I was thinking the other day (never a good thing) about how there have been scenes in tv and movies that became brilliant due to an unusual choice of music that was used. Two standouts for me were the opening scene for the pilot of “The Americans” using Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk and The chase scene in the remake of “The Hitcher” using NIN’s “Closer”.
Any others you can think of?
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
The Ferrari Scene - OH Yeah by Yellow
The Blue Danube in 2001. Atmospheres was a pretty amazing choice for the stargate scene also.
And it took me quite a while to realize that the random noises in the hotel room scene were from another Ligetti work. (Yes I know about his displeasure on how this was used.) The most recent sountrack CD has the whole work.
Pretty much all the musical choices in that movie were unexpected and brilliant.
Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting in Fandango.
Of course there’s always Stuck in the Middle With You in Pulp Fiction.
never mind
Oh, those are all good. Mattie Blue, I also thought was really well done but I was thinking more of scenes where the music wasn’t scored for the scene, but a piece that you may never have thought to use.
lieu, that was in Reservoir Dogs, wasn’t it? The scene where he’s cutting up the cop? Chilling.
Ugh, yes, I had a visitor at my desk and was thinking on 6 cylinders. Absolutely Reservoir Dogs.
Also, “Star Wars,” when the parking lot guys (?) took it for a spin.
Leon (or The Professional), when Stansfield and his goons are approaching Matilda’s apartment to confront her father, with Beethoven in the background. It was like a ballet.
Yeah, I deleted my post when my reading for comprehension skills finally kicked back in.
Death scene of Elias in Platoon.
years ago I saw one of those “behind the scenes” shows about Empire Strikes Back and they showed the scene where Princess Leia finally professes her love to Han Solo just before he is frozen in carbonite. They showed the scene both with and without the John Williams background music and the difference was very noticeable. In that scene, the music really sets the emotional tone.
Stanley Kubrick did this a lot.
Dr. Strangelove
2001: A Space Odyssey
“Also sprach Zarathustra” in the “Dawn of Man” scene. (And in the parody of it in Mel Brook’s History of the World, Part One.)
A Clockwork Orange
Beethoven’s “9th”, and “The William Tell Overture”.
Full Metal Jacket
“Hello, Vietnam”
“Woolly Bully”
“Surfin’ Bird”
The Mickey Mouse Club theme song
Scrubs had so many scenes with perfectly captured music, I can’t even count (that is why it hurts that the DVDs and Netflix have a lot of the music replaced).
Many parts of 2001: A Space Odyssey for sure.
But I have to say that a really impressive overall piece of editing and orchestration is the part about 20 minutes in to Jurassic Park when they first see the dinosaurs. The dialog, editing, and full-orchestral background just all comes together as a gem of superbly competent movie making. It’s really too slick, but it’s forgivable, because it’s almost visual poetry.
One recently watched, (binged really) was an episode of supernatural, where Sam had to kill a werewolf. They really tried to break the curse, but sometimes ya gotta put the dog down. So they played Silent Lucidity from Queensryche while you hear the sound of the gun.
Very moving.
Declan
This scene from Goodfellas.
Ray Charles’ version of “Come Rain or Come Shine” during the opening credits of DeNiro’s King of Comedy.
I also thought using Bob Dylan’s “The Times, They are a-Changin’” to cover the flashback opening of Watchmen was brilliant.
I was going to mention this one, though I disagree that it’s “too slick.” There’s a time and place for unadulterated wonder, and the brachiosaur reveal in “Jurassic Park” remains one of the greatest examples of this. The visual effects hold up beautifully, too - I just rewatched the movie this past weekend, and the sense of awe I felt was every bit as powerful as it was the first time I watched it twenty years ago. Sam Neill and Laura Dern do a fantastic job portraying how overwhelming the moment is, and you absorb every iota of their dumbstruck joy.
(To a lesser extent, this holds true for the sick triceratops scene as well.)