Decided by a jury of 500-ish musicians and whatnot, via the American Film Institute.
- Star Wars – 1977 – John Williams
- Gone With The Wind – 1939 – Max Steiner
- Lawrence of Arabia – 1962 – Maurice Jarre
- Psycho – 1960 – Bernard Herrmann
- The Godfather – 1962 – Nino Rota
- Jaws – 1975 – John Williams
- Laura – 1944 – David Raskin
- The Magnificent Seven – 1960 – Elmer Bernstein
- Chinatown – 1974 – Jerry Goldsmith
- High Noon – 1952 – Dimitri Tiomkin
- The Adventures of Robin Hood – 1938 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold
- Vertigo – 1958 – Bernard Herrmann
- King Kong – 1933 – Max Steiner
- E.T. – 1982 – John Williams
- Out of Africa – 1985 – John Barry
- Sunset Boulevard – 1950 – Franz Waxman
- To Kill a Mockingbird – 1962 – Elmer Bernstein
- Planet of the Apes – 1968 – Jerry Goldsmith
- A Streetcar Named Desire – 1951 – Alex North
- The Pink Panther – 1964 – Henry Mancini
- Ben-Hur – 1959 – Miklos Rozsa
- On the Waterfront – 1954 – Leonard Bernstein
- The Mission – 1986 – Ennio Morricone
- On Golden Pond – 1981 – David Grusin
- How the West Was Won – 1962 – Alfred Newman
My question is: are there so few recent scores on this list due to a mathematical reason (more movies produced prior to 1980 than after), a quality reason (older scores simply better, on the whole), or an aging reason (a score needs to “age” before its impact can be accurately judged). No answers here.