John Williams
Added 2022-06-20 17:49:53 +0000 UTCI'm working on a video talking about his most underrated film scores. Likely wont come out for a couple weeks but, I wanted to know what your opinion is on the subject? He's done a lot of iconic ones of course...but there's a lot of scores that I think a lot of people miss from him. What do you consider an underrated John Williams score?
Comments
Jaws. Two notes that instilled fear of the ocean into generations of audiences. Williams is to Spielberg what Bernard Herrmann was to Hitchcock. Just as you will always be reminded of Psycho the moment you step into the shower... Might not be underrated, but anyway...
Klaus Gehrmann
2022-06-26 00:03:07 +0000 UTCHe does concerts every Labor Day weekend at the Hollywood Bowl. When I went, they did a bunch of other classic movie scores in addition to Star Wars, Indiana Jones, ET. The best were Lawrence of Arabia and The Godfather
Emerson B
2022-06-21 02:36:12 +0000 UTCMunich will be on the list as well. But you mention some other good ones too. Born on the Forth of July almost made the list for me.
Deepfocuslens
2022-06-21 01:39:09 +0000 UTCThis will be on the list...don't worry. It's an incredibly underrated score, and one of John Williams's more versatile works.
Deepfocuslens
2022-06-21 01:38:33 +0000 UTCYou're very lucky. I agree with you on Geisha.
Deepfocuslens
2022-06-21 01:37:49 +0000 UTCI’ve seen John Williams perform with the LA Phil and he’s wonderful. Such a great artist who always elevates visual storytelling through emotional and memorable music. For most underrated, I’d go with Memoirs of a Geisha. The score features Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman with beautiful phrasing and Japanese flute playing. Really unique among Williams’ discography in getting away from Western classical music that he’s so well known for
Emerson B
2022-06-20 23:49:36 +0000 UTCYeah thats one of the many things I enjoy about the film. I remember the main theme pretty well but not so much the entire score. It'll definitely be something I focus on when I re-watch it.
Stephen
2022-06-20 23:30:43 +0000 UTCCatch Me If You Can has one of the best opening title sequences in recent years. And yeah, that great theme that Williams composed plays over it.
Bennett Oliver
2022-06-20 22:47:20 +0000 UTCAlways loved the soundtrack of ‘The Adventures of Tintin’, which doesn’t really seem to get praised often (maybe because of the movie it’s linked to). The opening track alone has so much character and sets the tone so well! I don’t think the movie is great, but having a score like this really bumps it up in terms of engagement & entertainment. Very energetic compositions and very colorful and refreshing combinations of instrumentation.. make sure to check out Snowy’s theme and the final track ‘The Adventure Continues’, love those pieces!
Mees
2022-06-20 22:34:52 +0000 UTCThough not a film score, in his early days as "Johnny Williams," he scored a bunch of episodes of Gilligan's Island among others. (For the record, I was not born yet.) But I've always been very fond of his intro music for the third season of Lost in Space. They use this for part of the opening theme on Netflix's Lost in Space show, too.
Steven Aguilera
2022-06-20 22:22:36 +0000 UTCAgreed. When I think of Harry Potter, I don’t think of the main theme from the first movie. My mind usually goes to “A Window to the Past” or “Finale” from this one
Jackson Littlewood
2022-06-20 22:19:07 +0000 UTCI always loved his soundtrack for THE RIVER (1984) with Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek. The main theme (the transition to horn in the middle is really nice): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45Iesf_BtYc
FlyingWaffle
2022-06-20 20:44:55 +0000 UTCGonna stick my neck out for Prisoner of Azkaban. I think it's the most adventurous of that franchise and certainly of Williams' own 3 scores. It swings different genres rather bravely and mischievously, and when it slows down, there are some really moving earworms that Williams packs. It's a score that really *sounds* as magical as that world is supposed to be.
Jabari Weathers
2022-06-20 20:25:20 +0000 UTCWell, I was going to go with the cool, jazzy score he did for Catch Me If You Can, but somebody beat me to it, so I’ll go with some of the work he’s done for Oliver Stone. They’re not on the level of the scores he did for Spielberg and Lucas, but there’s some fine work in there. Give a listen to the soundtracks for Born on the Fourth of July (especially the track “The Early Days, Massapequa, 1957”) and JFK (“The Conspirators”, a great composition of paranoia that played during every conspiracy theory montage). The overall scores, especially July, come off as excessively earnest and sentimental within the context of their films (it wouldn’t be a Stone film without excess), but on their own I think they’re pretty good. I also recommend the score he did for Spielberg’s Munich, particularly the tracks “Remember Munich” and “A Prayer for Peace”.
Bennett Oliver
2022-06-20 19:57:58 +0000 UTCWell I'll have to re-listen to it. I'm currently on a Spielberg-kick going through a bunch of his movies and it's definitely on my list.
Stephen
2022-06-20 18:30:06 +0000 UTCI've disagreed with some of your takes before but I'm able to understand your points. Maybe I need to see you review it because I don't get the beef that you have with Schindler's List. I don't know what could be done to significantly improve it. Spielberg, who's been criticized for being sentimental, threw all of that out the window with this film.
Wolfman Brandon
2022-06-20 18:21:53 +0000 UTCooo good choice!
Deepfocuslens
2022-06-20 18:15:57 +0000 UTCCatch Me If You Can, is brilliant, and highly highly highly underrated.
Deepfocuslens
2022-06-20 18:15:23 +0000 UTCTotally agree. I think it's a good score. I'd rank it second to Raiders, so far as music goes, in the series.
Deepfocuslens
2022-06-20 18:15:00 +0000 UTCI find Schindler's List to be one of the most overplayed and overrated soundtracks of his career actually. I disagree. I think of all his more melancholy scores, this is the main one people only want to talk about. And I think he's done far greater works in a similar style...that no one talks about.
Deepfocuslens
2022-06-20 18:14:32 +0000 UTCI don't know if this is true but I feel like his Schindler's List score isn't as well recognized by the general public as his sci-fi, action/adventure scores. To me, it's more melancholic sound of violins and piano cuts to the heart and soul better than anything he's ever done. I'm always literally on the verge of tears every time it plays over Liam Neeson's crying scene and the montage of the real Jews mourning at Schindler's grave.
Wolfman Brandon
2022-06-20 18:13:24 +0000 UTCPossibly my favorite of his scores is the one for Temple of Doom. It’s my favorite Indiana Jones film and a huge part of that is Williams’ score. He’s a bit more experimental with the instrumentation in it, especially with the chanting cult theme during the sacrifice sequence, one of my favorite moments in film. He basically turned Indiana Jones into a quasi-horror movie. Slave Childrens Crusade, Bug Tunnel, Short Round’s Theme are also amazing tracks. The movie as a whole is very underrated but especially his score.
Jackson Littlewood
2022-06-20 18:03:22 +0000 UTCI really love his score for The Terminal. It has a great Christmassy vibe to it that is perfect for the film and in general fun to listen to during that time of year. Also the jazzy score he does for Catch Me If You Can is a lot of fun as well.
Stephen
2022-06-20 18:03:16 +0000 UTCI would consider the score Williams did for Robert Altman's Images (1972). It perfectly compliments the eerie atmosphere of the film.
Nathan Jones
2022-06-20 17:56:28 +0000 UTC
