I Agree, when ever i think about songs being used in films my mind flies straight to Wes Anderson. I can’t listen to Ooh La La by the Faces anymore with out immediately thinking of the slow motion end of Rushmore. Also I really love the use of Cat Stevens in Harold and Maude.
Nice idea… Aimee Mann…… Wise Up in Magnolia. Heartstopping stuff.
Ah, musycks nice call. And with Paul Thomas Anderson you can’t forget Jesse’s Girl and the other songs played in the drug deal scene with Tom Jane near the end of Boogie Nights.
Since we’re giving props to Wes Anderson, I might as well pay tribute by mentioning how delightfully amazed I was when Iggy and the Stooges’ “Search and Destroy” broke out during the shoot-em-up scene in Life Aquatic. I never imagined as a teenager listening to that song back in the 70s that I would grow up to hear it coming at me as part of a movie soundtrack.
So many great Wes Anderson music moments, but I’m gonna switch gears and say “Yumeji’s Theme” from “In the Mood for Love” is pretty spectacular. Even though it gets played over and over again, it never loses its flavour.
Also, near the end of “Half Nelson”, when the girl sells drugs to her teacher (sorry for the spoiler), Broken Social Scene’s “Shampoo Suicide” is a complement to a pretty intense climax.
I was surprised and delighted when as a kid I heard “Singin’ in the Rain” in North by Northwest.
Agree. Wes’ choice of music, especially the way he applies songs from the seventies like Bowie, Stones, and the Kinks in dreamy, deadpan, slow-motions sequences, deserves applause.
At the top of my mind right now is Massive Attack, and two films that used it best was Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, and more recently Matteo Garrone’s Gomorra. Though Gomorra used it only for the end credits, it resonated the film’s essence even after one was done watching it.
Oh and if you’ve seen the French movie Dans Paris, you’ll appreciate the use of the song Flavor by Girls in Hawaii, an obscure Belgian band that I’ve grown to love after listening to this song.
I mentioned this in another thread, so apologies for the echo. The use of “When a Man Loves a Woman” in The Crying Game is Neil Jordan at his sly best. (“Stand by Your Man” also is on that soundtrack, no less of a smile.)
Only a movie with Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine could make such wonderful use of Basketball Jones (Being There).
That song in No Country For Old Men.
The use of The Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes” in Anh Hung Tran’s Vertical Ray of the Sun is stunning, it perfectly captures the mood and rhythm of the opening morning sequence as the brother and sister go about their everyday routines. Anh Hung’s use of Radiohead’s “Creep” in Cyclo is also very memorable.
And of course Altman’s profound use of Leonard Cohen’s “Sisters of Mercy”, “The Stranger Song” and “Winter Lady” in McCabe & Mrs. Miller is so sublimely intrinsic it feels like they were composed for the film!
I’ll also add Simon and Garfunkel in “The Graduate”. I love that movie. And a nod to teen angst with Peter Gabriel (In Your Eyes) in “Say Anything” and Simple Minds (Don’t You Forget About Me) in “The Breakfast Club”.
The Spanish interpretation of ‘Crying’ in Mulholland Drive was haunting (and I love the use of ’I’ve Told Every Little Star’).
Actually David Lynch is a master of placing songs in his films. And I’ll echo the praise for Wes Anderson…
‘Lovely Head’ being used as a motif throughout My Summer of Love was magic too.
oh i didnt even think about basketball jones in being there haha. i love love love that movie, i watch it every 2 or 3 years and every time i watch it i like it more.
Randell, you like to watch, don’t you?
“Need In the Hay” by Elliott Smith in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS… heartbreaking.
i see that they are re-releasing being there in feb i think. hopefully they give some goodies with it because the dvd i have is pretty bare bones
Needle in the Hay. I agree. Never heard of Elliot Smith before RT. He’s interesting.
I know this example is slightly cheating but I get goosebumps when ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ begins as Sam Riley walks down the street in Control. And even more so when ‘Atmosphere’ kicks in at the end.
Elliot Smith rose to fame doing a brace of songs for ‘Good Will Hunting’…… the album after that XO is great and the follow up ‘Figure 8’ is lovely too….. but major label pressure and success never sat easily with him and he sadly committed suicide a couple of years back…
The opening scene of Trainspotting anyone?
I did see Good Will Hunting later on. He was great in that too. Suicide? Thanks Musycks, i’m going to the fridge for another beer, need to blunt that post.
(DCR: -
I watched Control with my parents of all people; when Atmosphere played at the end I was close to tears and my mother says “good, he deserved to die, he was a bastard.” How great is that.
I’m gonna get the poster block-mounted to join Scarlett and Kurts when I can figure out how to get more wall space.)
I definitely had tears in my eyes. It’s such a moving scene, especially since they’re one of my favourite bands.
But I digress.
To me Martin Scorsese uses popular music the best in his films, Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love in Goodfellas or the Rolling Stones Jumpin’ Jack Flash in Mean Streets comes to mind. But I wholeheartedly agree with Wes Anderson’s use of Cat Stevens, Velvet Underground, The Who, etc. in his films. Amazing. You can never listen to those songs and not think about his films. In Rushmore, when Jason Schwartzman comes out of the elevator after putting bees in Bill Murray’s hotel room as the Whos’ A Quick One While He’s Away plays is unforgettable.
Just a bit off topic since Peter Sellers has been mentioned ( oh yeah, that was me ) has anybody seen The Mouse That Roared? Just added it to my netflix list, i’ve always wanted to see it. Good? Bad? Just OK? It’s gotta be good, right?
Not exactly Top 40, but here’s one from the duplication/communication songbook: those five notes that open up a dialogue with the mother ship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Randell L Crouch
i find that when you hear a song in a film that fits the mood perfectly it can make you hear it with new ears, and it can also make a scene unforgettable. a few that come to mind are:
the doors – the end. apocalypse now
stuck in the middle with you – steelers wheel. reservoir dogs
any rolling stones in a scorsese film
and i think the thing that makes alot of wes andersons films is the music. like the use of where do you go to my lovely by peter sarstedt in the short film before the darjeeling limited