80 Greatest Film Scores & Most Popular Theme Songs
A FILM SCORE (also sometimes called film music, background music, or incidental music) is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score forms part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects, and comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental or choral pieces called cues which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to enhance the dramatic narrative and the emotional impact of the scene in question. Scores are written by one or more composers, under the guidance of, or in collaboration with, the film's director and/or producer, and are then usually performed by an ensemble of musicians – most often comprising an orchestra or band, instrumental soloists, and choir or vocalists – and recorded by a sound engineer.
Film scores encompass an enormous variety of styles of music, depending on the nature of the films they accompany. The majority of scores are orchestral works rooted in Western classical music, but a great number of scores also draw influence from jazz, rock, pop, blues, new-age and ambient music, and a wide range of ethnic and world music styles. Since the 1950s, a growing number of scores have also included electronic elements as part of the score, and many scores written today feature a hybrid of orchestral and electronic instruments.
THEME MUSIC is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the intro, during title sequence and/or ending credits. If it is accompanied by lyrics, most often associated with the show, it is a theme song. When the theme song is named for the title of the work, it is the title song.
The phrase theme song or signature tune may also be used to refer to a signature song that has become especially associated with a particular performer or dignitary; often used as they make an entrance. The purpose of a theme song is often similar to that of a leitmotif.
Film Scores & Theme Songs News, Reviews & Resources
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- ARTHUR'S THEME.
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- BARETTA'S THEME.
- BATMAN THEME.
- Battlestar Galactica THEME.
- BENNY HILL THEME.
- BONANZA THEME.
- Breakfast at Tiffany's Theme - the soundtrack from the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany's starring Audrey Hepburn composed and conducted by Henry Mancini.
- BREAKING BAD THEME.
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- CAR WASH SONG - the "Car Wash" title track for the Car Wash 1976 comedy film was written and produced by Norman Whitfield and was a #1 hit and was one of the biggest hit singles of the Disco era.
- Casablanca: As Time Goes By - As Time Goes By is a song written by Herman Hupfeld in 1931. It became most famous in 1942 when it was sung by Sam (Dooley Wilson) in the movie Casablanca.
- CANNON THEME.
- CHARLIE'S ANGELS THEME.
- CHINATOWN: LOVE THEME - Phillip Lambro was originally hired to write Chinatown's (1974) music score, but it was rejected at the last minute by producer Robert Evans, leaving Jerry Goldsmith only 10 days to write and record a new one. Parts of the original Lambro score can be heard in the original trailer for the movie. The haunting trumpet solos are by the Hollywood studio musician Uan Rasey.
- COLOMBO THEME.
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- DALLAS THEME.
- Doctor Zhivago: Lara's Theme - the lyricless tune "Lara's Theme" (later the tune for the song "Somewhere My Love") is composed by Maurice Jarre for the 1965 epic or drama-romance-war film Doctor Zhivago.
- DYNASTY THEME.
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- E.T. THEME.
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- FALCON CREST THEME.
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- GHOSTBUSTERS THEME.
- GODFATHER THEME - Nino Rota's score was removed at the last minute from the list of 1973 Academy Award nominees when it was discovered that he had used the theme in Eduardo De Filippo's 1958 comedy Fortunella. Although in the earlier film the theme was played in a brisk, staccato and comedic style, the melody was the same as the love theme from the 1972 The Godfather film, and for that reason was deemed ineligible for an Oscar. Despite this, The Godfather Part II won a 1974 Oscar for best original score, although it featured the same love theme that made the 1972 score ineligible.
- Gone With The Wind: Tara's Theme - the film score for Gone with the Wind (1939) is composed by Max Steiner and is one of the most popular film soundtracks ever written.
- Grease - You Are The One That I Want.
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- HARRY POTTER THEME.
- HAWAII FIVE-O THEME.
- HIGH NOON: The Ballad of High Noon (YOU TUBE) - or Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin' is a popular song published in 1952 with music by Dimitri Tiomkin and lyrics by Ned Washington. It was introduced in the movie High Noon, sung over the opening credits by Tex Ritter. It was awarded the 1952 Academy Award for Best Original Song.
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- I -
- INDIANA JONES THEME.
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- James Bond Theme - Monty Norman has been credited with writing the "James Bond Theme", and has received royalties since 1962. For Dr. No, the tune was arranged by John Barry who would later go on to compose the soundtracks for eleven James Bond films.
- JAWS THEME - John Williams contributed the 1975 Jaws film score. The main "shark" theme, a simple alternating pattern of two notes, E and F, became a classic piece of suspense music, synonymous with approaching danger.
- Je t'aime... moi non plus - Je t'aime... moi non plus is a 1976 feature film directed by Serge Gainsbourg, starring Jane Birkin, Hugues Quester and Joe Dallesandro, and featuring a cameo by Gérard Depardieu. In 1969, he released Je t'aime... moi non plus, which featured explicit lyrics and simulated sounds of female orgasm. The song appeared that year on an LP, Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg. Originally recorded with Brigitte Bardot, it was released with future girlfriend Birkin when Bardot backed out.
