The 50 Best Film Composers of All Time

1. John Williams

Top 5 film Scores
FilmDirectorYear
1. Star WarsGeorge Lucas1976
2. JawsSteven Spielberg1975
3. The Empire Strikes BackIrvin Kershner1980
4. Raiders of the Lost ArkSteven Spielberg1981
5. Jurassic ParkSteven Spielberg1993
Star Wars (1977). John Williams’ position at the top is unassailable with a top 5 like that, and an astounding depth to his resume. His use of leitmotifs is unparalleled, attaching symphonic musical ideas to characters and settings that many people who have not even seen these films can hum off the top off their head.

2. Ennio Morricone

Top 5 film Scores
FilmDirectorYear
1. The Good, The Bad, and the UglySergio Leone1966
2. Days of HeavenTerrence Malick1978
3. Once Upon a Time in the WestSergio Leone1968
4. Once Upon a Time in AmericaSergio Leone1984
5. A Fistful of DollarsSergio Leone1964
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966). Morricone is rightfully known for his Spaghetti Western scores more than anything else with bells, whistling, and cracking whips, but it is his blend of unconventional instruments with memorable melodies across his entire career which brought the avant-garde into the mainstream.

3. Bernard Hermann

Top 5 film Scores
FilmDirectorYear
1. PsychoAlfred Hitchcock1960
2. VertigoAlfred Hitchcock1958
3. Taxi DriverMartin Scorsese1976
4. Citizen KaneOrson Welles1941
5. North by NorthwestAlfred Hitchcock1959
Psycho (1960). Hermann pushed orchestral scoring forward with his dissonant harmonies, syncopated rhythms, and complex orchestral textures, often working in the realm of genre films to underscore their tension and unease.

4. Max Steiner

Top 5 film Scores
FilmDirectorYear
1. Gone with the WindVictor Fleming1939
2. CasablancaMichael Curtiz1942
3. King KongMerian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack1933
4. The SearchersJohn Ford1956
5. The Treasure of the Sierra MadreJohn Huston1948
Gone with the Wind (1939). Known as the Father of Film Music for good reason, Steiner was a pioneer in his field when sound cinema entered the mainstream, using sweeping strings sections, brass flourishes, and powerful musical themes to accompany the development of characters.

5. Nino Rota

Top 5 film Scores
FilmDirectorYear
1. The GodfatherFrancis Ford Coppola1972
2. The Godfather Part IIFrancis Ford Coppola1974
3. 8 1/2Federico Fellini1963
4. The LeopardLuchino Visconti1963
5. La Dolce VitaFederico Fellini1960
The Godfather (1972). Rota combined classical, folk, and jazz influences into his deeply evocative scores, whether he was heightening the sinister intensity of The Godfather series or the melancholic whimsy of Fellini’s dreamscapes.

6. Hans Zimmer

Top 5 film Scores
FilmDirectorYear
1. InceptionChristopher Nolan2010
2. DunkirkChristopher Nolan2017
3. The Thin Red LineTerrence Malick1998
4. Dune: Part One and TwoDenis Villeneuve2021, 2024
5. The Dark KnightChristopher Nolan2008
Inception (2010). Zimmer revolutionised contemporary film music with his blend of traditional orchestration and electronic instruments, creating immersive atmospheres that often build to epic, cinematic crescendoes.

7. Howard Shore

Top 5 film Scores
FilmDirectorYear
1. The Lord of the RingsPeter Jackson2001-03
2. The FlyDavid Cronenberg1986
3. Dead RingersDavid Cronenberg1988
4. Se7enDavid Fincher1995
5. The Silence of the LambsJonathan Demme1991
The Lord of the Rings (2001-03). Shore is a talented a composer with an astounding depth to his resume, but he is largely buoyed to this lofty position by The Lord of the Rings, where his wide array of distinctive instrumentations, textures, and melodies contribute enormously to its majestic world building.

8. Michel Legrand

Top 5 film Scores
FilmDirectorYear
1. The Umbrellas of CherbourgJacques Demy1964
2. The Young Girls of RochefortJacques Demy1967
3. LolaJacques Demy1961
4. A Woman is a WomanJean-Luc Godard1961
5. Vivre sa VieJean-Luc Godard1962
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). Legrand was the composer of choice for two of the French New Wave’s greatest auteurs, marked by lush orchestrations that resonate with romantic nostalgia and swell to grand emotional peaks.

9. Elmer Bernstein

Top 5 film Scores
FilmDirectorYear
1. Sweet Smell of SuccessAlexander Mackendrick1957
2. The Man With the Golden ArmOtto Preminger1955
3. HudMartin Ritt1963
4. Far From HeavenTodd Haynes2002
5. The Age of InnocenceMartin Scorsese1993
Sweet Smell of Success (1957). Bernstein’s versatility saw him span melodramas, westerns, noirs, and romances, though it was his big band jazz scores which stand out for their brassy boldness, matching the chaotic instability of his characters’ lives.

