SA few years ago I interviewed British director Edgar Wright about his favorite soundtrack albums. I mentioned that in the time before the videos, I had owned and memorized the spoken word and song soundtrack for it Magic roundabout Feature film Dougal and the blue cat. Wright reminded me that there was a connection in the '80s Storybook Album for Steven Spielberg ET: That Extraterrestrialwith Michael Jackson narrating the film and bursting into tears as ET appears to die. The recording also featured John Williams' score, which, as Wright noted, “told the story better than any narrator ever could.”

Now streaming on Disney+ is a new documentary, Music by John Williamsin which French-American filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau (creator of countless behind-the-scenes film documentaries) interviews the American composer who shaped the face of modern orchestral film music. Williams' memories, from his beginnings as a studious pianist (he has a background in jazz) to his blockbuster collaborations with filmmakers like Spielberg and George Lucas, are as clear and concise as his catchy theme tunes Superman (1978), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and star Wars (1977) – The latter spawned a double-LP soundtrack that became the best-selling symphonic album of all time.

Williams is undoubtedly the greatest “Whistle Test” composer of his time – a purveyor of instantly memorable tunes that both capture and breathe life into the films they accompany. In Bouzereau's documentary we see archive footage of the late Christopher Reeve (also the subject of a new feature film: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeves Story) and stated: “I am deeply indebted to John Williams. Without his music, Superman's powers would be greatly diminished.” Reeve adds that Williams' score actually allowed him to fly. Elsewhere, Spielberg confirms the oft-told story that Williams played him the two-note theme Jaw (1975) at the piano “at first I thought he was joking” – only to realize that “his musical shark worked much better than my mechanical shark!” And we hear violinist Itzhak Perlman sheepishly admit to telling Williams he would “think about” playing his 1993 Schindler's List Score whose Oscar-winning melodies moved Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw to tears after just ten notes.

Williams was born in New York in 1932 and received a classical education at the Juilliard School there. He played in Hollywood studio orchestras for many years – he can be heard there on so many different hits West Side Story And To kill a mockingbird – before turning to orchestration and composition. In his early film scores he was referred to as “Johnny Williams” and only became John when a colleague told him he needed a name people would take seriously. And how they did it; To date, Williams has five Oscar wins and a whopping 54 wins Nominations, most recently for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) at the age of 91, making him the oldest nominee in a competitive category in the awards' history.

The range of Williams' film scores is extraordinary, starting with the old-school touch of The Reivers (1969) to the experimental nervousness of his work with the Japanese percussionist and keyboardist Stomu Yamash'ta on Robert Altman's Psychodrama from 1972 Pictures (which Spielberg used as an early temporary soundtrack Jaw), to the jazzy sounds of Catch me if you can (2002). He also made disaster films – The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The massive inferno (1974), earthquake (1974); Hitchcock's last feature film, Family plot (1976); Oliver Stone is coming to prime time Born on July 4th (1989) and JFK (1991); and the first three Harry Potter Films (2001-4).

Even more remarkable is the influence that Williams continues to exert on a wide range of fellow composers. When MM Keeravani won for Best Original Score at the LA Film Critics Association Awards last year RRRThe Indian composer remarked, “I learned a lesson when I happened to see the film Jaw. Whenever the shark approached, there were signs of danger. I was expecting a complicated and intricate melody with rich orchestration, but I was shocked because it was very humble and simple.”

Meanwhile Scottish composer Anna Meredith, who provided the brilliant electronic score for Bo Burnhams Eighth gradespoke to me about a book I'm writing about film music (coming out next year) and said, “I remember seeing it Jaw when I was quite young. I saw it with a friend who said, “You will.” knowledge The shark is coming for this Music!' I remember clinging to it and hiding under my seat whenever the music started. In a way, it lifted the veil from my childhood. I remember realizing right then and there that not everything is designed to make you feel good or safe.”

Fifty years after Spielberg thought he was joking about those two notes, John Williams' most famous film theme continues to resonate in modern films.

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