# Best film soundtrack? (Or, YOUR favorite film soundtrack?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254 "2006-04-26T04:47:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/1 "2006-04-26T04:47:53Z")
The soundtrack is a very very important part of a movie. Many directors are well known for their use of music, and in different ways - Scorsese for contemporary period pop music, Tarantino for eclectic and hip tunes, George Lucas for orchestral works, and the whole indie-but-mainstream genre of today (Garden State comes to mind) with its indie music. And everyone has a favorite soundtrack. For me, it’d have to be the soundtrack to **Me, Myself and Irene.** Besides being a hilarious movie set in a very beautiful part of America, this movie has got to have one of the best soundtracks ever. _Hem of your Garment_ by Cake, _Can’t Find The Time To Tell You_ by Orpheus being covered by Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish, _I’d Like That_ by XTC, a few really amazing Steely Dan covers (_Razor Boy_ for one), many more. This soundtrack does such a good job of pulling you into that movie and corresponds so well with the various locations and situations. Really, if you haven’t seen that movie, you should see it just for the soundtrack. Really, really incredible. I’m curious to hear from you all about what soundtracks you think are the best. Chime in, please! ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/2 "2006-04-26T04:52:36Z")
My favorite soundtrack is _The Glenn Miller Story_. I saw this movie and we had the album many years before I heard any actual Glenn Miller music. When I heard the “real” versions, I remember being disappointed that they weren’t as good! I know that’s probably heresy, but if you know this movie, you know that they did a helluva job recreating the Miller sound with different players. I also learned that the charts were arranged by a very young Henry Mancini. Now, if I could only lay my hands on a copy of the soundtrack on CD. It’s very hard to find, and has been out of print for years. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/3 "2006-04-26T05:13:08Z")
Hey! That was one of my best yard sale finds! I got the Glen Miller soundtrack, on a 78 sized 33 (if that makes sense) for $ .25! I love that movie. My other votes go to _Grease_ and _American Graffitti_. ---
**Author:** ![stargazerlily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@stargazerlily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazerlily)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/4 "2006-04-26T05:28:45Z")
I am somewhat timid to say this but one of my favorite soundtracks is The Bodyguard, whitney just owns the songs. I also love the Singles soundtrack, Lion King, Pretty in Pink Almost famous and I am Sam ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/5 "2006-04-26T06:32:40Z")
Instrumental: Any of the Lord of the Rings movies. Vocals: The Wedding Singer, with Adam Sandler. 80s heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/6 "2006-04-26T07:00:48Z")
Some of my favorites: • Bernard Herrmann’s all-string score for _Psycho_. Herrmann found the bare sound of the strings to be the music equivalent of black and white. • Elmer Bernstein’s score for _To Kill a Mockingbird_. The title theme goes from a simple, child-like melody, to a swell of remembered emotion, to a tender, serene conclusion. • Nelson Riddle’s Oscar-winning score for _The Great Gatsby_, combining vintage 1920s pop music with a melancholy sense of loss. • Gato Barbieri’s jazz score for _Last Tango in Paris_. It heats up the screen even when the sex doesn’t. • Bernard Herrmann’s score for _Taxi Driver_. The jazz parts reflect harried Manhattan life, while the solemn, martial title theme is the sound of an army of one. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/7 "2006-04-26T07:01:13Z")
Instrumental - The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Vocals - Garden State. The strange thing about this one is that I’m not a huge fan of any of the songs in the movie individually but they work pretty darn well in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/8 "2006-04-26T12:54:45Z")
I love Bernard Hermann, and especially the music for **The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad**. I’ve got the soundtrack. My all-time favorite opening is James Horner’s score for **The Rocketeer** (but only the opening and the score for the Rocketeeer’s “debut”). evidently Disney felt the same way – they recycled that score for a lot of other movie trailers. In musicals, my favorite is **1776** , with music (as from the Broadway play) by Sherman Edwards. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/9 "2006-04-26T12:58:00Z")
