Movie Scenes and Music
 

There is a point when music and movie scenes/images create an unforgettable symbiotic relationship and it is actually very rare when it works but when it does then it really works.


There is no dialogue at all. The music HAS to drive the narrative and this just works brilliantly.

French chic. Both whimsical and fantastical.

Yes you have all seen it a million times and I am not a big Tarantino film but he nailed it in this scene. Tenfold.

Oasis have never sounded any cooler.

I totally agree. I actually never realized that was Oasis, but that scene it without exaggeration one of absolute favorites in any movie ever. The way the film and music fit together is utterly perfect.

God I love that movie. I may have to put that one on tonight. :)

Here's another one of my favorites, from Repo Man. This song, "Reel Ten" by the Plugz, is so haunting and beautiful and just fits the scene so well. Unfortunately the very beginning and very end are cut off in this video but you get the idea.

I loved this scene so much and I thought it was a great ending....ty Clint Mansell

The best part is when it picks up as soon as he pulls the plugs at the same time.

If we're speaking reservoir dogs. Hilarious scene:



My first taste of Ligeti ever, later became one of my favorite compositions:

Exactly the same for me :)

Speaking of Kubrick, he successfully married scenes with great music from several composers, Krzysztof Penderecki, Bela Bartok, the already mentioned Ligeti, in The Shining.

Here's the beginning of Penderecki's Polymorphia that greatly enhanced this scene already full of tension

^I think this composition is also used in Exorcist, but I can't remember in what scene exactly. I'll have to look for it.

Béla Bartók

How can I not include this?

Absolutely stunning.

Simple but effective.

Another absolutely classic example:



and I'm not even that big into The Doors.

This is open to your own interpretation to whatever the scene makes you feel. Or you might not like it at all.

all of these are great examples!

here are a couple that really stick out for me


i could not imagine the opening of The Outsiders without the brilliance of Van Morrison in the background....the song just creates the felling of pure badness....still to this day when i hear the original or any of the covers i think of Dallas Winston and just how much he hates kids


the opening "music" that Tobe Hooper produced for his film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre....is freaking scary...its just that simple....mixed with the sounds and the flashbulb images....it stands alone....i had the pleasure of getting to see this on the big screen a few years ago....and during the opening credits you could of heard a pin drop


i think one of the main reasons that Suspiria is such a cult classic is because of the amazing score by Goblin....the entire thing is just amazing....this is the first 8 or so minutes of the movie.....pay attention to right around 6:55....the music with the image of the women running through the forest is perfect horror

Couple scenes ringing true to this threads intent above.. Heres another example of how music when least expected can have means of changing a mood in an instant. One of the best examples of music capturing a scene... In lieu of sticking around after a status fight of importance with his band. The lead guitar player takes up with some locals and enjoys his acid beer crazed behavior into the wee hours of the morning. Befor being tracked down by his friend and manager and returning(against his will) to finish their tour. Arriving on a bus of intense resentment..they seem to all find therapeutic aid in an Elton John classic..Tiny Dancer...Enjoy

Jackhammer, a movie moment like that for me is the "Bright Eyes" song and scene in the movie "Watership Down."

I've been thinking about eyes today, and when I think of eyes this scene and song always occur to me.

I've been humming the "Bright Eyes" song off and on now for around 20 years since I first saw the movie "Watership Down" in 1987 while I stayed at the lovely cottage of some family friends who lived just north of London. They had the movie "Watership Down," which I'd never seen before. I ended up watching the video around 5 times while I was there, often deep into the night. I guess it struck a chord in me.

(My other memory of this time was that their son, home from university, came and sat with me on the sofa for a moment to try to snog, and he stuck his tongue in my ear, which surprised me because his tongue felt very big and wet and cold!) But back to the movie... :p:

I had just decided to finally become vegetarian, which I had wanted to do since I was a little child, and so I think the movie's theme of death, valuing life, and the cruelty of Man, as shown through the lives of anthropomorphised rabbits, resonated with me.

My favorite scene/song in the movie is the following, where the deeply sad thought of a particular individual's life and loss merge with hopefulness that death isn't an end (which I have always felt was a sweet hope, even if it is just a hope):

"Bright Eyes" - from Watership Down:



"Bright Eyes" - the music by itself (very pretty):

Love the song, love the movie. Great scene.

