Uni

I think that was a copy/paste error, Jay. Willow clocked in at an even 100. (I fixed it.) I feel some of the same bewilderment/frustration about some of these results. Had a hard time believing Glory couldn't crack the top 20, let alone the top 10. And Searching for Bobby Fischer was third from the bottom, fercryinoutloud. That one would've been in my top 10 at one point. Well, I asked about that a couple of times, but no one seemed interested in taking it further. I was open to anything. Intentionally? Or did you just miss the window?

That's because they haven't managed to get it right since Hunt for Red October. I haven't seen the latest one, and don't really want to, because Jack Ryan is a desk jockey who's completely out of place when he's in the field—not exactly the kind of character you associate with a Chris Pine sort of actor. And the short bit of the teaser I watched showed nothing but action . . . again, not what fits with the character of Jack Ryan. The fact that the books are best-sellers tells you this is a character beloved by a lot of people. And I'm guessing most of them decided not to see this movie for the same reasons I've been avoiding it. That might offer something of an explanation as to why it didn't do so well.

Here are the final tabulations. Scores are listed by order of points received (with ties listed in alphabetical order). Once the information became negligible, I dropped it off the report. Everything is listed as follows: - Score - # of points earned - # of votes received, and % of the total (out of 33 voters) - Average point total received - # of first place votes (where applicable) So here we go: 1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 144 points, 18 votes (55%), 8.00 average, 6 first place votes2. Braveheart 137 points, 19 votes (58%), 7.21 average, 2 first place votes3. Apollo 13 122 points, 19 votes (58%), 6.42 average, 4 first place votes4. The Land Before Time 114 points, 15 votes (45%), 7.60 average, 3 first place votes5. Willow 100 points, 18 votes (55%), 8.00 average, 1 first place vote6. Legends of the Fall 96 points, 17 votes (52%), 5.65 average, 2 first place votes7. The Rocketeer 87 points, 18 votes (55%), 4.83 average, 1 first place vote8. Cocoon 78 points, 12 votes (36%), 6.50 average, 2 first place votes9. Krull 73 points, 11 votes (33%), 6.64 average, 1 first place votes10. Titanic 72 points, 11 votes (33%), 6.55 average, 2 first place votes11. Brainstorm 54 points, 7 votes (21%), 8.00 average, 2 first place votes12. