# Best use of music in a movie **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 22, 2001, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215 "2001-01-22T04:05:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/1 "2001-01-22T04:05:06Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![OrcaChow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47c2d/32.png) [@OrcaChow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrcaChow)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/2 "2001-01-22T04:22:30Z")
“ **Ride of the Valkyries** ” in _Apocalypse Now_. The shot of the formation of choppers coming in low over the surf was awesome. The music made the scene unforgettable. “ **The End** ” (The Doors) in the same movie. Haunting. The lyrics about patricide mirror the death of Col. Kurtz. “ **As Time Goes By** ” in _Casablanca_. Most of the **Star Wars** soundtrack, but most of all, the music to the scene in which Luke is staring longingly at the double sunset. Also loved the music played during the showdowns in most of the Sergio Leone films. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/3 "2001-01-22T04:29:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rilchiam \* > **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!** Whatchoo talkin’ bout, Rilchiam? No, seriously…what song? If it’s not “Snooooopy” which I thought you meant at first. It is a sad scene though. ☹ Okay number ten? How about…“Hi Opal!” (i’m overusing this, so sue me. I love being in on an inside joke.) No wait. Tubular Bells in **The Exorcist** does kick ass. **Pulp Fiction** - with “You Never Can Tell” Hell almost any song in that movie…“Commanche”, “Miserlou,” “Son of a Preacher Man…” **Reservoir Dogs** - Yup, talking about the whole “Stuck in the Middle with You.” You’ll never think the same way about that song again. **Cry Baby** - with the song of the same name. That opening scene is really something! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![OrcaChow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47c2d/32.png) [@OrcaChow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrcaChow)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/4 "2001-01-22T04:33:53Z")
Forgot one. “ **Waltzing Matilda** ” in the doomsday movie, _On the Beach_. With lovers trying to spend their last days and hours as best they can, they’re annoyed by a bunch of drunk Aussies outside singing endless verses of Waltzing Matilda. It’s a beautiful song, but obviously too much of a good thing. Then a beautifully rich baritone voice takes the last verse, ending with, “_They’ll never take me alive, says he_.” It’s a heart-grabber of a movie moment. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/5 "2001-01-22T04:38:03Z")
I would like to second **Goodfellas** but for a different scene and song. I think the scene where Henry and Karen first go out on a date, to the Copa, while **Then He Kissed Me** by _The Crystals_ is being played is unsurpassed. It is the **BEST** use of music in a movie. Like a ballet. A superb, beautiful synchronization of sound, movement, and acting. Wonderful! ---
**Author:** ![OrcaChow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47c2d/32.png) [@OrcaChow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrcaChow)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/6 "2001-01-22T04:39:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Reservoir Dogs- Yup, talking about the whole “Stuck in the Middle with You.” Zoggie, do you recall the piece they used for the theme? I love that song and it’s often stuck in my head for hours or days. Cheap-ass me should just break down and buy the soundtrack. ---
**Author:** ![ThisYearsGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@ThisYearsGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisYearsGirl)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/7 "2001-01-22T04:40:08Z")
The Virgin Suicides–mediocre compared to the book, but it gets my vote for best use of a Styx song in a movie ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/8 "2001-01-22T04:45:21Z")
**2001** A fantastic score of some of the finer classical music ever recorded. **Psycho** The violin work creates excellent tension throughout the entire movie. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/9 "2001-01-22T05:02:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rilchiam \* > \*\*10)Oh, I can’t think of a tenth. Anyone? \*\* 1. **Apocalypse Now**. _Flight of the Valkyries_ being played over huge exterior speakers by American attack helicopters as they swoop in to destroy a Vietnamese village. Works on a few levels beyond just being exciting music. Wagner was a political activist and was into both German nationalism and international socialism, but made much of Germanic mythology. His work was later used by the Nazis, particularly for propoganda, and during the Nazi period his descendants supported the Nazis. Now in **Apocalypse Now** his work is used to introduce white American and Western culture at its most technologically advanced and also most brutal against an ethnic, nationalist, and internationally socialist foe. By confusing the politicization, it de-politicizes the film, showing the issue to be Conrad’s internalization of mankind’s malevolence, common to all societies, rather than one society being superior to another. This theme is continued in the travel up river, as the same malevolence is demonstrated by non-American cultures, both Vietnamese and indigenous. Eventually, the powerful mythologies, both Western and Eastern, are eroded by the jungle, as Conrad’s malevolent human world is juxtaposed with an unconcerned natural world, leaving the characters utterly alone within their own minds. No wonder just a few years later Coppola came up with Koyaanisqatsi. