14. The Trader (Family Plot, 1976)
For Hitchcock's last film, John Williams filled the shoes of the outstanding Bernard Herrmann. Williams delivered a soundtrack that worked effectively to boost the suspense in this dark comedy without steering away from the conventions that defined soundtracks of the '60s and '70s. This is Williams emulating John Barry and Mancini; the more Wagnerian Williams we know and love was to come later. In the scene where Barbara Harris, a.k.a. "the Trader" delivers the diamond, Williams uses instrumentation (particularly the harpsichord) that is very similar to his work decades later in the movies Catch Me If You Can and The Adventures of Tintin. A lesser known John Williams soundtrack, completists will love it.