Review by C.J. Bunce

French film critic Thierry Jousse takes on a giant subject in his new book The Greatest Original Film Scores: An Illustrated History of the Music of Movies, available for pre-order now here at Amazon and in stores next week.  Less a comprehensive look at composers and their movie soundtracks, it’s more an introductory survey of the music of the movies with a split focus of American composers of dramatic works and box office hits and European composers.  Like the books in the Turner Classic Movies Film Library reviewed here at borg, it will provide much to think about for movie buffs–a book you’ll read in a weekend and wrestle with the author’s choices.  One of the best sections in the book looks at composers who created musical scores for directors, but the scores were rejected.  Like Hitchcock rejecting Hermann’s score for Torn Curtain and Alex North’s rejected sci-fi score for 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

It really should be titled “popular” film scores or “favorite” as opposed to “greatest,” because it highlights big movies and directors and skips a lot of celebrated film scores in the process, like one of the biggest movie composers of this century, three-time Academy Award-winning Ludwig Göransson, while including a full feature on Alexander Desplat (who has only two Oscars).  But since most of the books on the subject are older and out of print, it will still be a welcome addition to the library of anyone looking for a broad review of the creators and their works.

The book dives in with the big scores of famous films.  It’s what the author leaves out that is befuddling.  It’s missing the introductory material you might find in another film book.  What makes a score “great” versus “mediocre,” anyway?  When released nobody would have called Ennio Morricone’s Western scores “great,” so why do we feel differently now?  Is it all just subjective?  The author missed an opportunity to celebrate the subject’s French heritage by skipping a historical perspective–there’s no reference to either the Lumière brothers or Camille Saint-Saëns.  It omits entirely Sergei Prokofiev’s role in changing the framework that influenced film composers internationally from the 1930s onward, via films like Lieutenant Kijé and Alexander Nevsky.  In fact there’s no discussion of the Russian influence in film music at all.  This is a book about programmatic music, and yet a discussion of what that means is absent. 

If you’ve spent your life listening to the music of the movies, maybe even collecting film soundtracks, you’re going to have a list in your head when you begin this book.  If you think about the history of film music compilation albums, you’ll find Jousse includes those usual suspects.  Like Alfred Newman, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Max Steiner, Miklos Rozsa, Nino Rota, Edward Hermann, Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini, John Barry, Lalo Schifrin, and Jerry Goldsmith.  Maurice Jarre is mentioned, but with no reference to major musical successes Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia.  Only a few of the bigger Westerns get a discussion, but some are listed merely in quick lists of select composer works.  Is that enough?  And is there enough focus on 1980s and 1990s movies?  No discussions of James Horner, Cliff Eidelman, or Randy Edelman?

Any list of the best of Hollywood musical scores should have breakout shifts like Bill Conti’s Rocky or Isaac Hayes’ Shaft, right?  Jousse speaks to jazz in mid-century movies, but absent Quincy Jones the movies backed by the “Motown sound” aren’t included.  And there is a discussion of rock and songs in film, but not of the groundbreaking music by the Bee Gees for Saturday Night Fever, although David Shire is mentioned for his score to The Conversation.

Is there a better way to organize an overview like this?  The author pairs director and composer, which works for his chosen selections, like Hermann and Hitchcock, Barry and James Bond movies, and John Williams and Steven Spielberg.  But his focus on Francis Ford Coppola and composer father Carmine Coppola spends too much time on the director’s influence than his father’s contribution.  And no mention of the emotional score for The Outsiders?  Jousse provides a similar section on electric music, but has no mention of Queen’s unique and memorable soundtrack to Flash Gordon.  He has a section on Michael Giacchino, but only references his animated movie soundtracks.  Even stranger, the author completely ignores the scores to classic animated Disney movies, as well as movies with a musical component.  Big Hollywood musicals?  Only West Side Story gets a feature discussion.  No Oscar and Hammerstein.  No George Bruns!  Comedy and genre scores take a backseat to dramatic works–Oscar winners and box office hits.  Yet the author surprisingly includes a full discussion of modern horror movie scores, a welcome feature that even pulls in John Carpenter.

Fans of American cinema will get an interesting introduction to European film scores.  For those movies it’s the kind of book where you can take a reference to a movie you’ve never heard of and pop the name into YouTube and experience the music for the first time.  The format feels like a long music magazine article, with “Playlists” that provide no detail on the movie and composer contribution, but at least have that mention for completists.  The subject made me think about what would be included in an overview of television film scores, which would have several overlapping creators, like Johnny Mandel on the movie M*A*S*H reused for the TV series, and of course John Williams had a second life as a TV music creator.

The more you dig into the book you’ll wonder if the inclusion of some things and absence of others is simply bias.  Individial bias?  European bias?  French bias?  Simple subjective preference?  It’s hard to say.  This will be a good read for new entrants into film music appreciation or movie buffs looking to pick up some musical scores they have never considered before, all while wrestling with the author’s other choices.  It’s definitely a conversation starter.  The Greatest Original Film Scores, available for pre-order now here at Amazon.   Find it in bookshops in hardcover, including many color photographs, beginning November 3, 2026, published by Running Press.

Fans of the movies won’t want to miss Running Press’s other tours of film study reviewed here at borg, covering a wide range of topics across film history and genres: 52 Must-See Movies That Matter, 52 More Must-See Movies That Matter, Must-See Sci-Fi, Dynamic Dames, Forbidden Hollywood, Viva Hollywood, Fright Favorites, Summer Movies: 30 Sun-Drenched Classics, TCM’s Hollywood Victory, TCM’s Danger on the Silver Screen, TCM’s Rock on Film, TCM’s Essential Directors, TCM’s Christmas at the Movies, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir, TCM’s 50 Oscar Nights, But Have You Read the Book?, But Have You Read the Book? Romance Edition, Eddie Muller’s Noir Bar, Lena Horne: Goddess Reclaimed, Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir, Forbidden Cocktails, Hollywood Pride, Falling in Love at the Movies, Dark City Dames, TCM Imports, TCM Rewinding the ’80s, TCM Pre-Code Essentials: Must-See Cinema from Hollywood’s Untamed Era 1930-1934, TCM Family Movie Night Menus–Recipes & Films for Unforgettable Times Together, 50 Movie Nights: Contmporary Stars on Their Favorite Classic Films, and TCM’s 20th Century Fox: Darryl F. Zanuck and the Creation of the Modern Film Studio.