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/10 "2001-01-22T05:07:36Z")
“In Dreams” by Roy Orbison in **Blue Velvet**. Completely changed the mood of the song. ---
**Author:** ![Pismonque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/46a35a/32.png) [@Pismonque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pismonque)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/11 "2001-01-22T06:28:58Z")
**O Brother Where Art Thou?** The music had the impact of an additional character. ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/12 "2001-01-22T06:29:28Z")
The entire soundtrack of _High Fidelity._ All good music. All actually in the movie somewhere–if only briefly (the same cannot be said of many soundtracks). And a damn fine movie to put it behind. ---
**Author:** ![King\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7bcc69/32.png) [@King\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/13 "2001-01-22T07:40:47Z")
I love this topic. The soundtrack and score of a film are so important! Nothing pulls at the emotions like music! (IMHO) A **BIG** ditto to Goodfellas (Scorcese is amazing with soundtracks), Apocalypse Now, Star Wars (love John Williams), 2001, and Psycho. Hard to top that. Ain’t gonna try. I love the soundtrack to **Ben Hur** and the **Ten Commandments**. Has that epic feel. The opening music to **Gone With The Wind** never fails to make me squirt. While perhaps not quite in the above league, I liked the score to **Braveheart**. The music as Mel Gibson arrives at Stirling is moving. After the victory, when he’s overlooking his victorious compatriots, the score is also quite moving. Also, at the beginning of **Apollo 13** , when Walter Cronkite is narrating and talking about Apollo 1, there is this music in the background that never fails to provoke an emotional response. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_Hat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f0a364/32.png) [@Bad\_Hat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_Hat)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/14 "2001-01-22T09:24:42Z")
I agree with Oh Brother Where Art Thou, that was unbelieveable!!! also would add the score to “crouching Tiger”, and of course “Bridge on the River Kwai” ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/15 "2001-01-22T09:39:39Z")
Ghost Dog and the soundtrack by **RZA** ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/16 "2001-01-22T09:46:58Z")
I have to second **oldscratch** ’s choice. Also, I’m kind of partial to the songs used in _Office Space_\*–damn it feels good to be a gangsta! ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/17 "2001-01-22T10:04:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rilchiam \* > 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. Minor correction: This wasn’t **Public Enemy** (which featured Chuck D and Flava-Flav). It was actually the notorious rap group **2 Live Crew** performing “In the Dust.” You did get it right that it was Luther Campbell (aka Luke Skywalker), the **2 Live Crew** frontman, on the mic. I’d forgotten this performance since I haven’t seen the movie in a few years, but I agree that it was definitely on point. My vote goes to either **2001** or **Life is Beautiful** for overall musical effect. For a single scene: let’s not forget **Rocky**! ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/18 "2001-01-22T10:19:50Z")
The scene in “Until the End of the World” when Clair and Sam are flying over the Australian outback, the nuclear satellite detonates, making the engines cut out, and Peter Gabriel’s “The Blood of Eden” is playing as they silently glide. -fh ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/19 "2001-01-22T11:43:54Z")
**The Mighty** Freak and the Mighty are returning from an adventure where they saved a damsel in distress, and as they cross a bridge behind them ride Knights in Armour on their valiant steeds. The music that plays is Sting’s theme song to the movie, and it is breathtaking. **Neverending Story** When we see the Ivory Tower for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![St.Attila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@St.Attila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Attila)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215/20 "2001-01-22T12:02:47Z")
**Das Boot** , especially the subtitled version. My director’s cut should be arriving any day now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-music-in-a-movie/51215.md?page=2)