John Williams is 80. What's His Finest Film Score?
The five-time Oscar-winning (and 47-time Oscar-nominated) composer and conductor John Williams was born 80 years ago today in Flushing, Queens. Somewhere a concertmaster is no doubt preparing a 100-piece orchestra for a rousing, booming rendition of "Happy Birthday," but for now, we can send our own regards with a discussion of his finest composition for the screen. You only have, oh, 130-something projects to choose from.
Williams will be back at the Oscars later this month, a double-nominee for both War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin -- neither of which I'd put anywhere near the guy's 10 best scores. Star Wars, Jaws, Superman and Raiders of the Lost Ark are iconic, obvious options for that distinction, though I'll take Williams's partnership with Oliver Stone to block -- and the sweeping, churning, shocking and utterly evocative JFK for the win:
Born on the Fourth of July is up there, too:
Anyway, your turn! And happy 80th, Mr. Williams!
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There are SO many to choose from, but I think ET is the one closest to my heart. The music is perfect. It was the first movie I ever saw in the movie theater. I was 4. Then I came home and spent the next 3 months listening to the soundtrack, listening to Michael Jackson narrate the story (!) and crying my eyes out because Elliott was never going to see ET again. This was probably a fun time for my parents.
I also love "Olympic Fanfare and Theme".
Also...John Williams did SpaceCamp?? Now I must rewatch (full confession: it's already in my Netflix queue.)
Ohhhh, that's right, the Olympic fanfare. I'd 10-best that for sure.
A lot of people warmly regard ET, Star Wars and Superman in particular for purely emotional reasons -- which is obviously totally fine, and much of what makes Williams such a master. But when I step back and listen to the scores and consider them pound-for-pound against the films themselves, the Stone films and the Williams score do an astounding job of holding each up over the years.
I think the score for ET was so integral to the film, to the development that little alien's character, that it has to be at the top for me in importance (though JAWS is similar, too). But I can't imagine having loved that slimy, frog-looking little bastard without Williams' score. And that soundtrack has some pretty amazing stand-alone pieces.
Personally, I think my favorite is The Empire Strikes Back. Probably irreversibly linked with Empire being one of my favorite films ever. But my wholly non-objective opinion is that it has some standout pieces. E.g., The Asteroid Field? I'd pay to see an orchestra play that.
His ability to shape characters with music is unmatched, in my opinion. (Though I'm with you, Stu, on the noms for this year).
I have to agree that the his best over all work for a single movie is for Empire. I must have played that 2 record (yes, record!)set a 1000 times. Back then, the movie wasn't out on video 3 months later, and all you had to experience it was the music. Sometimes, I think I can hum the music better than I can repeat the dialogue.
Anyway, I could go on about Williams forever, but IMHO, no single person has made a bigger contribution to the magic of movies than him.
It IS two records! And it has a groovy foldout poster! And an LP-sized picture thingy with lots of stills!
Ahem. So I've heard.
Oh Strawberry Pain...Let your geek flag fly!
Also--you and I lived the same childhood, at least in 1980-81. That score helped me re-live that movie 100s of times. It really does tell the story well. Like the Peter and the Wolf album I had. But without Boris Karloff.
I've got the 2 record set of the original Star Wars, complete with poster, that I listen to with more frequency than most modern music.
Also, since we're letting our geek flags fly, I bought the Star Wars Original Trilogy Soundtrack on CD that has all the cues in film order, and sometimes I listen to them and fill in the gaps with sound effects and dialog.
Ok, not sometimes, EVERY time I listen to them.
Aw, Winch. For that, you could use a good kiss. (Said not at all with Han Solo intonation.)
A film score can both drive a film's narrative as well as augment the emotional impact upon the viewer, all while skillfully remaining an unobtrusive element in the composite that, when executed with precision, may become barely noticed. William's skill at this particular craft has never been more evident in my opinion than in his work for "Heartbeeps".
Jurassic Park. Hands down.
I love Williams' score for Altman's "The Long Goodbye." It's basically just the same tune rearranged and repeated throughout the movie, and it's brilliant -- each new arrangement sets the mood perfectly for each scene.
"Catch Me If You Can" - as fun, stylish and retro-modern as the movie. And as heartbreaking.
Hook - not a great film, but such an amazing score!
Gotta go with the short stuff---NBC's Nightly News intro or the Sunday morning "Meet the Press" fanfare. Good stuff. That man can put more drama in 2 minutes' worth of music than most musicians will in a lifetime.
The Fury (1978), most compelling.
Good lord, there are just too many to mention. But don't forget his TV work, like his redo of the "Lost in Space" theme.
Is there a site where we can listen to excerpts from all his scores? Because that's the only way I could possibly decide.
I think it's called YouTube.
Why is Williams doing a heil Hitler in your photo?...
Too easy.
