Master of Melodies: John Williams’ Top 10 Movie Scores
John Williams, the man with more Academy Award nominations than any other living human being, and the winner of 21 Grammy’s, 7 BAFTA’s, 4 Golden Globes and 5 Academy Awards. He is the undisputed master of melodies. John Williams has been scoring films since 1958 and, including television shows, has so far 137 titles to his name. Doing a top 10 of this man’s masterful work is not for the faint hearted.
I’m sure many of your favorites will not make it onto this list, but this is a list of the scores that I believe added best to the film it was set to. Just because a score is an icon doesn’t mean it’ll be able to bully it’s way past a delicate treasure.
10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
The theme of a generation, Hedwig’s theme from the Harry Potter films is Williams showing the world what magic sounds like. The finest of the Potter films is almost certainly not the Philosopher’s Stone, though it is arguably the most child friendly. The iconic score for this film captures the magic and wonderment of the books and film perfectly, securing its place in this top 10 as well as above the other two Potter films that Williams contributed to.
9. Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace
Okay, yes I know… the one film, that more than any other, let down the Star Wars franchise. But the score… my God the score! The pieces that Williams carried through from the original saga were as beautiful as ever but the new music became instant classics. ‘Duel of the fates’, ‘The droid invasion’ and ‘Qui-Gon’s Noble End’ are standout tracks from the album, though the entire film is wonderfully scored… it’s just a shame the music is the highlight of the movie.
8. Superman
There are many scores of Williams’ that I listen to and I find myself thinking, “If he’d retired then he’d still be as legendary as he is today,” and yet he continues to flabbergast and amaze. Williams’ Superman melody is instantly memorable and hugely engaging. It is a testament to the legendary composer that this score isn’t higher up, if anyone else had written this score it’d probably be my number 1 in their top 10, bust as it’s Williams, it stays at number 8.
7. Jurassic Park
Super intelligent dinosaurs, dodgy health and safety measures as well as Jeff Goldblum in his prime… that’s right, it’s one of the best blockbusters ever made. It is impossible to imagine this film without its score. I mean go on, try it… think of that scene, the one with the helicopter flying towards the island OR the one where they first see the dinosaur eating from the trees. Are you hearing that music? I bet you are! Parodied, and with reason, this grand score is full of gesture, pomp and power.
6. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Only at number six! The man’s gone mad! Well, yes maybe but as wonderful and memorable as the score for Raiders of the Lost Ark is, my top 5 was impenetrable. Needless to say, this is pretty much what you would call adventure from a musical standpoint. It’s very easy to think of this score and only remember the main theme. If this is the case for you, I implore you to go back, re-watch the movie, and keep your ears open. From start to finish it is a master class in scoring for film and extremely enjoyable. Oh and all of the other Indiana Jones films are just as good. Well, maybe not all of them… but let’s pretend the fourth installment doesn’t exist ok?
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50 Comments
Ennio Morricone is better than John Williams!
Better at what? I think that Williams is a more superior melodist, Morricone is also immensely prolific and always works at a very high standard – I think it’s impossible to say one is ‘better’ than the other though, simply because they are very different types of composer… Bernard Herrmann is possibly held in higher regard than both Williams and Morricone but I don’t think that I could say, once and for all, that any of them is actually, all round, ‘better’ than another… Thanks for reading
What about Danny Elfman? He is better than all those oth…I’m sorry, I can’t even type that with a straight face.
Nice list, with an obvious one two punch.
Hahaha… for a moment then I thought you were serious, and you would have got a whole paragraph of hell lol
And yeah, I tried not to have those two and number 1 and 2 but then I thought, “why the hell am I trying not to… there’s a reason why they are SO huge… they’re SO good”.
Thanks for reading!
Great list Ben, although I’d have had Raiders above Schindler’s… just a personal thing, you understand, but still, and excellent list will great reasoning behind it.
Glad you liked it
– I had real trouble getting it into order, I imagine on some days I’d put Raiders above Schindler’s… depending on how up for an adventure I was lol
If we are talking about themes here, then Jurassic Park has to be in the top 5!!! It is his most beautiful bar none!
I’m pretty sure I would watch a movie of paint drying if it was scored by John Williams. That man has made me cry/get overly nostalgic/squee more times then any other composer I can think of.
And what a movie it would be!
I think John Williams is probably the best composer in Hollywood ever! I mean he’s done so many memorable themes in so many big pictures that no one has top him yet.
Great list!
Thanks! And yeah, I agree, I think that “memorable themes” sums up Williams pretty much perfectly
I agree that Williams is brilliant. A genius. Though not my favourite. My favourite is the Polish composer Zbigniew Priesner, but since few have heard of him I’ll stick with my favourite mainstream composer Bernard Herrman.
But Williams is definitely up there.
