Movie Music: Scores, Soundtracks, and Best Moments

[DollEyes]

One of the most popular threads in the TWoP movie section is the one for Favorite Music moments from the movies, but since it's shutting down, I thought I should start a new thread here, hence "Remix."  They could be from actual musicals, such as Maria and the Von Trapp children's rendition of "Do-Re-Mi" fro The Sound Of Music, or from other films, like the scene in Reservoir Dogs, when Mr. Pink cuts off the cop's ear to Steeler's Wheel's "Stuck In the Middle With You."  Ever since I saw that scene for the first time, I've never been able to listen to that song without thinking of that scene.  Music is also used to emphasize the mood, such as the theme from Jaws, before the shark attacks or the theme from Psycho, just before Norman killed someone.

  Post your picks for the Best Musical Moments here.

[Rick Kitchen]

Here is the Mr. Pink scene from Reservoir Dogs.

[Wilowy]

I've got a huge thing for Patrick Doyle's THOR soundtrack, and was really dismayed that he didn't do it for Thor 2. Of course, the first one was directed by Branagh who is Doyle's friend and frequent collaborator, but I was really disappointed not hearing the beautiful and majestic "Sons of Odin" anywhere near the second film. :/

Check it out:

 

[Rinaldo]

I'm a devotee of classic orchestral movie soundtracks. Some of my personal favorites:

David Raksin: Laura

Alex North: The Rainmaker, Spartacus, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Dragonslayer

John Barry: Body Heat

Jerome Moross: The Big Country

Richard Rodney Bennett: Murder on the Orient Express

John Williams: Images, The Fury

[Snowprince]

The Magnificent Seven - Elmer Bernstein

The Graduate - Simon & Garfunkel

Superman - John Williams

 

I could listen to these three on continuous loop for hours on end.

[Wilowy]

Love all of those too, Snowprince. Here's Supes.

 

[Rinaldo]

Actually the background score for The Graduate is by Dave Grusin. Not to slight the immortal Simon & Garfunkel songs we all remember, and which summon up memories of the movie instantly, but I'd like Grusin to have his recognition too.

 

Someone who was good at writing the right song for a movie, and at working it into his underscoring, was Fred Karlin, who did this very well for a couple of early-70s movies I liked when they were new: The Sterile Cuckoo ("Come Saturday Morning") and Lovers and Other Strangers ("For All We Know").

[BizBuzz]

This movie, even though it uses already created and made famous songs, did them their own way and wrapped a movie around the music:

 

The Committments

 

If it were possible, I wore the grooves off the CD - see, that just sucks.  Because you can't do that to CD's.  But that is how you used to tell people that you really liked an album, when you wore the grooves off of them.

 

Anyway. I still have this CD, and I still listen to it when I need house cleaning music, and this is like 23 years old.

 

If you ever saw the movie and wondered what happened to the cast, here is a really good article.

[AimingforYoko]

I love quirky musical choices. Quentin Tarantino and John Hughes are the best at this.

One of my favorites of all time:

Edited May 10, 2014 by AimingforYoko

[Rick Kitchen]

Ah, but the music that plays over the ending credits ... perfection.

 

[methodwriter85]

If you've ever seen the movie Once (which is now a Broadway musical), "Falling Slowly" is gut-wrenchingly beautiful.

 

This is the scene where they perform it for the first time...the reprise at the end is so wonderful and it deserved every inch of its Best Song Oscar win in 2008.

Edited June 6, 2014 by methodwriter85

[Jeebus Cripes]

Not to nerd out on you guys, but Michael Madsen's character is Mr. Blonde. Also, I love that scene, perverse as it is.

 

I love the Rocky montage in part IV where he's driving around. I dig how it shows clips from all four films.

Also, the "Living in America" scene with James Brown.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Jeebus Cripes

[spaceytraci1208]

"God's Trying to Tell You Something" from The Color Purple ...I never get tired of it

[Ariah]

Generally, almost everything from Tarantino.
Santa Esmeralda's Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - the instrumental intro to the grand showdown in Kill BIll1

Inglorious Basterds - the Putting Out Fire scene and Un Amico.

