AFI To Select & Perform Top 25 Film Scores

By: Randall Larson
Date: Friday, May 20, 2005

The American Film Institute has announced a concert to take place at the Hollywood Bowl on this September 23rd: The Big Picture: AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores. The AFI has sent a ballot listing 250 film scores to over 500 people in the film community to vote on the top 25 film scores of all time, selections from which will be performed at the concert by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra under the baton of John Mauceri. Tickets are now on sale at HollywoodBowl.com. The complete ballot can be found at this site.

The following criteria have been suggested for choosing the scores:
FILM SCORE: An original music composition written to serve as the dramatic underscore to an American film released in the sound era. (AFI defines an American film as an English language motion picture with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States. Additionally, only Film Scores from feature-length American films released in the sound era (1927 to present) will be considered. AFI defines a feature-length film as a motion picture of narrative format that is typically over 60 minutes in length.
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.

The 250-score master list is an unusually comprehensive one, including not only 11 scores from each of several major composers (Bernstein, Goldsmith, Newman, Rozsa, Steiner, Waxman and Williams) but entries from such perennially underappreciated composers as Rosenthal (BECKET, MIRACLE WORKER), Poledouris (CONAN) and Broughton (SILVERADO). Along with the predictable entries (GONE WITH THE WIND, DR. ZHIVAGO, TITANIC), there are scores of every genre and style, from Golden Age horror (BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE WOLF MAN, GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN, CAT PEOPLE) to James Bond (GOLDFINGER, TOMORROW NEVER DIES) to groundbreaking electronics (FORBIDDEN PLANET, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN) as well as some unexpected choices (BLADE RUNNER, EQUUS, HOFFA, SLEUTH). AFI's voters are allowed five write-in votes, allowing room for some of the major scores not included on their list such as THE BLUE MAX, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, JFK, POLTERGEIST, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, UNDER FIRE, AND WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT.


- report via www.filmscoremonthly.com