**“One-Trick Pony” ** Paul Simon.
The album is wonderful, Simon’s last really good record (I found Graceland to be overrated and underwhelming).
The movie was seen by practically nobody, and is extremely difficult to find, both for good reason- it’s a painfully amateurish vanity project.
When I saw the title I immediately thought, “Magical Mystery Tour” which I’ve never actually seen. From the description and reviews I’ve read, though, Paul scripted it and the box office basically told him not to quit his day job. But, then again, the soundtrack sold like – well, another Beatles record!
But then, while I was browsing the responses to see if someone else had already mentioned my pick, I thought of an even worse movie/great soundtrack combination–and it’s the Beatles again: Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The original album is still often lauded today. On the other hand, the tribute movie (made for TV, perhaps…does it count?) full of tribute celebrities (the Bee Gees? Okay, they could sing; George Burns?!?) was pathetic!
–G!
Okay, the movie and the original album had a lot of different song sets but, as someone mentioned, the same was true for Men in Black.
Other way around. Magical Mystery Tour was made for British television (it’s only an hour long). Sgt. Pepper was a theatrical release. The soundtrack album, which was all cover versions, was horrible, with the exceptions of the Aerosmith (Come Together) and Earth, Wind, and Fire (Got to Get You Into My Life) songs.
While I didn’t think Magical Mystery Tour was as awful as most people say, it still isn’t very good.
I consciously avoided Sgt. Pepper, but I was subjected to the album all through junior high, as the album was kinda-sorta the Bee Gee’s follow up to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, and was beloved by junior high-age girls. That’s how I know how craptacular it is.
I’m glad I decided to do a search before starting a new thread.
I recently had discussions about both Magical Mystery Tour and Xanadu, both of which I thought of as horrible movies with great soundtracks.
So, to keep this from being a “me too” post, what’s another one…
I know! It’s actually one of my favorite movies, but I know a lot of people that think of it less than kindly: Fandango. It’s an early Kevin Costner film about a bunch of recent college graduates who take a last epic road trip in 1971 before they get married/join the army/escape before the draft board catches them. The soundtrack is a blend of late 60s/early 70s pop and rock songs with incidental music taken from Pat Metheny’s “As Falls Wichita…”
I remember enjoying “Fandango” when it was on cable not long after it’s release (I was about fifteen)…not sure if it holds up (musically or otherwise).
I’m surprised no one mentioned “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”. Some give the film a B+, others (like me) give it a C-, but very few would give the soundtrack anything lower than an A+. You could spend years enjoying each song and following its lead as a portal into some realm of American roots music.
I saw Heavy Metal, the cartoon, a couple months ago. It wasn’t great, but I still liked some of the songs.
Casino Royale
The 1960s one, of course. The instrumental title music by Herb Alpert was great (although the version they close with, sung by Mike Redway in a silly-ass British gentleman’s voice, was appalling. They didn’t even put it on the soundtrack album).
It also featured the Burt Bachrach/Hal David song “The Look of Love”, sung by Dusty Springfield.
There’s a lot of the bridging music I could do without, and it’s all Easy Listening heaven, but it was pretty good stuff. Much better than that mishmash of a movie deserved.
Hands down, Sliver.
If you’re talking bad movie to great soundtrack ratio, there’s no other choice. Massive Attack, Verve, Neneh Cherry, Heaven 17, Enigma, UB40, etc. just great.
Dances With Wolves was pretty awful-but the score was divine.
Cannibal Holocaust - vile, stupid film with the most lovely, sweet theme music. Don’t watch the film, but YouTube the soundtrack.
Mondo Cane – exploitation “documentary” from 1962. Never been on TV, cable, and I’ve never seen a video on sale (so I’ve never seen the film), but the theme song “More” was playing everywhere in the early 1960s, and was nominated for an Academy Award.
Some people apparently liked the film, since it was nominated for two foreign awards, including the Palm d"Or at Cannes. But it lost both times.
I like the I Am Sam soundtrack. It’s a collection of covers of Beatles songs, by various artists including Eddie Vedder, Sheryl Crow, The Wallflowers, Heather Nova, and more.
The movie was not so good.
Humbly disagree
“Trouble Man” was an even worse blaxploitation flick than Superfly, less successful etc. and the soundtrack was by Marvin Gaye. It was his next project after “What’s Going On” and it is the best soundtrack EVER.
Terry Giliam’s “Brazil”. The picture left me completely cold, but I listen to the soundtrack a lot.
Lifeforce, which has one of the greatest orchestral film scores ever written (by Henry Mancini).
The film has its points, but it’s mostly a mess. I would know; I’ve seen it at least ten times.
Labryrinth isn’t exactly an awful movie, but it was released during David Bowie’s worst musical period, and the soundtrack is a mostly a mixture of a honking 80s synth score and dire overproduced soulless empty Bowie songs. Except that buried in the dross there are As The World Falls Down and Within You, which are just beautiful stripped back songs and some of the best work he’d do that decade.
The Party Animal
Really, really bad movie. Soundtrack features Buzzcocks, Untouchables and others. Great stuff.
Iron Eagle, where a teenager learns to fly and steal combat aircraft from the Air Force so he can go save his dad from evil Middle Easterners, with the help of Lou Gossett.
The movie stank on ice, but I wore the soundtrack tape out, back in the day.
Get Carter, starring Sylvester Stallone. I liked the sound track, though I would not call it “great” just “good”.