50 years on from its release, the main two-note theme from Jaws is still one of the best-known pieces of music in cinema - an achievement made all the more remarkable when you consider that, when director Steven Spielberg heard John Williams play it on the piano for the first time, he assumed that the composer was pulling his leg.
Discussing the theme later in a featurette, Spielberg would say: “When he finally played the music for me on the piano - he previewed the main Jaws theme - I expected to hear something kind of weird and melodic, you know. Really kind of tonal but eerie and of another world.”
