Suddenly Something Clicked: The Languages of Film Editing and Sound Design

by Walter Murch

Highly lauded film editor, director, writer and sound designer Walter Murch reflects on the six decades of cinematic history he has been a considerable contributor to - and on what makes great films great.


Together with Francis Coppola and George Lucas, Murch abandoned Hollywood in 1969 and moved to San Francisco to create the Zoetrope studio. Their vision was of a new kind of cinema for a new generation of film-goers. Murch's subsequent contributions in film editing rooms and sound-mixing theatres were responsible for ground-breaking technical and creative innovations.


In this book, Murch invites readers on a voyage of discovery through film, with a mixture of personal stories, meditations on his own creative tactics and strategies, and reminiscences from working on The Godfather films, Apocalypse Now, Lucas' American Grafitti, and Anthony Minghella's The English Patient and The Talented Mr Ripley.

Suddenly Something Clicked is a book that will change the way you watch movies.

Genres: Film, Media Tie In, Nonfiction

368 pages, Hardcover

Published July 15, 2025

About the author

Walter Scott Murch is an American film editor, director, writer and sound designer. His work includes THX 1138, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather I, II, and III, American Graffiti, The Conversation, Ghost and The English Patient, with three Academy Award wins (from nine nominations: six for picture editing and three for sound mixing).
For his work on Apocalypse Now, Murch was the first person to receive a credit as "Sound Designer." Murch was also involved with the editing of Apocalypse Now Redux. In 1998, producer Rick Schmidlin chose Murch as his editor for the restoration of Orson Welles's Touch of Evil. Murch is the author of a popular book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye, and is the subject of Michael Ondaatje's book The Conversations. Famed movie critic Roger Ebert called Murch "the most respected film editor and sound designer in the modern cinema." David Thomson calls Murch "the scholar, gentleman and superb craftsman of modern film", adding that in sound and editing, "he is now without a peer."

Reviews

[Callum · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect mix of entertaining anecdotes and education through rare Oscar-level experiences from someone who's great at writing as well as filmmaking. Much of this learning is through film history, but this has given me a clearer picture of the workings of the modern day as well. I look forward to the next volume, and it's unfortunate that this book hasn't garnered more attention here yet.

[John Schorg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will admit that some of the technical talk here on editing and sound was way beyond my understanding. Once you get away from the mechanics, Murch is a wonderful storyteller... it would be fun and interesting to take a class on these subjects with him leading the way. The sections on Touch of Evil, The Godfather, and Apocalypse Now are good, but for me, the real highlights deal with The Conversation. Murch talks about the way the film changed through both sound and editing, and he addresses what always has been the most problematic part of The Conversation: the differing readings of one line of dialogue at two separate points of the film. He explains the justification for the move, and while I still think the change hurts the film, it is easier now to understand why it was done. More books by this author are expected. I look forward to reading them.

[Ryan Barr · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far my favourite book on filmmaking that I have ever read. Full of eye opening observations on every page and a constant enthusiasm for not only cinema, but humans and the way we work.

Could spend hours and hours longer with Walter Murch, incredible writer and a real genius.

[John Bleasdale · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read. Murch is the man.

[Calvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Senses plus mind equals reality. The unconscious mind is a master at using limited data to construct a version of the world that appears to be realistic and complete to its serenely oblivious partner, the conscious mind”

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sprawling and brilliant mix of memoir, filmmaking how-to, philosophy, and science as only Murch could write it. Essential, can't wait for the rest of this planned trilogy (!). Starting off my 2026 reading year strong.

[Ken Luehrsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting book!

[Jean Poole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is Walter, is good. My fave part was learning he’d originally written a much bigger book, then derived to break it into a few parts - so there’s more to come!

[Madison Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating treatise on art, the philosophy of work, the reason we like the things we like, and of course film. But it is so much more than movies. I would recommend it to any creative.

[Ken Nilsestuen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks, Walter. A great explanation of film editing and sound design. I can't wait for the next volume. The marginal QR codes were really helpful, too.