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Movies and music have been tightly entwined since the beginnings of cinema. So it's no simple feat to search the vast landscape of film soundtracks and identify ten landmarks. In doing so, I had to establish some ground rules.

I chose to exclude movie musicals, simply because they are their own breed of moviemaking. It just wouldn't be fair to evaluate a movie specifically designed for music and visuals against one that was not. (But perhaps we'll do a list of top ten musicals someday.)

I'm also ignoring soundtracks that are simply collections of songs—albums that are merely "inspired by the film," though that eliminates significant soundtracks like The Graduate and Flashdance. While music is essential to such films with songs specifically written for them, it still seemed unfair to stack simple pop music next to original film scores.

This also explains the absence of an obvious choice like 2001: A Space Odyssey. Alex North's original score for that film was nixed by Stanley Kubrick in favor of using 20th century compositions by established composers. The same logic applies to movies like Amadeus and Fantasia—both brilliant films that rely on music, but still unoriginal.

With all that in mind, here are ten original film scores that have left their mark on the history of cinema.

The Lord of the Rings

(Other notable works: The Silence of the Lambs, Gangs of New York)
Why is it that science fiction and fantasy often inspires the greatest film scores? Probably because they often offer a broad range of emotion—adventure, romance, thrills, mystery, as well as the distinction between good and evil—resulting in a more diverse musical palette. Shore's score may not initially grab the ear in the same way as John Williams, but the Wagnerian musical motifs become more familiar after more than ten hours of film. The four years spent writing this thing has clearly paid off, resulting in a recent Academy Award for Return of the King and putting Shore on the A-list of Hollywood composers for creating one of the great epic scores of all time.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

(Other notable works: Jaws, Schindler's List, Harry Potter)
Pursued by a horde of warrior Hovitos in Peru, our hero leaps to a vine and swings into the river where his escape plane is waiting. If adventure has a name, it must be Indiana Jones. And if it has theme music, it's got to be that instantly recognizable "Raider's March" that you most likely first heard in the scene described above. Easily one of Williams' most beloved film scores, Raiders epitomizes excitement, romance, humor, and awe. The prolific composer would continue to write admirable scores for the Indiana Jones sequels, but even they weren't as sweeping and memorable as this.

Dances With Wolves

(Other notable works: Out of Africa, Her Majesty's Secret Service, From Russia With Love)
It's not possible to cite a single film score that sums up this composer's contributions to cinema over the last forty years. He's best known as the man responsible for scoring the vast majority of the James Bond movies, beginning with Dr. No in 1962-he can at least claim to have arranged the classic Bond theme, but whether or not he actually wrote it is one of the great mysteries of movie history. With an amazing resumé of acclaimed films to his credit, most single out his Oscar-winning work for 1984's Out of Africa. But I've always been partial to his beautiful score for Dances With Wolves (for which the Academy also honored him). As with all his movies, including the Bond flicks, Barry again demonstrates why he's one of the best at sweeping drama and action, perfectly capturing the Old West's 19th century Romanticism.

The Pink Panther

(Other notable works: Charade, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Great Race)
A key component to the success of Blake Edwards in the '50s and '60s is this legendary composer. You might recall his theme from television's "Peter Gunn" or his Oscar-winning work in Breakfast at Tiffany's (including the standard "Moon River"). But Mancini will always be best remembered for the jazzy theme to this classic comedy caper. That, along with his often overlooked score to The Pink Panther, strikes a splendid balance between slapstick and mystery, which is exactly what you want to represent the bumbling adventures of Inspector Clouseau. More so than most composers, Mancini's music is perfectly matched for the films, yet are able to stand apart on their own.

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