Best uses of music in film

[sgporsche48]

Ever noticed how a certain song really helped to make a scene great? Well, why not talk about it here?!

Two that instantly spring to mind are:

"Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals in Goodfellas. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1mHtkpkxiA ) The Copacabana (sp?) tracking shot is regarded as one of the best ever captured on film. Moving seamlessly through the restaurant, the shot follows Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and Karen (Lorraine Brocco) through the side entrance all the way to their table. The song really helps set this almost mystical feel to it that Karen must be feeling at that moment.


"Stuck in the Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel in Reservoir Dogs. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn0My-cis_Q )
This scene caused several (including famed horror director Wes Craven and make-up artist Rick Baker) to walk out during this scene due to its graphicness. So, it is only fitting that it is played out to a poppy, happy tune, isn't it?

[Dulci]

2001: A Space Odyssey - the whole movie.

If you've seen it, you know why.

[Jase180]

"Danny Boy" in Millers Crossing.

"Goodbye Horses" in Silence of the Lambs

Tomoyasu Hotei - "Battle Without Honor Or Humanity" in Kill Bill

"Spy Break" The Propellerheads in The Matrix (Lobby Scene)

[BenTuttle90]

Ennio Morricone's music....Even though the movie is just terrible...I like "A Martian" in Mission to Mars...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwI1WGP1UCo

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (A Classic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKlxyoPNaFI

[michael_b6]

"God Moving Over the Face of Calm Waters" by Moby - HEAT
"Ghosts" by Thomas Newman - Road to Perdition
"The Mark has been Made" by Nine Inch Nails - Man on Fire
"The Host of Seraphim" by Dead Can Dance - The Mist
"Little Green Bag" by George Baker - Reservoir Dogs

[Dulci]

Oh and all the fight scenes in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

[tsunamidog]

Reqiuem for a Dream (isnt that the song title too?)-in one of the final scenes where the freaky-ass song is perfectly synced to that montage of everyones lives being destroyed.

I also thought Clockwork Orange had some sweet music. (well not sweet) but had a lot of classical music from that famous dude I cant remember (help!) It did make for some very memorable scenes when some disturbing things are going on and some classical music is blaring.

No Country for Old Men and a great soundtrack...er...wait....

[JohnnyEx]

FANTASIA, was pretty groundbreaking. And I of course loved the score by John Williams in STAR WARS. That GOOD,THE BAD,AND the UGLY was pretty danged good too, Ben.

[Jase180]

"The Dead Cases" theme in the film of the same name, composed and performed by JazzX was pretty brilliant...

what?:shifty:

[Nahton]

For me these are three movies that are totally entwined with their soundtracks:

Gladiator

Apocalypse Now (Especially "The End" and "The Ride of the Valkyries")

The Graduate

[rogerSIMIAN]

I love the way David lynch uses well known pop songs of the past for utterly sinister or weird scenes in his movies. Eg - Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" from the film "Blue Velvet" where Kyle McLaghlan's character has been captured by the psychopathic Dennis Hopper and his gang of freaks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-DjluKLY14

Or this scene in Club Silencio from "Mullholland Drive" where another Roy Orbison song "Crying" is sung in Spanish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqWIEziTQ2s

[Elbow]

Three of many for me.

Gone with the wind
Jaws (the two note score)
Pink Panther

[EmeraldEdge]

Lately (well, ever since I saw them, and I need take them off the shelf and watch them again) when I think of music in film, I think of "In the Mood for Love" and "2046". Mmmm.

[Throwaxe]

The most influencial use of music I ever experienced, was in my all time favorite "Fantastic Voyage".

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060397/

The movie, about a miniturized sub in someones bloodstream, lasts about 1,5 hours but the music only starts after half an hour when they enter the bloodstream and it starts like an orchestra tuning up, slowly turning into wonder.

I first saw it as a child and never felt anything like it since...

[thebiz]

S&G's soundtrack for TheGraduate is a good call Nahton.

How about Neil Young's soundtrack for Dead Man...Just reverby guitar goodness. Very memorable.

[sisch]

This is a series made for TV, but nonetheless...

I love love love all the music in "New Battlestar Galactica"

The Taiko drums fit a sci-fi epos wonderfully, the singing.. just great!

And yes, the Gladiator music is very effective and beautiful.

[EthanRunt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVLYqJt_cvc

PTA usually does good work with music but I think Wise Up is just a great culmination, Magnolia was an odd film and I wasn't sure if I was getting it when watching it, but that sequence made me think "Yup, this guy's got one heck of a sense of humour"

[rposhard]

One of the absolute best uses of a song in a movie in the past 10 years was "One Is the Loneliest Number" in Magnolia. The song keeps going and going as we meet all of the characters in their separate lives whose paths are about to inextricably intertwine. It gives me a chill every time I watch the movie, which is one of my all-time Top 10 Favorites.

Awwww, rats! Now I want to see it again and it's packed away with 500 other DVDs. I hate moving.....

[docontheweb]

Without a doubt "Once Upon a Time in the West". The music in that film is almost like a character in itself. The way each of the main characters have their own theme, and how those themes interweave when the chararcters interact is brilliant. Morricone is a genius. That and Harmonica is a bad ass.

Another good use of music would have to be 'The Third Man'. Sure, it's only a zither and is incredibly eclectic, but its so damn memorable, and seems to fit so well.

[Frederis]

OSTs of "The Village", "The Mission", "Gattaca", "Princess Mononoke", "The Moving Castle" are many of my favourites.

[Mefune Akira]

Tunes:

Slow-mo with Sweet Emotion playing in the beginning of Dazed and Confused.

Bad to the bone playing as Arnold gets all badass in Terminator 2.

Just about every AC/DC tune in Maximum Overdrive.

Scores:

Climax scene (Death of the last Mohicans) in Last of the Mohicans.

John Williams score swelling at the forst full view of the dinosours in Jurassic park.