Search - John Williams :: The Towering Inferno and Other Disaster Classics

When James Cameron's Titanic became the biggest film in this corner of the galaxy, cynical Hollywood observers couldn't help but wonder if it heralded the beginning of yet another cycle of disaster films like the classic one in the '70s. Then, producer Irwin Allen, among others, had gathered increasingly populous all-star casts and attempted to drown them (The Poseidon Adventure), burn them (The Towering Inferno), or, most novelly, sting them to death (The Swarm). Sometimes the only thing that kept these ego- and effects-laden films moving was the music. Not surprisingly, John Williams was the master; his music for Towering Inferno (especially its lengthy title sequence featured on this disc) was as taught and dramatic as the film's stars' performances--and hairpieces--were ill-fitting and two-dimensional. Williams's rousing main titles for Poseidon and Earthquake are well-served here, as is Jerry Goldsmith's theme for The Swarm. Proving that the cycle never really died--and that Hollywood's inventiveness in killing its stars knows no bounds--are selections from Twister, Dante's Peak, Outbreak, Volcano, and Independence Day. If you don't have enough tension--or sweeping, overwrought Wagnerian musical grandeur--in your life, this is the collection for you. Minus point: the space allotted here to the already overexposed Titanic score could have been better devoted to a different kind of disaster--say, Howard the Duck or Hudson Hawk. --Jerry McCulley