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Which is your favourite John Williams/Oliver Stone Collaboration?


Josh500

Which is your favourite John Williams/Oliver Stone Collaboration?   

32 members have voted

  1. 1. Which is your favourite John Williams score of an Oliver Stone movie?

    • Born on the Fourth of July
      9
    • JFK
      15
    • Nixon
      8
  2. 2. Which is your favourite John Williams scored Oliver Stone movie?

    • Born on the Fourth of July
      9
    • JFK
      19
    • Nixon
      4


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And why? I'd say:

 

Score and movie:

 

1. JFK 

2. Born on the Fourth of July

3. Nixon 

 

This has been done before, but I'd be curious to know what people think currently on this..... 

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Born On The Fourth Of July for score and movie, though Born On The Fourth Of July is the only one of those movies I have seen. Not interested in the other two, but they do have nice scores.

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Born on the Fourth of July for score, not sure about movie - either JFK or Born on the Fourth of July - I voted for JFK but don't really know.

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5 hours ago, MrScratch said:

Born On The Fourth Of July for score and movie, though Born On The Fourth Of July is the only one of those movies I have seen. Not interested in the other two, but they do have nice scores.

 

I consider JFK to be Oliver Stone's masterpiece.... I don't understand why you wouldn't want to watch it.

 

Nixon is arguably the weakest of these 3 movies, although the score is phenomenal. 

5 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

Same here. I think those three films are the best Oliver Stone movies in general. 

 

Agreed!

 

There are a few other OS movies that are quite good, but they don't come up to the level as these 3 JW scored movies... Salvador, Wall Street, Platoon, W., and Snowden.

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11 minutes ago, Fancyarcher said:

JFK for both film and score. Wish he had made more films with Stone, all three are among his more interesting scores. 

 

Agreed!

 

I'm just not sure whether these movies became much better due to JW's involvement, or whether JW chose to get involved because these movies are much better than most other OS movies....

 

In any case, all three scores are among the very best JW works!

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Fancyarcher said:

JFK for both film and score. Wish he had made more films with Stone, all three are among his more interesting scores. 

 

Very true. Not sure what happened exactly? Williams speaks very fondly of Stone in that recent interview and seemed to lament that they haven't worked together recently. 

 

Stone's still an active filmmaker (although doing a lot more TV work) but I see no reason why Williams couldn't have done more films with him? He's used an eclectic mix of composers since Nixon (everything from Vangelis to Morricone) but his only 'regular' collaborator has been Craig Armstrong.

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24 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

Didn't have to think about it.

Born on the 4th of July for both.

 

You don't like JFK? 

1 hour ago, crumbs said:

 

Very true. Not sure what happened exactly? Williams speaks very fondly of Stone in that recent interview and seemed to lament that they haven't worked together recently. 

 

Stone's still an active filmmaker (although doing a lot more TV work) but I see no reason why Williams couldn't have done more films with him? He's used an eclectic mix of composers since Nixon (everything from Vangelis to Morricone) but his only 'regular' collaborator has been Craig Armstrong.

 

I wish Williams had scored Snowden.

 

It's a quiet, human drama, with spy elements and not much action (except a few chase scenes), but I think JW would've been in his element here. I'd have liked to hear JW's take on the giant out-of-control surveillance and police state the US is slowly turning into.... 

 

https://youtu.be/QlSAiI3xMh4

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27 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

surveillance and police state the US is slowly turning into.... 

 

Turning into? I think that ship has well and truly sailed... :unsure:

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3 hours ago, crumbs said:

Very true. Not sure what happened exactly? Williams speaks very fondly of Stone in that recent interview and seemed to lament that they haven't worked together recently. 

 

Stone's still an active filmmaker (although doing a lot more TV work) but I see no reason why Williams couldn't have done more films with him? He's used an eclectic mix of composers since Nixon (everything from Vangelis to Morricone) but his only 'regular' collaborator has been Craig Armstrong.

 

Most of his movies just aren't suited to the kind of marquee composer Williams is since the late 80's, save for 'Alexander'. 

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As I am not really an "american", even if I live in America... movies about USA politics, don't interest me very much.

 

So I'm not a particular fan of the work of Oliver Stone, but I saw the three movies.

 

Now, maybe the movie that is more "near" from me is, Born on the fourth of July, even if the subject remains very close to USA politics (Vietnam War).

 

About the score, well I must admit that none of the three are among my "best-ones".

 

Despite this, the themes of Born on the fourth of July, greatly because they was re-recorded by the BPO in 1994, are the ones I know better.

 

So even if we currently only have a "mini"-score for this movie (I really hope an expansion in the next years!), I pick Born on the fourth of July for the score too.

 

___

 

PS. A quick question for experts of the Nixon score.... About JFK, I now John Williams already played a suite in concert, made with The Theme / Motorcade / Arlington.  If he would have recorded a suite from Nixon, which 2-3 tracks he could have picked?

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2 hours ago, Bespin said:

PS. A quick question for experts of the Nixon score.... About JFK, I now John Williams already played a suite in concert, made with The Theme / Motorcade / Arlington.  If he would have recorded a suite from Nixon, which 2-3 tracks he could have picked?

The Theme / The Turbulent Years / The Meeting with Mao

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9 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

The Theme / The Turbulent Years / The Meeting with Mao

 

Don't forget Ellsberg Break-in and Watergate!

 

I fucking love this conspiratorial theme....!!! 

 

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7 hours ago, crumbs said:

 

Very true. Not sure what happened exactly? Williams speaks very fondly of Stone in that recent interview and seemed to lament that they haven't worked together recently. 