Django - Freedom.

 

But also, apart from Tarantino:
Pacific Rim Main theme playing in the very beginning - so energetic.
Transformers - Arrival to Earth.

Doctor Who's I am the Doctor... 
Disney's Mulan - the short and sweet Decision track when she cuts her hair and jumps on a horse.

The Boondock Saints Irish strings in The Blood of Cuchulainn

 

And the whole sword battle sequence from The Sword of the Stranger anime. A masterpiece.

[Shannon L.]

The first one I thought of was Hugh Grant dancing in Love Actually:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcgxBHBsl-4

 

I also love the training sequence with Antonio Bandares and Anthony Hopkins in Zorro, mostly because I loved the score playing at the same time.  The tango with Katherine Zeta-Jones and Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies was hot, too.

 

I also really love the score in the ship scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

Can someone explain to me how to post a video instead of just the link?

[spaceytraci1208]

Can someone explain to me how to post a video instead of just the link?

Yup! I struggled with this too lol...just copy/paste the link directly into your post without using the "link" feature

 

*Oh..and that was Tia Carrere in True Lies (remember THAT name?? lol)

[Ceindreadh]

The lighting the beacons sequence in Return of the King.

Sends a shiver down my spine every time I hear/watch it!

[Shannon L.]

Thank you, spaceytraci1208, for both the correction and the info!

[turnitwayup]

Bohemian Rhapsody on Wayne's World. I lol every time they get to the Galieo part.

[Shannon L.]

 

Bohemian Rhapsody on Wayne's World. I lol every time they get to the Galieo part.

For me, it's the "let me go..." part  :)

 

So, this got me thinking about an article I read a few months ago that listed why movies were so great in the 80s and one of the reasons was because of the theme songs.  Actual songs by famous musicians that were played either over the opening credits or during a montage.  Some of them included:

 

"You're the Best" from Karate Kid

"Danger Zone" from Top Gun

"I'm All Right" from Caddy Shack

"Holiday Roads" from National Lampoons Vacation

"Footloose"

etc, etc.....

 

And it occurred to me that the article was right--very few movies now have fun songs like that.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Shannon L.

[AimingforYoko]

Heh, did you notice three of your montage songs were by Kenny Loggins? He owned soundtracks in the '80s.

[Rick Kitchen]

The opening credits scene from "Get Over It" (which I cannot find on YouTube, dangit), with Ben Foster gloriously walking down the street after leaving the girl he is in love with, a huge cast of marching band and singers joining him, and it appears to have been all shot in one take.  I think, if I remember correctly, the song is "Love Will Keep us Together".  I wish I could find the clip.

[Luckylyn]

I love that Get Over It opening.  He's so miserable after being dumped and all this singing and dancing is going on behind him with him oblivious.

 

I love She Loves Me playing in the background in Some Kind of Wonderful when Keith and Watts kiss.

Edited June 7, 2014 by Luckylyn

[Rick Kitchen]

Thanks, @Luckylyn I couldn't find that anywhere.

[PrincessEnnui]

 

Poltergeist's theme for Carol Anne. The story is horrifying enough, but virtually every time you hear the theme for Carol Anne, you feel scared out of your wits. At the same time, there's nothing more you want to do more than protect her and you can't. It plays either right before or after something creepy happens too.

 

But the best moments are during Caroline's chat with the TV people and when she wakes up in her mother's arm near the end. Damn movie is genius.

[Snowprince]

I've always loved the mass cattle call audition scene set to George Benson's On Broadway in All That Jazz.

Edited June 21, 2014 by Snowprince

[Dandesun]

I love the opening to A Chorus Line where you have the piano chiming regularly as we see people arriving and lining up for auditions, the counts being called out as the bustle backstage at said audition unfolds. And it's a few minutes before we see the actual dancing.

 

I love that whole movie, really. It has the added bonus of it being the first show I ever saw on Broadway.

