Indiana Jones first cracked his whip on the big screen on June 12, 1981. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s smart homage to cinematic serials of yore, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” took off like a shot to become the year’s highest-grossing film and a cultural phenomenon.
This week on “Picture Perfect,” as we anticipate the release of “Indy 5” in 2022, we’ll celebrate four decades of fedoras and five o’clock shadows. Tune in for selections from John Williams’ classic scores for the series, including “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981), “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984), “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989), and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (2008).
Remember, it’s not the years – it’s the mileage. Join me for a highly subjective hour of music and reflections on the Indiana Jones series, to mark the 40th anniversary of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org!
“I’m sure you recognise this lovely melody as ‘Stranger in Paradise.’ But did you know that the original theme is from the ‘Polovtsian Dance No. 2’ by Borodin?”
There’s probably no one who was born in the United States, who is over the age of 45, who has not seen this television commercial. But did anyone actually buy the product? Bonus points if you bought it on 8-track.
According to Wikipedia, it was the longest-running nationally-seen commercial in U.S. television history, airing for 13 years, from 1971 to 1984. So basically the entire span of my development.
That’s not John Williams, the film composer, by the way, but John Williams, the actor, who worked with Hitchcock (“Dial M for Murder,” “To Catch a Thief”) and Billy Wilder (“Sabrina,” “Witness for the Prosecution”), and briefly as the other Mr. French on “Family Affair.”
“So many of the melodies of well-known popular songs were actually written by the great masters… like THESE familiar themes…”
I hope Mr. Williams made a mint in royalties. He died in 1983 at the age of 80.
I’ve been sitting on these articles for a week or two, waiting for an opportunity to share them. If you’re into film music or love the movies, you may find them equally of interest.
Looking back on the cinematic western, by the mid-1970s it was definitely time to water the horses. For much of the preceding decade, most of the important statements in the genre had gone elegiac, revisionist, spaghetti, or some combination of the three.
With the release of “Star Wars” in 1977, elements of the western survived, but beyond a handful of exceptions, the western, like the swashbuckler, had moved to outer space.
Though John Williams became inextricably linked with the intergalactic spectacle, it is little known that he, in common with most of his contemporaries, scored a number of actual, old school westerns. This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll listen to music from four of them.
Westerns don’t get much more primal than when revenge becomes a motivator. Mark Rydell’s “The Cowboys” (1972), one of the better of John Wayne’s later films, draws blood when Bruce Dern commits an unspeakable crime against the American West. If you’re a collector of Boston Pops records, you may be familiar with the rousing overture Williams assembled from his score.
Before he slipped into a lazy pattern of inviting his celebrity friends to goof off in front of the camera and then cashing the paycheck, Burt Reynolds made a number of effective dramatic films. In “The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing” (1973), Reynolds plays a laconic train robber haunted by a secret in his past, who finds a second chance with Sarah Miles, the wife of one of his pursuers, who rides along with his gang. Williams provided a really groovy opening number for this one.
Despite the how-could-it-possibly-miss teaming of Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson – with “Bonnie and Clyde” director Arthur Penn at the helm – “The Missouri Breaks” (1976) bombed with both critics and audiences. (If you ever wanted to see Brando in drag, then this is the film for you.) Williams took a different approach with this one, providing a more intimate, if off-kilter score, tinged with jazz and pop elements, and featuring guitar, banjo, harmonica, honky tonk piano, electric harpsichord, etc.
“The Rare Breed” (1966), on the other hand, is straight-down-the-middle, with James Stewart and Maureen O’Hara introducing Hereford cattle to the American west. Brian Keith, as Stewart’s rival, sports a red beard and a Scottish burr, for some reason. Williams, however, is wholly himself, providing an uplifting, wide-open main theme. Would that film composers still wrote like this.
Saddle up for selections from John Williams westerns this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
PHOTOS: (clockwise from left) Reynolds loves Cat Dancing; Brando in touch with his feminine side; the Duke; and an unrecognizable Brian Keith
Personally, I can’t believe that the designation was made on account of a Dad-worthy pun. The first “Star Wars” opened on May 25, 1977, surely a more appropriate anniversary? But any excuse to celebrate “Star Wars” is fine by me, I suppose, as long as I don’t have to celebrate anything released after 1983.
Until yesterday, I was completely unaware of artist Christopher Shy, but he is one extraordinarily talented individual. Pictured are just a few of his “Star Wars” paintings. The one that employs the original Ralph McQuarrie designs is a hoot!
Check out his Facebook page for further original interpretations of Godzilla, “Ghostbusters,” Superman, “Star Trek,” “The Thing,” “The Creature from the Black Lagoon,” and many more. Also, make it a point to visit his website, artofronin.com. This will take you directly to a gallery of his work:
While you’re at it, why not also spin some of John Williams’ “Star Wars” music? Williams’ original score is a postmodern masterpiece, with echoes of Korngold, Holst, Stravinsky, and William Walton, bound together, permeated, and propelled into delirious transcendence by his stirring, soulful, indelible themes.
Generally speaking, I enjoy listening to the soundtrack albums in the form they were originally released. It’s nice to have the music note-complete, as has become the fashion on CD , but there was a certain artistry to the arrangements, layouts, and development of commercially-issued soundtracks of the LP era that made them special experiences unto themselves.
That said, “The Empire Strikes Back” is one of the few note-complete film music recordings that I can listen to straight-through without getting fatigued. In that regard, it must be my favorite of the “Star Wars” scores.
The original “Star Wars” soundtrack, from 1977, holds great nostalgic significance for me. I spent countless hours writing, drawing, and dreaming to that music. “Star Wars,” to great extent, introduced me to orchestral music, and it changed my life. But, also for me, “The Empire Strikes Back” is the standalone masterpiece, if taken on a purely musical level.
Here’s how it was originally heard on LP, back in 1980:
Here it is, note-complete, as on CD – unfortunately with the tracks posted separately, allowing plenty of opportunities for interpolated YouTube ads:
May the Fourth be with you, indeed!
Certainly, I wouldn’t want to be without the music for either of the first two films. And by “first two,” I’m speaking in terms of release dates, NOT the geek-pedantic episode numbers. The title “A New Hope” is, quite simply, not in my vocabulary.
Whatever your bliss, I wish you a happy Star Wars Day. Just keep your midichlorians off this page!
