Jump to content

What are your top 5 John Williams scores?


JoeinAR

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

But to its advantage, Crusade doesn't have a cue like Banning Back Home, nor any mediocre songs. :D

Banning Back Home is the only part of hook i will listen too. But to others it is beloved.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Did you mean to write will not listen to?

 

I think it is wonderful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

JW:

1. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

2. A.I. Artificial Intelligence

3. Jurassic Park

4. Star Wars Episode VI

5. 1941

 

Non-JW:

1. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Ernest Gold)

2. How to Train Your Dragon 1 (John Powell)

3. Solo: A Star Wars Story (John Powell/JW)

4. Pan (John Powell)

5. Total Recall (Jerry Goldsmith)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Richard said:

Hey, @Loert, we've got the same JW #5! Far out! But...why the :lol:? What have I done to deserve a :lol:?

 

Just the way you said "for the nth time"...I can relate. Though, I don't know about you but my list looks completely different every time!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

3. The Empire Strikes Back

4. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

5. Born on the Fourth of July

 

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2. Once Upon a Time in the West

3. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

4. American Beauty

5. Back to the Future

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm so happy for the love for CE3K, it is amazing, timeless and perfection. 

 

And I have to admit that JW is so good, that his 50 best scores easily could qualify to my top 5 list but all of those now in that list have a story, very special one for me. Love that man. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. The Empire Strikes Back

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark

3. Jaws

4: Star Wars

5. Temple of Doom

 

1. Clash of the Titans '81

2. Conan the Barbarian

3. Braveheart

4. Gettysburg

5. Dragonslayer

 

All tough choices.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here’s my 2 cents:

 

1. Empire strikes back

2. Revenge of the sith

3. E.T. 

4. Raiders of the lost ark

5. Prisoner of Azkaban

 

Non JW scores (Top 5):

1. Lord of the rings: The return of the king

2. Interstellar

3. Blade runner 2049 

4. Tron: Legacy 

5. American Beauty 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

JW:

1. Jane Eyre 

2. The Towering Inferno

3. Attack of the Clones

4. Family Plot

5. Home Alone

 

Top 5 others

1. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (Barry)

2. Titanic (Horner)

3. Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Herrmann)

4. The Deep (Barry)

5. The Village (JNH)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Loert said:

 

Just the way you said "for the nth time"...I can relate. Though, I don't know about you but my list looks completely different every time!

I know what you mean. Ten years ago, my top-ten would have looked like this:

1. CE3K

2. E.T.

3 TESB

4. ROTLA

5. SUPERMAN

 

It's funny how tastes change, and why.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John Williams:

  1. Star Wars 
  2. The Empire Strikes Back 
  3. Harry Potter and The Philosopher's stone 
  4. Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban 
  5. Jurassic Park 

Other composers:

  1. The Fellowship of the Ring by Howard Shore 
  2. The Two Towers by Howard Shore 
  3. The Return of the King by Howard Shore
  4. How to train your Dragon by John Powell 
  5. Back to the Future by Alan Silvestri 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maestro:

  1. The Empire Strikes Back
  2. HP and The Prisoner of Azkaban
  3. The Lost World
  4. IJ and The Raiders of the Lost Ark
  5. E.T.

 

Others:

  1. Solo by John Powell
  2. How to Train Your Dragon by John Powell
  3. Priest by Christopher Young
  4. Jupiter Ascending by Michael Giacchino
  5. Wolf Totem by James Horner
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Blegh, I hate doing rankings. I mean, I can easily rank some scores below others; for me, Family Plot ranks way below The Lost World, for instance. But Empire vs. Raiders? Decisions like these are the stuff of nightmares.

 

Gut feeling, right now, subject to change at any moment:

 

1. Star Wars

2. The Empire Strikes Back

3. Raiders of the Lost Ark

4. Jurassic Park

5. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

 

This list omits numerous Williams scores that feel like top-5 quality to me. But such is life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ranking is always hard for me but here it goes:

 

Williams:

1- Empire Strikes Back

2- Jaws

3- Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban

4- Raiders of the Lost Ark

5- Superman

 

Non-Williams (this is even harder, there are too many for just choosing 5)

1- The Perfume (Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil & Tom Tykwer)

2- King Kong (Max Steiner)

3- Psycho (Bernard Herrmann)

4- Under Fire (Jerry Goldsmith)

5- Gods and Monsters (Carter Burwell)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Followup 6 non-Williams, not a whole lot of thought went into it, just looked at what I have:

 

1. Alien by Goldsmith

2. Conan the Barbarian by Poledouris

3. Ben-Hur by Rózsa

4. How to Train Your Dragon 1 by Powell

5. Star Trek: TMP by Goldsmith

 

Honourable mention currently eating its way into my mind:

Princess Mononoke by Hisaishi

Also the entire LotR, but making it one would've upset Joe and I didn't want to make it hog 3 spaces or have to pick and choose an order.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think I ever tried compiling a favorites list, figured I would try it. I had to limit it to one score per composer, and these were the first to pop in my head:

 

Streetcar Named Desire - Alex North

 

Fahrenheit 451 - Bernard Herrmann 

 

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - Ryuichi Sakamoto 

 

Planet of the Apes - Jerry Goldsmith 

 

The Thing - Ennio Morricone 

 

 

If I had more room my runners up would be--still following the one score rule-- The Fugitive by James Newton Howard, Mission: Impossible by Danny Elfman, Dirty Harry by Lalo Schifrin, and...I think that's it, I can't think of any scores from other composers right now. 