- JEEVES & WOOSTER THEME.
- Jurassic Park THEME.
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- KOJAK THEME.
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- L.A. LAW Theme.
- LAWRENCE OF ARABIA THEME - the score for the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia was composed by Maurice Jarre.
- LOVE BOAT - theme song from the television series LOVE BOAT.
- LOVE STORY - (Where Do I Begin?) Love Story is a popular song published in 1970, with music by Francis Lai and lyrics by Carl Sigman. The song was first introduced as an instrumental theme in the 1970 film Love Story. The lyrics were added after the theme music became popular.
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- MAD MEN THEME.
- MAGNUM P.I. THEME.
- M*A*S*H THEME (Suicide is painless).
- Maverick THEME Song.
- MIAMI VICE THEME.
- MIDSUMER MURDERS THEME.
- MISS MARPLE THEME.
- MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE THEME.
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- ODD COUPLE THEME - Neil Simon's The Odd Couple from 1968 with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. All music is written and perfomed by Neal Hefti and his Orchestra.
- Once upon a time in the west: Man with Harmonica (YOU TUBE) - Once Upon a Time in the West's soundtrack composed by Ennio Morricone, from the epic spaghetti Western film of the same name directed by Sergio Leone. The haunting music contributes to the film's grandeur and is considered one of Morricone's greatest compositions.
- OUT OF AFRICA - the music for the 1985 film Out of Africa, including Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and African traditional songs, also has many second-generation compositions by the Englishman John Barry.
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- PERRY MASON THEME.
- PINK PANTHER THEME - The Pink Panther Theme is an instrumental composition by Henry Mancini written as the theme for the 1963 film The Pink Panther and subsequently nominated for the 1964 Academy Award for Original Music Score.
- POIROT TV THEME.
- PSYCHO - Psycho is a 1960 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock insisted that Bernard Herrmann write the score for Psycho and later remarking 33% of the effect of Psycho was due to the music.
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- Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head - Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head is a song written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song. David and Bacharach also won Best Original Score.
- ROCKY - "Gonna Fly Now", also known as "Theme from Rocky", is the theme song from the 1976 movie Rocky, composed by Bill Conti.
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- SCARFACE: Tony's Theme - the music in Scarface (1983) was produced by Academy Award-winning Italian record producer Giorgio Moroder. Reflecting Moroder's style, the soundtrack consists mostly of synthesized new wave, electronic music.
- SHAFT - "Theme from Shaft", written and recorded by Isaac Hayes in 1971, is the soul- and funk-styled theme song to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Shaft.
- SHERLOCK HOLMES THEME.
- SMILE - Smile is a song, originally used as an instrumental theme in the soundtrack for the 1936 Charlie Chaplin movie Modern Times here sung by the late Michael Jackson.
- SOPRANOS INTRO SONG - The Sopranos American 1999-2007 television drama series opening theme is Woke Up This Morning, written and performed by British band Alabama 3.
- STAR TREK THEME.
- Star Wars: The Imperial March - The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) is a musical theme present in the Star Wars franchise. It was composed by John Williams for the 1980 film Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
- SUPER FLY - Super Fly is the third studio album by American soul and funk musician Curtis Mayfield, released in July 1972 on Curtom Records. It was released as the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film of the same name. Super Fly is one of the few films ever to have been outgrossed by its soundtrack.
- SUPERMAN THEME.
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- TAGGART THEME.
- THE A-TEAM THEME.
- The Affair Theme Song "Container".
- THE FUGITIVE THEME.
- The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Theme.
- The High Chaparral Theme.
- The Ipcress File Theme.
- The Odd Couple Theme.
- THE PURSUADERS THEME.
- THE SAINT THEME.
- The Streets of San Francisco Theme.
- The Stripper - instrumental composed by David Rose, recorded in 1958 and released four years later. It evinces a jazz influence with especially prominent trombone lines, and evokes the feel of music used to accompany striptease artists.
- The Third Man Theme - composed by Anton Karas and played by him on the zither for the 1949 film The Third Man.
- THE X-FILES THEME.
- TOP GUN ANTHEM.
- Top Gun - Highway to the Dangerzone.
- TWIN PEAKS THEME.
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- Un homme et une femme - the soundtrack for the 1966 French film A Man and a Woman (French: Un homme et une femme) was written by Francis Lai and earned "Best Original Score" nominations at both the BAFTA Awards and Golden Globe Awards in 1967. The film's theme song, with music by Francis Lai and lyrics by Pierre Barouh, was also nominated for "Best Original Song in a Motion Picture" at the Golden Globe Awards.
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- West Side Story-Tonight - probably the most famous song from the classic American 1961 film musical West Side Story. Inspired by the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. The Stan Kenton Orchestra recorded Johnny Richards' West Side Story, an entire album of jazz orchestrations based on the Leonard Bernstein scores.
- What's New Pussycat? - the Academy Award-nominated title song by Burt Bacharach (music) and Hal David (lyrics) for the 1965 comedy film was sung by Tom Jones.
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- Zorba The Greek Main Theme - scored for the film Zorba the Greek (1964) by Mikis Theodorakis.