 

And, of course, the opening to West Side Story. 

Edited June 21, 2014 by Dandesun

[DollEyes]

Just had to post to show my love for "Everything Is Awesome" from The LEGO Movie, a song so cheerfully insidious that I either hum it or sing it everytime I hear it.

[JayKay]

The ending to The Professional with Sting's "Shape of My Heart" playing out the cut to black. Years back I had never seen the movie, and was channel surfing when I caught sight of a little girl burying a plant in the ground, and that song came on. No lie, I almost cried and I had no idea what I was even watching. Since seeing the whole film (which I now love), the song hits me even harder. I think those final thirty seconds made me a Luc Besson fan in general.

[Shannon L.]

So, Burlesque wasn't the best movie by far, but I thought the music was pretty good and I could watch the Tough Lover scene over and over just for the surprised looks on everyone's faces because you really don't expect that voice to come out that sweet, tiny, young woman.

[AimingforYoko]

RIP Bobby Womack. Jackie Brown wouldn't have been the same without your "Across 110th Street".

[DollEyes]

  The film version of Les Miserables was filled with great musical moments, whether it's Anne Hathaway's take on "I Dreamed A Dream," Hugh Jackman's touvhing rendition of "Suddenly" or Samantha Barks' version of "On My Own." Here are two more of my favorites:

 

 

  "Bring Him Home" is a powerful moments with Valjean praying for Marius to live so that Marius could be with Cosette, Valjean's adopted daughter and the love of Marius' life:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5svrJ58BuLs

 

"Empty Chairs" is a devastating moment with a heartbroken Marius mourning the deaths of his friends:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqqSa9n2ZQk

Edited June 29, 2014 by DollEyes

[Sharpie66]

I love the Peter Weir's use of music in his films, especially Witness and Master and Commander.

Pixar also uses music really well, from individual songs like Jessie's Song in TS2 to full scores, especially in Finding Nemo.

Some of my favorite song performances from a stage in films are in The Commitments as well as Purple Rain, not just by Prince but also Morris Day and the Time.

[Hybridcookie]

I wasn't a huge fan of the Twilight movie, but I loved Carter's Burwell's score. 'I Know What You Are' is the track that plays when Bella does her research on vampires and then Edward follows her into the woods, is my favourite, as soon as I heard it I knew I wanted the soundtrack. The video is quite quiet:

 

 

 

[Snowprince]

It's simple, it's understated.... and it's one of the scariest pieces of music I've ever heard on screen. Few themes better set the mood for their movies than this one.

 

Halloween

 

Edited August 7, 2014 by Snowprince

[Jeebus Cripes]

Basil Poledouris' score for Conan the Barbarian is epic beyond words.

 

Oh, man, this entire scene from Last of the Mohicans:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah9XCamPyKA

[VCRTracking]

 

Basil Poledouris' score for Conan the Barbarian is epic beyond words.

 

Agreed. Not only is it epic, but it is often very beautiful. It helped me connect me to the characters. This played as Conan and his buddy(Gerry Lopez) go moving from town to town as thieving and discuss their gods you can't help but like them:

 

[Rick Kitchen]

High Noon.  Dimitri Tiomkin's score is just beautiful.  And the theme song is gold.

 

[Jeebus Cripes]

Agreed. Not only is it epic, but it is often very beautiful. It helped me connect me to the characters. This played as Conan and his buddy(Gerry Lopez) go moving from town to town as thieving and discuss their gods you can't help but like them:

 

 

That track is my absolute favorite! 

[vibeology]

Its a cheesy movie and probably overplayed, but the moment when Alan and Ellie see dinosaurs for the first time is magic because of the score. It comes in, quiets down and then swells back up perfectly. Its magic and helps sell the magic of the dinosaurs. Its one of my favourite scores of all time.

