Jerry Goldsmith’s Voice of Idealism

By Timothy Sandefur

Forty years ago, two films—Alien and Star Trek: The Motion Picture—dazzled audiences not only with pathbreaking special effects, but also with rich musical scores that carried moviegoers into the frightening or awe-inspiring realms of outer space. These soundtracks, different in so many ways, were the brainchildren of one of cinema’s greatest composers,