I watched Music by John Williams this weekend and it doesn’t really need reviewing. It’s a documentary about the music of John Wiliams. It was amazing. 5 stars. The end.
You can’t help but love Williams. As somebody puts it in the documentary, his music is in all of our DNA. If you love movies and TV, you have heard of his work. In fact, I was shocked at the sheer number of projects he has worked on.
His Early Life
Williams was the son of Johnny and Esther Williams. Johnny was a jazz drummer and percussionist who played with the Raymond Scott Quintet. Esther was a dance hall girl, so John was born into a musical family.
He started to learn the piano, so much so that it became an obsession. He did try to learn other instruments, but he focused on the piano. He became a very accomplished jazz pianist, taking the name of his father, Johnny Williams.
Williams Early Work
I hadn’t really thought a lot about Williams’ early work, way back before Star Wars, but his early career is just amazing. He worked on the scores for Peter Gunn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Apartment, West Side Story, The Guns of Navarone, Some Like it Hot, plus many, many more.
He ended up writing the theme tune to the TV series Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, and the pilot episode of Gilligan’s Island. In movies, he wrote the scores for Valley of the Dolls, Goodbye Mr Chips, Fiddler on the Roof, The Poseidon Adventure, and The Towering Inferno.
Working with Spielberg
In 1974, Williams met a new filmmaker, Steven Spielberg. Young Spielberg was making his first feature film, Sugarland Express, and wanted the man who scored The Reivers and The Cowboys.
After Sugarland Express, Williams wrote the iconic score for Jaws, for which he earned his first Oscar. The rest, as they say, is history and the two have worked together more times than I can count; Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, E.T., Empire of the Sun, Saving Private Ryan. You can just name those movies you know the score.
It was Spielberg that convinced Wiliams to take on a new movie – Star Wars. He was going to work on A Bridge to Far, but did Star Wars instead. Again, the rest is history. That opening score from that movie is cemented in cinema history.
Work, Work, Work
One thing that comes across from the documentary is that Williams loves to work. He is constantly penning new music, thinking up ideas, or conducting an orchestra. They interviewed his daughter and she said how he would get mad if the kids disturbed him. Not to say he wasn’t a great father, but when he was “in the zone”, he was just that focused.
I also love the fact that he “pens” all of his music. There isn’t a computer in sight, he sits there, with a blank sheet of music paper, and writes out a tune. He can only play the piano, but he can also write for the violin, harmonica, or guitar. I’m pretty sure he could write something for the triangle and still make you cry.
Overall
As I said, the documentary, Music by John Willams, is just amazing! I won’t lie, some of the music, and Wiliams talking about it, brought a tear to my eye. It’s amazing that I know bugger all about music, but that man can reduce me to tears with it.
If you love movies, you’re going to love this documentary, as you cannot escape the music by Williams. From the huge opening crawl of Star Wars, to the subtle little themes he has given to so many characters.
Ke Huy Quan said how cool it was to have a theme. Not only that but a theme by the John Williams. He took a selfie at an award show years later.
The only downside of Music by John Williams is that it’s on Disney+. I will leave the rest up to you. Also, I didn’t like seeing him so old now. The man is a genius, but he won’t live forever, it’s a good job his music will.
What’s your favorite Williams music? Star Wars? Indy? Home Alone? Memoirs of a Geisha? Catch Me if you Can? Harry Potter? JFK? Superman? The Fury? I can’t list them all, I’ll be here all day!
