h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

George Lucas calls "Star Wars" a "space opera", which it is. I've always thought of "2001" as a serious movie about space (or something), but "Star Wars" (the original) as a Western. With great music by John Williams, using the leitmotif (sp?) of Wagner as a wonderful way of making the whole thing more fun. One shot is from the window of the ship looking out at the stars (real stars, not Harrison Ford, etc.), nobody around. But the music is unmistakable - we know who will appear in the space created on the screen. And Darth Vader does appear. I think Wagner (the musician, and probably the Anti-Semite, too) would love it.

There is a great story about Wagner and his father-in-law, Franz Liszt. They are sitting in a theater listening to a new production by Wagner. Wagner gets increasingly more nervous, finally Liszt asks, "Richard, what is the matter?" Wagner replies, "Papa, this next part might sound familiar." It was a straight steal, note-for-note. I think John Williams would love it.

That's a good story about Wagner and Liszt!
An awful lot of Hollywood film music seems to be inspired by Wagner. I think The Prophet is planning a University project on film composers, and will be dealing with John Williams. so there's another entry to look forward to.
Azara

As a wannabe digital animation maker, I have a big interest in movie music. I attended a lecture on the topic, the music prof gave an excellent overview of the field. He recommended a very good book on the subject, "The Art of Film Music" by George Burt, and I agree its worth a read. I also agree Wagner started the use of music to enhance dramatic productions, but a lot of composers continue that tradition. Bernard Hermann composed much of the music for Alfred Hitchcock's films, most memorably the shower scene for "Psycho" which Hitchcock at first said needed no music. Apparently they had a falling out before "The Birds" which has not one note of music. Other interesting examples are "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" and "On The Beach".