 

Stone's still an active filmmaker (although doing a lot more TV work) but I see no reason why Williams couldn't have done more films with him? He's used an eclectic mix of composers since Nixon (everything from Vangelis to Morricone) but his only 'regular' collaborator has been Craig Armstrong.

 

Perhaps Stone simply lost interest in using Williams. It's quite possible, but Stone could have used him on W., since it was a presidential movie, and he didn't. Lack of interest / maybe Williams never came to mind anymore. Stone has gotten more cuckoo over the years after all.

 

8 hours ago, Josh500 said:

 

Agreed!

 

I'm just not sure whether these movies became much better due to JW's involvement, or whether JW chose to get involved because these movies are much better than most other OS movies....

 

In any case, all three scores are among the very best JW works!

 

JW helped, but in the case of all three films, the scores didn't exactly "rise". They matched the films more somber tone more if anything, so I'm not sure they contributed much to the overall "quality" so to say, as much as they were just perfect for the films. 

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8 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

Nixon is a rather underrated score....

 

The movie is clearly inferior to the other two, but not the score.

 

The movie needs only to be re-edited in chronological order... just a little thing to fix!

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1 hour ago, Bespin said:

 

The movie needs only to be re-edited in chronological order... just a little thing to fix!

 

The movie is okay. It's very well made, but the subject matter is just not as interesting as the assassination of JFK or Ron Kovic's life story....

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50 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

 

The movie is okay. It's very well made, but the subject matter is just not as interesting as the assassination of JFK or Ron Kovic's life story....

 

Well, Nixon was not a very loveable person, it's hard to make a loveable movie about him...

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21 minutes ago, Bespin said:

 

Well, Nixon was not a very loveable person, it's hard to make a loveable movie about him...

 

Sure, and that's what I said. Nixon was not a very interesting person, hence Nixon is not a very interesting movie.

 

Despite John Williams's and Oliver Stone's talent, of course.

 

 

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Nixon was a much more interesting character than either Ron Kovic or Jim Garrison. Hopkins had a field day in that role, even though they overdid Nixon's more garish side.

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2 hours ago, Josh500 said:

 

The movie is okay. It's very well made, but the subject matter is just not as interesting as the assassination of JFK or Ron Kovic's life story....

 

I'd argue that the subject matter is just as interesting, it's just that for me, there were a few too many over-the-top moments towards the end (ex. Cantonese/Mandarin characters appearing over Nixon's meeting with Mao :blink:) that deserved more somber treatment. And I wish the theatrical cut was available in HD; at least it has a DVD release, unlike JFK's theatrical cut

2 hours ago, Bespin said:

 

21 grams of? :sarcasm:

 

Screen-shot-2012-08-27-at-2.19.29-PM.png

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21 minutes ago, Corellian2019 said:

 

I'd argue that the subject matter is just as interesting, it's just that for me, there were a few too many over-the-top moments towards the end (ex. Cantonese/Mandarin characters appearing over Nixon's meeting with Mao :blink:) that deserved more somber treatment. And I wish the theatrical cut was available in HD; at least it has a DVD release, unlike JFK's theatrical cut.

 

I've seen Nixon only once, on TV. I really should get the DVD...

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12 hours ago, publicist said:

Most of his movies just aren't suited to the kind of marquee composer Williams is since the late 80's, save for 'Alexander'. 

 

I could have seen them reuniting on World Trade Center

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Nixon is JW's most oppressively dark score and I love it for that quality. The main theme and most of the thematic material from the film is overbearingly dark, brooding, and unrelenting. The score really enhances the tone of the movie and matches the kind of frenetic flashes of emotion from Nixon and from the editing of the film. JW's work with Stone allowed him to apply a strong, over the top, melodramatic touch to historical subject matter in a way that I haven't seen anywhere else in his extensive career. His scores with Spielberg that deal with history are much more earnest and restrained which is also amazing but just entirely different. The JW/Stone trilogy sounds like Stone asked JW to swing for the fences with every cue and I love it. 

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On 6.11.2017 at 1:32 AM, mrbellamy said:

I could have seen them reuniting on World Trade Center

 

Rather awful movie. Stone should deliver the challenges, not the sunday afternoon cake.

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14 hours ago, publicist said:

You are just a starfucker. Nothing in this movie cried out for a great score.

 

You don't get it. Whatever Williams writes, it becomes (mostly) a great score! This movie was not a masterpiece, but it offered many opportunities for great scoring.

 

Titles for possible John Williams tracks...

 

Snowden's Theme (unlike Snowy's Theme) 😂 

Love Theme 

Big Brother is Watching 

Chase in Hong Kong 

Conspiracy 

Russia and Finale

 

 

 

 

 

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I've always wondered why Stone never employed Williams again after NIXON. If it was a matter of not being able to afford him, Williams being more picky or what. Similarly, I've also often wondered why he never worked with Altman again after THE LONG GOODBYE. Williams has had several of these regular director collaborations that have somehow drifted away, and I doubt we'll ever get to know why.

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4 hours ago, Thor said:

I've always wondered why Stone never employed Williams again after NIXON. If it was a matter of not being able to afford him, Williams being more picky or what. Similarly, I've also often wondered why he never worked with Altman again after THE LONG GOODBYE. Williams has had several of these regular director collaborations that have somehow drifted away, and I doubt we'll ever get to know why.

 

Considering that JW only scores on average 2 movies per year (sometimes 0, sometimes 4), it's not hard to believe that it was just a schedule issue. Also, possibly no project was interesting or captivating enough for JW to commit himself.

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Yeah, but he was more active back then (late 90s to the mid 2000s). But you're probably right that neither Williams nor Stone considered each other a fit for some of his post-NIXON projects.

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