Five great film scores that wowed us

Music and film are perfect companions. Soundtracks can help us feel the highs and lows of a story with more depth, whether that’s a rousing call to action or a character’s heartbreaking despair. And some soundtracks, manage to transcend their films entirely and become a part of pop culture.

Here are five memorable film scores created by some true visionaries.

Director: George Lucas

Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher

Hear that? That’s the Star Wars theme automatically echoing around your head just because you’re reading this article. The “Main Title” music is so well known that a baby born at this very second probably knows it at a cellular level.

Composer John Williams created one for the ages with his score for the first Star Wars instalment and as well as the music of the other Star Wars films, gave us the instantly recognisable Jaws theme, directed by Stephen Spielberg. His collaboration with Spielberg has spanned both their careers and includes the scores for the Indiana Jones films, E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Jurassic Park. Williams also provided the musical magic for the first three Harry Potter movies. Epic!

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Janet Leigh

String instruments can usually be counted on to create pleasant sounds of beauty and harmony – but not on the Psycho score. The famous shower scene music was written in spite of Hitchcock, who had originally instructed the great film composer Bernard Herrman not to score the murderous bathroom encounter. But once Hitchcock heard the music, he changed his mind, and how could he not?

Hermann also scored North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Vertigo for Hitchcock.

Director: Terence Young

Cast: Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman

What would James Bond be without his theme song? Just a wisecracking womaniser with a martini addiction, that’s what. The first Bond film gave us an unforgettable piece of music that gave Bond an exciting, dangerous and cool edge, and the Dr No score also includes some pretty groovy Jamaican tunes.

John Barry, who composed the music of 11 Bond films, arranged the Bond theme but it was Monty Norman, the composer of the Dr No score, who wrote it – as decided by the courts in disputes over the writing credit.

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard

Remember that deafening horn sound that dominated the Inception score, copied in so many film trailers since? That’s the genius of Hans Zimmer, the brilliant composer behind so many amazing film scores, included those of other Christopher Nolan films, The Dark Knight Trilogy and Interstellar. Zimmer also created the incredibly beautiful and elegiac score for The Thin Red Line, the impressive music of Gladiator and won an Oscar for Best Original Score for The Lion King in 1994.

Director: Richard Kelly

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Cult classic Donnie Darko featured a suitably haunting score by Michael Andrews – you might remember its hit cover of the Tears for Fears track, “Mad World” by Gary Jules, a childhood friend of Andrews. Much of the original score consists of sparse, atmospheric pieces that are perfect to space out to and wonder about parallel universes, time travel and other Donnie Darko-type musings (just try and keep that creepy bunny Frank out of your head).

Fun fact: Andrews later produced the soundtrack of original parody songs for one of the greatest movies ever made – no, really – Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

Director: Terry Gilliam

Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin

The soundtrack for Brazil is by Michael Kamen, who’s also known for his work on Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and X-Men.

The main theme features Kamen's arrangement of a Brazilian Samba, "Aquarela do Brasil" written by Ary Barroso. The theme pops up throughout the film in different styles including elevator music to complement almost-absurd, satirical moments.

Kamen also wrote original music for the film that combines orchestral elements with electronic and synthesizer sounds that’s perfect for the film's retro-futuristic dystopian setting.

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^{This is an updated version of an article first published on 11 February 2022.}