Top 5 Film Composers

1) John Barry
2) John Williams
3) Jerry Goldsmith
4) Ennio Morricone
5) Basil Poledouris

I was tempted to just put Goldsmith five times in a row ...

1. Jerry Goldsmith -- except for mostly-unfortunate flirtations with disco and synthesizers, probably the most consistently entertaining composer ... like John Williams, but without all the cute stuff, and with the added giant plus of Arthur Morton orchestrating nearly everything.

2. John Barry -- if you're on this board, you know half of the why, at the very least.

3. Sam Spence (okay, he has done barely any film scores, but those hundreds of cues he did for NFL FILMS really SHOULD have been used in features.)

4. Elmer Bernstein - mianly for westerns and the Tarrna segment of HEAVY METAL, though I also love REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER.

5. Sol Kaplan (really weird choice, given I've only heard a couple of his feature scores, but his work on the STAR TREK TV series -- just a couple episodes, but the music was tracked into many others -- probably had as great an influence on me as the Spence and Goldsmith stuff.)

edit add-on: this will change by the day ... how did I leave Morricone off?

1. Bernard Herrmann.

The End.

Herrmann (Obsession)
Williams (Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
Barry (Frances)
Korngold (The Adventures of Robin Hood)
Goldsmith (The Blue Max)

Williams
Barry
Walton
Morricone
Bernstein

I... forgot Herrmann. And Goldsmith. And Korngold. And Steiner. But too bad.

1. John Williams
2. Ennio Morricone
3. Jerry Goldsmith
4. John Barry
5. Elmer Bernstein

Williams
Barry
Elfman
Goldsmith
Bernstein

John Barry (The Lion In Winter)
Jerry Goldsmith (Chinatown)
Bernard Herrmann (Vertigo)
Ennio Morricone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)
John Williams (Jurrasic Park)

I'll do a Top 10

Morricone
Barry
Herrmann
Williams
Mancini
Goldsmith
Steiner
Waxman
Jarre
Korngold

1. Bernard Herrmann
2. John Barry
3. Jerry Goldsmith
4. John Williams
5. Alex North

What, no love for H. Zimmer? (jus' kidding!)

1. John Barry
2. Jerry Goldsmith
3. Lalo Schifrin
4. John Williams
5. Ron Goodwin

Lalo Schifrin (Dirty Harry movies, Bullitt, Prime Cut, Enter The Dragon)
Jerry Goldsmith (Rambo trilogy as well as many others like The Sand Pebbles and Total Recall)
Jerry Fielding (The Wild Bunch, The Outlaw Josey Wales)
Michael Kamen (Highlander, Lethal Weapon, Die Hard)
Basil Poledouris (RoboCop)

Williams
Goldsmith
Herrmann
Barry
Morricone

Not sure what order I'd rank them in, but those are the big five for me.

Outside of that five, I'd obviously also mention Korngold, North, Steiner, Bernstein, Jarre, plus I'll likely (but proudly) be the only one to mention Bill "Bring Me The Disco King" Conti and probably a few others who'll come to mind the moment I click on "send".

David Arnold
Hans Zimmer
Clint Mansell
James Horner
Trevor Rabin

Favorite score:

Hans Zimmer - Mission Impossible 2 / The Lion King. The music he did for those movies created a faster buy of the movies. Own 5 scores from him, besides those 2 also his 2 POTC scores and TDK. A lot of movies from my dvd collection have music done by him. Perosonaly i think he should not compose the music for The Davincie code, that movie have needed a more powerfull score, but biggest blame for that going to the directer. His scores for Batman Begins and TDK are also darker. His POTC score i don't lissen to much on the moment, the movies are stil on my Intend to watch but never get around list.

John Williams - Harry Potter 3. I buy resently the score of Minoty Report and i know now where Williams get his inspiration for Harry Potter 3. Favorite composer, not realy. Minoty Report and Jurassic Park are on this moment the only scores in my soundtrack collection. With Harry Potter 3 i wait on Ulimtate Harry Potter Collection.

David Arnold - TMND, Twine and QOS. Independence Day score is dificult to judge because i lissen earlier to his Bond scores and heard his music of Independence Day in the movie. QOS is a good step forwards again, partly inspyred by TMWTGG triangle. ndependence Day is the only none Bond movie score in the collection and own the movie on VHS. Changing Lanes is the only none Bond movie in my dvd collection, but at the moment i don't think to buy that music. If there is one missing then it be Casino Royale, If there is one thing Bond 23 should win with it be the score. I don't mind a break in specialy to let David Arnold doing the score for the Four Brothers prequel and search for inspyration for Bond 24 and Bond 25. If he returns for Bond 23 i don't mind it either too.

John Barry - TLD and OHMSS. TLD shared the first and second place wih Bill Conti his FYEO. David Arnold Twine is my third favorite Bond score. Also a big fan of the trianlge in TMWTGG score, what made it my 5th favorite Barry Bond score. Dr No (With Monty Norman) and FRWL share the fourth and third place. His moost resent and last memory be the remember of Persuaders theme in Sherlock who i discover later be scored by David Arnold. After the death of Desmond and Maxwell this be the third biggest shock Bond death whyle iam living/Bondfan.

Top 10:

Bernard Herrmann
Alex North
John Williams
Jerry Goldsmith
John Barry
Miklós Rózsa
Lalo Schifrin
Leonard Rosenman
Ennio Morricone
Henry Mancini

As you'll see, most of them are from the Silver Age. Film music's most innovative era.