Which movies has JW saved?

[Mr. K 12]

I'm borrowing a concept from filmmusic's topic "Best and Worst Film JW has scored". There are some really awful movies that the Maestro has blessed with his best effort. But which movies has he made watchable; films so bad that the only redeeming factor is his score?

My top three:

Spacecamp

Superman IV (by proxy, via A. Courage)

Monsignor

Mr. K

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Difficult to say, for me. For most films, I'd say they all have merits apart from the music, though of course the music does also help a lot.

I might be tempted to say Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but for all the frustration that film gives me, it's not that bad.

Also I found Superman IV to be a pretty good sequel. Silly, sure. But by far not as bad as Superman III (all-out comedy, Evil Superman AND Computer Of Doom???).

I might have to watch it again, but the one time I did watch it, I found it the best Superman film apart from the first one.

And even the first one, to me, isn't at all as brilliant as Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark or so.

Others that spring to mind:

1941

Hook

Jaws 2

But again, they're not that bad. Not by a long shot.

[Thor 7,519]

Personally, I don't think he "saved" any film he worked on. If they were bad, even the music couldn't save them. However, there have obviously been many times where his music is far better than the film deserves, and so the films could be enjoyed for the music alone (or perhaps with one or two other factors). But I feel that's kind of a different topic.

[Pieter Boelen 740]

Difficult to say, for me. For most films, I'd say they all have merits apart from the music, though of course the music does also help a lot.

I might be tempted to say Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but for all the frustration that film gives me, it's not that bad.

Thinking about this some further, I reckon John Williams DID save that movie for me. Without such good music, I'd REALLY have a hard time watching that film.

Really a shame that those Harry Potter films are so tremendously uneven. There's a lot to like about them to be sure, but they're a far cry from what they should and could have been.

[Brónach 1,302]

So are the latter books.

[Quintus 5,399]

Star Wars.

[Ollie 1,059]

It would be interesting to see an alternate timeline where some movies had a completely different musical approach.

I don't think he saved any films, although Star Wars may come the closest, but there are some his music certainly helped / contributed to the success of.

[A24 4,346]

Star Wars needed to be saved? I agree that music is an important part but the film itself had/has other qualities as well. Lucas did successfully create his own universe in a time when creating new worlds wasn't as easy as today. Then there's the whole monomyth thing the film has going for it. How about the iconic characters? They needed saving?! What?!

Alex

[Jay 37,373]

Probably Hook

[Quintus 5,399]

Lucas did a fine job with the film on a technical level, but before Williams worked his magic the film quite possibly lacked soul, heft and gravitas.

It quite probably would have just been a special effects heavy B-movie.

[KK 3,307]

Could you argue that JW saved Jaws? I mean the film wouldn't have been nearly as effective without its score.

[Thor 7,519]

Could you argue that JW saved Jaws? I mean the film wouldn't have been nearly as effective without its score.

No, I don't think you could say that he saved it....but he DID make it even better!

[Wojo 2,453]

Williams saved Star Wars by giving it an air of seriousness. An electronic or pop score would have hurt the film and made it cult as opposed to the mainstream watershed it became.

[A24 4,346]

Williams elevated it even further, but it didn't need saving. Star Wars would've worked with a Goldsmithian score as well.

Alex

[Faleel 5,359]

Would it have worked with Tarantino (or whoever it is who ends up using the temp track as the score?. style temp-track love?

[nightscape94 965]

I think Williams gave Star Wars a sense of grandeur and scope. I'm sure the film would still have worked. The characters are great, and the effects were terrific. But the music put it in a galaxy far far away.

I wouldn't say that Williams saved a film, in the sense that if you removed his score the film would be bad, or that its inclusion somehow made a bad film good.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Difficult to say, for me. For most films, I'd say they all have merits apart from the music, though of course the music does also help a lot.

I might be tempted to say Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but for all the frustration that film gives me, it's not that bad.

Thinking about this some further, I reckon John Williams DID save that movie for me. Without such good music, I'd REALLY have a hard time watching that film.

Really a shame that those Harry Potter films are so tremendously uneven. There's a lot to like about them to be sure, but they're a far cry from what they should and could have been.

So Prisoner Of Azkaban is unwatchable dreck but Superman IV is pretty good? Good lord, man, you have horrible taste!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,552]

Could you argue that JW saved Jaws? I mean the film wouldn't have been nearly as effective without its score.

Perhaps the score didn't save "Jaws", but it certainly made "Jaws".

[indy4 155]

Hook I think is the closest thing to saving the movie that I can think of. I quite enjoy Hook, for reasons beyond the music, but without the music it would be a lot more boring and a lot less powerful.

[Wojo 2,453]

Williams elevated it even further, but it didn't need saving. Star Wars would've worked with a Goldsmithian score as well.

Alex

That's pretty vague though. Star Trek symphonic Jerry? Link or Legend electronic Jerry?

[King Mark 3,631]

I think E.T.

The film would probably be corny without the score

And Jaws to some extent

i can't really imagine that 1977 Star Wars without it's score would be nearly as good

[Alejandro 26]

Star Wars definitely. Jaws, perhaps. And, Superman IV is only enjoyable because of Courages' work on the old and new Williams themes.

I think the first half of Harry III sucks as a film, but the latter half is awesome. And Williams music in the last quarter is outstanding.

[King Mark 3,631]

Could the Indiana Jones trilogy have worked without JW?

Would Raiders would be as memorable as King's Solomons mines as a film. Or a somewhat enjoyable adventure film like Romancing the Stone, but not the classic it became

[publicist 4,643]

Since the director, SS in this case, instructs the composer it seems highly unlikely that ROTLA would have gotten a light pop score like ROMANCING THE STONE. It would just sound different, but push a lot of the same buttons.

[A24 4,346]

Williams elevated it even further, but it didn't need saving. Star Wars would've worked with a Goldsmithian score as well.

Alex

That's pretty vague though. Star Trek symphonic Jerry? Link or Legend electronic Jerry?

For the usual reasons why certain people prefer Goldsmith over Williams. Richard once called it "Less for the heart, more for the head" (like the 12-tone technique).

Alex

[Pieter Boelen 740]

So Prisoner Of Azkaban is unwatchable dreck but Superman IV is pretty good? Good lord, man, you have horrible taste!

PoA misses the mark on so many things that I cannot ignore that it is tremendously frustrating to me, especially since there was no need for it.

Superman IV is at least not as crappy as Superman III is. And I don't remember being overly impressed by Superman II either.

King Solomon's Mines (1985) is much more fun than either of them though. So there!

Since the director, SS in this case, instructs the composer it seems highly unlikely that ROTLA would have gotten a light pop score like ROMANCING THE STONE. It would just sound different, but push a lot of the same buttons.

That's for certain! Have you ever seen the audio commentary from Back to the Future?

Steven Spielberg suggested to Zemeckis not to use Alan Silvestri because he was unimpressed by the music in Romancing the Stone, but Zemeckis stuff by his choice.

Then one time when they were watching a preview of the film, at one point Spielberg noticed the music that was put in and said "THAT is what the score should sound like!".

Turns out that Silvestri had already written and recorded at least part of the score by that time, so Spielberg WAS referring to Silevstri's score, but didn't know it.