Josh Reviews Music by John Williams

John Williams is, in my opinion, unquestionably the greatest film composer of all time.  Mr. Williams’ music has been a constant companion throughout my life.  He has written music that almost everyone on this planet knows: scores for Star Wars and Indiana Jones and Superman and Jurassic Park and Harry Potter and so many more beloved movies and characters.  He has been nominated for a whopping 54 Academy Awards.

Music by John Williams is a new documentary that explores the life and work of the great John Williams.  The title is, of course, drawn from the way Mr. Williams’ credit usually reads on the many films he has scored.  The documentary film is directed by Laurent Bouzereau.  (Those of us who love DVDs and blu-rays know and love Mr. Bouzereau.  He has directed countless wonderful behind-the-scenes documentaries that have enhanced a myriad of DVDs and blu-rays from the past several decades.  “Special features” on discs are common, and much of what one finds, especially these days, are short, boring, superficial studio EPKs.  But Mr. Bouzereau has always been a true artist and documentary filmmaker, and his behind-the-scenes special features were always put together with great care and depth.  Mr. Bouzereau’s documentaries can be found on many of the discs of the movies directed by Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, and Ridley Scott.  His extraordinarily in-depth documentaries on the Alien movies (found on the Alien Quadrilogy set) are among the finest special features on any DVD/blu-ray set ever.)

The first 4-ish minutes of this documentary alone are worth seeing this for.  The film opens with a thrilling journey through John Williams’ most famous themes.  (There are so many!!)

After that great opening, we jump right into things as the film details the beginning of Mr. Williams’ long and fruitful collaboration with Steven Spielberg, which began with his scoring The Sugarland Express and then Jaws.  Mr. Williams’ iconic and simple “duh-duh” theme for the shark in Jaws stands today still unparalleled.  It’s always fun to hear Mr. Spielberg talk about hearing that theme for the first time.  He sums up John Williams’ brilliance when he comments that Mr. Williams’ “musical shark worked better than the mechanical shark”.

As the documentary unfolds, we learn about Mr. William’s life and what he describes as the series of fortunate accidents that led him into film scoring.  And, at the same time, we get an in-depth journey through the many, many famous films Mr. Williams has scored.  This was so fun for me.

It’s interesting to learn about Mr. Williams’ early years composing for TV shows, and his first steps into film, most notably arranging the music for Fiddler on the Roof.  (Mr. Williams even had a hand in Fiddler on the Roof??!  Amazing.)  I didn’t realize that in the seventies, Mr. Williams contributed scores to a number of famous adventure/disaster movies, including The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and The Towering Inferno.

Of course, the film spends a good chunk of time on Star Wars.  It’s interesting to hear George Lucas describe Peter and the Wolf as an inspiration for the music of Star Wars, with each character having their own musical theme.  That’s been a mark of Mr. Williams’ work, and a key to his greatness.  I loved hearing James Mangold (director of Cop Land, Walk the Line, Logan, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny describe the “audaciousness” of the opening seconds of the original Star Wars score.  (We know that music so well today, it’s easy to be dulled to its greatness!)  I believe George Lucas is 100% correct when he says that “I truly believe that the soundtrack is half of the movie.  Star Wars would not be Star Wars without Johnny Williams’ music.”  (I love how Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Lucas call him “Johnny”.)

I’m a huge Close Encounters of the Third Kind theme, so I was glad the doc spent time exploring the iconic five-note theme used for the aliens.  It was very cool to see Mr. Williams showing off the original page of music with tons of his different five-note theme possibilities.

It might not be quite as well known today, but for a whole generation, Mr. William’s score to E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial was permanently embedded in all our hearts.  I love that the doc highlights the cheeky way Mr. Williams hid the Yoda theme in the E.T. score.  And a highlight of the doc for me was watching Coldplay’s Chris Martin’s pure joy listening to the E.T. theme.

I was pleased they also spent time exploring Mr. Williams’ gorgeous and heartbreaking Schindler’s List score.  There’s a very moving moment in which Kate Capshaw tells the story of crying the first time she heard it.

This film stuff is all cool; at the same time, I was interested in the time the film spent exploring Mr. William’s personal life.  I had no idea that his first wife had died from an aneurysm at age 40… or that one of his sons was the lead singer for the band Toto!  As a big fan of the Boston Pops, I’m glad the film took the time to tell some stories from Mr. Williams’ long run as the conductor of the Pops (including a story I didn’t know, about his disagreement with some of the musicians that led to his resigning as conductor back in 1984, only to return six weeks later after reaching a rapprochement.)

Mr. Bouzereau keeps the film moving along at a pleasingly rapid pace.  He also employs a number of fun devices to emphasize the power and importance of Mr. Williams’ scores.  For instance, we get to see a scene from Jaws with and without Mr. Williams’ music.  (The difference is, unsurprisingly, night and day.)  I also loved the segment in which we got to hear Mr. Williams’ first attempt at a theme for the famous scene in Star Wars in which Luke stares out at the binary sunset on Tatooine, compared to the (far superior) finished version.  Wow.

Mr. Bouzereau has assembled a robust group of people to participate in this doc.  This includes famous film writers/directors such as Mr. Spielberg, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Mangold, Lawrence Kasdan, Chris Columbus, and J.J. Abrams; film composers such as Thomas Newman (who scored The Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Skyfall, Spectre, and many other great films) and Alan Silvestri (most famous for his amazing scores for the Back to the Future films, as well as all four Avengers films); as well as other talented musicians such as Chris Martin, Branford Marsalis, Yo-Yo Ma, and Itzhak Perlman.

Yes, I am a film score nerd!  But I don’t think you have to be to enjoy this wonderful documentary!  Anyone who loves the music of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park — and isn’t that everyone?! — will enjoy this film.  It’s available to watch right now on Disney+.

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