"Without John Williams ... We do not wonder. We do not weep. We do not believe."
These are the words that director Steven Spielberg had for the composer as he was honored on June 9 at the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.
Williams, a five-time Oscar winner, was the first composer to be given the recognition in the 44 years that the AFI has been giving the award. He is the epitome of outstanding quality, so much so that Kobe Bryant sought him out to learn more about achieving excellence.
"I needed to understand how he created timeless music. If i could understand how John did it, maybe, just maybe I could do it too," said the recently-retired NBA player.
Some of Williams' most well-known works are for movies like Star Wars IV: A New Hope, E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saving Private Ryan, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Jaws.
To show just how much the composer's music elevates the films on which he's worked, Spielberg showed a famous scene in E.T. where Elliot is riding a bicycle into the sky sans the score. He said that, without Williams, bikes don't really fly, and that the composer is the one who makes the audience believe.
In fact, back when George Lucas and Spielberg were just talking about Raiders of the Lost Ark, the two decided that Williams would have to write the music for the film and that they would write the story afterward.
Williams has 50 Academy Award nominations, the most that any still-living person has been given. He graciously accepted the honor afforded by the AFI but was still so humble despite his achievements, saying that his predecessors Bernard Hermann and Alfred Newman deserved the honor more.
"I am enormously grateful to film for giving [composers] the broadest possible audience worldwide that any composer has ever enjoyed," he said.
Though already 84 years old, Williams is still working. This year, the score for The BFG will come out, while music for Star Wars: Episode VIII will be due in 2017.
AFI Lifetime Achievement Award: A Tribute to John Williams will air on June 15 on TNT. An encore presentation will follow on Sept. 12, as part of Turner Classic Movies' programming for the night that day will be dedicated to the composer.
