Posted on 02/08/2022 7:04:40 AM PST by Borges
John Williams, the man who changed the way we hear the movies, turns 90 today.
As the key Hollywood composer during the blockbuster era of the 1970s and 1980s, Williams had an astronomical career alongside the likes of filmmakers Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
With his music for their movies, Williams revived the romantic orchestral sound of Hollywood's Golden Age — the sound pioneered by composers Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Max Steiner at the dawn of the talkies — and reinvented it for a new era.
“John Williams has been the single most significant contributor to my success as a filmmaker,” Spielberg said in 2012.
On the numbers alone, Williams has had a career like no other. If you were going to the movies between 1970 and 1990, every second year would have had a number one box office hit with music by Williams.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
Most of his stuff sounds the same. pretty sappy composer in my book. And they are movies, not like it’s real art.
Ditto that. Happy Birthday John Williams.
Were you trying to parody a clueless poser?
Yes. I prefer Howard Shore or Hans Zimmer.
His music is inexorably intertwined with an entire movie’s experience.
I really appreciate what music does to the experience and how it stays with you through life.
A while back I look at his list of his movie soundtracks. Quite impressive. It takes a special kind of talent to compose music and have it work well with movies. Not trivial.
And he is 90 ...
Jerry Goldsmith wasn’t bad in his day. Theme for Patton stands out.
I disagree. Williams is great, but he’s not the greatest. I find the works of Hans Zimmer to be more varied and more enjoyable. He’s also much more prolific (110 film scores for Williams to 159 for Zimmer, according to IMDB. Williams career spans from 1958 to today, while Zimmers spans from 1984 to today). You give me a great composition by Williams and I can give you three by Zimmer that are better. Music makes movies. Take a great movie and you’ll find great, emotionally evocative music to support it. Sans such music, most movies lack dimension.
Also composed the incidental music on Gilligan’s Island and other 1960s TV shows.
I also like Maurice Jarre, particularly with Witness and Ghost.
Zimmer is known for repeating the same tricks for quite a few years now. The same “atmosphere”, the same short ostinato patterns with wordless choruses etc.
They talked him into a doing a Cameo for Rise of the Skywalker because he was talking about retiring. He runs a shop, for the set dressing they made a prop referencing every movie he won an Oscar for. 3:45 ish in this clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGc47-ncN70&t=206s
Steven Spielberg related how John Williams came to him with his idea for the movie “Jaws”.
He said Williams was really enthusiastic, and was playing it on the piano, the characteristic “BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM” from the theme, looking over his shoulder at Spielberg with a completely expectant face as if he was saying “Do you get it?”
Spielberg was thinking “I don’t get it” but kept listening.
Williams began soft, then began speeding it up, making it louder, and then Spielberg understood.
I respect Williams greatly. Loved his themes, so many of them. Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saving Private Ryan, ET, Superman, Star Wars, Close Encounters, Schindler’s List, so many more...
I have to disagree with the sentiment it all sounds the same. I believe he has made masterful and memorable music.
John Williams is excellent.
Hans Zimmer is the modern John Williams.
Lalo Schirin was pretty good too.
He’s still alive! He turns 90 in June.
That little bit probably saved the movie, since the shark never worked. 90% of the time the shark is “there” it’s just the music. But that’s all they needed.
Williams might be Bach, but Thomas Bergersen is Mozart. Zimmer is Salieri. Seven is among the greatest symphonies ever composed.
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