all the sergio leone movies have fantastic music. i loved the music in “there will be blood”. also mulholland drive and blue velvet had great music as well.
Well of course 2001, but David Lynch also does a great job with scores and soundtracks in his movies.
1. 8½
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
2. Star Wars Saga
3. Rock ‘n Roll High School
4. King Kong (’33)
5. Gojira
5 – The orchestrated brilliance during the last scene of Seven
4 – The entire soundtrack to The Mission
3 – Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, the score to The Proposition
2 – The insanely awsome guitar riff as the Crazy 88 are introduced for the first time in Kill Bill
1 – Bibo No Aozora by Ryuichi Sakamoto, the theme to Babel
In Kikujiro no natsu when Masao runs across the bridge over Hisaishi’s Summer. Hearthwarming
I’d quote the last comment, beautiful use of music.
The childrens song in naked kiss…..
“where has the blue bird of happiness gone?”
Also
(i know this is tradiational) as time goes by, and the germans getting out sung in casablanca.
all of hustle and flow, especially the church scene, where tears up to the gospel choir.
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid w. soundtrack by Bob Dylan. When Slim Pickens gets shot, knows his wound is mortal, and walks off into the Western landscape to “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”
Elevator to the Gallows with scenes of forlorn Jeanne Moreau walking the dark, rainswept Paris streets to the Miles Davis soundtrack.
Once Upon a Time in The West. Morricone scored the film before it was shot. All the main characters have a song of their own.
I didn’t want to start another thread in case another existed but would anyone happen to know the music used in Godard’s short Je Vous Salue, Sarajevo? All I know is that it’s by Arvo Part, but that’s it.
Undoubtedly there are many excellent film scores which brilliantly complement the films they where written for but it is far more common (especially today) for films to be overly saturated in music. Often it is most likely there to compensate for poor direction or bad writing or acting, as the music in a film is often our cue to respond emotionally at a given moment. Sometimes this can seem oppressive. Some of my favorite directors use very little or no music throughout, like Bresson, Antonioni, or Tarkovsky. These examples all use music of course and in varying degrees, but because it is used in their films so rarely ( or strategically ), the emotional payoff is much more rewarding and memorable when it is used.
ALL of the Gershwin music in Manhattan was perfect
Just rewatched EXCALIBUR for the first time in a decade. Quite bad. But the Wagner bit from “Sigfried’s Funeral March” is incredible, and repeatedly used really well. Boorman also uses a version of Beethoven’s 7th recorded specifically for ZARDOZ in its opening, and it’s just perfect. His use of the ubiquitous and overused opening to Carmina Burana is pretty good in EXCALIBUR too, but I have to say Pasolini’s use of a lesser known cut from the Orff at the culminating scene of SALO is chilling.
Liked the Arvo Part in THERE WILL BE BLOOD and Tykwer’s WINTER SLEEPERS too (ripped off by Horner for SNEAKERS)…don’t know anything about the music used for Godard’s excellent Sarajevo short, but the imdb entry says its original music, which could definitely be true.
well, well, did anyone notice the music that wraps the loveliest images from marker’s la jetee? trevor duncan composition is just a piece of art. but what to say about the almost complete ecm records cataloge use at godard’s histoire(s) du cinéma? there you have two landmarks of music in films; joy through the ears!
I collect film music, so Morricone and others are already on my list….
Hans Zimmer’s work in “The Thin Red Line” is haunting, including the islander choir doing the hymn.
One score that got buried with its film is David Mansfield’s work for “Heaven’s Gate.” I know I have mentioned it before, but it is hard to top for sheer melodic joy, and it complements the film beautifully.
Gustavo Santaolallo’s writing for “Brokeback Mountain” is sparse and spacious, contrasted with some songs that fit the mood just right.
