The Legacy of John Williams

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Table Of Contents

• Film Details
• Music Credits
• Essential Discography
• Awards and Nominations
• In Williams’ Words
• Quotes and Commentary
• Videos
• Bibliography and References

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Film Details

Year: 1972
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Director: Ronald Neame
Producer: Irwin Allen
Writer: Stirling Silliphant and Wendell Mayes, from the novel by Paul Gallico
Main Cast: Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Carol Lynle, Roddy McDowall, Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters, Jack Albertson, Pamela Sue Martin, Arthur O’ Connell, Eric Shea, Leslie Nielsen
Genre: Disaster – Action – Drama

For synopsis and full cast and crew credits, visit the IMDb page

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Music Credits

Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams

Music Editor: Ken Hall
Scoring Mixer: Vinton Vernon
Orchestra Contractor: Meyer Rubin
Concertmaster: Israel Baker
Orchestrator: Alexander Courage
Recorded at 20th Century Fox Scoring Stage, Century City, California
Recording Dates: March 27, April 4, September 20, 21 and 22, 1972

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Essential Discography

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Selected Re-recordings

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Awards and Nominations

Academy Awards
Nomination: Best Original Dramatic Score

Golden Globes
Nomination: Best Original Score

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In Williams’ Words

“Irwin Allen is a wonderfully flamboyant character. He was wonderful with the mixing of the sound, or the dubbing, where all the sound effects, music and dialogue is put together, and he always insisted that everything be louder. Just simply ‘make it louder!’” ¹

JOHN CAPS: Strings are used to really recreate the motions of the sea in the music to The Poseidon Adventure in a very original way. There are modulations, though, particularly the one the clarinet introduces in the end title music, which mimics Ralph Vaughan Williams and his Antarctica score.

JOHN WILLIAMS: As far as any connection between my Poseidon and Vaughan Williams’ Antarctica is concerned, I would say two things. First, my admiration and affinity for the music of Vaughan Williams is great. Fortunately, disasters have a universal significance in that all human kind is subject to their effects and, therefore, the subject of a disaster is in that sense larger than melodrama. The Poseidon Adventure and Antarctica also share in common the vastness of the sea, tidal waves, continental ice cracks, etc. This connection that you make between the two Williams’ flatters me greatly.²

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Quotes and Commentary

John Williams was another veteran of the Irwin Allen production mill when he was hired by Allen to score The Poseidon Adventure, and he got the job during an important turning point in his career. Throughout the 1960s, Williams did some of his most dynamic and memorable work on Allen’s TV series, writing title music and episode scores for Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants. Scored to accompany stylized kinetic animated title sequences, Williams’ Irwin Allen TV themes were some of the most exciting combinations of music and imagery to come out of the sixties. Williams’ arrival at Fox in 1964 marked the start of a series of screwball comedies for which he became known during the era. These included John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!, How to Steal a Million and A Guide For the Married Man, all made at Fox in tandem with work on Allen’s series, as was his adaptation score for Valley of the Dolls, which earned him his first Academy Award nomination.
Williams’ last television work for Allen was in 1968 on Land of the Giants. By this time the composer was adding more prestigious assignments to his résume, heading for Europe for his Emmy-winning television score for Heidi and adaptation duties for Goodbye, Mr. Chips. In late 1969, Williams wrote the score for The Reivers, earning his first Oscar nomination for his own music. His Oscar-winning adaptation score for Fiddler on the Roof in 1972 catapulted him to the top of his field, but it was arguably his return to Fox for The Poseidon Adventure that established Williams’ reputation as not just a consummate film composer, but one who could bring added excitement and power to blockbuster movie entertainments.³
– Jeff Bond

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As The Poseidon Adventure went into postproduction, Lionel Newman and [Irwin] Allen discussed possible composers for the project with Fox production head Elmo Williams. In order of preference, they were: John Williams, Dominic Frontiere, Jerry Goldsmith, Laurence Rosenthal and Jerry Fielding (Fielding would later score the unsuccessful sequel, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure). Elmo Williams, in a memo, wrote of composer John Williams, “I am hoping you can make a deal with him. Certainly he’s proven his talents many, many times.” Allen was more than happy to sign Williams to the project. In a September 20, 1972, letter to Steve Broidy of Motion Picture International he wrote: “There are 59 pieces in the orchestra, the largest used here at Fox in many years. John Williams’ score is magnificent, and he is brilliant as a conductor. I think the music will be responsible for yet another great improvement in the overall finished product.”

From its portentous opening chord, Williams’ Main Title gives The Poseidon Adventure the feeling of an epic, even though the composer’s spotting and overall approach to the work is spare and atmospheric. Rustling, glissando-like flourishes create a steady, rhythmic tread—the musical equivalent of waves beating against the hull of the ocean liner—while an ascending yet lonely-sounding hom fanfare erupts out of Williams’ heavy, ominous orchestral chords. The composer develops the fanfare into a melody for horns and woodwinds that chugs along with footage of the Poseidon plowing through the waves: a theme for the vessel itself, for the harrowing adventure to come, and for the indomitable will of the passengers who will survive—a will as strong as the steel hull of the ocean liner.⁴
– Jeff Bond

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Videos

Opening Credits from The Poseidon Adventure (1972) | 20th Century Fox

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“Raising the Christmas Tree” sequence from The Poseidon Adventure (1972) | 20th Century Fox

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Brett Mitchell plays his original piano solo arrangement of “Rogo and Linda” from John Williams’ The Poseidon Adventure

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Bibliography and References

. Bond, Jeff – The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen, Titan Books, 2024
. Bond, Jeff – “Raise The Poseidon,” liner notes for The Poseidon Adventure – Original Motion Picture Score Limited Edition, La-La Land Records, 2010
. Bond, Jeff – “Turning Hollywood Upside Down, ” liner notes for The Poseidon Adventure – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Remastered Edition Edition, La-La Land Records, 2019
. Bond, Jeff / Eldridge, Jeff / Kendall, Lukas – Liner notes for The Poseidon Adventure/The Paper Chase/Conrack – Original Motion Picture Soundtracks CD, Film Score Monthly, Vol.1 No.2 , 2001
. Caps, John – “Keeping Touch With John Williams,” Soundtrack! Collector’s Quarterly Magazine, 1982

Legacy of John Williams Additional Resources

. Soundtrack Spotlight podcast with Mike Matessino on The Disaster Movie Soundtrack Collection

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Footnotes

1. Quote from Music By John Williams (2024), directed by Laurent Bouzereau ↩︎
2. Quote from Caps, Soundtrack! Collector’s Quarterly Magazine, 1982 ↩︎
3. Bond, The Poseidon Adventure – Limited Edition liner notes, La-La Land Records, 2010 ↩︎
4. Bond, The Poseidon Adventure – Remastered Edition liner notes, La-La Land Records, 2019 ↩︎

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