10 Greatest John Williams Scores For Steven Spielberg Movies, Ranked

Disclosure Day is now in theaters, marking the thirtieth collaboration between director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams, and the pair have worked together on many great projects. While some of the best John Williams scores have been in cooperation with other filmmakers, there are few Hollywood pairings that have been nearly as iconic as Spielberg and Williams.

Granted, this leaves some of the greatest themes ever composed off the list. John Williams' score for Star Wars has been so iconic that the modernized music in The Mandalorian and Grogu has been among the most criticized components of that latest release. The legacy of a strong score has been discussed many times in recent years for good reason.

Notably, last year, despite featuring a mostly new score, the soundtrack for James Gunn's Superman still featured versions and variations of the iconic theme that John Williams wrote for 1978's Superman. All of this goes to show the importance of music, certainly, but also Williams' incredible power in constructing themes that remain indelible from their larger properties.

With that in mind, there are many fantastic scores that Williams provided for Spielberg movies. And while Disclosure Day isn't among his very best, it is also filled to the brim with incredible music that could still become beloved over time.

10 The Adventures Of Tintin

An adventure that draws from the classic French comics as much as Spielberg's own history in directing incredible action, the score for Tintin is an essential component in crafting this exhilarating adventure. Built for the incredible animation of the film, Williams' work is inextricable from the cultivated texture and tone.

The history of these iconic comics is clearly taken into account, and Williams constructed an incredibly versatile package, with different styles and moments built to match the personalities onscreen. Often fast-paced and occasionally jazzy, Tintin was one of Williams' many Oscar-nominated scores.

With recent updates on a Tintin sequel, something will hopefully come together soon. That said, another film in the series will need Williams to write another excellent score, building off these exciting and original themes.

9 Hook

While not everyone loved the underrated fantasy of Hook, it is hard to deny the strength of the score. It may not have elevated the film as much as some of the other offerings on this list, but it certainly created an atmosphere of mystery and magic, helping the story to find its footing between Neverland and the real world.

Capturing the tension between whimsical youth and the weight of adulthood responsibilities, the music in Hook adeptly tapped into the themes of the film. While sometimes this felt jarring, it nonetheless created an enormous amount of feeling that helped to make the film so important for many viewers.

Textural, thoughtful, and beautiful, the score for Hook is clearly one of the highlights of the film. However, Williams has done even better a surprising number of times.

8 1941

A screwball war comedy that didn't totally work, 1941 is a great example of a score that is far better than the movie it was made for. Leaning into military atmosphere, including a march that continues to be played by bands to this day, the film's atmosphere exceeds its quality.

Williams and Spielberg began to collaborate in 1974 with The Sugarland Express, and 1979's 1941 clearly showed how much the pair had grown since then. The music for the movie is powerful, passionate, and exciting, allowing it to be remembered fondly to this day.

7 Saving Private Ryan

1941 walked so that Saving Private Ryan could run. A more dramatic and emotional film, Spielberg returned to the setting of World War II with this powerful event movie, where Williams put together one of the strongest scores ever put to film.

Focusing on loss and the horrors of violence, the music here felt like an especially important contrast to the more bombastic moments of 1941. With this, despite the enormous scale, the music felt much smaller and more personal, with a greater focus on feeling expressed through softer strings and horns.

"Hymn to the Fallen" is a standout track from the soundtrack that continues to be played, taking on a life beyond the film in tribute to veterans. An important score with great real-world weight, Saving Private Ryan crafts a beautiful experience through its music.

6 Jaws

Jaws was only the second film that Spielberg and Williams collaborated on, released one year after The Sugarland Express. To this day, the haunting texture of even the two slow tuba notes used to announce the shark has immediately built suspense, quickly conjuring the film's best images.

Working in concert with images like the ones seen in Jaws has been an incredible part of Williams' career. While his music is certainly strong on its own, seeing its relationship to the moments in Spielberg's films has made both the music and the images stronger.

With the Academy Award-winning score to Jaws, Williams genuinely showed how powerful his music is, especially in its relationship with the complex works of cinema. A surprisingly early work in his career, Jaws remains culturally important to this day.

5 Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

Like with many of the scores on this list, Williams' compositions are essential to the feel of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. However, here the music itself is a part of the story, with a five-note sequence being used as a tool for communication with alien life.

That familiar sound has since become inextricably connected with ideas of first contact and conversation about alien life, even outside of the context of the film. And that melody is only one small piece of Williams' incredible series of compositions here, which earned him an Academy Award nomination.

Spielberg's Close Encounters remains an important work, and the music goes a long way in establishing the alien feelings of other life forms. Much like with Disclosure Day, Williams' score here is essential to the effectiveness of the film itself.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was an enormous hit for Spielberg, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time upon its release in 1982. An emotional story about childhood and friendship, the movie was bolstered by its music, which helped the most resonant moments to connect.

Melodic and full of wonder, E.T. showed incredible versatility in Williams' score, acting as perhaps the most important part of the film's texture. The repeated motifs in the film constructed an incredible backdrop for the film, and crafted an otherworldly feeling with some of its surprising musical twists.

E.T. is so dependent on Williams' score that many would believe that the film wouldn't work without it. Adding great feeling to the story, it remains one of Williams' greatest works to date.

3 Schindler's List

Schindler's List might be the best Spielberg movie of all time, and the beautiful score is certainly one of the strongest. Composed with great care for the themes and tone of the 1993 film, the score for Schindler's List remains Williams' most recent Academy Award win.

With a strong focus on solo violin, the movie's music adds to the harrowing textures of the story, building an incredible amount of slow, contemplative beauty around it. Performed masterfully by Itzhak Perlman, the violin music builds on memory to craft something that is both majestically beautiful and emotionally devastating.

While Williams' music has remained strong through the years, it is clear that 1993 was a high point in the composer's career. And while this film won the top prize, there is still another film from that same year with an even more enduring score.

2 Raiders Of The Lost Ark

It is baffling how many familiar themes Williams has been able to create through his long career composing for films. Mere notes from Jaws and Star Wars immediately conjure familiar images and ideas, and that is no less true for Williams' incredible score for the first Indiana Jones film.

Crafting a feel of old serials, Williams' music fit perfectly into the 1930s atmosphere of the project. Built around an incredibly hummable theme for the familiar hero, all kinds of flourishes throughout punctuate the strongest moments in the story, lending them an even greater dramatic weight.

Rarely distracting from the story, the score here genuinely feels inextricable from the images seen on screen. And while this is certainly one of the greatest scores ever composed, one of Williams' own later works is even better.

1 Jurassic Park

John Williams built the iconic score that every Jurassic movie would be set to all the way back in 1993, and so many of those themes remain iconic and immediately recognizable even decades later. The incredible main theme, for example, builds slowly as the protagonists descend upon the island, highlighting and emphasizing the majesty of the visuals.

There is an incredible amount of wonder to be found in Williams' incredible work for Jurassic Park. Whether it's leaning into the surreal glory of seeing a Brachiosaurus for the first time or building stark tension during a thrilling Velociraptor hunt through the kitchen, every moment of the film's score is memorable.

John Williams continues to impress with Disclosure Day, but it is difficult to see any of his work with Steven Spielberg being more influential or more memorable than the music found in Jurassic Park.