Unless you’re a real fan of 40’s movies, this one is likely to leave you a bit cold, but for my money the prime example of the notion I was driving at in the OP is the early 40’s Laura which has, for me at least, the single most haunting melody ever written for a movie. The score supports the movie’s mood well enough, but if you visualize removing the music, you’ll find the whole movies drops flat. At least it does for me.
One other piece from roughly this same era that I want to mention, just to see if anybody else has had a similar response to it, is Alex North’s score to A Streetcar Named Desire. I would be a fool to state that the superb acting and mood of the movie is predicated on the music, and except for the opening credits the music is rather much in the background and used for occasional effect only. But the music at the beginning sets a mood for New Orleans that lasts throughout. That same music was theme music for the old radio drama Mike Hammer in the days before the more New York feeling Harlem Nocturne (by the same guy who wrote the theme music for Andy Griffith!) became more or less synonymous with Mike Hammer.
There was an interview with Hans J. Salter in the magazine cinefantastique about 30 years ago. One line from that was “The movies we saved for them!” Salter did music for Universal, most notably their horror movies from the late 30s and forties. I can easily believe that the music helped these enormously.
The original Universal Dracula had almost no music, and it was pretty sparse in the original Frankenstein, but then, those were pretty impressively made movies (despoite Browning’s unsophisticated direction on Drac), and didn’t need the music.
I recently rewatched Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans and was struck by the importance of the film score (by Randy Edelman and Trevor Jones). Without the music, this movie just wouldn’t have the same punch.
Well, I deliberately avoided mention of those movies where the music is insipid, overdone, mixed too high, repeated too often, lacks any structure of its own and any number of other faults that suggest they should never have been scored to start with.
I won’t consider it a hijack if you’d like to start a list here of decent movies that could hold up without whatever music they’ve been saddled with.
When you can be somewhat engaged with what’s going on in the movie and have a conscious thought something like “why is the music so loud?” or “what the fuck is the music for?” or “where did they get this music?” or the like, then you’re probably talking about a movie that would be better off without it. Sadly, I can’t think of a decent example offhand, so the challenge is offered to the rest of you.
I know the OP said “no musicals” but I think The Blues Brothers qualifies. It’s not a soundtrack where the songs were written for the movie. It’s just a bunch of songs that were in the movie. And there’s only dancing to two of them (Aretha & Ray). The movie would survive on its own, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near as good.
Also, L.A. Confidential. Pretty close to a perfect musical score.
Another great score: Patrick Doyle, Dead Again. Director Kenneth Branagh reveals his inexperience at many points; the moody, melodramatic score helps carry the movie over these rough patches. The score gets this movie an extra half a star, at the very least.
How about a movie that doesn’t have a score at all, and you don’t notice unless you think about it: Dog Day Afternoon.
I’m just trying to imagine Star Wars without the theme music.
Scene opens on a white hallway. Some guys are shooting down it at a door. Door opens. Big guy in black armor casually strolls in. Crickets and people coughing can be heard in the background.
The OP mentioned knocking it down a star w/o the music. They would still be good movies, but the music was very much part of what made them really good (to me).
No one has yet mentioned Anton Karas’ whimsically melancholy zither-based score to The Third Man? It sets the tone for the movie perfectly.
John Barry’s scores to various Bond films, along with the almost invariably gorgeous cinematography, were often the best aspects of the entire production; specifically in the painful Diamonds Are Forever and cartoonish Moonraker. And I daresay Goldfinger would not be as iconic without the brassy, catchy score and Shirley Bassey’s unforgettable title.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a phenomenal action film, but would be much diminished without John Williams score. Ditto for The Great Escape, which featured Elmer Bernstein’s best work.
The score on Heat, primarily composted by Elliot Goldenthal and performed by the Kronos Quartet, transforms it from a competent actioneer/heist film with some great performances to an eveloping neo-noir experience. It must be seen in the dark, and preferably on the big screen with Dolby sound, to be appreciated.
The score itself isn’t exactly memorable to listen to by itself, but the non-traditional score to the film Brick gives the feel of dissociation and paranoia, amplifying the feel that you don’t know who to trust or what’s going to happen next.
The score to the The Triplets of Belleville is the movie, really; the oft-bizarre animation is almost just an accompanyment.
There’s a possibly apocryphal story about a theater owner in South Korea who thought The Sound of Music was too long. He shortened it by cutting out all the songs.
I think what I’m getting at is that I think that music adds at least half a star to most movies, especially the good to great ones. I tend to think that people underestimate the value of even a mediocre score/soundtrack. Plus, I think this thread is turning into another favorite soudtrack thread (of which there’s been many).
That said, I can’t think of any movie offhand that could lose its music without it doing much harm to the quality of the movie. Probably why I find that question more interesting.
Well, I’m all for exploring that issue. Another thread perhaps, although I have no problem with exploring it here.
My position would be that decent movies have at worst a bland or barely noticeable soundtrack music. There are many bad movies that might not be hurt by taking out their music any more than replacing their actors with other actors couldn’t hurt their quality all that much.
But, being open to the idea, let’s try to formulate the question accurately. How would you reword this:
Name a decent movie (one that you would rate at least 2 1/2 stars out of four) that would lose no discernable effect or impact by having its music removed.
37 posts and no one mentioned A Clockwork Orange.
Of course, that movie just wouldn’t work without the music, that would be like watching Bringing Up Baby without the livestock.
