John Williams

I have a lot of respect for Williams, and yes, he is a genius. I just don't listen to his stuff that often. I myself have always been more of a Jerry Goldsmith kinda guy

no retreat, no surrender

I like Goldsmith too, for being more experimental, bizarre and avant garde. Goldsmith used more weird, non-traditional instruments, synthesizers and arrangements, and he could really terrify. Planet of the Apes, The Omen, Alien, Star Trek-The Motion Picture and Poltergeist come to mind as masterworks of Goldsmith's style of film scoring.

Yes! And he writes beautifully for 24 violins!

STTMP is my all-time favorite score!


--
No, Schmuck! You are only entitled to your INFORMED opinion!!
-- Harlan Ellison

Yes! And he really makes those violinists work! There sure are a lot of little twittering notes in his violin compositions! At the end of a session, their bows are smoldering!

STTMP: Would that be Star Trek-The Motion Picture? If so, sorry, but that was written by Jerry Goldsmith, albeit in a very John Williams Star Wars style!

Hmm. Interesting. And let's not forget the three-note bass viol motif Williams "borrowed" from Bernard's Hermann's Psycho, just after the shower murder scene, to use when Han, Luke, Ben and Chewie pop out from under the floor of special smuggling panels in the Millenium Falcon "Boy it's lucky you had these compartments!" "I use 'em for smuggling--I never thought I'd be smuggling myself in 'em." in Star Wars-Episode IV-A New Hope!

He may borrow notes here and there, as does probably any composer, but in the overall grand scheme of things, you have to admit that he does come up with a lot of original material. For example, his main title theme for Star Wars may have been INSPIRED by Holst's The Planets, which George Lucas probably even had Williams listen to as temp track, but it IS blazingly original, spectacular, heroic, unlike anything that had come prior.

And where the hell did the theme from Jaws come from? Williams. It is a Williams original. It owes its HOMAGE to Hermann's screeching high strings from Psycho, yes, to create a different kind of fear of water than in a shower, but Williams' low bass viol thumps are the exact antithesis of Hermann's screeching high strings. The theme from Jaws is simple, yes, and yet terrifying in its simplicity, starting with the low bass viols thumping away, blending in harps and tuba in a way that is nautical, sounds like it is blending with bubbles underwater, culminating with high strings that build up to a crescendo as CHOMP!...little Alex Kintner doesn't stand a chance and is bitten in half on his raft. I can't think of anywhere Williams would've "borrowed" this theme from. It seems to come from Williams' own subconscious mind, his imagination, some primordial place, as he thinks about what it is like to be a Great White shark underwater, a beast, acting only on instinct, a ravenous eating machine, closing in on its next tasty prey...

Nice. Thanks. Steal from the best!

And the 5-note "greeting" and majestic "sighting" themes from Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

The main title motifs and "Can You Read My Mind" love theme from Superman?

Dracula?

Missouri Breaks?

The Indiana Jones theme?

The theme for the U.S. government and "Keys" in E.T.?

Monsignor?

The River?

Hook?

The park and Raptors themes from Jurassic Park?

The main title/Luke Skywalker theme, the Force theme, Duel of the Fates, Across the Stars, Battle of Heroes, the Imperial March, Han & Leia's love theme, Yoda's theme, the Emperor's theme, Luke & Leia's theme and Parade of the Ewoks from Star Wars?

The Slave Children's Crusade and choral chants in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom?

Are they all hacked, rip-offs too? I think not. The man HAS written A LOT of great, truly original music. You're a "glass half empty" kinda guy, aren'tcha, loopy?

I listened to the track Williams plagarized for the E.T. theme and will agree that the first 8 notes are identical. The other 32 or so notes in the E.T. theme, however, are Williams original.

I will also agree that the Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade IS similar to Williams' own earlier scherzo in The Reivers.

The main title motifs and "Can You Read My Mind" love theme from Superman?

Can You Read My Mind sounds awfully similar to a phrase in Strauss's Tod und Verklarung (Death and Transfiguration): http://youtu.be/3D5Up1aYJJs?t=18m53s

Superman's still one of the all-time great scores though.


Parade of the Ewoks from Star Wars?

It seems to have something in common with the March from Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LC3Vg17Jv8. The odd thing for me is I think I actually prefer Williams's motif in Parade of the Ewoks!

The word "genius " is appropriate here.