I came across something by chance not long ago that implied that the opening notes of the Star Wars main title them are similar to the opening notes of Born Free. I had never heard of this before.
It's a youtube video of Roger Williams on stage performing Born Free and he says that when you play Born Free "upside down" it's Star Wars. I don't know what playing a song "upside down" means.
Has anyone else heard of this? Is this a controversy or just a meh?
When the Black Hole producers asked Barry to write a Star Wars type piece he complied by treating the request as an intellectual exercise and wrote a retrograde version of Star Wars.
But we're talking coincidence rather than plagiarism here. It's more a fun surprise than some big revelation that we've discovered. I was surprised by those who said they couldn't hear the same thing as me, but in answer to your question: it's "just a meh". But I do hear yours too, and the Goldfinger/Moon River thing also. And I'd never heard either before reading your post.
When the Black Hole producers asked Barry to write a Star Wars type piece he complied by treating the request as an intellectual exercise and wrote a retrograde version of Star Wars.
The Black Hole overture reminds me of Tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony (the heroic tune that appears a couple of times in the final movement)