I don't know why this thing isn't loading. You just put the link between , right?

There ya go. You just put everything in after the "=".

I'm in full support of that scene from Snatch.

Not sure why I love this scene so much. I just do. This movie had an awesome soundtrack, both for the original score and the way cool 80's songs they used.


The Dude abides. There's a similar scene where Man in Me by Bob Dylan plays too which is great.


Zombies + Queen = Awesome?


You can hate the song now for being by far the most overplayed, but this created a chilling ending scene.

Well, it's hilarious, but here's what happens when you have really good music to a really bad movie, and really poorly placed in:





Yes... This is very VERY real.

MBV's Sometimes in Lost In Translation feels like such an appropriate song for the whole movie. It just fits so well.

I totally agree. That movie and that song make my heart hurt in a weird nostalgic way and the way they fit together is perfect.

I think I'm going to have to watch that movie again soon. It's been a while.

Like some of you have posted already Taratino is really great with marrying scenes with music.




I tried to find the scene where this song was played but I wasn't having much luck


I love when across 110th street is used in movies it was also used very well in American Gangster.

I think the more memorable one in Pulp Fiction is:

A magical Italian tandem: Sergio Leone (director) and Ennio Morricone (composer). Spaghetti westerns could be briefly defined as "like an Ingmar Bergman's movie, but dirty".

Joking aside, this scene is simply wonderful:

meh it's more memorable to you but to me the dancing scene is pretty damn memorable.

This was playing in 127 hours when James Franco was desperately trying to free himself from under the rock. It was really memorable for me for some reason. Don't have a video of the scene though.

He wasn't doing this **** in Quantum Leap.

Here's a couple of my favorites off the top of my head. Really romantic, nostalgic pieces that work perfectly for the movie.

^I love the whole Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack. Even without the movie it's still a great collection of music.

Definitely. In fact, all of Wes Anderson movies have excellent soundtracks. He really knows how to pick music for his films.

A few more:

The end scene to "Fight Club" with "Where is my Mind" by the Pixies. Always thought of it as a rather creepy song and it only enhances the scene.



The music used in the backround of this scene from Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain only enhances the madness of it.


And of course all the old John Hughes films (Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off).

Starts about a minute in.

I absolutely adore the 're-imagining' of the film version of Stenislaw Lem's original novel and the use of music, lenses and editing is superbly realised here without the use of any dialogue.

The music drives the whole scene and although your disposition is constantly questioned here; unless you are aware of it, you readily accept the marriage of audio and visual.

It is immediately apparent that Soderbergh loves music as much as film.



Awesome soundtrack.

Apocalypse Now Track
 

The scene where they jump of the boat, go into the trenches, and there is an African American guy playing an awesome guitar track on an old tape/cassette deck . Can ANYONE please tell me WHO it is?? Where I can get it ?? or WHERE I can find crazy/psychedelic guitar like that. I've got the usual Hendrix/Trower/Floyd music. I know It aint any of them !

this one sticks in my mind the most:-

I was re-watching The Stand, and immediately remembered this thread's existence and had to dig it up. The reason?



"Don't Fear the Reaper" works so flawlessly in the opening of this mini-series (I still pretty much count it as a really long movie in several parts) and I love it. I'd actually forgotten how much I love the opening.

There is music (I could not find it anymore on youtube) playing in a Cat's Eye scene where the Dad is on the freeway rolling to a stop while the bridge draws back down. I loved it so much I rewound it to where it began and ended dozens of times over the years. I found it was composed by Alan Silvestri.

The soundtrack to a film is as important as cinematography, editing, good writing, acting, etc. It really pains me when the soundtrack lets down the film and translates the wrong mood. The most recent example among films I've seen is Shotgun Stories. Fantastic acting from several of the actors, great tension, character development, and pacing. However, the film's central theme doesn't quite match the sobriety and drastic measures of the blood feud. Here it is:



The strings are nice and somber, but something about that guitar playing just pulled me out of the world of the film. Not to mention that it's the same song for the whole film. Another example I can think of is the overuse of Neil Young's guitar noodling on Dead Man, another similarly good film with a poor soundtrack. Well not so much poor as it is inappropriate, although it is more appropriate for Dead Man's soundtrack given that it's a Western. I think my beef with Dead Man's music is that I'm not a fan of it in general, so maybe that's where my real problem rests.