10. Alexandre Desplat

Top 5 film Scores
FilmDirectorYear
1. The Grand Budapest HotelWes Anderson2014
2. The Shape of WaterGuillermo del Toro2018
3. The Tree of LifeTerrence Malick2011
4. Fantastic Mr. FoxWes Anderson2009
5. The Ghost WriterRoman Polanski2010
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). Desplat’s scores bring a lyrical elegance to films directed by some of our greatest modern auteurs, frequently incorporating exotic flavours from around the world into his instrumentations, rhythms, and melodies.
ComposerTop 3 Film Scores
11. Danny Elfman1. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
2. Batman (1989)
3. Sleepy Hollow (1999)
12. Jonny Greenwood1. There Will Be Blood (2007)
2. The Master (2012)
3. Phantom Thread (2017)
13. Maurice Jarre1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
2. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
3. The Damned (1969)
14. Miklós Rózsa1. Ben-Hur (1959)
2. The Lost Weekend (1945)
3. Double Indemnity (1944)
15. Michael Nyman1. The Piano (1993)
2. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
3. A Zed and Two Noughts (1985)
16. Carter Burwell1. Fargo (1996)
2. Raising Arizona (1987)
3. Being John Malkovich (1999)
17. Clint Mansell1. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
2. The Fountain (2006)
3. Black Swan (2010)
18. Thomas Newman1. American Beauty (1999)
2. WALL-E (2008)
3. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
19. James Horner1. Titanic (1997)
2. The New World (2005)
3. Avatar (2009)
20. Georges Delerue1. The Conformist (1970)
2. Contempt (1963)
3. Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
21. Franz Waxman1. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
2. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
3. Rebecca (1940)
22. Zbigniew Preisner1. Three Colours: Blue (1993)
2. The Double Life of Veronique (1991)
3. Dekalog (1989)
23. Jerry Goldsmith1. Chinatown (1974)
2. Alien (1979)
3. L.A. Confidential (1997)
24. Dimitri Tiomkin1. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
2. Rio Bravo (1959)
3. Red River (1948)
25. Jon Brion1. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
2. Synecdoche, New York (2008)
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
26. Brian Easdale1. The Red Shoes (1948)
2. Peeping Tom (1960)
3. Black Narcissus (1947)
27. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross1. The Social Network (2010)
2. Gone Girl (2014)
3. Mank (2020)
28. Fumio Hayasaka1. Seven Samurai (1954)
2. Rashomon (1950)
3. Ikiru (1952)
29. Philip Glass1. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
2. Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
3. The Truman Show (1998)
30. Tan Dun1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
2. Hero (2002)
31. Vangelis1. Blade Runner (1982)
2. Chariots of Fire (1981)
32. Alfred Newman1. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
2. Wuthering Heights (1939)
3. Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
33. Jack Nitzsche1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
2. Performance (1970)
3. The Exorcist (1973)
34. Joe Hisaishi1. Spirited Away (2001)
2. Princess Mononoke (1997)
3. My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
35. Angelo Badalamenti1. Mulholland Drive (2001)
2. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
3. Blue Velvet (1986)
36. Alex North1. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
2. Spartacus (1960)
3. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
37. Masaru Sato1. The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
2. Yojimbo (1961)
3. High and Low (1963)
38. Leigh Harline1. Pinocchio (1940)
2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1935)
3. Man of the West (1958)
39. Popol Vuh1. Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972)
2. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
3. Fitzcarraldo (1982)
40. Goblin1. Suspiria (1977)
2. Deep Red (1975)
3. Tenebrae (1982)
41. John Barry1. Out of Africa (1985)
2. Dances with Wolves (1990)
3. Goldfinger (1964)
42. Cliff Martinez1. Only God Forgives (2013)
2. Drive (2011)
3. The Neon Demon (2016)
43. Henry Mancini1. Touch of Evil (1958)
2. Charade (1963)
3. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
44. Frank Skinner1. Imitation of Life (1959)
2. Written on the Wind (1956)
3. Magnificent Obsession (1954)
45. Alberto Iglesias1. The Skin I Live In (2011)
2. Talk to Her (2002)
3. Broken Embraces (2009)
46. Roy Webb1. Cat People (1942)
2. Track of the Cat (1954)
3. Notorious (1946)
47. Pino Donaggio1. Carrie (1976)
2. The Untouchables (1987)
3. Dressed to Kill (1980)
48. Alan Silvestri1. Back to the Future (1985)
2. Forrest Gump (1994)
3. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
49. Victor Young1. The Quiet Man (1952)
2. Shane (1953)
3. Johnny Guitar (1954)
50. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis1. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
2. Blonde (2022)
3. The Road (2009)

5 thoughts on “The 50 Best Film Composers of All Time”

  2. dom's avatar
    dom

    Really happy that Elmer Bernstein is in the top 10. I’m starting to become a fan of his work after hearing his scores for Sweet Smell, Golden Arm, Magnificent Seven, and Hud. Really hope I see more of his work soon.

    Speaking of which, those 4 I mentioned are currently in my top four of Elmer Bernstein scores in this order:
    1. Sweet Smell of Success
    2. The Magnificent Seven
    3. The Man with the Golden Arm
    4. Hud

    Reply
    1. SceneByGreen's avatar
      SceneByGreen

      He mastered quite a few genres, he’s such an incredible talent. I haven’t seen The Magnificent Seven but good to see there’s more of his best work I haven’t discovered yet!

      Reply
  3. Tozoco's avatar
    Tozoco

    Hey, Declan. Great list. How important is form and quality of the movie when raking composers or even scores? Because I really think Hedwig’s theme is maybe Williams’ best achievement in terms of melody. I get that Harry Potter is not even close to the movies of his top 5 but it just seems weird that it is not there.

    Reply
    1. SceneByGreen's avatar
      SceneByGreen

      I believe a great score works best when it aligns with great characters, editing, visuals, or some other formal element. I think John Williams’ music in particular is elevated in this way since it relies so much on leitmotifs that evolve with the narrative, making the score more structurally integral to the film as whole. I wouldn’t argue against calling his score for Harry Potter among his peak melodies in a vacuum, but I don’t believe it necessarily develops and transforms in the same way as Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark.

      With that said, I wouldn’t argue against its placement on a list like this, and am still strongly considering adding it myself since it is undeniably strong. But it’s something I’m still wrestling with.

      Reply

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