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock 54 points, 9 votes (27%), 5.67 average, 1 first place vote13. An American Tail 47 points, 9 votes (27%), 5.22 average, 2 first place votes14. Aliens 45 points, 7 votes (21%), 6.43 average15. The Perfect Storm 44 points, 8 votes (24%), 5.50 average16. The Mask of Zorro 43 points, 11 votes (33%), 3.91 average17. Sneakers 39 points, 6 votes (18%), 6.5 average, 1 first place vote18. The New World 31 points, 8 votes (24%), 3.88 average19. Avatar 28 points, 7 votes (12%), 7.00 average, 1 first place vote20. Field of Dreams # points, # votes (%), # average21. Glory # points, # votes (%), # average22. The Name of the Rose 23 points, 4 votes (12%), 5.75 average23. A Beautiful Mind 23 points, 5 votes (15%), 4.60 average24. The Spitfire Grill 23 points, 5 votes (15%), 4.60 average25. Balto 21 points, 4 votes (12%), 5.50 average26. Iris 21 points, 4 votes (12%), 5.25 average27. The Journey of Natty Gann 18 points, 3 votes (9%), 6.00 average28. The Legend of Zorro 15 points, 5 votes (15%), 3.00 average29. Battle Beyond the Stars 13 points, 3 votes (9%), 4.33 average30. Bicentennial Man 12 points, 2 votes (6%), 1.00 average31. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas 12 points, 2 votes (6%), 6.00 average, 1 first place vote32. The House of Sand and Fog 12 points, 2 votes (6%), 6.00 average33. The Missing 12 points, 3 votes (9%), 4.00 average34. Black Gold 10 points, 3 votes (9%), 3.33 average35. Gorky Park 10 points, 2 votes (6%), 5.00 average36. Project X 9 points, 2 votes (6%), 4.50 average37. Something Wicked This Way Comes 9 points, 3 votes (9%), 3.00 average38. The Amazing Spider-Man 9 points, 3 votes (9%), 3.00 average39. The Man Without a Face 9 points, 2 votes (6%), 4.50 average40. All the King's Men 8 points, 2 votes (6%), 4.00 average41. Casper 8 points, 2 votes (6%), 4.00 average42. An American Tail: Fievel Goes West 7 points, 2 votes (6%), 3.00 average43. The Four Feathers 7 points, 1 votes (9%), 2.33 average44. Clear and Present Danger 6 points, 1 vote (3%), 2.00 average45. Wolf Totem 6 points, 1 vote (3%), 6.00 average46. Commando 5 points, 1 vote (3%), 2.00 average47. Apocalypto 4 points, 2 votes (6%), 2.00 average48. Enemy at the Gates 4 points, 1 vote (3%), 2.00 average49. In Country 4 points, 1 vote (3%), 4.00 average50. Humanoids from the Deep 3 points, 1 vote (3%), 3.00 average51. To Gillian, on Her 37th Birthday 3 points, 1 vote (3%), 3.00 average52. For Greater Glory 2 points, 1 vote (3%), 2.00 average53. Once Upon a Forest 2 points, 1 vote (3%), 2.00 average54. Red Heat 2 points, 1 vote (3%), 2.00 average55. The Dresser 2 points, 2 votes (6%), 1.00 average56. *batteries not included 1 point, 1 vote (3%)57. Class Action 1 point, 1 vote (3%) 58. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 1 point, 1 vote (3%)59. Jumanji 1 point, 1 vote (3%)60. Patriot Games 1 point, 1 vote (3%)61. Searching for Bobby Fischer 1 point, 1 vote (3%)62. The Life Before Her Eyes 1 point, 1 vote (3%)63. The Pagemaster 1 point, 1 vote (3%)

