# Best/most enduring movie soundtrack?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 19, 2006, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620 "2006-01-19T05:14:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/1 "2006-01-19T05:14:47Z")
I was plowing through some old CDs tonight and came across Purple Rain and I got to thinking, I don’t think there is another soundtrack that is as timeless as that one. Sure there are soundtracks that may have a few bigger songs or sold more copies but I don’t think any soundtrack has been as musically successful as PR.
For the record I am a hardcore metal guy but this CD still ownz. It trancends alot of musical boundaries.
Any soundtracks that can top Purple Rain as “Most Awsome/Lasting?”
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/2 "2006-01-19T05:17:13Z")
_The Mission_
_The Piano_
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/3 "2006-01-19T05:17:42Z")
> [@Stinkpalm](#):
>
> Any soundtracks that can top Purple Rain as “Most Awsome/Lasting?”
I would probably go for American Graffitti - it’s like the Greatest Hits of Oldies.
- Peter Wiggen
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### Author:  [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/4 "2006-01-19T05:27:34Z")
_Repo Man_.
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### Author:  [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/5 "2006-01-19T05:53:31Z")
I think _A Hard Day’s Night_ and _Help!_ would qualify, though both contained half-an-album’s worth of songs each not included in the films, so maybe they wouldn’t count.
As far as **Prince** goes, I actually prefer _Parade_, which was also ostensibly a soundtrack to his crappy film _Under the Cherry Moon_, although again, I think it may have contained songs not included in the film (and there’s no way I’m going to re-watch that piece of shit to be sure).
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### Author:  [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/6 "2006-01-19T05:55:19Z")
Oh, and the most obvious other example I can think of is _The Wall_ - though I can’t stand **Pink Floyd** , I’m sure their fans would agree.
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### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/7 "2006-01-19T06:09:51Z")
_Star Wars_?
Or any number of Disney movie soundtracks…
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/8 "2006-01-19T06:28:05Z")
_The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly_.
Greatest soundtrack of all time.
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### Author:  [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/9 "2006-01-19T06:29:56Z")
> [@PeterWiggen](#):
>
> I would probably go for American Graffitti - it’s like the Greatest Hits of Oldies.
>
> - Peter Wiggen
I’ll see that, and raise you…
_Hollywood Knights_
and
_Animal House_
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### Author:  [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/10 "2006-01-19T14:30:31Z")
After 31 years, I still listen to and love the soundtrack from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Grease stands up pretty well , too, as does Risky Business.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/11 "2006-01-19T14:49:21Z")
**Pretty in Pink** and **Boogie Nights** are great compilations, while the **Mean Creek** and second **Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet** soundtracks are beautiful (mostly) instrumental albums. I’ve got an LP of **Porky’s** somewhere but it’s just for show.
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### Author:  [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/12 "2006-01-19T18:56:46Z")
> [@Cunctator](#):
>
> _The Mission_
> _The Piano_
I have had occasion to notice that **Cunctator** and I share similar tastes in music, but this post made me smile. I have both of these film scores on my PC at work.
Some other favorites -
_Chariots of Fire_: Adding a synthesizer score to a period picture is a trend that has not fared well in the film industry, and probably for the better. Anything short of Vangelis’ genius has a tendency to sound as if the producers didn’t want to shell out the bucks to pay an orchestra. But this score will forever be ranked among the greats, even if I still can’t sit through the film without dozing off.
_Henry V_: The chances that this film would be completed, let alone released, let alone sell tickets were pretty slim from the beginning. Unable to afford hiring anyone with actual experience to score his art house entry, Kenneth Branaugh assigned the task to Patrick Doyle, an amateur composer of synthesized background music for Shakespearan stage productions. Doyle’s sketches were skillfully orchestrated by Simon Rattle, and the resulting score is a work of beauty. The film is good by its own rights – but it becomes _damned_ good with the addition of the music. In particular, there is the moment towards the end when an exhausted English soldier (the composer itself, as it happens) raises his eyes to heaven and sings a simple song of prayer (in Latin) for the dead of Agincourt. The verse is repeated several times, building itself up to a point where the biggest, toughest, most macho guys in the audience are fighting back tears. Pat Doyle, incidentally, has gone on to be a highly successful film composer, and recently stepped in for John Williams by scoring _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_.
_Schindler’s List_: John Williams’ finest work, IMHO. Like his friend and collaborator Steven Spielberg, he tossed aside everything he knew about his craft and started from scratch on this project. The result is one of the most haunting pieces of music I’ve ever heard. Simple, even austere at times, yet incredibly evocative.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/13 "2006-01-19T19:04:22Z")
My favorites include:
_Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Amistad
Gladiator
Star Wars
Fellowship of the Ring
Henry V_ (for the reasons noted above)
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### Author:  [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/14 "2006-01-19T19:15:48Z")
Simon and Garfunkel’s The Graduate soundtrack
Sweet Sweetback’s Badassss Song by Earth Wind and Fire both defined and set the standard for the music of the whole blaxploitation era.
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### Author:  [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/15 "2006-01-19T19:21:46Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#):
>
> _Schindler’s List_: John Williams’ finest work, IMHO. Like his friend and collaborator Steven Spielberg, he tossed aside everything he knew about his craft and started from scratch on this project. The result is one of the most haunting pieces of music I’ve ever heard. Simple, even austere at times, yet incredibly evocative.
That reminds me of when I went to see that movie. I remember thinking, it’s really good that Spielberg didn’t use John Williams this time. This composer really set a certain mood that is perfect for the movie (which doesn’t sound like John Williams). Then the ending credits rolled and there was John Williams’ name.
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### Author:  [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/16 "2006-01-19T19:53:26Z")
Another vote for _Henry V_.
And I’ll add _Casablanca_. It’s just iconic.
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### Author:  [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/17 "2006-01-19T20:14:39Z")
I would agree with _Hard Days Night, Help, the Graduate_ and maybe _American Graffitti_ being the most durable.
I would probably put _Fist Full of Dollars_ above _The Good, Bad and Ugly_ while the latter movie is more memorable, the soundtack of the former is more heard. At least that’s the way it seems to me.
As for the best, I would say _The Cincinnati Kid_- some fantastic blues.
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### Author:  [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/18 "2006-01-19T20:33:59Z")
I’m sure these will not be universally appreciated, but I’d put _The Sound of Music_ and _Saturday Night Fever_ pretty high on any list of soundtracks.
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### Author:  [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/19 "2006-01-19T20:45:12Z")
[_Passion_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000065V9J/qid=1137703054/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-0920675-9890449?n=507846&s=music&v=glance) by Peter Gabriel
_The Big Chill_
_Purple Rain_
_Singles_
_One from the Heart_ (Tom Waits soundtrack)
\*\*\*\*[If \*Ferris Bueller’s Day Off \* would have had a soundtrack,](http://www.idiotsavant.com/bueller/soundtrack.htm) that would be a great pick.
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### Author:  [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-most-enduring-movie-soundtrack/340620/20 "2006-01-19T20:55:46Z")
My dad really likes the soundtrack to The Magnificent Seven, and I’m starting to like it too.
Donnie Darko has some of my favorite songs in it.
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