Posted on 08/29/2002 7:01:26 AM PDT by Overtaxed
The Oscar-winning soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings has been voted the greatest film score of all time in a poll conducted by the radio station Classic FM.
The score by Howard Shore beat such classics as Gone With The Wind and Dr Zhivago and was a testament, experts said yesterday, to the huge popularity of the film, which produced one of the highest box office gross figures of all time.
Long-standing favourite soundtracks such as Casablanca, The Godfather and The Sound of Music were notable by their absence from the poll of more than 52,000 listeners.
"It doesn't surprise me that Lord of the Rings has come top," said Robert Mitchell of Screen International magazine. "I do think the score is good and it was quite different from anything we had heard before. But I think this has more to do with the fact that this was one of the biggest films of the past 12 months and it is in everyone's minds than anything else."
Shore, who was born in Canada, has written more than 60 film scores, including Silence Of The Lambs, Philadelphia and High Fidelity. He said yesterday: "It is great to translate Tolkien's work into music. I am as thrilled as can be."
Star Wars was in second place, followed by Schindler's List, The Empire Strikes Back and Gladiator. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by John Williams made it to number 14.
Williams was the most popular composer on the list and the man behind the famous Star Wars theme. Three of his soundtracks were in the top 50 and he has a total of nine in the top 30, including ET, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Superman.
But one of his most memorable pieces of music, the theme from Jaws, was a surprise omission.
John Barry, the British composer, merited three mentions on the list, for Out Of Africa, Dances With Wolves and the 1968 film The Lion In Winter. Barry is best known for his James Bond soundtracks, from Goldfinger to Dr No, but none of them is included.
The list is dominated by films from the past two decades, although there are a handful of movie classics that have not been forgotten.
Lawrence of Arabia is at number 8, Doctor Zhivago at number 11, The Magnificent Seven at number 15 and Brief Encounter at number 18.
The oldest film on the list is Gone With The Wind, released in 1939, with a score by Max Steiner.
Plus, judging from the featurette interview with him on the DVD, he's quite a humble guy. Very likeable.
I'm surprised the sound track from The Patriot (John Williams) didn't make the list. I loved the music from that.
You are not alone. You'll see me and other ET-haters post on the subject every once in a while.
BTW, isn't it interesting that the re-release a few months back bombed out?
Nope, you're not the ONLY one, lol.
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