I never saw the movie, which I think may be part of its charm (and its success—people tend to relate strongly to scores for movies they watched from childhood). It's a good score, to be sure, but it's always just been another JH work to me. Nothing spectacular, and certainly not top 10 material, but a solid bit of composition.

It's been exactly three weeks since we lost one of the great composers of the latter half of the 20th century in a tragic accident. Since then, many of us have pretty well saturated our listening time with his works, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's come to an even deeper appreciation of his magnificent talents in that time. He was an extraordinary artist, and a portion of cinema over the next few decades will not be as effective as it might've been had he remained with us. To celebrate and honor his admirable body of work, some of the members of JWFan have submitted their choices for the top 10 best scores of his career. These are the results. They were tabulated by the same means we've used for such lists in the past, i.e. each member's first choice was given 10 points, their second choice 9, and so on. There were no ties (fortunately!), so there was no need to come up with tiebreaking rules. So here it is: the Official JWFan James Horner Top 10 List of Scores: 1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 2. Braveheart 3. Apollo 13 4. The Land Before Time 5. Willow 6. Legends of the Fall 7. The Rocketeer 8. Cocoon 9. Krull 10. Titanic The runners up: 11. Brainstorm 12. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock 13. An American Tail 14. Aliens 15. The Perfect Storm 16. The Mask of Zorro 17. Sneakers 18. The New World 19. Avatar 20. Field of Dreams And for those thinking in top 25 terms, the list was rounded off by Glory, The Name of the Rose, The Spitfire Grill, A Beautiful Mind, and Balto. It's a good list. I kept mentioning a "surprise" contender throughout—surprising to me, at least. That would be The Land Before Time, which started strong and never fell below fourth place. (It spent quite a bit of time in second place, and even a short while at #1.) For fans of the score, this will only seem reasonable, but that's one that never hit me in that spot. It's good to see his animated work garnered some positive attention. There were some other interesting things about the list. We only ran this for two weeks, compared to the five months allowed for the John Williams Top 10 voting a few years ago. In that contest, 87 people took part, compared to 33 in this one—less than half. But where 67 JW scores received votes, in this one, concerning a composer with a smaller body of work and with much less time to vote, there were 63 films represented—only four fewer. That suggests that a broader range of Mr. Horner's work appealed to people (though that may not be all that surprising given that he never had the equivalent of JW's 60s light-jazz rom-com period). It's also interesting to note that, out of a career spanning 36 years, the top 10 scores span a period of only 15 (1982 to 1997). Of those 63 Horner scores, 16 received first-place votes. (TWOK had the most by far with 6 first-place votes.) No score had a vote in all 10 places. (Legends of the Fall came closest, with a vote in every spot except #9.) As for the most votes given, each of the top three were ties: Apollo 13 and Braveheart (19 votes each), followed by TWOK and The Rocketeer (18) and then Willow and Legends of the Fall (17). All of the top 10 scores received 11 votes or more; none of the rest reached 10 votes, save for The Mask of Zorro (which also picked up 11). One other interesting tidbit: if you retabulate the list based on the average placement of all the votes each received—measuring, in a way, how much people liked the scores they voted for—TWOK still wins, but you get a very different list from there on out: 1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (8.00) 2. Brainstorm (7.71) 3. The Land Before Time (7.21) 4. Braveheart (7.21) 5. Avatar (7.00) 6. Krull (6.64) 7. Cocoon (6.50) 8. Titanic (6.50) 9. Sneakers (6.50) 10. Aliens (6.43) In other words, these didn't get as many overall points as others, but the people who voted for them seemed to feel more strongly about them. And, any way you cut it, everyone seems to agree that Mr. Horner's first big-studio outing remains his best work. I'm going to add the specific numbers for all the scores that received votes, just so everyone can see how things fell out, but I wanted to post this first to get things rolling. Much thanks to everyone who took part. (Maybe we'll do this one again in ten years, too. . . !)

