Superman: the Music (part I)

The Soundtrack Show

iHeartPodcasts

Film History, Music History, Tv & Film, Music

4.9 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2020

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John Williams' iconic Superman score is analyzed in context of a 3-part superhero movie: science fiction in the beginning, Americana growing up in Smallville, and a full-blown comic book in Metropolis. The main themes used in Williams' score are analyzed via breaking down these three influences. The history of Superman is discussed, and behind-the-scenes stories of the making of 1978's Superman are revealed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Soundtrack Show will begin in 5, 4, 3, with Superman,
0:07.0	with Superman, 4.
0:13.2	With Superman, John Williams manages to do the seemingly impossible.
0:18.2	Balance heroic fanfares, science fiction, and nostalgic Americana,
0:23.4	all in the style of a three-act vognarian opera.
0:27.4	This is the soundtrack show. Oh, The Oh, The Oh, Welcome back to the soundtrack show. I'm your host David W Collins, and this episode is our first look at Superman the movie.
1:37.5	A film from 1978 by Warner Brothers Pictures, produced by Ilia and Alexander Salkind, written by Mario Puso of The Godfather
1:46.8	fame, although it was really written by a small army of writers including Tom Mancovitz of
1:51.6	James Bond fame,
1:52.8	rewriting as the movie went along,
1:54.8	starring Marlon Brando, who was incredibly famous at the time,
1:58.4	as well as Jean Hackman,
2:00.1	and featuring show-stealing performances by relative unknowns like Margot Kidder as Lois Lane,
2:06.8	as well as a near perfect, flawless performance by a mid-20s Christopher Reeve as Superman himself.
2:14.0	The movie was directed by Richard Donner,
2:16.0	with a film score by Jerry Goldsmith.
2:19.0	Wait, wait, oh wait, oh wait, oh, no,
2:22.0	oh we're running behind schedule, oh Jerry Goldsmith's not available anymore?
2:25.0	What are we going to do? Call John Williams? Call John Williams? Yeah, call him.
2:28.0	Great, you landed John Williams? Okay, good. Let's try this again.
2:31.0	With a film score by John Williams.
2:35.0	Just a little over a year after Williams score for Star Wars
	...

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