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.

American Film Institute (AFI) revealed the top 25 film scores of all time in The Big Picture--AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores, a one-night only presentation on September 23 produced by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association in cooperation with AFI. A jury of over 500 film artists, composers, musicians, critics and historians selected John Williams' iconic score from the classic film STAR WARS as the most memorable film score of all time. John Williams is additionally noteworthy as the most represented composer on the list with three scores making the top 25.

Rounding off the top 10 were film scores ranging in theme from sweeping epics to westerns, including: GONE WITH THE WIND (#2), composer Max Steiner; LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (#3), composer Maurice Jarre; PSYCHO (#4), composer Bernard Herrmann; THE GODFATHER (#5), composer Nino Rota; JAWS (#6), composer John Williams; LAURA (#7), composer David Raksin; THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (#8), composer Elmer Bernstein; CHINATOWN (#9) composer Jerry Goldsmith; and HIGH NOON (#10), composer Dimitri Tiomkin.

Spanning a century of film music and counting down from 25 to number one throughout the evening, Principal Conductor John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra performed excerpts from each of the winning scores, many of them accompanied by favorite movie scenes shown on the Bowl's big video screens. While television broadcasts have announced the previous eight installments of AFI's 100 Years... series, this event marks the first time an AFI countdown was revealed before a live audience.

1. STAR WARS (1977)
   Composer: John Williams
   .
2. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
   Composer: Max Steiner
   .
3. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
   Composer: Maurice Jarre
   .
4. PSYCHO (1960)
   Composer: Bernard Herrmann
   .
5. THE GODFATHER (1972)
   Composer: Nino Rota
   .
6. JAWS (1975)
   Composer: John Williams
   .
7. LAURA (1944)
   Composer: David Raksin
   .
8. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960)
   Composer: Elmer Bernstein
   .
9. CHINATOWN (1974)
   Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
   .
10. HIGH NOON (1952)
    Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
    .
11. THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938)
    Composer: Erich Wolfgang Korngold
    .
12. VERTIGO (1958)
    Composer: Bernard Herrmann
    .
13. KING KONG (1933)
    Composer: Max Steiner
    .
14. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
    Composer: John Williams
    .
15. OUT OF AFRICA (1985)
    Composer: John Barry
    .
16. SUNSET BLVD. (1950)
    Composer: Franz Waxman
    .
17. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
    Composer: Elmer Bernstein
    .
18. PLANET OF THE APES (1968)
    Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
    .
19. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
    Composer: Alex North
    .
20. THE PINK PANTHER (1964)
    Composer: Henry Mancini
    .
21. BEN-HUR (1959)
    Composer: Miklos Rozsa
    .
22. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
    Composer: Leonard Bernstein
    .
23. THE MISSION (1986)
    Composer: Ennio Morricone
    .
24. ON GOLDEN POND (1981)
    Composer: Dave Grusin
    .
25. HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962)
    Composer: Alfred Newman
    .