Please limit discussion to the thread topic. . . . says the guy who suggested doing another John Williams poll in the Jerry Goldsmith thread. Please limit discussion to the thread topic. . . . says the guy who—oh, forget it.

Please limit discussion to the thread topic. . . . says the guy who suggested doing another John Williams poll in the Jerry Goldsmith thread.

Arright . . . this was a tougher haul than I imagined it would be, but I don't think I'm gonna settle things any more specifically than this. As has been the case with others, the order of the first three or four wasn’t easy, but I knew which ones would be vying for those positions. What surprised me more was the fierce competition for the last two spots on the list. Frankly, it's still in contention to some degree, but I could probably go on with this forever, and enough is enough. I was originally going to do mine as a countdown to the best one, but since the action at the bottom was more interesting anyway, I'll just do it like everyone else (though I couldn't resist some commentary tributes for each one). So here's my list for James Horner's Top 10 Scores: Apollo 13 - He got it so right so many times,you know the top spot was going to be no easy decision to make. Ultimately it came down to the one that not only had me emoting the first time I heard it, but still continues to do so on a regular basis. Whether you take it in consideration with the movie it accompanies or just listen to it on its own, A13 has the most goosebump-inducing moments throughout—and no small amount of variety in mood and texture as well. From the simplicity of the opening sequence to the majesty of "The Launch" to the tensely pensive adagio of "Docking" to the pulsing action of "Master Alarm" to the haunting vocals of "Darkside of the Moon" to the triumphant fanfare of "Re-Entry and Splashdown" and "End Credits," Horner made this story come alive for me. (I was another who had never really heard the account of this mission before seeing the movie, and I had no idea whether that heat shield would hold or not . . . and Horner opening up along with those parachutes became one of the most emotional moments in my own cinematic history.) Other fine scores might've held this spot, and I would've been all right with that, but I have no compunctions about calling this one the best of the best. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - I'm hoping it's not knocking Horner, after a career of more than three decades of greatness, to say that his first big-studio film remains one of his best works. But there's no getting around the fact that a newbie in his mid-20s had no business writing a score this bold, sophisticated, and beautiful—especially for the second entry in a franchise beloved by fans around the world and preceded by an entry considered one of the best works of another modern maestro of film music. He won the job with his score for Battle Beyond the Stars, a fine work that was full of many of his typical tricks and treats in a much less refined package. With TWOK, he revised his approach and nailed it. The result is as good as anything the final frontier ever heard. I think what I love most about it (and the sequel that followed) was you could tell Horner got it. He understood the relationships between the characters, the subtext beneath the science, the operatic scope of the story. Too many other composers would've provided a straight-up sci-fi adventure score. Bless Nicholas Meyer for his superb direction, and his superber decision to offer Horner the job. Glory - This one could easily have taken the top spot as well. It takes a quieter, more subdued approach to its subject matter, but it's hard to think of a score that does more to express such complex ideas and emotions with pure, wordless music. The proof of this is in the movie itself, an epic that encompasses and expresses the best and worst of the American Civil War without an overabundance of dialogue. Most of the best-understood sequences need no words to communicate the underlying meaning of matters . . . and most of the reason for this is due entirely to James Horner who, with pieces like "After Antietam," "Lonely Christmas," and especially his personal masterpiece "Preparations for Battle," says everything that needs to be said without requiring the characters to say a thing. It also features yet another of his trademark end credit sequences that expresses all the major concepts of the movie with a slight twist in pacing and texture at the start. Just a classic work. Braveheart - People talk a lot about the romantic aspects of Horner's repertoire, and often cite this score as a prime example. I think there's a better word, though, both for the subject of this movie and much of what JH expressed throughout his career: passion. As mellifluous and gorgeous as the purely romantic pieces here are ("The Secret Wedding," "For the Love of a Princess," etc.), Horner rises even higher when elucidating the passions of William Wallace—for freedom, for his countrymen, for his women. That's what gives the best pieces of this score ("'Sons of Scotland,'" the several battle scenes, and the inimitable "'Freedom'/The Execution/Bannockburn") their stunning power. And, like Glory, this one excels at filling in the subtext of the film with a master artist's brush. Another one that could easily have vied for the top spot. Krull - This one may come across more as a diamond in the rough, particularly since it's the first score on the list to accompany a truly inferior film. But that's part of what makes it so great: Horner showed himself as capable as the likes of Jerry Goldsmith of treating a bad film with the same respect and serious work ethic he would've brought to an obvious Oscar contender like the films mentioned above. And that serious work ethic is another reason this score rates so highly with me: Horner took the job just as he was becoming one of the most sought-after and prolific composers in Hollywood, and as a result was sick with exhaustion throughout the entire five-week process of writing and recording. Yet to hear it, you would think this music was penned by the most ebullient and energetic musician in the business. It bears all the