I would say yes and no. He had great luck with teaming up with somebody like Steven Spielberg who so much of the time seems like he is just totally in sync with the general public's tastes. Even now, but especially when he was younger. And I think that there's a domino effect of Jaws to Star Wars to Raiders to ET, and then pretty much everybody wants John Williams for their big movie. So he built a reputation with that and got opportunities that other talented composers didn't get so often.
But he also had to deliver. Popular movies come out all the time, but very few of them feel like they're being heightened by music. Who else would have made a little movie like Home Alone feel so immensely rich and mysterious and sweeping? Sometimes you get a good track or two in a movie, but it's not really the same as reliving the film solely through its music. Some scores do a nice job with that. In recent years I've seen people point to John Powell's How to Train Your Dragon, Michael Giacchino's scores for Pixar, Hans Zimmer's Inception and Interstellar. These scores bring out strong memories of their films for a lot of people.
Last time I had it? Well, The Force Awakens by John Williams. Particularly "The Jedi Steps and Finale." There's a track that starts off with a distinct melody to heighten a great memorable movie moment (there's absolutely no mistaking the exact moment when you see Luke Skywalker) then carries you through the entire film just by the music, tying together all the major characters and setpieces through their themes. You can watch the movie, or you can listen to "The Jedi Steps and Finale" for an approximate experience in your imagination. Movie scores don't even attempt that very often, but John Williams always provides a unique parallel musical experience that sets him apart.
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If John Williams Scored Harry Potter 4-8: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6HqJLDCy3kZodnQ-NNewovSKPU4Q1dm4
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