I am starting it out with the soundtrack to the THE GRADUATE. To me, Simon perfectly captured the spirit of the movie. But I was of the age to think that. What else?
Good choice. It's hard to decide if we pick movies that use "classic" songs to set a mood or whatever (THE BIG CHILL, AMERICAN GRAFFITI) or original music.
One I'd choose because it's something we listen to regularly is THE COMMITMENTS, which uses "classic" songs by Wilson Pickett, Otisi Redding and others but redone by the cast of the movie.
If we're talking older music, I'd go with WHEN HARRY MET SALLY or several Woody Allen movies. For a mixture, there is SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, which I found somewhat disappointing as a movie but excellent as a soundtrack.
All of these are such great choices. I still often miss the music completely in a movie. I came home from BOYHOOD and realized I had completely missed every piece of music. I think my brain has trouble processing story and music at the same time. Almost a disability.
So much of soundtrack is background noise to me. A snippet of a pop song heard during a scene in a cafe will make a soundtrack album. Not many tunes are featured within the flick.
It seems a studio will pony up a few bucks for a big name pop star as marketing and album sales. The song will have little or no impact within the movie.
Basil Pouledouris "Conan the Barbarian" is a great soundtrack but then almost anything by Jerry Goldsmith ("The Thirteenth Warrior" is much better than the film) or Bernard Herrmann (the ones for Hitchcock movies or for Harryhausen movies) would be very good too.
The soundtrack for BOYHOOD of which I heard nothing. 1. Summer Noon - By Tweedy 2. Yellow - By Coldplay 3. Hate To Say I Told You So - By The Hives 4. Could We - By Cat Power 5. Do You Realize?? - By The Flaming Lips 6. Crazy - By Gnarls Barkley 7. One (Blake's Got A New Face) - By Vampire Weekend 8. Hate It Here - By Wilco 9. Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Leighton Meester) - By Cobra Starship 10. Beyond The Horizon - By Bob Dylan 11. Band On The Run - By Paul McCartney & Wings 12. She's Long Gone - By The Black Keys 13. Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra) - By Gotye 14. I'll Be Around - By Yo La Tengo 15. Hero - By Family of the Year 16. Deep Blue - By Arcade Fire
John Waters' original HAIRSPRAY has an excellent selection of oldies.
For original music, John Carpenter's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 is amazingly ahead of its time. It's from 1976 but the score sounds like something Depeche Mode could have come with a full decade later. And Carpenter himself wrote and performed it all.
Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee usually have very good music in their movies. I think immediately of Lee's use of "A Change is Gonna Come" at the end of MALCOLM X (though it was not on the soundtrack due to legal disputes).
I have never watched THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD but checked out the soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
We drove from Kansas back to Wisconsin on Saturday. There were billboards in Missouri advertising Jesse James's birthplace. "Yeah," I said "come visit the birthplace of a murderer, terrorist, and robber."
Chinatown: The score by the aforementioned Jerry Goldsmith (to me, his absolute best), along with great thirties standards like "I Can't Get Started."
Clockwork Orange: Walter (later, Wendy) Carlos putting Beethoven and Byrd through a Moog synthesizer, along with novelty kitsch like "I Wanna Marry a Lighthouse Keeper."
May I suggest a Swedish movie? SVEN KLANG'S COMBO (1976). It's 1958 and Sven Klang's Quintet, an amateur band (a quartet, actually, but they had already printed the posters when one member left) playing dances in the deep south of Sweden, recruits a very accomplished jazz saxophonist whose obvious musical authority upsets the power balance in the band - otherwise led by the titular bass player Sven Klang, an utterly cynical give-the-people-what-they want type. Sven also happens to be one of the greatest bastards in cinema history. Hilarity ensues. This movie is the holy grail of every Swedish amateur musician over a certain age. Including me. The movie totally nails the experience.
What may have added to the realism is the fact that the actors really played their instruments in live takes.
But it does not stop there - a friend of mine once met the guy who played the piano player, who in turn told the story that director Stellan Olsson once met Clint Eastwood at a film festival, where Clint was to promote BIRD. According to source, Clint then claimed "Yeah, but the best film about jazz ever is SVEN KLANG'S COMBO".
Here's a scene from the first rehearsal with the new talent. The music starts at 0:40. Gotta love how the saxophonist asks for an A when he's tuning up - that's total realism.
Good choice. It's hard to decide if we pick movies that use "classic" songs to set a mood or whatever (THE BIG CHILL, AMERICAN GRAFFITI) or original music.
ReplyDeleteOne I'd choose because it's something we listen to regularly is THE COMMITMENTS, which uses "classic" songs by Wilson Pickett, Otisi Redding and others but redone by the cast of the movie.
If we're talking older music, I'd go with WHEN HARRY MET SALLY or several Woody Allen movies. For a mixture, there is SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, which I found somewhat disappointing as a movie but excellent as a soundtrack.
Jeff M.
The first soundtrack I ever bought as a teenager was BREAKFAST AT TIFFANYS. The second, the soundtrack to GOLDFINGER.
ReplyDeleteThe soundtrack from The Big Chill is one that I like best!
ReplyDeleteMY first was GIGI and I owned THE BIG CHILL Once upon a time.
