A link between Korngold and Williams that is much less talked about — I’ve never seen it mentioned in a YT-video or here on V.I. anyway, despite the countless efforts of various idiots all over the globe who are trying desperately to prove what a shameless hack Williams is — but one that may also be just a bit less innocent than the “Kings Row” inspiration, is Williams’ cue “Hook-napped” (from “Hook”) the first half of which bears much more than a superficial resemblance to Korngold’s “Escape From The Galleys” from the brilliant “Sea Hawk” score. It is, in fact, essentialy … the same music.
E.W. Korngold: https://users.telenet.be/re-peat/Korngold_SeaHawk_EscapeFromTheGalleys.mp3 (<b><span style="color: rgb(209, 213, 216)"><u>“Escape From The Galleys”</u></span></b>) (from “The Sea Hawk”, 1940)
J. Williams: https://users.telenet.be/re-peat/Williams_Hook_Hook-napped.mp3 (<b><span style="color: rgb(209, 213, 216)"><u>“Hook-napped”</u></span></b>) (first half) (from “Hook”, 1995)
The reason I’ve always considered the “Kings Row” connection totally ‘innocent’ (and any suggestion of plagiarism on Williams’ part incredibly stupid and ignorant) is because, in that case, Korngold’s music is little more than a seed from which Williams grew his own majestic tree. He starts off with the same 5 notes as Korngold does, sure, but the real exhilarating and unique magic of the “Star Wars” theme, and which is all 100% pure Williams, occurs after those 5 notes.
‘Innocent’ also because the Korngold template was obviously suggested to Williams, as Lucas again confirms in the above video, and the composer was still at a stage in his career when any such suggestion probably carried much weight.
By the time he wrote “Hook” however, he had developed into an unprecedented successful film composer, an icon, a monument of the profession and a near infallible master of film music — certainly no longer the green-ish composer you can send home with a set of very specific instructions regarding the sort of music you want for your film —, and I’m not sure if even Spielberg, at that point, would still dare to instruct Williams what he should write and how he should write it, let alone give him specific cues from older film music (in this case “Sea Hawk”) that were to be used as a template for new Williams music.
So it’s unclear why (the first half of) “Hook-napped” ended up being the straight Korngold-copy which it is. The more so because the biggest influence on much of the “Hook” music (particularly the Tinkerbell cues) — I’m talking about Debussy’s “Jeux” — is perfectly assimilated, transformed and completely re-invented into vintage and superb Williams-isms. (Some of Williams’ greatest ideas ever can be found in that score, in my opinion.)
Maybe it is a nod, after all. Another affectionate salute from the great Williams to the great Korngold. It could very well be, couldn’t it? (Also because “Sea Hawk” is a pirate movie, and so is much of “Hook”.)
Talking about Williams affectionately saluting esteemed colleagues and predecessors: there’s the boisterous Tchaikovsky pastiche in “Home Alone” (“Holiday Flight”), the wonderful Berlioz-references in “The Last Crusade” (“Scherzo For Motorcycle & Orchestra”) and the many Prokofiev-inspired stylings in his midseason music (especially in the orchestral marches he used to write, like “March Of The Villains” from “Superman" and “The Ewok Parade” from “Return Of The Jedi”).
_