The other night on TCM, they had a special about the art of collaboration. And to start it all off, they had John Williams and Steven Spielberg. For the uninitiated, these two have collaborated for over 40 years, and dozens of pictures. In fact, Steven Spielberg is on record as saying he will never use anyone but John Williams for his music. Of course, being the cinephile that I am, I absolutely had to watch. They discussed their artistic partnership, their creative process, and showed clips from some of their favorite scenes from their movies. In the immortal words of Mr. Spock, it was "fascinating".
Since I was feeling somewhat inspired, I decided it was time to recognize some of film's Music Men, beginning with John Williams himself. Here they are, my "Top 5 John Williams Movie Scores" (which was admittedly hard to whittle down, since IMDB has him listed as composer of 140 films) :
1. Star Wars - Go ahead, tell me you're not humming Darth Vader's theme in your head right now...
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark - Harrison Ford, rolling boulders, 'nuff said.
3. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial - A kid on a bike in the night-time sky, with a full moon as a back-drop. The first time I really ever remember thinking a movie was beautiful.
4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Speaking of conjuring, the main theme sucks you in and suddenly you're transported into a land of magic and make-believe, flying along with Harry on his Nimbus 2000. Takes the breath away.
5. Catch Me If You Can - What sets every caper movie apart is a terrific soundtrack, and this one is no exception. It perfectly captures the mood of the early 60's, and the cat and mouse game played by Leo and Tom Hanks.
Honorable Mention: Super Man, Schindler's List
