I mean a scene in a movie where the music and the visual were perfectly balanced, to admirable effect. It can be diegenic (music in the scene, like if a character is singing) or non-diegenic (only on the soundtrack; characters don’t hear it).
My top ten (in no particular order):
1)Easy Rider. Fonda and Hopper are tooling down the highway while “I Wasn’t Born to Follow” plays on the soundtrack. They sweep down the road, coming in sight of a hitchhiker who lazily swings his arm out and arcs his thumb. They slide to a stop, swing around, the guy gets on Fonda’s bike, and they roll on again. All this is done during the instrumental bridge, and perfectly in sync with the music.
2)Harold and Maude. The opening scene has “Don’t Be Shy” by Cat Stevens playing in the scene, but also on the soundtrack. During the bridge (piano only), Harold’s hand is seen lighting candles in front of a window that lets in late afternoon sunlight, almost magic-hour light, and reveals a deep blue sky. The notes are very high, and go down the scale the same time his hand does.
3)New Jack City. Nino and Scotty first cross paths at Nino’s club, where Public Enemy is performing. Nino moves through the crowd accompanied by his crew, and looks over his shoulder to see Scotty, standing by the bar. Scotty lowers his shades and gives Nino an “I got yo ass” look, and Nino sneers and moves on. All this is done while Luther Campbell is doing some kind of mouth percussion, with deep notes.
4)Full Metal Jacket. “Surfin’ Bird” by the Trashmen is on the soundtrack while helicopters land. The rhythm and harsh tone are well suited to a military scene, but the song is also completely irreverent. As is the film.
5)Goodfellas. After the opening scene, when Henry says, in voiceover, “All my life…I only ever wanted to be a gangster.” He slams the trunk and “Rags to Riches”, by Tony Bennett, comes blaring up on the soundtrack with a lot of brass. Whoosh, into the credits. When I saw it at a second-run theater, people like me who’d already seen it cheered.
6)Wayne’s World. Yes, the BoRap sequence. I don’t care; I’ve had many musical moments like that with friends. There is absolutely nothing like all starting to sing in unison, and doing all your customary moves. Also, I like Garth’s expression as the last verse starts. Even though Dana Carvey was miles too old to play 21, he really looked like a young slacker who still had dreams.
7)Welcome to the Dollhouse. The film ends with Dawn going on a bus to some kind of choir competition. She didn’t want to go, but her brother talks her into it, in a scene that made me cry; it was so much more tender than anything I’ve seen on some teen drama or in some chick movie. So she’s on the bus, and everyone’s singing a song I didn’t recognize. They gradually dolly in on Dawn and filter out most sound except her voice. Heather Matarazzo has a very clear, tremulous soprano; not Charlotte Church or anything, but quite good for an actress. It’s just her, turned to the window, singing in this beautiful voice that no one will ever get close enough to hear.
8)Snoopy Come Home. The night after Snoopy leaves, Charlie Brown can’t sleep; he gets up in the morning and brings out the dog dish out of habit. I don’t know the actual name of the song, but I cannot watch that scene without crying. I’m not going to type out the lyrics; however, I assure you that I am not talking about the “Snoo-oo-oopy” song!
9)Down By Law In one of the ending scenes…well, I won’t attempt to explain how they got to this point, but Roberto Begnini and Nicoletta Braschi (his wife, and an established actress in her own right) dance to some song by some old-time singer that I would whore myself to get a copy of. She’s in a nightgown and he’s in pajamas and a plaid robe. Neither of them can dance, at least in this scene; he mostly stands while she flops around like a rag doll. Meanwhile, John Lurie and Tom Waits are sitting and watching them, without speaking or moving. It’s a stationary camera for the whole sequence. I have to pull the video out every so often and watch.
10)Oh, I can’t think of a tenth. Anyone?
