John Williams -- Superman

 

I figure that with me seeing the new "Superman" last week and then "Fantastic Four" coming out in the next several hours, I should bring this particular work onto KKP as a ROY entry. 

As I have probably mentioned in the past, "Superman II" was the first in the franchise that I caught in 1981. It certainly started with a bang with the most epic Reader's Digest version of an opening credits montage sequence reviewing the first movie that I had ever seen. I never caught the first "Superman" in 1978 on the big screen due to various reasons including the fact that my family was never all that much of a moviegoing family. 

Along with the first "Back to the Future", that was one of my big regrets: not catching "Superman" at the theatre. The Christopher Reeve part of the franchise may have gradually ended up going over a cliff but that first movie for the most part was a magical experience. After having seen "Superman II" five times at the theatre (I really did love those credits and the final battle between Supes and General Zod), I finally got to see the original "Superman" on CTV separated into two parts over one weekend, and when I saw those soaring jaw-dropping opening credits (including the Superman logo) with John Williams handling the iconic theme, I realized I missed out on something special, especially with the intro by that kid at the beginning.

The weird thing is that the first time I had ever heard of Williams' "Superman" theme in its entirety, it wasn't on anything connected with the movie but on an episode of "Battle of the Network Stars" which involved television celebrities from various shows competing with each other through events including obstacle courses. The director apparently decided to bring in the theme, and at first, I wasn't all that impressed because I thought it just sounded as if Williams had opted to copy "Star Wars" and its amazing overture.

But of course, the pure epicness of "Superman" with its mashing of the fanfare (that rises to Sousa levels by the end), the march and the love theme into one big overture finally won me over and it got me to buy the original soundtrack whose cover you see at the top. And at this point, among all of those amazing Williams soundtrack themes including those for "Star Wars" and "Jaws", I have to say that the "Superman" theme is my favourite, and I had expressed a bit of disappointment even when the composers for the new "Superman" score brought in just that tiny smidgen of Williams' work although I realize that the original theme was for Reeves and that John Murphy and David Fleming had the prerogative to bring in something new to musically reflect the new Man of Steel.

But with John Williams' "Superman", I could believe that a superhero theme could truly fly!

As crazy as this may sound, "Superman" in 1978 wasn't a summer blockbuster, it was a Christmas one. Released on December 15th in the United States, that must have been some present for superhero fans, and it could explain why the version of the love theme used during the Kal-El-and-Lois flying sequence sounded so Yuletide. In any case, what was up at the top of the charts in Japan a few days later on the 18th?

1. Pink Lady -- Chameleon Army (カメレオン・アーミー）

2. Chiharu Matsuyama -- Kisetsu no Naka de （季節の中で）

3. Muneyuki Sato -- Aoba-jo Koi Uta （青葉城恋唄）