John Williams is one hell of a legendary composer. This is the genius behind some of the most memorable scores in film history, including the iconic music of STAR WARS, JAWS, INDIANA JONES, JURASSIC PARK, HARRY POTTER, and dozens of others.
Is he great? Yes, of course. But does that mean his career has been perfect? Not by a long shot!
On this, the maestroâs 89th birthday, letâs run down some of John Williamsâs biggest MISSED opportunities.
Hereâs A Bunch Of Movies That John Williams Easily Couldâve Done The Score For But Didnât (Big Mistake!)
1. Shallow Hal
Shallow Hal is an American film released in 2001 that follows Hal (Jack Black) on a quest to fall in love with overweight women after spending an afternoon in an elevator with Tony Robbins. Of course, the logline alone begs for a massive, beautiful score by the legendary John Williams, but alas, it does not have one. John Williams was too busy doing some other dumb shit, and so the soundtrack just has a bunch of songs by Cake and Neil Young instead. Passing on this movie was undoubtedly a major misstep by Williams, who maybe couldâve used hundreds of tubas or something to indicate to the audience whenever Hal was looking at a hot person who was actually overweight. Thatâs just one idea. John Williams probably couldâve had other, cooler ones, but we will never know.
2. Little Nicky
Little Nicky is all about Adam Sandler being a kind of devil living in New York City. Itâs a film with heavy, dark undertones that asks big, meaty questions about the nature of good and evil, and with all that going for it, you just know a John Williams score would really make this puppy sing. Unfortunately, though, John Williams was MIA for the entirety of the Little Nicky experience. Instead of one of his iconic scores, the movie is filled with a hodgepodge of 80s Hair Metal and early 2000s Nu-Metal: P.O.D., Linkin Park, Motley Crue, Van Halen, etc. Does it kick ass? Sure, yes, of course. But could a John Williams score have been cool too? Definitely.
3. Foolâs Gold
Foolâs Gold is a movie about treasure. In that way, itâs really similar to âThe Goonies,â a film for which John Williams wrote an epic score. So why didnât he run it back and do another treasure-themed song? Whatever the reason, it was a massive mistake. Kevin Hart is in âFoolâs Gold.â
Anyway, we could sit here all day and riff about movies that John Williams shouldâve gotten involved in if we had time. Itâs easy to think of these, but we just donât have time right now. In conclusion, hereâs to hoping John Williams has an excellent birthday! Thank you! Goodbye.