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Best/Favorite uses of music in movies

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Perplexio
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« on: September 03, 2010, 05:13:13 pm »

What are some of your favorite uses of music in movies? 

Here are some of mine:

Catch Me If You Can - There's a scene with Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) alone at a bar on Christmas Day.  He's on the phone with Officer Handratty (Tom Hanks) with I'll Be Home For Christmas playing in the background.  It creates a profound sense of loneliness, the scene works brilliantly.

Almost Famous - On the tour bus with Stillwater Tiny Dancer comes on the radio and one by one everyone on the bus starts singing along.  It creates a beautiful sense of family and togetherness.  One of the best scenes in the film!

Love Actually - There's a beautiful instrumental piece by Craig Armstrong, Glasgow Love Theme playing in the background in many of the scenes featuring Jamie (Colin Firth) and Aurelia (Lúcia Moniz).

Somewhere in Time - This is one of those movies where the score is so prevalant it's almost a character in the film in and of itself.  Easily John Barry's best film score ever (and that's saying something as he's done some really good ones in his day)

Cinema Paradiso - Ennio Morricone made a name for himself in the 60s scoring Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns.  In the late 80s he partnered with writer/director Giuseppe Tornatore for the score to Cinema Paradiso.  This score is for Ennio Morricone what Somewhere In Time is for John Barry.

JAWS - John Williams has done many brilliant film scores but never before or since has he (or any other film score composer for that matter) done so much with so little... With only two notes he created a tremendous feeling of dreadful suspense.
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Hourman
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« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2010, 11:23:28 pm »

The Big Chill (1980): Way to bring back the Motown sound along with several other classic 60s tunes...

Nora Ephron's When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless In Seattle... in both cases, she uses music as part of the plot (i.e. Tom Hanks' Sleepless character getting ready to date again while "Back In The Saddle" by Gene Autry plays)
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Packercracker
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« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2010, 06:07:04 pm »

The Blues Brothers- Aretha Franklin going off in the cafe "Think"

Fly Away Home- Mary Chapin Carpenter's "10,000 Miles" at the end, when the little girl has to finish the mission by herself.

Casper- "Remember me This Way."  Stupid movie, but nice song.

Con Air- "Sweet Home Alabama" as the plane was flying towards Vegas with the back half missing, and the Corvette being towed behind it.

Forrest Gump- just about the whole movie

then there are some where I just liked the background music- Life as a House, St. Elmo's Fire, The Secret of my Success, Empire of the Sun
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KATH
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« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2010, 11:52:10 pm »

Okay, I'm not a Tom Hanks fan.  I LOVED HIM in "Bosom Buddies".  I don't know why but I just don't care for him that much, sorry.  Don't even try!! ...I've seen "SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE" AND "YOU'VE GOT MAIL"  and that's about it...LOVE MEG RYAN...and he's actually tolerable with HER.  However, *DUCKS* I've never seen 'FORREST GUMP'...sue me.  THE SOUNDTRACK, however, is AWESOME!!

Next...because it was mentioned on DB's board (in a roundabout way), another one that is EXCELLENT (and a great representation of the times--not just the year, but the era, and the changes that are in the wind...) is "AMERICAN GRAFFITI"--one of my favorites!! (and a TON of people got a big break in that movie...there's tons of people in that movie that were virtually UNKNOWN until that movie came out.) 

And...@ PEGS: Sorry, better late than NEVER:  Kiss

I like "HELP!" WAYYY BETTER THAN "A HARD DAY'S NIGHT"!!  I love that movie...LOL!! And, the soundtrack to "Help!" has what very few Beatles songs that I can still hear without my ears bleeding.  LOL!!  AND--omg...I LOVED THEIR HOUSE!  Cool  I loved the "spy movie" incidental music...HOWEVAH--my VERY, VERY, VERYVERYVERY favorite Beatles song is on "A HARD DAY'S NIGHT"--"I SHOULD'VE KNOWN BETTER."   
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Perplexio
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« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2010, 07:51:22 am »

Next...because it was mentioned on DB's board (in a roundabout way), another one that is EXCELLENT (and a great representation of the times--not just the year, but the era, and the changes that are in the wind...) is "AMERICAN GRAFFITI"--one of my favorites!! (and a TON of people got a big break in that movie...there's tons of people in that movie that were virtually UNKNOWN until that movie came out.) 

Of all the songs in the American Graffiti soundtrack, I thought the one song that was utilized to the greatest effect was Del Shannon's Runaway...  Does any other song on the soundtrack capture the whole vibe of the film quite as well as Runaway?
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Hourman
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« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2010, 02:33:36 pm »

Loved American Grafitti as well... it was the inspiration for Happy Days...
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Perplexio
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« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2010, 04:13:06 pm »

Loved American Grafitti as well... it was the inspiration for Happy Days...

But what about the sequel?  More American Grafitti?
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KATH
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« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2010, 06:10:22 pm »

Loved American Grafitti as well... it was the inspiration for Happy Days...

But what about the sequel?  More American Grafitti?

Never saw it...
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Hourman
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« Reply #8 on: September 13, 2010, 10:06:58 am »

Loved American Grafitti as well... it was the inspiration for Happy Days...

But what about the sequel?  More American Grafitti?

I actually had to look it up, because I didn't remember the film either -and with good reason. The point of the film American Grafitti was to capture director George Lucas' "summers of high school" into one evening in 1962. The flim drew on a lot of Lucas' experinces, and the music provided the soundtrack of his life back then.

That theme struck a chord with a lot of other teenagers of the late 50s and early 60s, hence its popularity. The film also reflected a changing of an era as the sock hop days of the 50s gave way to the more gritty 60s -which is what the second film focused on.

Lucas' weakness has always been characterization, so I'm not surprised that people didn't really flock to the sequel, because the characters weren't so deep that you cared much about them past the original film.

Speaking of the movies set in the early 1960s, who can forget Animal House? Neither "Louie, Louie" nor "Shout!"  were performed by the original artists, but they are iconic within the film. And I can't listen to "What A Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke without picturing John Beluschi going through the lunch line...
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