 

3 hours ago, Holko said:

Alien by Goldsmith

 

"Landing" alone would put that in my top musical anythings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/18/2019 at 5:13 PM, TheUlyssesian said:

John Williams Scores

1. E.T. 

2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

3. Star Wars 5: The Empire Strikes Back

4. The Reivers

5. Hook

 

Non John Williams Score

1. Gone With The Wind - Max Steiner

2. Lawrence of Arabia - Maurice Jarre

3. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - Michel Legrand

4. Amarcord - Nino Rota

5. La Strada - Nino Rota

 

Can you share the previous results with us just for context?

 

I'll attempt a combined Top 10 as some people have been posting.

 

1. Gone With The Wind - Max Steiner

2. E.T. - John Williams

3. Lawrence of Arabia - Maurice Jarre

4. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg - Michel Legrand

5. Amarcord - Nino Rota

6. La Strada - Nino Rota

7. Breakfast At Tiffany's - Henry Mancini

8. Ryan's Daughter - Maurice Jarre

9. El Cid - Miklos Rozsa

10. Ben-Hur - Miklos Rozsa

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John Williams:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Black Sunday

Seven Years in Tibet

Sabrina

Rosewood 

 

Non-John Williams:

Gladiator 

Pirates of the Caribbean 5

The Social Network 

Justice League

Ladyhawke 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, xWxzek said:

John Williams:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Black Sunday

Seven Years in Tibet

Sabrina

Rosewood 

 

Non-John Williams:

Gladiator 

Pirates of the Caribbean 5

The Social Network 

Justice League

Ladyhawke 

 

Seconded!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

JW:

 

1-The Empire Strikes Back

2-Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

3-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

4-E.T.

5-Hook

 

(#5 could have been a number of scores )

 

Non JW:

 

1-Star Trek The Motion Picture (Goldsmith)

2-Krull (Horner)

3-Poltergeist (Goldsmith)

4-The Black Hole (Barry)

5-Clash of the Titans (Rosenthal)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This list would change based on the day of the week, but I narrowed the filmography down to 23 favorites, and then down to 9, and then picked my 5 best from that.

 

No particular order.

 

The Empire Strikes Back  (RCA/Sony)

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (LLL)

Saving Private Ryan (either, no real difference)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (OST)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (OST)

 

A list of boring choices.  Added my preferred presentation just to spice it up.

 

My top 9 had 1 movie from each Star Wars trilogy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/21/2019 at 1:35 PM, Nick Parker said:

I don't think I ever tried compiling a favorites list, figured I would try it. I had to limit it to one score per composer, and these were the first to pop in my head:

 

Streetcar Named Desire - Alex North

 

Fahrenheit 451 - Bernard Herrmann 

 

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - Ryuichi Sakamoto 

 

Planet of the Apes - Jerry Goldsmith 

 

The Thing - Ennio Morricone 

 

 

If I had more room my runners up would be--still following the one score rule-- The Fugitive by James Newton Howard, Mission: Impossible by Danny Elfman, Dirty Harry by Lalo Schifrin, and...I think that's it, I can't think of any scores from other composers right now. 

 

 

"Landing" alone would put that in my top musical anythings.

You were not encumbered by any such rule unless by your own choice. Did you give a top 5 williams list.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mstrox you may say no particular order but they will be ordered 1 - 5. in the order you gave unless you man up and order them.

 

Holko Lord of the Rings is 3 separate films and 3 separate scores. No one seems to try and put the first 3 Potter scores together. Why should these three LOTR be combined. Besides doesn't the beginning of the Fellowship  and the end of the Return measure to about the same time as sorcerers stone to the end of Azkaban, almost 3 years?

Thor I would like to let as many poster put there top 5 as possible but Im thinking about August. The entries are very interesting don't  you think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lotr, film and scores, is one gigantic film, one single story, presented in 3 parts. Not episodic but interconnected (HP), not episodic but barely nonnected (Indy).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

Mstrox you may say no particular order but they will be ordered 1 - 5. in the order you gave unless you man up and order them.

 

Your rules didn't mention a ranking - I'll happily throw them in today's order!  From best to less best:

 

ET

Empire

AI

Azkaban

Private Ryan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John Williams (in no particular order)

 

- Sleepers

- The Lost World

- Return of the Jedi

- Close Encounters of the Third Kind

- Seven Years in Tibet

 

Other composers (no particular order):

 

- Ran (Toru Takemitsu)

- Conan, the Barbarian (Basil Poledouris)

- The Egyptian (Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann)

- The Bible (Toshiro Mayuzumi)

- Masada (Jerry Goldsmith)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, JoeinAR said:

Thor I would like to let as many poster put there top 5 as possible but Im thinking about August. The entries are very interesting don't  you think?

 

Sure. Many lists are a little 'samey' with the regular classics over and over again, but it's always nice to see an unusual pick by someone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. Stepmom

2. The Stepmom Strikes Back

3. Return of the Stepmom

4. The Phantom Stepmom

5. Attack of the Stepmom

 

Honourable mentions:

 

Revenge of the Stepmom

The Stepmom Awakens

The Last Stepmom

The Rise of Stepmom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

JW:

 

1. Star Wars

2. The Empire Strikes Back

3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

4. Jaws

5. Superman

 

Other:

1. Poltergeist

2. Batman

3. Krull

4. Back to the Future

5. Willow

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.