Five Undersung John Williams Pieces
Just to mark John Towner Williams’ birthday.
To quote Lasse Vogt’s Track Swap podcast, where he and the guest bring on score cues and talk about them, “No Star Wars!” Hence, we’re not including his music for that series. But we are starting with something from a Harrison Ford epic.
Presumed Innocent is among the few John Williams scores with synthesizers sprinkled in. He’s never the new-fangled stuff to his son Joseph. Hence, this pop arrangement of SpaceCamp’s main theme for the movie’s training montage.
He only did SpaceCamp because Steven Spielberg’s musical version of Peter Pan fell through. Eventually, Hook came along…. But speaking of works based on British literature —
Noted Anglophile Williams got his first Emmy for his score for a TV movie version of Jane Eyre (released in cinemas in Britain). I doubt this is played as often on Classic FM as sodding “Hedwig’s Theme” of “The Imperial March.”
One of his loveliest works, no question. Amistad was a hard watch in the right way. John Williams’ score, as well as being good on its own merits, is a rarity for major Hollywood films involving Africa — the score didn’t involve Lebo M.
I really wish I hadn’t limited myself to five now… So apologies to his themes for the TV series Checkmate, Cinderella Liberty, Earthquake, Black Sunday, Stepmom, The Accidental Tourist, Stanley & Iris, The Missouri Breaks, and The River. Among many others.
I'm rounding this off with his music for The Reivers because… well, take a listen. Also, on a thread on the Film Score Monthly forums asking about favorite scores from the year you were born, I named this one.
