The end of The West Wing episode In Excelsis Deo.
Absolutly.
Two directors that to me stand out on using songs in films are Cameron Crowe and Quentin Tarentino. Crowe uses familar songs and Quentin seems to come up with the coolest song you never heard.
Tiny Dancer in Almost Famous
Free Falling in Jerry Maguire
Teenage Wedding in Pulp Fiction
the 5 6 7 8’s song in Kill Bill
Heart and Soul and Chopsticks in Big
All of the music used in In the Mood For Love was spot-on. In addition to the main theme, don’t forget the use of Nat King Cole’s “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas.” I never buy movie soundtracks but I had to get this one. I can’t say enough about it.
I know it was used in Forrest Gump, but it’s probably been in others as well.
Does “Holding Out for a Hero” in Shrek 2 count as specially scored for the movie? If not, I’d like to nominate that sequence 
As for original scores, nothing beats the Asteroid Chase from Empire Strikes Back. The Obi-Wan Vs. Anakin sequence in Revenge of the Sith comes darned close though.
Gotta agree with the Good Bad and the Ugly nomination for Exctacy of Gold, with Tuco running through the graveyard past untold numbers of graves, trying to find the one particular grave that has the gold he’s been looking for through most of the movie.
Also, if I could nominate a computer game, Homeworld’s use of Adiago for Strings (IIRC) was spot-on during the black box sequence showing the fall of the planet’s defenses towards the beginning of the game.
Pretty much anything scored by Morricone has got to be up there; I’d go with all of “Once Upon a Time in the West”. The character-based themes are just outstanding, and the variations fit perfectly with the flow of the movie. If I had to pick a scene, it’d be the very end, Cheyenne’s death scene; the way his theme gradually slows down, becomes intermittent and stops is just brilliantly done. Damn, I love that movie.
Just remembered – Tangerine Dream’s soundtrack for Sorcerer was absolutely badaaaasss.
Cat Stevens Trouble in between the hospital & car scenes.
We’ll Meet Again in Doctor Strangelove
And, in the I can’t believe I’m the first to mention it category- the opening and most every other scene of A Clockwork Orange
also the use of Tears for Fears Head Over Heels in Donnie Darko’s High School!
I’d forgotten about that! I love it when visuals can make an innocent song seem rather sinister.
Speaking of Kubrick, how about the William Tell Overture over the sex scene in A Clockwork Orange.
“Perfect Day” by Lou Reed in Trainspotting.
Roger Ebert said that it sounded like a man dropping his guitar over and over again, but I’ll say that Neil Young’s score for Dead Man is spot-on perfect.
A lot of my favs have already been mentioned but the best IMO has not.
A documentary called One Day in September about the hostage situation at the 1972 Munich Olympics ends with a montage of images of the aftermath. Each cut is linked to the soundtrack which is the strong powerful guitar riff from Child in Time by Deep Purple.
Very moving.
Not in a film but I think it deserves a mention.
The most moving thing I’ve ever seem in my life was during LiveAid. Bowie cut his performance down by one song so a video made by CBC TELEVISION in Canada of dying and dead mothers and children in Ethiopia with Drive by the Cars playing in the background.
I have never been able to view this without ended up in a mess. Everyone I know was destroyed by that tape. When it was shown during the UK concert they made more money just after it that at any other point that day.
I’m nearly crying now just because this post has made me remember some of the images in that video.
I can’t hear the William Tell Overture without visualizing that scene from Clockwork Orange.
Likewise, Bobby Darin’s Beyond the Sea always reminds me of that X Files episode where the bad guy claims to be a medium between Scully and her dead father. Gives me shivers every time.
Thought of another one.
In Risky Business: Tom Cruise taking out his dad’s Porsche while Jeff Beck’s “The Pump” plays in the background.
The song starts when he starts the car, but the car stalls and the music stops. Then he starts it again and the song starts over.
Also, Tangerine Dream’s “Love On A Real Train” during the sex on the subway.
In addition to many of the others that have already been mentioned here:
The use of Mozart’s music in Amadeus is absolutely brilliant, I think. The music they chose to use (and they had a lot to choose from) matches the emotion in the movie perfectly. Or is it the other way around?
More recently, I loved the party scene in Garden State when Zero 7’s “In the Waiting Line” is playing.
A candy colored clown they call the sandman
tip-toes through my window every night
just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper
go to sleep
everything
is all right
In Dreams in the movie Blue Velvet.
AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! Thanks for giving me the willies for the rest of the day!!! :eek:
Can’t believe no one has mentioned “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin” - Rolling Stones, over the opening scene of “Blow.” If you have a big screen and nice surround sound, put the blu ray in, turn it up loud, sit in the middle of the room, and it will show you its greatness.
Ditto on Zero 7’s “In the Waiting Line” In Garden State. There is also a song in The Girl Next Door during the scene where he attends the award ceremony on X that really goes great together. Finally, many of the songs in Into the Wild qualify - can’t really pick a favorite scene/song there.
Fuckin in the Bushes by Oasis playing during the fight at the end of Snatch