John Williams: His 10 Greatest Film Scores

2. Star Wars (1977)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwu4S996VZI John Williams' opening theme for George Lucas' now classic sci-fi epic explodes the minute the film starts, ushering in one of the most celebrated film scores of all time. Williams, always the purist, provided the film with a classic score as performed by the world famous London Symphony Orchestra instead of possibly going another way by giving the outer space adventure a score composed on electronic instruments, a trend at the time. This is one of the many reasons Williams' score for Star Wars is so profound, and its no surprise he won his 3rd Oscar. He adds to the film a level of class that it may not have had with a different composer otherwise, and now one cannot envision the film and it's subsequent prequels and sequels without his score. The opening theme from Star Wars was so revolutionary in what it did for film composition that it actually crossed over to the mainstream, becoming a Billboard Top 10 single in the summer of 1977. Williams maintains a fever pitch of excitement in Star Wars with his score, providing solid compositions for the majority of the now legendary battle sequences as well as heightening the more dramatic moments in the film. With the next generation of Star Wars films on the horizon beginning in 2015, Williams has already expressed interest in continuing composing for the series, which of course would provide us with more thrills at the hands of his baton.
Contributor
Contributor

Kyle Hytonen is a film school grad, an independent film-maker, photographer and sleeper-inner.