Music by John Williams

What can one say about a music composer who has provided music for iconic movies like Jaws, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter movies, ET, Raiders movies, Home Alone, Schindler's list, Saving Private Ryan and many many more.

This documentary is for the hard core movie buff who understands and appreciates the role of backgound music in motion pictures. It chronicles the life and work of music Maestro John Williams who has provided music for many movies of different genres over the last 70 years or so. Now in his 90s with a large number of nominations/ awards to his credit, his work remains unparalleled. Whether it is the neoromanticism or the leitmotif or the 2 note ostinato in his music he had the power to reach the hearts of the average audience making the film director's job easier in the process. We get a good exposure of his work and thoughts through interviews. Director Steven Spielberg who has collaborated with him in around two dozen movies gives insights into various occasions of their work together.

Someone has rightly mentioned that the background score of a movie represents half the movie. The BGM truly supplements the acting on the screen and brings out emotions to amuse, enthrall, excite or move the audience. A movie without BGM is bound to fall flat. Can we transmit the ominous danger of " Jaws" or the pathos of " Saving Private Ryan " or the emotions of "ET" without the mesmerizing musical score of legendary music composer John Williams. In an awards function actor Christopher Reeve famously said that he couldn't have flown as Superman if John Williams had not provided music. John is reported to have said that "music is enough for a lifetime but one lifetime is not enough for music". He also said that music to him is as essential as breathing.

What a great documentary! You don't have to be a huge lover of music to enjoy this film. I do love movies, so this was of instant interest to me, and I'm so glad I was able to see this. It covers Williams' life and his vast career. Something that struck me was that I knew John Williams' music before I even knew John Williams! That's how immense his reach is, how broad his range across films of multiple genres. There were interviews by several well-known people including Stephen Spielberg, Chris Martin, and many others. A lot of behind the scenes moments are shown as well as many times where Williams himself talks about his various experiences (some challenging, some heartbreaking). This is a fascinating and touching look at the man and his decades of musical talent. Video review to come shortly.

This is a wonderful film. It isn't so much a documentary more a celebration of the music, life and humanity of John Williams. The celebration doesn't dwell on biography or deep musicological analysis but rather gives a guide to how this artist has for decades captured the essence of story, the heart of emotion in music.

The excerpts of him conducting in the scoring sessions are wonderful, and throughout what comes through is his joy and his love in making music and moreover enabling others to make music. There is something truly humbling about seeing the partnership between Williams and Spielberg, they speak with one united voice. Spielberg in his imagery and narrative and Williams in music and emotional core. They also clearly adore each other and to see two artists who have such a deep personal and professional bond is wonderful to watch documented.

I do wish this had been longer, a deeper dive I go his work and his process - but that is just greed! This is as good a celebration of the man as you will watch and makes you want to re-watch some movies just to hear those scores in their entirety.

The film made me think about joy so much. The joy the music brings as Chris Martin says 'nobody had a bad day because they listened to a piece by John Williams' and what a legacy that is to leave to the world.

We all have our favourite scores. Mine are the final Star Wars with the magnificent finale revelling in all those themes, and I have some that pop up fleetingly here like his work on Hook, which is always worth revisiting, a flawed film but an almost perfect score.

For me, Williams is up there with Mozart, as being a composer who understands instinctively our emotional response to a story, but more than that here his musical work goes beyond 'the brief' and has often lifted a movie above and beyond what it may have been without him.

He also genuinely comes across as a lovely man who cares deeply for his craft and for music, he has been and continues to be an inspiration not just for musicians and composers but for all of us who treasure creativity, craft and care.

A brilliant celebration.

I was 12 minutes into this documentary when I knew I was going to love it. I was an early collector of movie scores, and the composer whose work most filled my shelves was always John Williams. I was the nerd that played his scores while doing my homework. The first time I heard the Jurassic Park score I was in love with his work, though perhaps even before then, of course.

This documentary is a love letter to a man so brilliant and great that you just can't believe how humble he is. His entire career is showcased here, as well as personal struggles I didn't even know about!

Of course, I spent too much time on Amazon buying some of his earlier jazz albums because I didn't even know that's how he truly got his start.

This documentary is a longtime coming. It's about time this man got the showcase he deserves in this format. The best night of my life was when I was lucky to get a ticket to watch John Williams conduct his music with the Seattle Symphony. Act 1 was phenomenal, but when he started Act 2 with "Theme from Jaws" and then welcomed Steven Spielberg onto the stage, an outstanding night got that much better. This documentary took me back to that amazing night, but it also brought me more of an understanding of the man and his music that I love SO much!

I saw this film as the first red carpet event of the AFI film festival of 2024. Introduced by Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard, who produced the film, they expressed their devotion and dedication to John Williams. John Williams certainly deserves that dedication - filmgoers and music lovers will definitely agree with Messrs. Howard and Spielberg. The documentary details how Williams got his start in the film industry as well as his personal life which had a tragedy that I was not aware of until seeing this film. We learn how Williams came up with the score to films such as "Jaws", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Star Wars" and many others. There are also funny anecdotes of Spielberg's initial reaction to Williams' score of "Jaws" and Spielberg's quip about Williams' composing the score to "Schindler's List", which adds a bit of levity to otherwise emotionally devasting story. I also learned about the Boston Pops musicians' snobbish reactions to Williams' direction as well as many more interesting facts about this absolute musical genius. I highly recommend this film to anyone interested in filmmaking as well as music.