# Bad movie: great soundtrack **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 27, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885 "2014-01-27T21:35:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/21 "2014-01-28T02:23:11Z")
In the words of Fox Mulder: \*\*Purple Rain \*\*- great album; deeply flawed movie. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/22 "2014-01-28T02:25:35Z")
_Velvet Goldmine_ sucked lumps as a movie, but the glam soundtrack was completely wonderful. Todd Haynes could simply have licensed a whole bunch of T.Rex and called it a day, but he took the far riskier approach of mixing original versions with modern covers and genre homages by the likes of Jarvis Cocker and Thom Yorke, and [pulled it off magnificently.](http://www.allmusic.com/album/velvet-goldmine-mw0000042234) ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/23 "2014-01-28T03:30:47Z")
Lost Boys - One of the best soundtracks ever. I second Streets of Fire - Even just for “I Can Dream About You” and “Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young”. Rush - forgettable movie, but had Clapton’s “Tears In Heaven”. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/24 "2014-01-28T04:21:28Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > _Velvet Goldmine_ sucked lumps as a movie, 😕 ☹ It’s not a favorite or anything, but I thought it was pretty good. I gotta stop reading this thread. > [@Penfeather](#): > > but the glam soundtrack was completely wonderful. Todd Haynes could simply have licensed a whole bunch of T.Rex and called it a day, but he took the far riskier approach of mixing original versions with modern covers and genre homages by the likes of Jarvis Cocker and Thom Yorke, and [pulled it off magnificently.](http://www.allmusic.com/album/velvet-goldmine-mw0000042234) Something we agree on! ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/25 "2014-01-28T19:32:54Z")
**Paul Blart: Mall Cop** ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/26 "2014-01-28T19:37:57Z")
Daft Punk’s soundtrack was hands-down the best thing about **Tron: Legacy**. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/27 "2014-01-28T20:13:06Z")
**With Honors** , the poor man’s Dead Poet Society where over-privileged rich kids struggle with the soul-crushing burden of submitting a term paper on time. The soundtrack is an eclectic mix of 90s alternative rock and old standards. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/28 "2014-01-28T20:44:49Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > Almost all the examples listed are song compilations, which is pretty easy to assemble even (or especially) for a crappy film. > > My vote goes to **Cutthroat Island** , as craptastic a pirate movie as you can imagine, with virtually no charm or excitement, despite plenty of heavy-lifting to achieve both. > > But John Debney’s score? Especially as realized on the album, where it’s not buried by explosions and Geena Davis talking? Absolutely brilliant, one of the best of the 90s and stands up well to the classic Korngold music from the same genre. One I listen to over and over and never get tired of it. Remarkable stuff, even though the movie it came from is truly horrible. I specifically said soundtrack not score. [This article](http://www.examiner.com/article/soundtracks-101-what-is-the-difference-between-a-soundtrack-and-a-score) describes the difference the way I understood it to be. Although I do understand there is overlap in the definitions. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/29 "2014-01-28T20:52:46Z")
[Jack Frost](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141109/combined). The main theme is so good that it’s on my iPod. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/30 "2014-01-28T21:58:47Z")
The original “Casino Royale”. Too many writers and directors, but the score/soundtrack by Burt Bacharach and Herb Alpert is the essence of groovy. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/31 "2014-01-28T22:25:31Z")
[The Rocky Horror Picture Show](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073629/?ref_=nv_sr_1). Bad movie, but the songs are classics. Add to that it’s companion [Shock Treatment](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083067/?ref_=nv_sr_1). Better songs, worse movie. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/32 "2014-01-28T22:29:36Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > The original “Casino Royale”. Too many writers and directors, but the score/soundtrack by Burt Bacharach and Herb Alpert is the essence of groovy. Well, that’s just wrong twice. The original Casino Royale was marked by the very absence of Burt Bacharach and Herb Alpert music. The second Casino Royale, which did contain BB and HA music, was a fun parody. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/33 "2014-01-28T22:48:17Z")
_Until The End Of The World_ was a silly little Wim Wenders movie from 1991 that was eminently forgettable, if not actually bad. But the soundtrack album is a classic, full of current artists attempting to write music that would sound vaguely futuristic. > **[David Darling, Talking Heads - Until The End Of The World: Music From The Motion...](https://www.amazon.com/Until-End-World-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B000002LQZ)** > > Product description Until the End of the World: Music From the Motion Picture Soundtrack Amazon.com This 1991 companion to German director Wim Wenders's film sets a high water mark for the intelligent use of cutting-edge... ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/34 "2014-01-28T23:11:11Z")
I liked the music in _Oblivion_, if slightly repetitive. I love me some Vangelis soundtracks more than the movies they belong to. _1942_ or _Alexander_ didn’t deserve him. But my main man as movie composers go is Hans Zimmer. Could Gore Verbinski stop ruining his wonderful music with crap movies, please? ---
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/35 "2014-01-28T23:11:43Z")
**Superfly** A dreadfully bad film, but Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack may have been the best album of 1972. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/36 "2014-01-28T23:28:39Z")
_FlashDance_ and _Flash Gordon_ ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/37 "2014-01-28T23:35:17Z")
Star Trek: The Motion Picture ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/38 "2014-01-28T23:46:41Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Well, that’s just wrong twice. The original Casino Royale was marked by the very absence of Burt Bacharach and Herb Alpert music. The second Casino Royale, which did contain BB and HA music, was a fun parody. Are you counting the Barry Nelson version as the first movie? That was a one hour episode of the TV show Climax! It wasn’t a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/39 "2014-01-28T23:51:34Z")
It’s not a bad movie (IMDB has it at 6.9 with 91k votes), but while John Milius’s [Conan the Barbarian](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082198/) was a fairly good movie, Basil Poledouris’s [Conan the Barbarian](http://www.amazon.com/Conan-The-Barbarian-Original-Soundtrack/dp/B0000014T1/) score is an absolutely terrific piece of work. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2014, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885/40 "2014-01-29T01:08:31Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Daft Punk’s soundtrack was hands-down the best thing about **Tron: Legacy**. True enough. On the other hand, it’s also the most disappointing thing about Tron: Legacy. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from the movie itself (the original was hardly a cinematic masterpiece to begin with), but I was expecting a lot more Daft Punk, and a lot less Generic Movie Score from Daft Punk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-movie-great-soundtrack/679885.md?page=3)