Besides SW, what's your fav John Williams score?

I have to go with Indiana Jones. I still think it's the best theme song of all time. I wish it would play when exciting things happen in my life.

 

Besides Star Wars, these are some of my favorite John Williams themes and/or cues

I Passed For White
The Rare Breed
Jane Eyre
The Towering Inferno
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Dracula
Spacecamp
The Witches Of Eastwick (Cue - The Ballroom Scene)
Born On The Fourth Of July
Hook (Cue - You Are The Pan)
Jurassic Park
Schindler's List
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Munich
War Horse

And his other works/concert works:

Hello (Jazz Piano)
Concerto For Tuba And Orchestra
Concerto For Bassoon And Orchestra "The Five Sacred Trees"
Concerto For Cello And Orchestra
Summon The Heroes (1996 Olympics Theme)
Concerto For Horn And Orchestra
Soundings
Concerto For Viola And Orchestra

 

The final movement of his Horn Concerto. It's just... it's hard to describe, really. I just love this.



Not exactly a film score, I know, but not enough people are aware of John Williams' concert works. He really brings out a unique sound here.

 

My second favorite is Indy for sure. Others include E.T, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Close Encounters, Saving Private Ryan.

 

Harry Potter. As much as I love Indiana Jones, I think John Williams's score for Harry Potter was slightly better.

 

The whole ET score is stunning. I do love Jurassic Park/The Lost World too though!

 

ET and Superman. ET had the better overall score and Superman had the better main theme.

 

I have to go with ET. What a spine-tingling, haunting score, perfectly compliments the movie. I'm getting all goosepimply and teary just thinking about it

 

Schindler's List needs to be on the poll. It's not necessarily my #1 favorite but it ranks high up there. I bought the CD in 1993 and it's quite moving. He also won the Oscar!--which is why I can't call that soundtrack "underrated."

 

John Williams' score for Superman The Movie is my favorite film score ever. The main Superman theme, the mysterious and regal Krypton theme, the beautiful, elegiac and emotional growing up/Smallville theme and the love theme are the best stuff he's ever done (and that's saying something; John's E.T. and Empire of the Sun scores are close seconds and thirds).

This piece from the film is a particular favorite. Unbelievably beautiful.

 

I simply cannot chose anything over this. The only thing that beats it is Star Wars.

That being said, I've had the pleasure of sitting at a live performance of Schindler's List (Mr. Williams was not present, sadly) and I have to say that was one of the most beautiful things I've ever experienced. Incredibly haunting score.

 

I voted for Indiana Jones and Superman. But who are we kidding? The man has NO bad work!

 

Indiana Jones saga.

Runner up: Superman

 

Indiana Jones, ET, then Schindler's List.

 

E.T., Schindler's List, Empire of the Sun

 

Indiana Jones, Schindlers List

 

Jurassic Park

 

Schindler's List is incredible

 

I also love Jaws,Memoirs of a Geisha,Born on the 4th of July, JFK, and Empire of the Sun

 

Raiders and Jaws are almost a tie, but Raiders is very memorable and pretty much perfect.

 

The guy is an incredible musician. Love his work.

By the way, quick question. When someone like Williams is composing the score for a film, is he given the film to watch, he watches it, and then goes to work developing music that he thinks fits those scenes? Or is he just given general direction as far as what the director expects?

 

Actually the first one. He watches the raw footage and then writes the score based on his reaction. More often than not the film editor will shuffle things around as well.

-Almost forgot to address the thread topic
Superman is my favorite single piece of non-Star Wars music, but I love the Last Crusade score a lot. I know I'm just ssssoooooooo unique.

 

Jurassic Park