And finally, from another big-budget bomb from another era, the music for “Custer of the West” by Bernardo Segall has an incredibly simple, and incredibly beautiful love theme. That theme was responsible for me hunting down the LP of that score for 20 years, until I got it in 2007. It has never been re-issued on CD.
Correction.
“Custer” appears to have been issued on CD somewhere….here we go again…..
An obligued reference regarding astounding use of music in films is of course Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko. No doubt it is a a great story, but it would’nt be as big without it’s music. All its best scenes play a great song; Echo and the Bunnymen, Tears for Fears, Joy Division… I can’t imagine Donnie Darko without it’s outstanding ST.
Another example of great use of music in movies is The Mothman Profecies. The score featuring Low, Tomandandy and King Black Acid is absolutely perfect for the obscure, misterious and somehow creepy ambient the movie requires. It is one of my favourite all-time soundracks.
@Valeria: another amazing example is the track used in the movie theater scene (“For Whom the Bell Tolls”…at least in the original cut) which was not composed originally for the film and never released domestically on any version of the soundtrack. I remember that use of music sticking with me for so much longer than anything in the movie (not to disparage the movie which I like) to the point that it became representative of the film for me. I was shocked to find that the cue wasn’t original and composed specifically for the film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZS9h3ALfA
double trouble
I think Wong Kar Wai’s 2046 has awesome music to accompany those slow-mo shots. And I also agree that Sofia Coppola’s use of songs in her movies is very inspired.
The Piano
McCabe & Mrs Miller
All About My Mother — especially the train scene, near the beginning, when she’s going to Barcelona and “Tajabone” is playing…amazing.
Half of why I love Blade Runner is the music.
today i listened to eleni karaindrou’s score to eternity & one day (angelopoulos), it’s great!
The kid’s operesque singing during The Cook,The Thief,His Wife and Her Lover still haunts.I also love the use of Rammestein’s Mein Herz Brennt in the Lilya 4-Ever and Jess Franco’s sarcastic melanges in Venus in Fur and Vampiros Lesbos.
Jim Jarmusch,Wes Anderson and P.T. Anderson have excellent taste in music,and they showcase it in their films.Aimee Mann’s Save Me is great in Magnolia,so is practically any song in The Royal Tenenbaums and Coffee and Cigarettes,Dead Man or even Broken Flowers.
I’m not a big fan of scores,even though I would say my favorite composers are somewhere between Philipp Glass and Yann Tiersen.I find the whole John Williams-Danny Elfman-Ennio Morricone style to be quite annoying at times.Air were great when composing the less interesting movie of Sofia Coppola, The Virgin Suicides.Godard used excellent music in Contempt and Made in the U.S.A. while Rivette made history with the score of his La Belle Noiseuse or Va Savoir.I also love Carlos Reygadas’ and Stanley Kubrick’s classical use of music.
Any Kubrick, everything by greenaway with nyman and mertens…pickpocket by bresson and Angelopoulos melancholic melodies and Badalamenti and Lynch..
Harold and Maude,
Stealing Beauty…too many to remember
>.would anyone happen to know the music used in Godard’s short Je Vous Salue, Sarajevo? All I know is that it’s by Arvo Part, but that’s it.<<
It appears to be music composed specifically for the film. In checking IMDb I find that apparently Part has done more than a few film scores; I was unaware of that – I thought he only composed for the concert hall.
Stealing Beauty,
Harold and Maude
Daniel A
One of my all time favorite films has been James Bond: A View To A Kill for several reasons. The first Tanya Roberts, the second Christopher Walken, The third and most important (to me is) John Barry and Duran Duran. Yes this film has it’s flaws but the more I watched it the more I realized it’s the soundtrack that drew me to it more than anything and in many cases carries the film or patches it up. I even purchased the soundtrack and play it often to pump me up before my shoots. This particular Bond score signified the ending of an era being that it was to be Roger Moore’s final of the series. I remember reading somewhere that they wanted to bid him farewell on a grand scale and the soundtrack certainly reflects that.