Zbigniew Priesner is a very interesting composer, I’m glad someone else has heard of him! Herrmann is an undisputed legend and genius… The only thing that, in my mind, puts Williams above him, has got NOTHING to do with music, which I know is bad, it’s just that Herrmann was such a… to put it in one word… dick… and Williams is so humble… yeah, yeah I know it’s a terrible reason and don’t get me wrong, I have infinite respect for Herrmann and love for his music.
Thanks for reading!
Totally some of the greatest scores ever made and I’m truly agree that John Williams is the master of melodies.
I don’t know anyone that I can hum more of their melodies…
It’s easy to gauge Williams’ effect on pop culture. Hum a few bars of a Zimmer score, and then hum a bar of Superman, Raiders or Jurassic Park. Watch people’s eyes light up when they hear a Williams tune.
Totally agree, I’m not at all against the modern school of composers and those leading it (like Zimmer)… but give me Williams any day.
Absolute legend! John Williams is my all time favourite movie theme compose, bar none! He is so consistently good. The Harry Potter theme is one of my favourites, and Jurassic Park and Schindler’s list… they’re all so good. I can’t pick a favourite. Good list.
If I were going to break free of the UK and make my house its own country I’d get John Williams to write my national anthem…
I saw this article pop up on my Google Reader, and I immediately primed myself to fight with you with regards to your inevitable omission of “Hook,” which I’ve long-considered to be one of Williams’ finest works. It absolutely elevates an inferior movie (though I admit I like it more than most), but at the same time it is a work that can be listened to entirely on its own. So imagine how delighted I was not only by its inclusion, but by its ranking as #3 on your list. Kudos, Ben!
And of course, since I can never read a ranked list without offering at least a little bit of my self-righteous quibbling, I will say that – though the themes Williams innovated in the first Harry Potter film are undoubtedly iconic – those same themes are far-better employed in the composition for the third Potter flick. The chief melodies are integrated with more nuance, and the new themes that Williams wrote are nothing short of stunning. In particular, I always lamented that “A Window to the Past” was never again used in the following five Potter films…
Otherwise, I have no real complaints about your ranked list.
I couldn’t miss off Hook, I think people don’t mention it because they don’t know it… it’s a work of art.
As for the Harry Potter, you do raise a good point, the only reason that I opted for the first over the third was because of Williams’ involvement in writing them. He admits himself that he had far less to do with number three than he’d have hoped to because he was focusing his efforts on Catch Me If You Can… and because of this I thought it safer to go for one and use the excuse of ‘this is where the themes were innovated’… it’s sort of the same excuse I use for having Raders, and not the other three (yes, three) Indiana Jones films… the other ones are just as good, really.
Thanks for reading and for your post!
I believe you are incorrect. Prisoner of Azkaban came out in 2004. Catch Me If you Can came out in 2002. Its the SECOND Potter movie, Chamber of Secrets, in which Williams hired another composer to help complete the score.
In light of that, I think you need to rethink your ranking. Prisoner of Azkaban, which is wholly Williams’ work, is miles away better than the score in the first Potter movie.
You are right, as you have stated in your later comment. It was a simple mix up of dates and names. But thank you for bringing it up, it’ll all be mended soon. I am going to leave Philosophers Stone as my number 10 simply due to the innovation of this score, this is the same reasoning really for Raiders and A New Hope beating their brethren scores.
After I re-watched JFK last week, I had the score in my head for days. After the movie, I thought “I wonder who did the score? This is fantastic”. Sure enough, it was John Williams.
If I had a billion dollars, I would hire John Williams and an orchestra to wait in my living room and play the music for my doorbell whenever someone pushed the button.
For me the list is nearly perfect, but I would swap out Catch Me If You Can for A.I. and then have it switch places with Raiders. It’s easy to forget how many iconic scores Williams has done, so thanks for reminding me.
HEYYYY What about the E.T. soundtrack. You know? the one he got an Oscar for?
“the one” lol:
Won:
Fiddler on the Roof
Jaws
Star Wars
ET
Schindlers List
Nominated for 35+ (!!) more
And you know he deserved more wins but voters just got tired of him
yeah, it amazes me that he only won them for these films…
He wasn’t even Nominated for Jurassic Park. And I have to make this point. With the exception of Star Wars and a few others, JW’s scores get kinda boring after awhile. It’s his THEMES to the movies that are so memorable. If the gave the Oscar for best Original Theme of a Score, He would have 10 oscars at least.
Yeah, I know that many people wont like that I missed off E.T. … I just feel that it’s not as great a score as any on my list, though it is still great. And also the fact that anyone gets an Oscar for anything doesn’t mean it’s actually good… the fact that Williams only has 5 shows what a joke they really are
I’ve found another mistake of yours: The Imperial March does NOT appear in Star Wars Ep. IV: A New Hope.
The Imperial March was created for “The Empire Strikes Back”.
So you should probably change the video choice for #1 to the Main Theme from Star Wars, or you should change #1 to Star Wars Ep. V: The Empire Strikes Back.