 

[DollEyes]

  From Cabaret, the musical about Hitler's rise to power, one of the most chilling scenes takes place in an outdoor cavern. it starts with a handsome boy with an angelic voice singing "Tomorrow Belongs To Me." Unfortunately, the boy turns out to be a member of the Hitler Youth. Even scarier was that almost everyone sang along except for one old man, whom, I'm guessing, was Jewish.  Here's the song:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29Mg6Gfh9Co

 

  On a lighter note, the best scene in The Best Man Holiday was a lip-synched performance to New Edition's "Can You Stand the Rain," featuring Taye Diggs, Morris Chestnut, Harold Perrineau and Terrence Howard:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9suSyIakT0

[galax-arena]

I’ve decided that it’s impossible to watch Sister Act without breaking into a huge smile during the big musical numbers.

[NumberCruncher]

I have to echo my love for that last scene from The Last of the Mohicans that @Jeebus Cripes linked.  That movie and its soundtrack remains in my all-time top 5.

 

I can't leave this thread without including a scene that's just breathtaking both from a filmmaking and a scoring perspective.  The beach at Dunkirk scene in Atonement just gets me every time.  I'm so impressed that it was filmed in one long, continuous take given its scale.  The moment is both gorgeous and emotionally devastating and Dario Marianelli's score only adds to the weight of it (sorry for the crappy clip quality):

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_yhuhp880s

[CaughtOnTape]

The music that plays during Apollo 13 when the capsule was finally spotted after the blackout time had expired always made me cry.  

[MichelleAK]

The one that came to my my mind first was the "Non Nobis, Domine" scene after the battle of Agincourt in Branagh's Henry V.  Starts a capella with a single voice, then slowly swells as the shot expands on the battlefield.  The whole soundtrack (composed by Patrick Doyle) is great, as well.

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2014 by MichelleAK

[Mystery]

Second the praise for Patrick Doyle. I had never heard that Thor song, so thanks! I love all of his music for Henry V; it's hard to believe that was his first-ever soundtrack. That's also Doyle starting the singing in "Non Nobis, Domine." Similarly, he created the music for "The Dreame" in Sense and Sensibility. I think that that's another kind of talent than writing scores--being able to take an old set of "lyrics" and create music that seems (to me, anyway) as if it could have been a contemporary composition. 

 

I also agree with the music of Jurassic Park, especially, as mentioned, the scene where they first see the dinosaurs. I think John Williams easily could have been nominated for that score except that he was already nominated (and won) for Schindler's List.

 

A moment that always makes me smile is "Say a Little Prayer for You" in My Best Friend's Wedding. I love musicals, so I'm always willing to suspend my disbelief about people bursting out into song, but I think that scene is very organically done; it seems as if the song could just die out after the first verse, and then the restaurant employee sits down at the piano and allows it to sort of naturally start up again. 

 

eta I thought I'd try my hand at embedding, and I laughed again at the restaurant employees waving their lobster-claw hands at the end. 

Edited August 25, 2014 by Mystery

[DollEyes]

  Some of the best music moments in recent months have been in comic-book movies, Marvel-based ones, to be specific.

In "X-Men: Days Of Future Past," there was a great scene with Quicksilver's helping to break Magneto out of a Federal maximum-security prison to "Time In A Bottle. "Guardians Of the Galaxy" was full of great music moments, whether it was "Star Lord"'s dancing to "Come & Get Your Love," the Guardians getting ready for battle to the Runaways' "Cherry Bomb," the happy ending set to Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" or L'il Groot's dancing to "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5.

 

[Mini-Mart]

Sister Act 2.  The fist performance of the choir.  Oh Happy Day.  That one high note, you know the one.

 

 

[Crisopera]

This phenomenal challenge dance scene from My Sister Eileen (1955) with Tommy Rall and Bob Fosse.  The movie itself is worth seeking out - perfectly cast all around, and a charming score.  Mind you, it's too bad that Hollywood never filmed the Bernstein version of the story, Wonderful Town, but this score is pretty close to being as good.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ItaESaGWMk

[Rick Kitchen]

Tommy Rall has never gotten the recognition he deserved.