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Ten years ago I post the official John Williams top 10 as voted by members 10 years ago. It was a fun endeavor and I thought in honor of John's 81st birthday tomorrow that we again determine this boards collective top 10 John Williams scores. Since last fall I've been asking members to post their lists and I was fortunate to get 82 lists this time around. Since then the Maestro has composed 10 more film scores. I wanted to see how many of those scores would be included and how the list would change from a decade ago. I'm happy to say that all 10 of the news scores did receive votes, and while none made the top 10 one score from the last year did come close. It stood taller than all the other scores in the last decade. So before I give the list let me once again explain how I drew my conclusions. I took each list of 10 scores and weighted the lists. The #1 score on each list received 10 points, #2 9 points, etc until the tenth score which received a single point. Some of you provided the list as you would say in no particular order but I took them in the order you provided. Here is the Official John Williams Top 10 scores as voted by the members here. 1. The Empire Strikes Back, 485 points, 22 first place votes, 62 out of 82 votes. 2. E.T. The Extraterrestrial, 368 points, 10 first place votes, 58 out of 82 votes. 3. Star Wars, 330 points, 4 first place votes, 46 out of 82 votes 4. Raiders of the Lost Ark, 273 points, 1 first place vote, 52 out of 82 votes 5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 230 points, 4 first place votes, 37 out of 82 votes 6. Jurassic Park, 223 points, 4 first place votes, 41 out of 82 votes 7. Hook, 211 points, 4 first place votes, 38 out of 82 votes 8. Superman, 211 points, 4 first place votes, 37 out of 82 votes 9. Jaws, 211 points, 2 first place votes, 36 out of 82 votes 10. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 195 points, 4 first place votes, 34 out of 82 votes. Here is the next 10. 11. Return of the Jedi, 167 points, 12. Schindler's List, 144 points, 13. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, 142 points 14. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 110 points 15. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/Philosopher's Stone, 99 points 16. A.I., 69 points, 17. Home Alone, 68 points (17 out of 82) 18, Memoirs of a Geisha, 68 points (15 out of 82) 19. The Phantom Menace, 66 points, 20. War Horse, 55 points. Of the 82 lists there were 22 films that received first place votes, and 67 films received votes overall. It's amazing that Munich received one vote, but it was for the #1 spot. Of the 67 films to receive votes 8 films received votes in all 10 spots. Those films were Jaws, Close Encounters, Superman, Raiders, E.T. Hook, Jurassic Park, and Prisoner of Azkaban. If you notice every major score from the Golden Era from 1975 to 1984 made the top 11 scores. The original trilogy and the original Indiana Jones trilogy all made the top 15 scores. Only one prequel film made the top 20, The Phantom Menace. Revenge of the Sith would be #25. I'm most pleased that of the 82 lists not one contained Attack of the Clones. It did not receive a single vote. While I don't hold that film score in high regard it's clear that even the board doesn't when it comes to making these lists. Probably my biggest disappointment was that The Adventures of Tintin received only 6 votes over all and barely registered. It's a fine score in any John Williams era. Now who got the most scores right on their list. No one actually got the order right but there is one who did get all ten films correctly on his list. All bow, yield, kneel before WOJO The next closest was our dear fozmo with 9. Now whose list had the least, well Alan, Alice and Romao had just two, then Koray, and Miguel each had one correct score but again All bow, yield, kneel before Scissorhand. You are as unique as the come, huzza, huzza. You two are our Regents for the moment. Bask in the aura of our great and powerful John Williams. And for reference here is the list from a decade ago for comparison. 1. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, 1980, 917PTS, 109 VOTES OUT OF 129 2. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL, 1982, 754PTS, 108 VOTES 3. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, 1981, 520PTS, 85 VOTES 4. STAR WARS, 472PTS, 1977, 75 VOTES 5. SUPERMAN THE MOVIE, 458PTS, 1978 81 VOTES 6. SCHINDLERS LIST, 1993, 423PTS, 75 VOTES 7. JURASSIC PARK, 1993, 348PTS, 68 VOTES 8. HOOK, 1991, 339PTS, 66 VOTES 9. JAWS, 1975, 283PTS, 61 VOTES 10. RETURN OF THE JEDI, 1983, 281PTS, 46 VOTES Thanks to all who participated and all those who love John's music.

a very happy birthday to you, johnny!

Happy Birthday to a legend! Your music was the soundtrack to my adolescence and no other artist (including Steven Spielberg) has been the cause of so many spinal shivers and goosebumps on my arms. Thank you. This should be in GD as well.

Movie-Weekly have posted 9 pieces of music in celebration of JOHN WILLIAMS' 81st BIRTHDAY - Long live the maestro and his music! THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK - The Devils Dance DRACULA - The Love Scene HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE - Prologue & Harry's Wondrous World. HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE - Diagon Alley and the Gringotts Vault STAR WARS: EPISODE V - THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - Yoda's Theme SUPERMAN - Main Theme CATCH ME IF YOU CAN - Main Theme STAR WARS: EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE - Main Titles

Fixed.

Hi Alan! Sorry -- I've had a little thing called work rudely keeping me from celebrating your (and John Williams) birthdays. Alan and JW And, although I'm a few days early, Happy Birthday to Maurizio as well! Kathy

For those who complain that Williams's interviews are always the reiteration of the same talking points, you should listen to this interview. Williams gives excellent insights into his approach to composing for Lincoln, particularly in terms of early American music that is just wonderful. And, damn, he literally sounds like hw is a vibrant 60 year old.

Great Maurizio! Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.

http://www.varesesarabande.com/servlet/the-1089/Side-Effects/Detail

You should rectify that ASAP! Jaws 2 is a terrific score.

I'm glad it's over now.

Watched The Dark Knight Rises last night for the first time in its entirety since last summer's theatrical run (and I've seen it way too many times back then ). Now that all the heat and anticipation-fueled debate is a long gone memory I can just watch the film for what it in fact is. And it turns out it is even stronger than I remember. Most things that bothered me back then can be either explained (they seriously can be) or didn't matter in the first place. The film just flew by and not for a second was I worried that there is so little Batman in it, What impresses me most about it is the sheer physicality of it all - it just feels so much more real than your usual blockbuster. Not in terms of story and themes, but rather as a piece of filmmaking. To think that all of that was shot by one unit, mostly for real, blows me away. One thing that stands out like a sore thumb is Zimmer's score - there is way too much of it and the mix is relentless (which was reportedly Nolan's intention). The film could have used a bit more breathing space. What becomes really apparent to me is that while the previous two films were pretty much stand-alone stories and you could watch them as they are, this one is clearly a third part of the trilogy and it is so much more enjoyable as such. I remember watching Batman Begins so time ago and thinking to myself "that ties nicely with the third film" several times. It's probably the most coherent (unplanned) trilogy that I ever watched. And a pretty unique take on Batman. Karol

Hook's climbing the charts!

Thank you. See you in 10 years!

This idea will at least make it easier for me to skip even more rambling sermon threads.

Much like the dwarves themselves Oooh good point! It all makes sense now!

Another two gaps filled: and Karol