Being a fan of irreverent comedies AND a fan of the period in which this movie was set, I have to state this was one of my all time favorite Films!! The music is no different. The upbeat mixed with the underlying villainous tones sets the pace for the soundtrack. The first time you hear the Wild Bill Kelso theme, your mind automatically conjures up the image of a P-40 Tomahawk landing in the middle of nowhere to stop for gas. I highly reccommend this music to ANYONE who loves movies.
CD Reviews
A Classic by the King of Movie Scores
abreur@earthlink.net | Los Angeles CA | 02/14/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"A must for fans of John Williams.Reminiscent at times of Indiana Jones, Close Encounters, Superman, and Star Wars, yet still shining with its own worth. Fun, energetic, memorable and entirely charming.Oddly, the pure orchestral experience is marred by a "comic" recorded cannon blast used as percussion and one very distracting yet brief John Bellushi voice-over.If you only want the orchestral version of the 1941 march, look for it on the John Williams/Boston Pops collections. If you love the sound of John Williams' late-seventies/early-eighties scores, buy 1941!"
Wild Music
Luis M. Ramos | Caracas, Venezuela | 01/28/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The march from "1941" is propulsive and exciting, and shows us that we are listening to the music for a comedy. John Williams goes beyond this movie, presenting us with wild tunes that keeps us marvelled and entertained. The CD presents us with incredible marches that only Williams knows how to write. And let's not forget 'Swing, Swing, Swing', a track that definetely presents us with a great dancing rhythm entangled with comedy. This is a great CD, in spite of its thirty eight minutes."
Williams' Answer to the 1812 Overture
Media Mike | Georgia, U.S. | 01/19/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"My knowledge of John Williams' film scores is far from complete, but I would bet that if you wanted to find the score in which the maestro's tongue was planted the most firmly in cheek, it would probably be this one.
Bombast. Volume. Cannons. The main theme dominates the soundtrack, and Williams turns the volume up to 11 in an effort to keep up with the artillery-fire, explosions and fighter planes from the Spielberg film. It's raucous, and intentionally so. Whether you enjoy it depends on how seriously you want your soundtracks to take themselves.
My opinion: it works, but actually the theme makes the best impact on the Williams Greatest Hits CD. There it provides a nice counterpoint to the more serious side of Williams in "Stepmom", "Saving Private Ryan", and yes, "Jurassic Park".
The rest of the 1941 soundtrack is not quite as memorable, but it contains (1) some nice period elements, and (2) some very Williams-esque romantic moments (check out "To Hollywood and Glory"). Oh, it also contains carnival-style music.
This score came at one of Williams' peak years, so even if the inspiration does not quite meet a "Superman", "Star Wars", or "Raiders of the Lost Ark", the execution is marvellous. Listen to a track like "The Invasion" and you will hear elements that would be at home in one of these movies."
This was a great John Williams soundtrack....
The JuRK | Our Vast, Cultural Desert | 01/11/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"...but the movie was a bomb.
The real shame of "1941" was how badly it wasted the music, the actors and the production values. One year after the smash success of NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE, this couldn't-miss monstrosity lurched into theatres for Christmas of 1979 and laid a massive holiday egg. I was in high school and nobody looked more forward to this movie than I did.
The script was all over the place and nothing seemed to come together. The laughs were few and far between. The direction was...wasn't...there. Nobody could figure out how Steven Spielberg could make instant classics like JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND and then turn this out. (He definitely redeemed himself with his next film: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK). Watching "1941", I kept wondering, "Where was John Landis?" Get him and his KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE team in there.
But John Williams provided a great soundtrack to a lame comedy. It invoked the spirit of the World War II Hollywood movie marches and would've been the perfect music accent or undercut the comic mayhem...if there had been any."