Tolerance Project Extra John Williams A Fans Tribuite
Introduction
Today the 28th June marks the end of one of my favourite composers film careers to mark the occasion I have decided to release an updated blog that was first published last year with a load of new material,
At the age of 90 and according to Google the man who composed over 600 pieces of music for film TV and classical works has announced his desire to retire from the film world. His final film he will write music for will be the 5th and final entry in the Indiana Jones Franchise. Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny to watch a trailer for the film click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQfMbSe7F2g&list=PL17vqAEJv6CXTpRdOfQdpiOim4ammXiwX&index=11
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932 is an American composer, conductor and pianist. In a career that has spanned seven decades, he has composed some of the most popular, recognizable and critically acclaimed film scores in cinematic history. Williams has won 25 Grammy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, five Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. With 52 Academy Award nominations, he is the second most-nominated individual, after Walt Disney. His compositions are considered the epitome of film music and he is considered among the greatest composers in the history of cinema.
Click on the above link to read another article on how John Williams retirement marks the end of an era for film music this article comes from the RTE website https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2022/1130/1339123-john-williams-composer-retirement-jaws-et-star-wars-indiana-jones-harry-potter-jurassic-park/
Also this article from the french Lemonade website tells us how John Williams composers unforgetable soundtracks https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/video/2023/06/25/how-john-williams-composes-unforgettable-soundtracks-from-star-wars-to-harry-potter_6037212_30.html
Also the AV club lists his top 20 soundtracks of all time https://www.avclub.com/john-williams-greatest-film-scores-ranked-1850567897
Williams has composed for many critically acclaimed and popular movies, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the first two Home Alone films, the Indiana Jones films, the first two Jurassic Park films, Schindler’s List, and the first three Harry Potter films. Williams has also composed numerous classical concertos and other works for orchestral ensembles and solo instruments.
Speaking as a personal fan of John Williams I was first introduced to his work when I bought a double CD version of his music for the first star wars film for my birthday. I loved it but it took me a while to get the other soundtrack in the series. I didn’t get round to buying Empire and Return of the Jedi till the special edition Soundtrack releases in 1997.
I loved those as well and I have since bought all of the Star Wars Soundtracks that John Williams worked on.
Williams like John Barry before him had a magical talent for making the music come alive in my head to create scenes and adventures that I never saw on the cinema screen.
The music become the star of the film itself John Williams did this in many of his great film scores 2 of the best examples being Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind both of these films were directored by Steven Speilberg Both John and Steven explained how they made music the star in both of these films in a recent interview you can see it by clicking on this link https://boingboing.net/2023/03/10/steven-spielberg-and-john-williams-on-how-music-became-an-actor-in-jaws-and-close-encounters.html
His excellent score for the first Indiana Jones film the Raiders of the lost ark also had the same effect on me and because of that its always been a film I have enjoyed re- watching seeing it several times over the years.
Williams music has also helped me to enjoy films that I don’t really like these include his scores for both Superman the movie and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial being a good example.
His music also opened up the doorways to other worlds like his work on the Harry Potter films I never read the books and wasnt really interested in going to see the movies till I was persuaded to by a good friend and thanks to her I saw Harry Potters first two adventures on the big screen John Williams main theme for Harry Potter was magical no pun intended.
John Williams The Tolerance Project connection
When we decided to make the Tolerance film in 1999 we decided the best way to approach the film would be through the medium of a dramatic comedy this we would do through a series of film spoofs the first one was the most obvious was Star Wars if you talked to any child of my generation who grew up in the 80s Star wars was the big one with its space battles Special effects and that music by John Williams for the Tolerance film we used the blockbuster main theme to tell our story
Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley.It stars Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody who, with the help of a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter (Robert Shaw), hunts a man-eating great white shark that is attacking beachgoers at a summer resort town.
Jaws was the prototypical summer blockbuster, regarded as a watershed moment in motion picture history, and it won several awards for its music and editing. It was the highest-grossing film until the release of Star Wars in 1977
We used the Famous Jaws theme called Main title/First Victim which runs to just 22 seconds,is used twice in the Tolerance film.
First when Robert played by David Smith on his way to a job interview norrowly avoids being run over He is saved by a passer-by, played by Dan McTiernan, who was also our first Assistant Director. When Robert is about to be run over you can hear the Jaws theme for the first time. You hear it again when Robert meets the infamous Mr Grosenberg. To learn more about the making of the original Jaws film click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7jjHLJlDZo&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=275
Thank you John Williams for introducing me to the world of movie magic
Update
John Williams announces he is not retiring after all to read this news story click here:John Williams Cancels Any Retirement Plans - Dark Horizons
Pictures The Man himself
Posters from the various films his worked on Jaws from 1975
One of the original Star Wars Posters from 1977
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones
Artwork for Harry Potter
Poster for Superman the Movie 1978
ET 1982
John Williams music as it appeared in the Tolerance film
Our Star Wars crawl which tells you about the Tolerance project and what your about to watch
Jaws theme
Robert is saved from being run over by a passer by Jaws theme used again to introduce Mr Grosenberg played by Actor Tony Green
If you have read this blog and want to help Tolerance click on the link below https://gofund.me/5cf25de4
Thank you to Wikipedia for the information on the life of John Williams and the film Jaws
Also thank you the Minty comedic arts Youtube page for the videos on Superman the Movie Home Alone Home Alone II lost in New York Close Encounters of the third kind Indianna Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark And ET The Extra Terrestrial Thank you to the Oliver Harper Youtube channel for his retrospective video reviews of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Superman The Movie
Bonus content
Documentaries
To learn more about the making of Close Encounters of the third kind click here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQFCEuJrtmw&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=277
To watch a video called 10 things you didn’t know about Superman the Movie click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDPl1eCIFvo&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=278
To watch a video called 10 amazing facts about Home alone click here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNA1-lgphkk&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=279
To watch a video called 10 amazing facts about Home alone 2 click here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm5FD-ZrsMk&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=280&t=3s
To watch a short film called 10 amazing facts about Raiders of the Lost ark click here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyb1Gm43Dfc&list=PL17vqAEJv6CXTpRdOfQdpiOim4ammXiwX&index=9&t=18s
To watch a film called 10 things you didn’t know about ET click here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKwtCb5zWpU&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=258
To watch a retrospective review on Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the lost Ark from the Oilver Harper YouTube channel click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngyfP84wZiI
To watch a retrospective review of Superman 1978 the movie from the Oliver Harper YouTube channel click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEtID1kJ_Ho
To watch a retrospective review of Home Alone 1990 from the Oliver Harper Youtube Channel click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iMXXrptBFI
Trailers
Superman The Movie 1978 click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOkb8pxtTfk&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=277&t=45s
ET 1982 Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZNInG8kSiA&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=278&t=23s
Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the lost ark 1981 click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xQSIdSRlAk&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=279&t=34s
Harry Potter and the PHILOSOPHER'S STONE 2001 click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNgwNXKBEW0&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=280&t=6s
Star Wars 1977 Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g3_CFmnU7k&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV3Y85xphI3YrPVq3Q5wI_7&index=23&t=11s
Further reading
the Collider film website published a list of his most iconic film scores ranked you can read the list by clicking here there are some on there that I have heard of before now https://collider.com/john-williams-most-iconic-movie-soundtracks-ranked/#39-indiana-jones-and-the-raiders-of-the-lost-arc-39-1981
The Mary Sue film website also published a list of his 12 best film Scores you can read that by clicking herehttps://www.themarysue.com/best-john-williams-scores-ranked/
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