This website has just been linked from Slashfilm and its going to get you a lot of attention. Best to fix your mistakes (this one and the one about Williams getting help for his score for the 3rd Potter movie- that’s false, he did that for the second one) before misleading others.
I am aware of the Star Wars mistake, unfortunatly this wasn’t the video that I inserted into the article… I will e-mail the editor straight away, and thank you. Also, I was sure that I read in a very reliable source that Williams brought in more help for three and not 2 but you sound like you know your stuff so I will look into it. Many thanks.
Ah cool. And kudos! I meant to add this was a good list too (though I’d have had E.T. and A.I. on there, personally).
Also in regards to Potter, you can look up the Chamber of Secrets soundtrack on Wikipedia. It has a little bit about Williams having a conflict with Catch Me If You Can.
Yeah, I’m sure you can appreciate that it’s very tough making a Williams top 10. Thanks for your informative comments, as I say, it was a mix up of dates and names but thank you for bringing it up.
And thanks for reading the article!
Yes, its hard to rank when all are great.
You do know that the Imperial March was not feature in Star Wars Episode IV, right? That came about in Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back. Imperial Attack was used in Star Wars: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa8U5OEzSyY
Here’s the track listing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_IV:_A_New_Hope_(soundtrack)
Hey, thanks. This has been raised and I am aware, I didn’t input the videos into the article but I’ll contact the editor with haste. Thank you again.
This is a great list. I was able to sing seven of them without even hitting play, but because it is Williams I went ahead and listened to them all again anyway!
Just saw Catch Me If You Can a few months ago and didn’t pay enough attention to the music (could have been my tv’s sound system though), but I listened to it here and I definitely agree that it fits the movie perfectly.
Thanks again for the trip down memory lane!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! And yeah, Catch Me If You Can has a wonderful score. I did a case study on it as part of my degree and just fell in love with it, perfect score!
Whoa whoa whoa… Hedwig’s Theme at #10? Especially with some of those other, less-iconic film scores ahead of it? No way…
It’s not all about being an icon…
But it sure helps!
Han and Leia’s love theme is not in a New Hope. That is in Empire. The song in A New Hope is Leia’s theme.
I probably would put Empire Strikes Back on top followed by
A New Hope
Raiders
Close Encounters
Jaws
Superman
E T
Jedi (love the music playing when Luke and Vader are fighting – the epic eerie men’s chorus–definitely the climactic music moment of all of the saga)
After that I love anything the man does. Though I did not think he composed the score for Fiddler — if he did then that would probably be up there after Raiders.
Thanks for the heads up, I did mean Leia’s Theme.
With regards to Fiddler, I’m sure it’s that the musical existed in its own right… Williams did the screen adaptation + music.
Thanks for reading
Oh wow, I didn’t know Williams had received some many awards!
Great list, Ben. I had a quick listen of every track and I think that the Star Wars theme is my favourite. They’re all very iconic – especially Jaws – but Star Wars just clinches it for me. I love the way that it starts so suddenly. It uses such a fantastic range of instruments, too
Williams is a fantastic orchestrator, and he shows it in nearly all of his work. Personally I think that Williams deserved to win more awards, and not just be nominated. He has been nominated for an Oscar 41 times (winning 5), he was first nominated for an Oscar in 1967, and between then and 2005, there were only 9 years in which he wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award and he’s been nominated for more than one Oscar in a single year 13 times… and fully deserve all of that. Star Wars is a true icon, but so are many of his scores.
Thanks for reading
Great List! Loved it from start to finish and every score is fantastic. I have but one critique.
I know absolutely none of these deserve to be taken off the list but E.T. needs to find a spot. The Flying Theme may be the most magical score in movie history. While all of Williams’ scores are soaring, this one actually puts the listener in flight. Just watch the last ten minutes of the film (from the bike chase on) and the absolute power of the music should win over just about any williams fan.
Thanks again for the great list. John Williams is the Man!
Yeah, the E.T. score is wonderful… and I think the only reason it isn’t in my top 10 is because of personal preference… I can’t give you a real reason, but for the fact that I prefer everything up there a little bit more…
thanks for reading
Eeek, this list hurts me. Harry Potter? Oh man, that might be the low point of his career. So abrasive and overbearing. No Empire Strikes Back? The Phantom Menace instead of Revenge of the Sith? Catch Me if You Can and Hook over the likes of Raiders and Jurassic Park? No ET or Close Encounters? And Cowboys is also one of his best work, often unfairly overlooked.
As a big Williams fan, I take umbrage with this list. There are some good titles on here but a lot of Williams best is missing.
We can’t all agree on a someone who has a huge body of work that is of such a high level. As a big Williams fan, composer and music supervisor, I brought many factors into play when choosing my list… but at the end of the day it was just the ones that I liked most and enjoyed in the films most… it’s all subjective.
Thanks for reading
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