For some reason I really love the _Dumb and Dumber_ soundtrack. As far as scores go, there are way too many to list, but I always feel _Jurassic Park_ was one of the most successful scores in evoking the size and feeling of its subject matter. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/10 "2006-04-26T13:07:22Z")
**Rushmore** **The Big Lebowski** **Pulp Fiction** And: **The Graduate** ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/11 "2006-04-26T13:37:36Z")
Back around 1971 there was this obscure little film called _Zacariah._ It was an “electric western,” a comedy set in the Old West, but featuring the likes of the James Gang, the New York Rock n’ Roll Ensemble, Doug Kershaw, and Country Joe and the Fish. It was partly written by the Firesign Theater, who later disowned the film–and for good reason. It wasn’t very good. The flick was meant to appeal to the counterculture crowd of the time–an interesting, but failed, experiment. Supposedly a re-telling of Hesse’s _Siddhartha,_ It’s somewhat interesting as an artifact of the times, but not as a film. The soundtrack, though, was first rate. Several tunes by the James Gang and Country Joe on that album simply weren’t available anywhere else for a very long time, and there was some very nice incidental music by Jimmie Haskell. The LP, long out of print and never released on CD (or even cassette IIRC) is still something of a collector’s item. Long ago, I taped my scratchy, worn-out copy, and later lost the LP in an apartment fire. I now have a CD made from a cassette recorded on a cheap compact stereo using a scratchy, worn-out LP. And somehow this CD regularly turns up on my play list several times a year. It’s one of only two soundtracks that I own. The other is Wendy Carlos’s versions of the \*Clockwork Orange \* soundtrack, featuring the unedited, uncut recordings of the music she wrote for the film. Same story here: CD made from cassete recorded on a cheap compact stereo from a scratchy, worn-out LP, original LP lost in the same apartment fire, and yet the CD keeps turning up on my stereo regularly. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/12 "2006-04-26T13:40:54Z")
How is **Empire Strikes Back** not on this list yet? Philistines! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/13 "2006-04-26T13:57:39Z")
**On the Waterfront**. Score by Leonard Bernstein, and one of the very few examples of music written for a movie that stands well on its own as a concert piece. This could be because it was in fact originally conceived as a concert piece … ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/14 "2006-04-26T14:27:15Z")
For best soundtrack I think that **Last of the Mohicans** can contend with any other. **The Firm** has a pretty good soundtrack/score too. My personal favorites are **The Crow** , **Resident Evil** and **Singles**. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/15 "2006-04-26T14:42:48Z")
My favorite score is **The Taking of Pelham 123**. The first time I saw the movie (just last year), I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I also love much of Lalo Schifrin’s work from the 70s, including **Dirty Harry**. My favorite soundtracks would include **The Saint** , **Pulp Fiction** , and **Boogie Nights**. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/16 "2006-04-26T14:49:12Z")
I forgot to mention **Harold and Maude** ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/17 "2006-04-26T15:00:24Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > My favorite score is **The Taking of Pelham 123**. The first time I saw the movie (just last year), I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. > > \*\*. Are you talking about the first version with Walter Matthau or the second version with Vincent D’Onofrio? I don’t recall that the Matthau version had any music on the soundtrack … ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/18 "2006-04-26T15:02:43Z")
Oh, just remembered, **The Animatrix** is actually my number one soundtrack. Amazing mellow electronica. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/19 "2006-04-26T15:49:28Z")
The only soundtracks I own are **The Crow** , **Pulp Fiction** and **Trainspotting**. I really like them all! ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254/20 "2006-04-26T16:39:16Z")
Pulp Fiction (pretty much overdosed on this in high school) The Crow (I’m rarely in the mood for industrial rock anymore but when I am…) Me and You and Everyone We Know- (great experimental electonic ambient music with a great track from Spiritualized) Kill Bill vol1 (really fantastic mix) Hedwig and the Angry Itch (other than odd song order this just top notch.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-film-soundtrack-or-your-favorite-film-soundtrack/354254.md?page=2)