A Radio For Speaking To God
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"There was nothing I had to take too seriously musically. They were theatrical and over-the-top."
John Williams |
John Williams (Composer): The Indiana Jones movies were great fun. There was nothing I had to take too seriously musically. They were theatrical and over-the-top. I particularly remember that the Indiana Jones theme was something I chiselled away at for a few weeks, changing a little note here, a little note there. It sounds easy, but it was not. I remember playing Steven a couple of things and him just saying, "Why don't you use them both?"
Michael Kahn (Editor): Johnny's music always lifts the picture up a couple of notches. Everything comes alive.
Williams: I used to love those old romantic themes in Warner Bros. films like Now, Voyager. For the love story between Indiana Jones and Marion I thought that the music could be like one of those '30s themes and that would contrast well with the humour and silliness, even if it is inappropriate emotionally. I also remember doing pastiches of brass stabs that always represented the evil Nazis - all of it with tongue slightly in cheek. For the opening of the Ark, I wanted to try and evoke a biblical atmosphere to colour and express that in a way that only an orchestra and chorus can.
Treasures Beyond Your Wildest Aspirations
Marshall: One year after the movie came out, I went to two Raiders birthday parties, one in San José and one in San Diego, where the movie had been playing for a year. Just think about that: today, what movie plays in a movie theatre for a year?
Allen: I was so pleased when I saw it. It's a wild ride, but there's a sweetness to it too.
Kasdan: It's held up pretty great. In some ways it's simpler than you think it is. For my tastes, that's better than we have now. That's the charm of it. It created a mould that got copied so many times it's hard to see it anymore.
Rhys-Davies: Was it F. R. Leavis (famous literary critic) or is it T. S. Eliot himself who said, "The great work of art is not only great in itself, it changes the possibility of the craft for others"? For many people, Raiders did that.
Kennedy: Raiders has had a tremendous influence. It has become the touchstone. I hear people even now in development meetings refer to things as Raiders-esque.
Spielberg: The first Indy, for me, is the most perfect of the three. I've never gone back and said I could have done anything better than what I achieved on that film.
Lucas: One thing I learned - if you hire the best director in the world, making movies is really easy.
This article originally appeared in issue 208 of Empire.
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