grandeur (and aforementioned passion) of the best from Korngold and Rózsa, awarding a goofy fantasy picture with a biblically epic feel. He earns his kudos for that, if nothing else (and there's plenty else to be had here). Field of Dreams - There are some movies that simply couldn't have been scored by anyone but James Horner. This one stands tall among the preeminent examples. The magic in this film didn't come from an Iowa cornfield. It emerged straight from the conductor's baton. And lest you dismiss this as the exaggeration of a twitterpating fanboy, try watching the scene where Shoeless Joe appears for the first time without any sound (your imagination can easily fill in the click of the lights turning on and the light scraping of a few footsteps). The soundscape Horner lays down here is deceptively simple, yet the scene would have failed utterly without it. The same is true of the rest of the film, which relies on some of Horner's most recognized traits used to their best effect to make us believe something this amazing could actually happen. And as a young man watching in the dark theater the first time, something in me did believe it, almost to the point where I forgot I was watching a movie at all. The beautiful and captivating pieces in the second half of the score—and particularly at the end—sealed the deal, and to this day continue to express something that for me feels more like a familiar personal memory than a recollected cinematic experience. Willow – Following Krull, Horner would have to wait five years to score his first successful epic fantasy. Ron Howard gave him better material to work with than Peter Yates did, for sure, and though the results weren’t quite as epic as Krull, they fit the film perfectly and managed to express a wider range of moods, settings, and characters. This was one of the first scores that Horner wrote similarly to a self-contained symphonic work, almost like a ballet, with longer pieces stretching over several sequences and setpieces (such as “Elora Dannon,” “Canyon of Mazes,” “Bavmorda’s Spell is Cast,” and the outstanding finale and end credits suite, “Willow the Sorcerer”). It’s also acknowledged to this day as both a cornerstone and corner-turner in the composer’s career, and one of his most respected works. The Rocketeer – Horner did it better than this, but I’m not sure he ever made it look easier than he did here. There’s a good-natured simplicity to this score that’s both beguiling and completely winning, and may be the best instance of the music single-handedly leading us to root for the flying hero since the original Superman—along with another one of the most sweeping love themes to accompany it. Horner excels at anything related to flight, and it was clear that the subject matter and period of the story combined to enchant him into writing music that strikes the perfect balance between heroism, nostalgia, inspiration, and romance. There’s hardly a misstep here from beginning to end, and even if it doesn’t tip the scales of epic as much as some of his others, it’s just right for the movie it represents. The Perfect Storm – The surprise entry on my own list, and the only one for which I’ve never actually seen the movie itself. I picked it up during my completist quest, and didn’t listen to it for a while after acquiring it. When I did, I noted that it was a solid piece of writing on Horner’s part, but didn’t give it another serious thought for a while. When I went back to give it another listen months later . . . something clicked. I listened to the first piece (“Coming Home from the Sea”) over and over again, and absolutely fell in love. This is another Horner “passion” work, but rather than that of astronauts, soldiers, or legendary historical figures, this one draws from the passion of the common man—for his job, his family, and for the open sea (which provides the first and takes him away from the second). It’s another one with simple themes, but the way it interweaves them throughout the score is both triumphant and heartrending, sometimes both at once. This is the anchoring work between the great scores of the 90s and the newer movements of the 2000s.The 10th place spot was the hardest, and came down to a battle between two Legends. In the end, there could be only one: The Legend of Zorro – This one actually had to win out over two other scores. First there was Legends of the Fall, which I had thought was a shoe-in for top 10. But in the end it was both the magnificent ethnic flourishes and (once again) that incredible passion he brought to the Zorro character that advanced it past the quieter passion of LOTF. As for the other score, I originally had The Mask of Zorro up for the spot . . . until I gave Legend a closer listen, and found it to be the more sophisticated and polished of the two—all of what made the first score great, but mellowed and expanded and given more of those wonderful flourishes. In the end, I couldn’t deny that this is a better work than both of the others (which, in a way, makes it another surprise occupant on my list). And “The Train” stands tall among the best action pieces of other heroic scores (such Willow and Krull). And the runners up: Legends of the Fall – Oh, how the somewhat mighty have sort of fallen. There was a time this would’ve been a fixture in the top 10, but it’s lost just a touch of its shine for me. It’s still a phenomenal epic romance, though, and vital to the movie it represents. Cocoon – Not quite top-10 material, but it remains one of the finest of his 80s works, as well as one of the best representations of his particular voice and sound during that period. The Mask of Zorro – The only-slighty-lesser sibling to its sequel. If not for Legend, this would’ve taken the #10 spot. Searching for Bobby Fischer – This one had a shot, but it’s just a little too pensive to stand out. Still, it has some classically unmistakable Horner moments, and one of my favorite Horner themes. Titanic – It’ll never be one of my all-time favorites, but there’s no denying how well it worked in the highest-grossing film of all time. (I still sometimes wonder how much more I might appreciate it if Celine Dion hadn’t crooned the love theme to death on the radio. . . .)

