'Goldfinger' score ranks in TCM's most influential soundtracks chart

27-Jan-2010 • Bond News

The Turner Classic Movie channel has rated what they consider the 15 most influential soundtracks of all time. James Bond makes the final group with the 1964 outing "Goldfinger".

The role of music in cinema is to underscore the action onscreen and help convey a desired mood to the audience. On occasion, film music can be so distinctive or become so popular that it can live beyond the film itself.

The influence of these key soundtracks -- made up of both musical scores commissioned specifically for movies and popular music -- lies in their impact on how music is employed onscreen, how it is appropriated to tell a story, and on the methodology of song selection. They were of such importance, one could argue they impacted pop culture itself.

Note: films are listed in chronological order in final draft, not ranked

1. KING KONG (1933)
2. ALEXANDER NEVSKY (1938)
3. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951)
4. BLACKBOARD JUNGLE (1955)
5. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955)
6. PSYCHO (1960)
7. A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964)
8. GOLDFINGER (1964)
9. THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY (1966)
10. THE GRADUATE (1967)
11. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
12. SHAFT (1971)
13. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
14. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)
15. STAR WARS (1977)

GOLDFINGER (1964)
Score: John Barry; Dir.: Guy Hamilton
With the third James Bond film, GOLDFINGER, composer John Barry helped carry the screen's most popular and long-lived series beyond box office success. He created a musical soundtrack and hit song (the first of many for the Bond films) that dominated the charts for months. As in the two earlier films, Barry used Monty Norman's James Bond theme, which he had first arranged for Dr. No (1962), to set up the character. With it, he anticipated other iconic character themes like those in The Pink Panther and Rocky. But he also mirrored the action perfectly, going heavy on the brass to reflect the film's metal-obsessed villain. And he capped it all with the title song, the first of three in the series sung by Shirley Bassey. Her chart-topping performance set the standard for future Bond films, which would come to represent the best in pop and rock, from legends like Paul McCartney and Madonna to cutting-edge performers like Garbage and A-Ha.