John Williams and Steven Spielberg are one of Hollywood’s most iconic duos. The then up-and-coming composers and directors would never have guessed from their fateful meeting, that they would be lifelong collaborators reshaping the industry. As Spielberg says, “Without John Williams, bikes don’t really fly, nor do brooms in Quidditch matches, nor do men in red capes. There is no Force, dinosaurs do not walk the Earth, we do not wonder, we do not weep, we do not believe.” From Jaws to Jurassic Park, let’s take a look at the Spielberg-Williams collaborations throughout the years. Follow along this journey when the Houston Symphony performs the iconic collaborations live at Jones Hall on June 6, 7 & 8!
Steven Spielberg’s film career began in 1974 with The Sugarland Express, a crime drama about a couple fleeing across Texas in a desperate attempt to reclaim their child before he is placed in foster care. The film was partially shot in Sugar Land, Texas, inspiring its title. It also marked the beginning of a legendary partnership, as the young Spielberg requested “the composer for The Reivers”—John Williams—to score his feature debut.
Their collaboration continued with Jaws in 1975, where Williams’s iconic two-note theme won him his second Academy Award. In 1977, Close Encounters of the Third Kind introduced a five-note motif that served as both a musical signature and a form of communication between humans and aliens in the film. Spielberg and Williams teamed up again in 1979 for the war comedy 1941, featuring a lively march that Spielberg would later call his favorite of Williams’s march.
In 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark launched the Indiana Jones franchise, with Williams crafting unforgettable themes not only for Indiana Jones himself but also for love interests and villains. The franchise continued with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), The Last Crusade (1989), Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), and Dial of Destiny (2023), earning six Oscars and numerous awards over the course of the series.
In 1982, Williams scored E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, a film Spielberg re-edited to align with the emotional power of the music. Williams’s versatility shone again in 1987 with Empire of the Sun, a wartime tale about a British boy in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. Two years later came Always (1989), another WWII-era story centered on aerial firefighters, whose soundtrack was released in 1990
Williams ventured into fantasy with Hook (1991), a reimagined story of Peter Pan. Originally conceived as a full musical, only five of the eight songs co-written with Leslie Bricusse were used. In 1993, Spielberg released two major films: Schindler’s List, for which Williams composed a haunting violin-led score, performed by former Houston Symphony Artistic Partner Itzhak Perlman, after initially hesitating due to the emotional weight of the story and Jurassic Park, where he captured a sense of awe and wonder even before the CGI dinosaurs were fully realized.
His 1997 scores for Amistad and The Lost World: Jurassic Park showed Williams’s range—blending African and Quaker musical elements for Amistad, and introducing fresh action themes for the Jurassic Park sequel. In 1998, Saving Private Ryan showcased Williams’s restraint, avoiding grandiosity to allow the brutality of WWII to speak for itself.
In the 2000s, Williams continued to innovate. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) honored Stanley Kubrick with choral nods to A Space Odyssey. In 2002, Minority Report featured a noir-inspired score with classical influences, while Catch Me If You Can earned Williams another Best Original Score nomination with its jazzy, con-man vibe. The Terminal (2004), a comedy-drama about a man stranded in an airport, leaned into Williams’s jazz roots.
In 2005, Williams scored two intense films: War of the Worlds, a dark alien invasion thriller marked by rhythmic urgency and fear; and Munich, which featured mournful melodies and the “wailing woman” technique to evoke tragedy and grief. In 2011, War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin earned Williams his 46th and 47th Oscar nominations, making him the most-nominated musician in Academy Award history.
Williams’s score for Lincoln (2012) reflected the gravity of the president’s push to pass the Thirteenth Amendment. In 2017, he scored both The BFG, a fantastical “child’s ballet” based on Roald Dahl’s novel, and The Post, for which he used modern electronic effects to underscore a journalistic thriller.
Although Spielberg initially wanted Williams to score his remake of West Side Story (2021), the composer declined and instead served as a music consultant, helping to preserve Leonard Bernstein’s original work. Their collaboration resumed in 2022 with The Fabelmans, a semi-autobiographical film that marked their 29th project together. At age 90, Williams broke his own record as the most Oscar-nominated living person.
That same year, Williams announced that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny would be his final film score, signaling his retirement to focus on concert music. However, in early 2023, he reversed that decision, stating, “I don’t think you leave music… Music is a nexus. It’s a conduit. It’s a connection.”
When asked about his relationship with Williams, Spielberg jokes that it’s been like an ideal marriage of no disagreement, Williams being his “muse” and a steadfast brother. Spielberg “tells a story, and then John retells the story musically.”
This June 6, 7 & 8, come to Jones Hall to witness the magical storytelling of the film industry’s most iconic duo. John Williams & Steven Spielberg: Movie Magic.
