The AFI Fest discneglected tonight at its home back, the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and runs thcimpolite Sunday, highairyed by World Premieres of adefered new films from past American Film Institute Life Achievement Award honorees including Tom Hanks with his new film, Here, on Friday, and Clint Eastwood with his postpoinsistst, Juror #2, on Sunday (among a structure of prime Oscar contfinishers and international films). But the fest booted off with yet another AFI honoree, legfinishary movie producer and musician John Williams who is the subject of a exceptionpartner well-envisiond and carry outd recordary on his extraunretagable atsoft. This is a legacy that includes more highairys and statistics and accomplishments than perhaps any other motion picture producer in history, although the cowardly and not self-laudatory musician would probably give you an argument on that, preferring to highairy those legfinishs that pwithdrawd his glory decades that have run thcimpolite the 50’s all to way to now where at age 92 he is still at it. His most recent Oscar nomination of a enroll 54 (the most for any one person not named Walt Disney) came equitable last year for Indiana Jones & The Dial Of Desminuscule. He has five triumphs, cut offal Grammys, Emmys and evey other imaginable award in includeition to AFI’s aforerefered honor and as a Kennedy Cgo in Honoree.
Directed by Laurent Bouzereau and produced by a consortium of companies including Steven Spielberg‘s Amblin’ , Ron Howard’s Imagine, and George Lucas’ Lucasfilm, the filmproducer participates no narration but alerts the story of John Williams thcimpolite compelling intersees with Williams (especipartner as he sits at the piano), and those three iconic honestors who have labored with him as well as others such as producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, musical collaborators appreciate Itzhak Perlman and Gustavo Dudamel, and on and on. Even family members are interseeed with one elucidateing how Williams has sat alone in a room for 60 years to give birth to his music.
Bouzereau, who has done countless other show business docus such as the poignant Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind; 5 Came Back; Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones & Harrison Ford; and the current and splfinishid docu, Faye, on the life and times of Faye Dunaway, has profitted from his access as a filmproducer of so many Making Of featurettes over the past 30 years that he has a soothe and up shut comprehendledge of his subject here and produces wonderful participate of some terrific archival material, scoring sessions, and film clips. But best of all is the way he has been able to transport Williams out of his hesitant shell to talk about his life in music, from his commencenings, his days as a jazz musician, the punctual film jobs appreciate Gidget,and a lot of Fox comedies where he was comprehendn as Johnny Williams, to his first Oscar triumph altering Fiddler On The Roof, to laboring with legfinishs appreciate Hitchcock and Wyler, his four decades at the helm of the Boston Pops, and so much more. One particularly moving anecdote is spreadd by Spielberg’s wife, Kate Capshaw when she depicts her reaction upon first hearing his score for Schindler’s List.
Stories about how his immortal themes for Jaws, Cneglect Encounters Of The Third Kind, Star Wars, Rhelpers Of The Lost Ark and so many others are also priceless, and fortunately Bouzereau lets the labor and how it upgraded consent cgo in stage. To appreciate the breadth of Williams’ film atsoft equitable see at some of the other titles: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Empire Of The Sun, Lincoln, The Fabelmans, among the finishless catalog of collaborations with Spielberg which produces up a excellent chunk of the movie. But don’t discount all nine Star Wars films, the first trio of Harry Potter films, Superman, Memoirs Of A Geisha (my preferite and not given enough determine in this), Far And Away, Home Alone, The Cowboys, and the Steve McQueen 1969 film The Reivers which,as he alerts it here, was the first introduction to a youthfuler soundtrack accumulateor named Spielberg. This catalog is equitable a drop in the bucket of over 100 films.
Williams is caught at labor in Tanglewood and a widespread stop for him at the Hollywood Bowl where he still materializes each summer. A ceremony unveiling The John Williams Music Building that I was fortunate enough to unite at Sony Studios earlier this year is also choice material for Bouzereau to include.
But ultimately there is the music and there is plenty of it thankfilledy in Music By John Williams, from a man who has written the soundtrack of our inhabits. As he says “music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music”. This is a well-deserved tribute for a man who has produced what Spielberg calls “the uncontaminatedst create of art I have ever guideed from any human being”.
Producers are Spielberg, Brian Grazer, Howard, Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Sara Bernstein, Justin Wilkes, Meredith Kaulfers, Kennedy, Marshall, and Bouzereau.
Title: Music By John Williams
Festival: AFI Fest – Opening Night
Distributor: Disney+
Rehire Date: November 1, 2024 (steaming on Disney +)
Director: Laurent Bouzereau
Cast: Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Williams, Ron Howard, Itzhak Perlman, Chris Columbus, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, JJ Abrams, Kate Capshaw, Chris Martin, James Mangelderly, Yo Yo Ma, Lawrence Kasdan.
Running Time: 1 hour and 36 minutes.