If someone decides to read the vague "clues" in my message, and deduce from that which scores I'm referring to based on the order in your list, and can think of a way to change their votes in such a way that would have a significant influence to tip the balance on one or two scores in the other direction, and they feel it's worth it to make that sort of gargantuan effort (when if they really want to keep a score's score high, all they have to do is put it at the top of their list) . . . then I suppose we might have to call for a revote for the sake of fairness. Of course, if anyone was that interested in changing the results, they could simply tabulate all the lists themselves and vote based on that. It's not like this has been by secret ballot or anything. I don't think we need worry too much about ballot tampering, particularly only a few hours before the results are published.

. . . And already, things are off to an interesting start. This list is (so far) only slightly more predictable than Horner's list was as it evolved. For those of you who are listing things "in no particular order," splitting lists, etc., I can only score them in the order you list them. If you want to make changes based on this understanding, feel free to; otherwise, they get tabulated as listed. He didn't really score Voyager, and Soarin' isn't technically a film work . . . but I added them nonetheless. (Not like they're much of a threat to the top 10, which would require a regulations committee to make some kind of ruling.) Without further clarification, I can only assume your #8 is The Motion Picture (given that he scored five films in all), and your #9 is the sequel to First Blood. Remember when I told you you're unique? You just proved it, by being the only person who hasn't put in a vote for ST:TMP. Congrats! Feel free to amend your list (especially to add this score!).

This reflects my own experience pretty well. I tried to open the door to some other, lesser-known scores (on my part, anyway), but in the end I just couldn't see listing anything I didn't know really well (except for my #10, which snuck up on me right at the end). It is, after all, my top 10 list, not some removed, academic thesis. And I do really like your list. For one thing . . . you did break the tie! You also moved one score up a slot. Congratulations.

Umm . . . what's left to discuss, then. . . ? Kidding . . . I'm kidding, man.

It's scored by a pretty simple metric gauged by the order everyone uses for their list. Their top choice gets 10 points, their second choice gets 9, etc., all the way down to 1. (That's why the order, and no "ties," was so important.) It's been a wild competition so far, too. Some big surprises (for me, anyway), and the jockeying for the top 4 positions hasn't stopped since the poll started. In fact, there's currently a tie in the list right now, one I'm hoping someone (Jay, maybe!) will come in and break. I still need to post mine--because of a technical glitch, I won't be able to do so until tomorrow--but I've already added my own into the tabulation, so I can't break the tie myself. This has been so much fun to watch that I'm considering doing a sort of "recap" of the action, so you guys can see what I watched unfold. It's been a blast!

I'm thinking I'll go ahead and close it down and post the results tomorrow as planned. I just don't think it'll sustain much more interest, for one thing. And at this point I don't think the top 10 is going to change. There's a significant point difference between #10 and #11, almost as though these ten were destined for their places. If it were closer, there might be reason to wait and encourage more people to get involved. But it's looking like it is what it is, and there's not much reason to hold out any longer.

I can say that no release ever made me happier than the one on the lower right. The one that started it all.

I was going to tell you you're no weirder than anyone else around here, but . . . well, that's probably a mixed compliment at best. Suffice to say that your interest in film music doesn't make you strange. It just makes you you. And there's nothing at all wrong with that. I'm guessing you're one of our younger members. Back in the days when I started collecting—maybe right around the age you are now—I had already developed an aptitude for recognizing and retaining the music from movies in my head as being a component every bit as important as the acting and cinematography. When I learned that one could actually own this music for themselves, and listen to it apart from the film that inspired it, I was ecstatic and began grabbing up everything I could get my hands on. I didn't think this made me weird; on the contrary, I valued the idea of being unique, and therefore thought it made me great! Of course, I had to learn during those years that not everyone shares my interests, and didn't necessarily think I'm awesome just because I listened to movie music. And that's fine. Like you, I also was a fan of a lot of pop music back then, so it wasn't like I was a total alien to my friends. But I also felt, like you, that none of that music could plumb nearly the same depths as film scores could. These days, I listen to instrumental music almost to the exclusion of everything else (except for some occasional forays back into my old pop favorites), and I feel less need than ever to have to explain myself to people who don't understand. All this to say that you're cultivating an eclectic taste for a very specific kind of music, one that (as you said) doesn't appeal to most of the public, at least on a conscious level. But that is one of the great things about the advent of the internet: before forums like this existed, I almost never got the chance to discuss my interests with anyone else, much less debate the merits of certain composers/scores/periods of music, etc. The journey has certainly improved since I've been able to start sharing it with others. (That's the one area where our experiences differ; you're lucky, in that you'll never know what it's like not being able to do what we're doing right now.) This would be a great step in the right direction. It's got a fixed place in my JH Top 10 (which I hope to post today. . . .)

