Happy birthday, John Williams, film composer, born February 8, 1932

Multiple links in body of thread | February 8, 2015

[EveningStar]

Today marks the 83rd birthday of the great film composer John Williams, whose scores have garnered numerous wins and nominations for Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Grammy Awards.

Wikipedia

IMDb

John Williiams Fan Network

The John Williams Collection

[EveningStar]

ping

[Sioux-san]

Does anybody else find his music boringly repetitive and overbearing and just not that good?

[left that other site]

I do...especially after having endured him hijacking the Boston Pops for many years.

[edh]

“Does anybody else find his music boringly repetitive and overbearing and just not that good?”

It depends ... I find his music outstanding during a film. However, I find very few of his tracks worth listening to outside of that context (Superman theme, Raiders march, parts of the ESB soundtrack are some examples ... and even then I don’t know if it’s “great music” or nostalgia :-) ).

[INVAR]

Compared to the kind of kinetic Zimmer/electronic crap dished up in most movies these days, Williams is Mozart in comparison.

[Radagast the Fool]

I generally prefer Howard Shore’s film scores, but I loved Williams’ score for War Horse, and I also loved Yoda’s theme from the Empire Strikes Back.
Williams’ scores often seem too obvious and bombastic.
Having said this, at least Williams (and Shore) are classically trained composers; too much of what I hear from film score composers now is so bad, the alleged music sounds like it was written by someone from the Obama Madrassa School of Music!!

[RedMDer]

Defend your Freedom
KEEP FR GOING STRONG

We need your help to keep the lights on.
FR is funded solely by contributions made by
liberty loving people who enjoy and use it.

Every donation counts no matter how big or small.
If you can donate $5, $10, $20, $100 or more,
it would be greatly appreciated. 

[Timber Rattler]

"Curly's" early work in the 1960s (Lost in Space, Vaslley of the Giants) and through Star Wars and Indiana Jones was outstanding. But everything since, especially the war movies, just comes across as pompous and boring.

Just my opinion.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

I know one thing. I would hate to be a brass player doing the Star Wars score. I saw the London Philharmonic do the Star Wars tour in Nashville. When they finished, I turned to my hubby and said, “And the brass section says AMEN!”. LOL!

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Does anybody else find his music boringly repetitive and overbearing and just not that good?

I don't know - I only heard his music in movies. And I hope he'll be doing the music for the new Star Wars picture due out this December.

[Carbonsteel]

I’ve always been partial to James Horner myself.

However, I’ve also gotten to like Bear McCreary.

[mtrott]

I don’t have anything against Williams, but in the ranks of film composers, IMO, his work pales in comparison to that of John Barry:

Out of Africa
Dances with Wolves
The Black Hole(don’t be fooled by the movie not being very good, the soundtrack is brilliant)
Somewhere in Time
From Russia with Love
Thunderball
You Only Live Twice
The Lion in Winter
Midnight Cowboy
Diamonds are Forever
King Kong(1976)
Moonraker
View to a Kill
Cotton Club
Body Heat
Jagged Edge

Just to name a few.

[mtrott]

He is, as well as Indiana Jones 5(announced).

[EveningStar]

John Barry is great too. :)

[Kartographer]

Dimitri Tiomkin
1967 The War Wagon
1964 36 Hours
1964 Circus World
1964 The Fall of the Roman Empire
1963 55 Days at Peking
1962 Without Each Other
1961 The Guns of Navarone
1961 Town Without Pity
1960 The Sundowners
1960 The Alamo
1960 The Unforgiven
1959 Last Train from Gun Hill
1959 The Young Land
1959 Rio Bravo
1959 Rhapsody of Steel (Short)
1958 The Old Man and the Sea
1957 Wild Is the Wind
1957 Search for Paradise (Documentary)
1957 Night Passage
1957 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
1956 Friendly Persuasion (music composed by)
1956 Giant (music composed by)
1956 Tension at Table Rock
1955 The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
1955 Land of the Pharaohs
1955 Strange Lady in Town
1954 The Adventures of Hajji Baba
1954 A Bullet Is Waiting
1954 Dial M for Murder
1954 The High and the Mighty
1954 His Majesty O’Keefe
1954 The Command
1953 Cease Fire! (Documentary)
1953 Take the High Ground!
1953 Blowing Wild
1953 Return to Paradise
1953 Jeopardy
1953 I Confess
1952 Angel Face
1952 The Steel Trap
1952 The Happy Time
1952 The Four Poster
1952 The Big Sky
1952 High Noon
1952 Lady in the Iron Mask
1952 My Six Convicts
1952 Mutiny
1952 Bugles in the Afternoon
1951 The Well
1951 Drums in the Deep South
1951 Peking Express
1951 Strangers on a Train (original music by)
1951 The Thing from Another World
1951 Mister Universe
1950 Cyrano de Bergerac
1950 The Men
1950 Champagne for Caesar
1950 D.O.A.
1950 Guilty Bystander
1950 Dakota Lil
1949 Red Light
1949 Canadian Pacific
1949 Home of the Brave
1949 Champion
1948 Portrait of Jennie
1948 Red River (music composed by)
1948 So This Is New York
1948 The Dude Goes West
1948 Tarzan and the Mermaids (music composed by)
1947 The Long Night
1946 Duel in the Sun
1946 Let There Be Light (Documentary) (uncredited)
1946 It’s a Wonderful Life (musical score written by)
1946 The Dark Mirror
1946 Angel on My Shoulder
1946 Black Beauty
1946 Whistle Stop
1945 Here Is Germany (uncredited)
1945 Pardon My Past
1945 Know Your Enemy - Japan (Documentary) (uncredited)
1945 War Comes to America (Documentary) (uncredited)
1945 China’s Little Devils
1945 Two Down and One to Go (Documentary short) (uncredited)
1945 San Pietro (Documentary short) (uncredited)
1945 Dillinger
1945 Forever Yours
1944 The Battle of China (Documentary) (uncredited)
1944 When Strangers Marry
1944 Attack! Battle of New Britain (Documentary) (uncredited)
1944 The Negro Soldier (Documentary short) (uncredited)
1944 The Bridge of San Luis Rey
1944 Strange Confession
1944 Ladies Courageous
1943 The Battle of Russia (Documentary) (uncredited)
1943 The Unknown Guest
1943 Report from the Aleutians (Documentary) (uncredited)
1943 Shadow of a Doubt (original musical score)
1943 The Nazis Strike (Documentary short) (uncredited)
1942 The Moon and Sixpence (as Dmitri Tiomkin)
1942 Twin Beds
1942 A Gentleman After Dark
1941 The Corsican Brothers
1941 Flying Blind
1941 Scattergood Meets Broadway
1941 Forced Landing (uncredited)
1941 Meet John Doe (musical score)
1940 The Westerner (musical score composed by)
1940 Lucky Partners
1939 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (musical score by)
1939 Only Angels Have Wings
1938 Spawn of the North
1938 You Can’t Take It With You (musical score)
1937 The Road Back
1937 Lost Horizon
1935 I Live My Life
1935 Mad Love
1935 The Casino Murder Case (synchronized score)
1934 Roast-Beef and Movies (Short)
1933 Alice in Wonderland
1931 Resurrection

To name a few. ;-)

[Libloather]

Related to Brian? Could BE Brian.

[mtrott]

Interesting. Most of those are from before my time, so I am not familiar with the music. But Guns of Navarone is one of my favorite movies.

[EveningStar]

Williams is the third most common surname in the US.

[353FMG]

When I think of John Williams I think of 1953 when he played the piano with the Stan Getz Quintet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJIXH0Mi5cE