ReplyDeleteFor Playlist type:
ReplyDelete-Garden State
-Footloose (back in the day; not so much now)
For Original Music:
-Star Wars/Empire
-Last Crusade
-Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan
For Musicals:
-The Music Man
-Grease
-1776
-The Lion King
I should mention that A PERFECT WORLD was my introduction to Bob Wills.
ReplyDeleteScott, we still listen to The Music Man, 1776 and Grease (though the original off-Broadway recording rather than the movie).
ReplyDeleteJeff M.
All of these are such great choices. I still often miss the music completely in a movie. I came home from BOYHOOD and realized I had completely missed every piece of music. I think my brain has trouble processing story and music at the same time. Almost a disability.
ReplyDeleteSo much of soundtrack is background noise to me. A snippet of a pop song heard during a scene in a cafe will make a soundtrack album. Not many tunes are featured within the flick.
ReplyDeleteIt seems a studio will pony up a few bucks for a big name pop star as marketing and album sales. The song will have little or no impact within the movie.
Oh, I thought of one. STOP MAKING SENSE. Unless a concert film is a cop-out choice.
ReplyDeleteBasil Pouledouris "Conan the Barbarian" is a great soundtrack but then almost anything by Jerry Goldsmith ("The Thirteenth Warrior" is much better than the film) or Bernard Herrmann (the ones for Hitchcock movies or for Harryhausen movies) would be very good too.
ReplyDeleteLove STOP MAKING SENSE. The Herrmann
ReplyDeletemusic is just brilliant, isn't it? So captures the mood.
The soundtrack for BOYHOOD of which I heard nothing.
ReplyDelete1. Summer Noon - By Tweedy
2. Yellow - By Coldplay
3. Hate To Say I Told You So - By The Hives
4. Could We - By Cat Power
5. Do You Realize?? - By The Flaming Lips
6. Crazy - By Gnarls Barkley
7. One (Blake's Got A New Face) - By Vampire Weekend
8. Hate It Here - By Wilco
9. Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Leighton Meester) - By Cobra Starship
10. Beyond The Horizon - By Bob Dylan
11. Band On The Run - By Paul McCartney & Wings
12. She's Long Gone - By The Black Keys
13. Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra) - By Gotye
14. I'll Be Around - By Yo La Tengo
15. Hero - By Family of the Year
16. Deep Blue - By Arcade Fire
John Waters' original HAIRSPRAY has an excellent selection of oldies.
ReplyDeleteFor original music, John Carpenter's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 is amazingly ahead of its time. It's from 1976 but the score sounds like something Depeche Mode could have come with a full decade later. And Carpenter himself wrote and performed it all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l_BWZNQziw
Oh I forgot: THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.
ReplyDeleteMartin Scorsese and Spike Lee usually have very good music in their movies. I think immediately of Lee's use of "A Change is Gonna Come" at the end of MALCOLM X (though it was not on the soundtrack due to legal disputes).
ReplyDeleteJeff M.
I have never watched THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD but checked out the soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
ReplyDeleteWe drove from Kansas back to Wisconsin on Saturday. There were billboards in Missouri advertising Jesse James's birthplace. "Yeah," I said "come visit the birthplace of a murderer, terrorist, and robber."
Yes, they really pay attention to it , Anders.
ReplyDeleteGreat movie, Gerard"
GLADIATOR and BLACK HAWK DOWN in recent times.
ReplyDeleteChinatown: The score by the aforementioned Jerry Goldsmith (to me, his absolute best), along with great thirties standards like "I Can't Get Started."
ReplyDeleteClockwork Orange: Walter (later, Wendy) Carlos putting Beethoven and Byrd through a Moog synthesizer, along with novelty kitsch like "I Wanna Marry a Lighthouse Keeper."
American Graffiti.
ReplyDeleteOne I'd like to get it Richard Thompson's score for GRIZZLY MAN. The DVD had a brief extra about Thompson doing the score.
ReplyDeleteDo you remember when he sang with Linda?
ReplyDeleteI could watch that tonight. (AG)
EASY RIDER and THE GOOD THE UGLY
ReplyDeleteMay I suggest a Swedish movie? SVEN KLANG'S COMBO (1976). It's 1958 and Sven Klang's Quintet, an amateur band (a quartet, actually, but they had already printed the posters when one member left) playing dances in the deep south of Sweden, recruits a very accomplished jazz saxophonist whose obvious musical authority upsets the power balance in the band - otherwise led by the titular bass player Sven Klang, an utterly cynical give-the-people-what-they want type. Sven also happens to be one of the greatest bastards in cinema history. Hilarity ensues. This movie is the holy grail of every Swedish amateur musician over a certain age. Including me. The movie totally nails the experience.
ReplyDeleteWhat may have added to the realism is the fact that the actors really played their instruments in live takes.
But it does not stop there - a friend of mine once met the guy who played the piano player, who in turn told the story that director Stellan Olsson once met Clint Eastwood at a film festival, where Clint was to promote BIRD. According to source, Clint then claimed "Yeah, but the best film about jazz ever is SVEN KLANG'S COMBO".
Here's a scene from the first rehearsal with the new talent. The music starts at 0:40. Gotta love how the saxophonist asks for an A when he's tuning up - that's total realism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP7NERmz2_8
I bet my library doesn't have that one. But thanks for the clip.
ReplyDelete