorgio Moroder, 1978)
  • 141. MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (Cyril Mockridge, 1947)
  • 142. THE MIRACLE WORKER (Rosenthal, 1962)
  • 143. THE MISFITS (North, 1961)
  • 144. THE MISSION (Ennio Morricone, 1986)
  • 145. MODERN TIMES (Chaplin, 1936)
  • 146. MOULIN ROUGE (Georges Auric, 1952)
  • 147. MRS. MINIVER (Stothart, 1942)
  • 148. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Patrick Doyle, 1993)
  • 149. MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (Bennett, 1974)
  • 150. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (Kaper, 1962)
  • 151. THE NATURAL (Randy Newman, 1984)
  • 152. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (Herrmann, 1961)
  • 153. NOTORIOUS (Webb, 1946)
  • 154. NOW, VOYAGER (Steiner, 1942)
  • 155. THE NUN'S STORY (Waxman, 1959)
  • 156. OF MICE AND MEN (Copland, 1939)
  • 157. THE OMEN (Goldsmith, 1976)
  • 158. ON GOLDEN POND (Grusin, 1981)
  • 159. ON THE WATERFRONT (Leonard Bernstein, 1954)
  • 160. ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (Morricone, 1984)
  • 161. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (Morricone, 1969)
  • 162. OUT OF AFRICA (Barry, 1985)
  • 163. PAPILLON (Goldsmith, 1973)
  • 164. A PASSAGE TO INDIA (Jarre, 1984)
  • 165. A PATCH OF BLUE (Goldsmith, 1965)
  • 166. PATTON (Goldsmith, 1970)
  • 167. PEYTON PLACE (Waxman, 1957)
  • 168. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (Waxman, 1940)
  • 169. PICNIC (George Duning, 1955)
  • 170. THE PINK PANTHER (Mancini, 1964)
  • 171. A PLACE IN THE SUN (Waxman, 1951)
  • 172. PLANET OF THE APES (Goldsmith, 1968)
  • 173. THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX (Korngold, 1939)
  • 174. PSYCHO (Herrmann, 1960)
  • 175. QUO VADIS? (Rozsa, 1951)
  • 176. RAGTIME (Randy Newman, 1981)
  • 177. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (Williams, 1981)
  • 178. RAINTREE COUNTY (John Green, 1957)
  • 179. REBECCA (Waxman, 1940)
  • 180. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (Rosenman, 1955)
  • 181. THE RED PONY (Copland, 1949)
  • 182. THE RIGHT STUFF (Bill Conti, 1983)
  • 183. A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT (Mark Isham, 1992)
  • 184. THE ROBE (Alfred Newman, 1953)
  • 185. ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES (Michael Kamen, 1991)
  • 186. ROCKY (Conti, 1976)
  • 187. RYAN'S DAUGHTER (Jarre, 1970)
  • 188. SABRINA (Frederick Hollander, 1954)
  • 189. SAMSON AND DELILAH (Young, 1949)
  • 190. THE SAND PEBBLES (Goldsmith, 1966)
  • 191. THE SANDPIPER (Johnny Mandel, 1965)
  • 192. SAYONARA (Waxman, 1957)
  • 193. SCHINDLER'S LIST (Williams, 1993)
  • 194. THE SEA HAWK (Korngold, 1940)
  • 195. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (Doyle, 1995)
  • 196. SHAFT (Isaac Hayes, 1971)
  • 197. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (Stephen Warbeck, 1998)
  • 198. SHANE (Young, 1953)
  • 199. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (Thomas Newman, 1994)
  • 200. SHIP OF FOOLS (Gold, 1965)
  • 201. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (Howard Shore, 1991)
  • 202. SILVERADO (Bruce Broughton, 1985)
  • 203. SLEUTH (John Addison, 1972)
  • 204. SOMEWHERE IN TIME (John Barry, 1980)
  • 205. THE SONG OF BERNADETTE (Alfred Newman, 1943)
  • 206. SOPHIE'S CHOICE (Marvin Hamlisch, 1982)
  • 207. SPARTACUS (North, 1960)
  • 208. SPELLBOUND (Rozsa, 1945)
  • 209. THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS (Waxman, 1957)
  • 210. STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (Goldsmith, 1979)
  • 211. STAR WARS (Williams, 1977)
  • 212. STRAW DOGS (Jerry Fielding, 1971)
  • 213. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (North, 1951)
  • 214. SUMMER AND SMOKE (Elmer Bernstein, 1961)
  • 215. SUMMER OF '42 (Michel Legrand, 1971)
  • 216. A SUMMER PLACE (Steiner, 1959)
  • 217. SUNSET BOULEVARD (Waxman, 1950)
  • 218. SUPERMAN (Williams, 1978)
  • 219. SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (Elmer Bernstein, 1957)
  • 220. THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1-2-3 (David Shire, 1974)
  • 221. TARAS BULBA (Waxman, 1962)
  • 222. TAXI DRIVER (Herrmann, 1976)
  • 223. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (Elmer Bernstein, 1956)
  • 224. THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (Rozsa, 1940)
  • 225. THINGS TO COME (Arthur Bliss, 1936)
  • 226. THE THIRD MAN (Anton Karas, 1949)
  • 227. THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (Legrand, 1968)
  • 228. TITANIC (Horner, 1997)
  • 229. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (Elmer Bernstein, 1962)
  • 230. TOMORROW NEVER DIES (David Arnold, 1997)
  • 231. TOUCH OF EVIL (Mancini, 1958)
  • 232. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (Steiner, 1948)
  • 233. 25TH HOUR (Terence Blanchard, 2002)
  • 234. THE UNTOUCHABLES (Morricone, 1987)
  • 235. VERTIGO (Herrmann, 1958)
  • 236. THE VILLAGE (Howard, 2004)
  • 237. VIVA ZAPATA! (North, 1952)
  • 238. WAIT UNTIL DARK (Mancini, 1967)
  • 239. WALK ON THE WILD SIDE (Elmer Bernstein, 1962)
  • 240. WAR AND PEACE (Rota, 1956)
  • 241. THE WAY WE WERE (Hamlisch, 1973)
  • 242. WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (North, 1966)
  • 243. THE WILD BUNCH (Fielding, 1969)
  • 244. THE WIND AND THE LION (Goldsmith, 1975)
  • 245. THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (Williams, 1987)
  • 246. THE WIZARD OF OZ (Stothart, 1939)
  • 247. THE WOLF MAN (Salter, Frank Skinner, Charles Previn, 1941)
  • 248. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (Alfred Newman, 1939)
  • 249. WYATT EARP (Howard, 1994)
  • 250. YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (John Morris, 1974)


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