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Other 80 year olds still on top of their game and as irreplaceable as John Williams


King Mark

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I didn't say busy, I said irreplaceable because they have a special talent that can't be duplicated by someone younger

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Here's an 87 year old with a mind still sharp as a tack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy18LZ5rXaE



I didn't say busy, I said irreplaceable because they have a special talent that can't be duplicated by someone younger

top of the game and irreplaceable is still synoymous with busyness... If JW stopped making film scores back in 2008 and announced his retirement then would you still make this thread? I wonder...

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JW is irreplaceable that is true but he is still on top of his game because he is still composing new scores even in his 80's. You're asking if there are others that are, and I quote:

"Other 80 year olds still on top of their game and as irreplaceable as John Williams"

so I provided examples who are still that. You can't be 80 years old and thereabouts still "on top of their game" if you're not being busy.

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Well more the irreplaceable part added to the fact that he's still working

Don Rickles doesn't do much besides late show appearances. Christoper Lee might be more essential just to appear in the Hobbit films

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Ahem.

Ennio+Morricone.jpg

Yeah, that one!

Obviously -- if you expand it to 80-year-olds in general and not only composers, the list is long.

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Can't see your pic Quint

As for Koray's pic I dunno who it is.

I don't think actors fit this thead

Maybe book authors, painters, musicians...etc.. who are still very popular. As i said someone who has an unique skill or art that a younger guy can't duplicate

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I don't know if this elderly is still on top of his game but he is certainly irreplaceable

cd-michael-feinstein-change-of-heart-son

That's the cover of his latest album btw.

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Can't see your pic Quint

As for Koray's pic I dunno who it is.

You don't know who Ennio Morricone is? Over here, he's more famous than John Williams.

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Thank God, there's a lot of such people in the worlds of the Arts, Philosophy and Science in each of our respective countries. Their names are hardly ever mentioned on TV (except maybe when they die) because it's too busy showing bimbos quarrel on "Big Brother".

But these old folks are here, they are pillars of a civilization they helped build and when they go we are all the poorer for it even if we never heard of them.

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I don't think actors fit this thead

Maybe book authors, painters, musicians...etc.. who are still very popular. As i said someone who has an unique skill or art that a younger guy can't duplicate

Why? Acting is not a unique skill? Guess you've never seen a bad actor before.

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I'm not so sure about Christopher Lee. It's still cool to see him in things like The Hobbit, but to be honest, he doesn't really look "at the top of his game" to me anymore.

Ennio+Morricone.jpg

And he's still travelling to give concerts, too. There's one scheduled in Vienna next year.

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I'm not so sure about Christopher Lee. It's still cool to see him in things like The Hobbit, but to be honest, he doesn't really look "at the top of his game" to me anymore.

Is John Williams still at the top of his game?

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Can't see your pic Quint

As for Koray's pic I dunno who it is.

You don't know who Ennio Morricone is? Over here, he's more famous than John Williams.

Well, I guess the thing is that he hasn't done much of anything in the US since De Palma's Mission to Mars in 2000, and that film didn't have a huge impact. I grew up in a household where Morricone's music was prized, so I had the advantage of being exposed to it early. I'm always surprised that he's not more famous than he is in North America.

Still, I feel his music is just as great as Williams' (yes, just as great), though in a different way. Morricone knows how to get the most out of the popular music traits of unique instrumentations and simple chord progressions, minimalist tendencies of repeated musical figures, and how to mix those with the traditional symphony orchestra, especially strings (which always seem to have a distinctive "Morricone" sound to them on recordings for some reason) and trumpet, an instrument he mastered early in his career. His music has the ultimate eclectic yet irresistibly attractive sound.

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Is John Williams still at the top of his game?

One could make the argument that Williams isn't on top of his game.

No films other than Spielberg, no major awards, his style if scoring is gone in favor of a more bland sound wallpaper approach favored by directors these days. He's more famous for stuff he did years ago.

I would imagine most 80 year old people are enjoying their retirement and not worrying about working. I know I will if I'm fortunate to reach that age.

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Yeah, "top of his game" is the wrong phrase. The very fact that John's composing every day at the piano; got several huge projects in the not-too-distant future; not suffering from Alzheimer's, cancer or heart disease; and seems more buoyant and alive than ever - is remarkable.

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Are Williams' scores of the last 10 years better than the stuff he wrote when he was younger? No. Have they consistently been in the top 5 scores released of that year when compared against all other film scores of the year? Absolutely. He's still got it.

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Not to be a curmudgeon, but the competition hasn't exactly been stiff.



Is John Williams still at the top of his game?


Yes. Tintin and War Horse were first rate scores, and Lincoln is certainly respectable as well.

Thanks for your glowing endorsements Marian.

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William Shatner is still at the top of his game.

That.

Out of the original Trek crew, he's aged the best.

You obviously didn't see Uhura lately.

nichelle_nichols_1989545.jpg

Nichelle+Nichols+Out+Silence+Readings+Af

nichelle_nichols_3036823.jpg

She's 80 btw

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I'd say John Williams is still at the top of his game but the directors he worked with the past 10 years haven't been at the top of theirs. There is still greatness in Spielberg's work and he could blow us away with his next project but the recent ones have all been missing something.

Perhaps the missing element is youth. In this case - youth having little to do with actual age - John Williams will always be young.

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Is John Williams still at the top of his game?

One could make the argument that Williams isn't on top of his game.

No films other than Spielberg, no major awards, his style if scoring is gone in favor of a more bland sound wallpaper approach favored by directors these days. He's more famous for stuff he did years ago.

I would imagine most 80 year old people are enjoying their retirement and not worrying about working. I know I will if I'm fortunate to reach that age.

He has received multiple major awards in the last couple of years, from the president on down. He has received an Emmy, some Grammys, BAFTA, etc. the only awards he has not received are the Oscars. Is that the only category of award you consider major?

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