MusicListsAreUs: Fave Film Scores & Composers, by Decade, w/comments

1930s

Captain Blood by Erich Wolfgang Korngold 1935

Of Mice and Men by Aaron Copland 1939

The Adventures of Robin Hood by Erich Wolfgang Korngold 1938

Lost Horizon by Dimitri Tiomkin 1937

1940s

The Sea Hawk by Erich Wolfgang Korngold 1940

Our Town by Aaron Copland 1940

The Heiress by Aaron Copland 1949

Henry V by William Walton 1946

Citizen Kane by Bernard Hermann 1941

1950s

On the Waterfront by Leonard Bernstein 1954

Lift to the Scaffold (Ascenseur pour l'echafaud) by Miles Davis 1958

Pather Panchali by Ravi Shankar 1955

The Old Man and the Sea by Dimitri Tiomkin 1958

Anatomy of a Murder by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn 1959

The Bridge on the River Kwai by Malcolm Arnold 1957

No Sun in Venice (Sait-on jamais) by John Lewis 1958 (performed by the Modern Jazz Quartet)

1960s

The Magnificent Seven by Elmer Bernstein 1960

Lawrence of Arabia by Maurice Jarre 1962

The Lion in Winter by John Barry 1968

West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein 1961

Spartacus by Alex North 1960

The Pink Panther by Henry Mancini 1963

Doctor Zhivago by Maurice Jarre 1965

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les parapluies de Cherbourg) by Michel Legrand & Jacques Demy 1964

To Kill a Mockingbird by Elmer Bernstein 1962

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Henry Mancini 1961

1970s

Star Wars: A New Hope by John Williams 1977

The Godfather by Nino Rota and Carmine Coppola 1972

Children of Sanchez by Chuck Mangione 1978

Shaft by Isaac Hayes 1971

Once Upon a Time in the West by Ennio Morricone 1972

Tess by Philippe Sarde 1979

Trouble Man by Marvin Gaye 1972

Rocky by Bill Conti 1976

Love Story by Francis Lai 1970

1980s

Henry V by Patrick Doyle 1989 (perhaps my favorite film score of all time)

The Mission by Ennio Morricone 1986

Out of Africa by John Barry 1985

Agnes of God by Georges Delerue 1985

Empire of the Sun by John Williams 1987

Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso) by Ennio Morricone 1988

Glory by James Horner 1989

Raiders of the Lost Ark by John Williams 1981

The Last Emperor by Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne & Cong Su 1987

The Milagro Beanfield War by Dave Grusin 1988

Chariots of Fire by Vangelis 1981

1990s

Seven Years in Tibet by John Williams 1997 (with cello solos from Yo-Yo Ma)

The Last of the Mohicans by Trevor Jones & Randy Edelman 1992

Forrest Gump by Alan Silvestri 1994

Life is Beautiful (La vita e bella) by Nicola Piovani 1997

Jurassic Park by John Williams 1993

Braveheart by James Horner 1995

Gettysburg by Randy Edelman 1993

The Red Violin (Le violon rouge) by John Corigliano 1999

The Cider House Rules by Rachel Portman 1999

Looking for Richard by Howard Shore 1996

Saving Private Ryan by John Williams 1998

Emma by Rachel Portman 1996

2000s

25th Hour by Terence Blanchard 2002

TLOTR: Fellowship of the Ring by Howard Shore 2001

Finding Neverland by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek 2004

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Tan Dun 2000

Frida by Elliot Goldenthal 2002

The Hours by Philip Glass 2002

Pan's Labyrinth by Javier Navarrete 2006

Atonement by Dario Marianelli 2007

Slumdog Millionaire by A.R. Rahman 2008

2010s

La La Land by Justin Hurwitz 2016

The Grand Budapest Hotel by Alexandre Desplat 2014

Life of Pi by Mychael Danna 2012

Phantom Thread by Jonny Greenwood 2018

Bridge of Spies by Thomas Newman 2015

Black Panther by Ludwig Goransson 2018

2020s

West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein  2021

Soul by Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross 2020

The Power of the Dog by Jonny Greenwood 2021

Encanto by Germaine Franco 2021