10 Underrated John Williams Tracks

Another Stone film and another masterful Williams score to accompany it. Williams cleverly composes a theme for a character who does not actually appear in the film: the slain President of the title. The figure of Kennedy looms large and the repeated use of a specific motif reminds the audience of the gap his assassination has left for the film's protagonist, D.A. Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner).

Garrison is determined to find the real killers of JFK and the heart of his case comes toward the end of the film. It's the famous "Back and to the left" scene, where Garrison exhausts the courtroom with footage from the Zapruder film showing the moment of Kennedy's death. Williams' accompanying track, The Motorcade, is a relentless drive towards Garrison's hypothesis: That multiple shooters were present in Dallas on the fateful day. The main theme rings out just as Garrison begins describing how many shots killed the president, as if for a brief moment The Truth is having its day in court.

The film remains Stone's most controversial work but whatever the "truth" actually is, it features Williams' most powerful score outside of the Star Wars saga.