In the late 1970s, Steven Spielberg – fresh off his WWII romp, 1941 – had his sights set on directing a James Bond film. His friend George Lucas, however, had other ideas. Claiming to have an original story worked out, Lucas told his friend Spielberg that he had a project better than Bond. It was about a character (then) named Indiana Smith, an archeologist and adventurer sent to far-flung locales to track down notable antiquities. It was in the mold of swashbuckling heroes of the films of their youth, like Bogart in Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), but with the flare of Connery in Dr. No (1962) The two began collaborating, along with famed screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, and the result was Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) which followed the exploits of the renamed Indiana Jones. Its score by John Williams became as iconic as any music put to screen, and the rest was history.