This is kind of like arguing which is the best Kubrick film or the best Scorcese film. But, FWIW, I have been listening to a lot of is work lately and strangely I still find the themes from the Star Wars trilogy to be his finest example of taking from the masters (Holst, Mussorgsky, etc) and putting his own spin on it. Leia's theme, Vader's theme, Luke's theme... they are so beautiful and powerful (and for the record, I'm not a very big fan of the Star Wars trilogy, and think about how bad the music was to the prequels. Yuck!).
But of course, I second all the stuff on ET, the Olympics theme (Copland rip off, but still awesome), certain songs from the Raiders soundtrack. The guy is great and even though he steals a lot of the tone and feel of his pieces, you just can't deny that he is putting his own amazing stamp on it.
First thoughts that come to mind--JURASSIC PARK! Star Wars, Indy trilogy, and Hook! But now that I look at his imdb....Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!! Definitely tied with Jurassic Park for that one. Best music of all the Potter films, hands down.
My personal choice: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. A magnificent movie in its own right (maybe my #1 of all time), but elevated to the nth degree by Maestro Williams' eminently hummable, heroic and eerie score. I'm also partial to JAWS and Dick Donner's SUPERMAN. Veeeery difficult to pick a winner here. Parts of JFK, BORN ON THE 4TH and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN give me a lump in the throat. THE IMPERIAL MARCH kills me every time I hear it. Hitler would've elevated JW to the status of Albert Speer, had JW composed it for Hitler's Nuremberg rallies...
Empire Of The Sun. My favorite. The film splits everyone, and yes it is indulgent to say the least, but the children's choir with its fevered ebullience as Jim, starving, rides his bike around the abandoned camp... really powerful. I wish Spielberg had continued in this vein of excess instead of veering into pure kitsch.
Wagnerian excess and romance has it's place. Happy Birthday to a master.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dh-0OlLYlA
What a hard choice! He's had SO many wonderful pieces, it would be unfair to pick just one (feels like I'm cheating on him).
Saving Private Ryan moves me to tears everytime I hear the theme song. Star Wars, again, Empire..too much to say about the entire film score. ET, in my opinion, the closing credits is one of the best of the score. Superman..just the theme can send chills down my spine. The 2 Olympic themes..the one from 1983, which is still played to this day, and the one from 1996..LOVE them both. CBS nightly news..the entire piece is awesome..I wish I heard more of the entire song, not just 2 short mins. of it. Jurrasic Park. Indiana..I can't help myself..I'm a band geek at heart.
On a different note, and I'm not trying to promote this group, I chanced upon a recording of Xmas music one year, which SOUNDS like something JW would compose. The soundtrack is called Christmas Fantastique. If you LOVE Williams, you will LOVE this music. You can listen to samples of each song on iTunes..
Again, I figured since we were talking about JW, this would be ok..it won't disappoint. I promise.
Jurassic Park. No explanation required.
Shout out (or maybe Sing Out)to "Close Encounters" Beautiful film. Five haunting notes.
Happy 80th Birthday to John Williams.
His imagination and his voice will live forever in the mind of anybody who has ever seen a movie and hummed a tune.
But he has been so much more than that to me.
As a boy bounding through the orchards of Washington, chasing my sisters with water guns, or bashing action figures together on our family room floor, I was almost always doing so with one of his songs in my heart.
His themes and melodies can lighten the heart, break it, or make it soar, oftentimes all in the span of a few minutes.
From the sweeping theme of Star Wars to the schizophrenic JFK, the heart breaking Schindler's List to whimsical Gilligan's Island, the ominous Jaws to the soaring heights of ET - his range is incredible.
Superman, Munich, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters, Indiana Jones, Born on the Fourth of July, Harry Potter, Lost in Space, Home Alone, The Towering Inferno, the list goes on forever.
So if you have any of these soundtracks, listen to them today. Watch one of these movies, or just hop on Youtube and relive some of your favorite moments.
Hum the tunes while you work today, while you are at the gym, while you are doing your dishes. John Williams' music will make even the most mundane activities fell like adventure.
Thank you John Williams, you have scored the soundtrack to my life.
I made him a birthday card http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mePGuWHiEPE
Love it! Posted on my FB wall.
One of the all-time great movie artists. I couldn't pick a finest score because he's written SO many beautiful, wonderful, moving, amazing pieces of music over the years which, when combined with film, creates genuine movie magic. Jaws, Star Wars, CE3K, Superman, Raiders, TESB, E.T. ... How does one choose between such masterpieces?
Nixon is a fantastic score. It doesn't get much love when people talk about John Williams but check it out. His work with Oliver Stone is terrific. And yes, the NBC mission theme is also terrific.
As good and memorable as the theme to Jaws, ET, and Empire, the one soundtrack that standouts out for me is Schindler's List
A forgotten, but very special score: "The Rievers."
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