That's where his low-key, everyman take that he brought to most every performance worked surprisingly well. The character was almost right in between his two personas in Regarding Henry—the smug lawyer and the aw-shucks common man. Like you said, it left you ambivalent about his guilt or innocence.

There was a time, my dear, in distant ages past (like the 80s 'n' stuff), when the physical acquisition of rare film score releases was something akin to Indy going after the lost ark or the holy grail. These days it's just not the same thing; once Indy could jump online and order these artifacts for a modest shipping charge, the whole bullwhip-and-fedora thing kinda lost its verve. I still haven't decided which era is better; it is nice to have access to all this wonderful music these days, but something in me misses the hours I spent flipping through hundreds of LPs at WaxTrax and the inordinate thrill that came with finding a piece I knew was a rare find. It's been a while since I've stopped to think about those—nowadays it's all about the value on eBay, and I'm not one to sell even my less-than-useful scores—but here are a few I can recall: Dragonslayer by Alex North: the edition I owned was listed in the yearly Soundtrack Market book (yes, they used to have those) as being worth at least $300. Not a great score for listening, but it once had crown-jewel status in my collection.Krull by James Horner: I owned the SCSE Edition from the beginning, which was the only near full-length version on the market at the time.High Road to China by John Barry: I don't think this one was released at all other than in the limited-edition SCSE version, which I owned and treasured.The Lord of the Rings by Leonard Rosenman: The Ralph Bakshi animated version of Tolkien's epic was a galactic turd, but the score was a passable effort by a good composer. I owned the double-LP set that featured art from the film on each side of both records. Another fairly rare and valuable piece.Superman II by Ken Thorne: the score was a dim shadow of the original Williams classic, but the LP had the "S" symbol laser-etched into the record at each compass point. Very cool-looking.There were others, I think, but they escape me at the moment. I was "proud" of having the physical copies of these back in the day. There are others (such as many of the multi-disk releases already mentioned above) that I love having because I've wanted the music for years, but—like I said—most of them are readily available these days, so actually possessing the CDs themselves isn't the special aspect. For what it's worth, I like how you're approaching the hobby of collecting film scores. I agree with you that comparing composers competitively, as one being "better" than another, isn't the best way to chase the classics. It makes for interesting conversation in places like this, but if you really want to broaden your perspectives you should view each composer simply as having their own voice and style, and make a conscious effort to listen to the best of that voice and style that each one has to offer. That's where the folks around here will be able to help you best.

. . . which was a great role for him, BTW.

So . . . looking back at Joey's threads for the Top 10 JW Scores, I was surprised to realize he allowed a whopping 5 months for everyone to collect their thoughts and vote. Granted, this is a Williams board and not the Hornershrine, but is a mere two weeks too short a time for everyone here? Do people need more time? I figure we could give this at least a month if there are folks still struggling to decide. Then again, with this not being a Horner board, people might just as easily lose interest if we wait too long. I'm willing to postpone the closing of the polls, but it's up to the hoi polloi. What do you guys think? Should we give this another couple of weeks, or has everyone who wants to vote already submitted their choices?

Thanks for posting those, Jay. I was going to go looking for them (to draw some ideas about the added metrics he used), and now you've saved me the time.

Of course there's not. Like I said, we've already got one for him, and we'll shortly (like, tomorrow) have one for Horner as well.

Ford is Ford in most films he's in, if we're honest about it. He fully occupied the persona of a few characters in his films—Han Solo, Indy, etc.—but he's not an actor who tends to "stretch" himself most of the time, going for deeper roles, accents, flourishes, none of that kind of thing. That's not to say I think he's a bad actor, or that I don't like the movies he's in (I do, usually); he's just Ford. What you see is what you get.

Yeah, they never topped that one. I thought Baldwin did a much better Jack Ryan than Ford did. (He's who I always pictured when reading the books.)

We actually did it twice, ten years apart. Joey ran the proceedings both times. I think the last one was at least two or three years ago now. The Empire Strikes Back won in both cases, and though I think there might've been a little movement on the list, most of the same scores were on each one.