Music By John Williams (2024)

By: Mike Ward on Wednesday, November 13

PG Running Time: 105 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

A wonderful tribute to the iconic composer, who has forever changed how we listen to the movies.
More tribute than deeply personal documentary, Music by John Williams is nonetheless a fun and entertaining look behind the scenes at how some of the most legendary movie and television scores were created.
Easy to watch, with a varied and diverse presentation of entertainers who all talk about Williams’ influence.

NO

For those who like their documentaries a little more hard-hitting, look elsewhere.
If learning how Williams’ evolution from a television theme and jingle writer to an artist who composed Star Wars and Indiana Jones is not of any interest, then… I mean… there’s always something else to watch I suppose.
You avoid movies that currently sit at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (as of November 8, 2024).

OUR REVIEW

I smiled ear-to-ear watching Music by John Williams, a Disney+ documentary that got a quick theatrical run during the fall of 2024. The movie showcases how composer John Williams has forever changed the way we listen to music. Learning about Williams’ approach and dedication to his craft, discovering his decades of work in television, advertising, and motion picture composing, and seeing the respect and admiration he has among his peers, only validates the notion that he may be the greatest mainstream movie composer of our lifetime.

As delightful a film as it is nostalgic, Williams, 92 years young, proves eager to share his life’s experiences with director Laurent Bouzereau. There is an earnestness here and respect that may veer towards hagiography at times. Yet Bouzereau trusts his source and the movie whisks us away into memories of where we first heard his iconic compositions for films like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial, and the Indiana Jones and Harry Potter franchises.

Throughout, Williams is praised by the likes of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, J.J. Abrams, Seth MacFarlane, and even Chris Martin of British rock band Coldplay. Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan tells a great story of connecting with Williams at the 2023 Academy Awards ceremony and being reminded by Spielberg that he has his own theme, composed by Williams, for his work as a youth actor on 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Early on, credited as Johnny Williams, he composed scores for a number of films in the late 1950s and early 1960s, seeing his star rise when he became in demand following work on the television series, “Lost in Space.” This led to higher profile work on films directed by Frank Sinatra, William Wyler, and Arthur Hiller, to name just a few. Of his 54 Academy Award nominations (second only to Walt Disney), Williams landed his first nomination for a score he wrote for the 1967 film, Valley of the Dolls. Five years later, he would win the first of his five Oscars, for 1972’s Fiddler on the Roof.

When you add 26 Grammy Awards and three Emmys to his haul, Williams is the most acclaimed composer in modern history. And while Music by John Williams keeps things very surface-level and doesn’t dig too deep into the personal elements of his life, we do get a glimpse at the sacrifice that comes with working non-stop for more than seven decades at your life’s passion. A father of three, Williams lost his first wife unexpectedly in 1974, forcing him to pause his career for a brief time to raise his then-teenage children as a single father. He would later remarry in 1980, after scores for the films Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind not only saw him hitting the Billboard albums and singles charts, but also made him a household name.

Bouzereau reminds us through clips and audio snippets how widespread Williams’ influence has been. He is as much a part of pop culture today as he was decades ago, with advertising jingles and television themes for the “NBC Nightly News” and “NFL Sunday Night Football” playing constantly in homes all across the nation.

Seeing E.T. fly in the shadow of the moon. Hearing that stab of symphonic power that introduces us to Star Wars. The inspiration and wonder found within the theme to Indiana Jones and the curiosity present in the Close Encounters soundtrack. There’s no proper place to start and finish with John Williams’ legacy. Every composition you tap into is an entry point that leads you to something wonderful. Music by John Williams is a fitting, loving tribute to a man who definitely changed popular and contemporary music forever.

CAST & CREW

Starring: John Williams, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Chris Martin, Seth MacFarlane, Chris Columbus, Thomas Newman, James Mangold, Ron Howard, J.J. Abrams, Ke Huy Quan, Kathleen Kennedy, Kate Capshaw, Itzhak Perlman

Director: Laurent Bouzereau
Release Date: November 1, 2024
Walt Disney Studios | Disney+

A wonderful tribute to the iconic composer, who has forever changed how we listen to the movies.

More tribute than deeply personal documentary, Music by John Williams is nonetheless a fun and entertaining look behind the scenes at how some of the most legendary movie and television scores were created.

Easy to watch, with a varied and diverse presentation of entertainers who all talk about Williams’ influence.

For those who like their documentaries a little more hard-hitting, look elsewhere.

If learning how Williams’ evolution from a television theme and jingle writer to an artist who composed Star Wars and Indiana Jones is not of any interest, then… I mean… there’s always something else to watch I suppose.

You avoid movies that currently sit at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (as of November 8, 2024).