MOTIF PROGENY: John William’s "The Conspirators" from JFK (1991)…

As popular as all of John Williams’ beloved Spielberg and Lucas collaborations are, my favorite were his three team-ups with Oliver Stone. In fact JFK is probably my favorite John Williams score.

The track "The Conspirators" encompasses my reasoning. It creates such an incredibly tense paranoid momentum – unraveling the intricate web of shadow power players and their insidious plots to ghostwrite the fate of history – with its crescendoing staccato piano and stirring strings atop a relentlessly percussive wooden blocks ticking metronome time signature.

The piece was of course so effective in its foreboding affect that it immediately got rehashed and appropriated as a temporary soundtrack for seemingly every work-print edit of any thriller with a similar need to reverberate looming machinations or sinister intents. And obviously many a composer were asked to therefore mimic its attributes as closely as they could get away with.

Undoubtedly William’s cue also did not occur in a vacuum, and surely this motif has a parentage as well. I can imagine its signature ticking clock sound may take inspiration from some great political thrillers of the 60’s and 70’s from composers like Lalo Schifrin, John Barry, Jerry Goldsmith, Jerry Fielding, Ennio Morricone, David Shire, Bernard Herrmann, Henry Mancini – or even Williams himself. Perhaps some elusive classical work influenced its style? Although I am hard pressed to cite any prior piece of music with quite that same type of suspenseful ticking signature before JFK.

So anyway, starting with JW’s track that began the trend, these are the subsequent score track examples I know of that definitely took their form from William’s great JFK cue. The progeny of "The Conspirators":

01. JFK (1991) — "The Conspirators"
John Williams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA09kg7Euhc

02. UNDER SIEGE (1992) — "The Takeover"
Gary Chang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWuFSkTKYIc

03. SNEAKERS (1992) — "The Hand-Off"
James Horner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W84W31fl8mQ

04. THE FIRM (1993) — "Mud Island Chase"
Dave Grusin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NmAjT7Pb4s

05. JURASSIC PARK (1993) — "Dennis Steals The Embyro"
John Williams (*self plagarism?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_lr8MbTXY

06. THE PELICAN BRIEF (1993) — "Planting The Bomb"
James Horner (*the "Main Title" amongst a few other cues are also examples, but this is the closest in tone)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLjqYzUITuE

07. UNDER SIEGE 2: DARK TERRITORY (1995) — "Original Trailer Music" (marketing promos)
John Beal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dfdWVXmxs0

08. SUDDEN DEATH (1995) — "The Countdown"
John Debney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQIlkEQUAXY

09. THE USUAL SUSPECTS (1995) — "New York’s Finest"
John Ottman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeZjTcGYkRQ

10. HEAT (1995) — "Force Marker"
Brian Eno (*similar waves of profound crashing ostinato but not exactly substantially derivative, so this one is debatable)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-65o6Lod2o

11. VOLCANO (1997) — "Miracle Mile"
Alan Silvestri
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDpMCva_li0

12. SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL (1997) — "Engine Room"
Mark Mancina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG1QMx8OFzU

13. SNAKE EYES (1998) — "The Hunt"
Ryuichi Sakamoto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqSdODUVFcM&t=2m0s

PLAYLIST OF ALL THIRTEEN CUES:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8hvWgwXTVHPaqFeYB1pq700nZ6CkF46f

I think these tracks are all rather enjoyable to listen to unto themselves. And far from feeling resent toward all the copycatting, I actually find it kinda charmingly humorous, and a particular joy, to compare the similarities and differences between all the homogeneous homage. )

What do you think? What did I Miss? If anyone knows of other examples or a forebearer to John Williams’ influential JFK cue, please edify.

09. SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL (1997) — "Engine Room"
Mark Mancina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qG1QMx8OFzU

09. HEAT (1995) — "Force Marker"
Brian Eno (*similar waves of profound crashing ostinato but not exactly substantially derivative, so this one is debatable)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-65o6Lod2o

07. UNDER SIEGE 2: DARK TERRITORY (1995) — "Original Trailer Music" (marketing promos)
John Beal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dfdWVXmxs0