# Movies that are (partly or completely) ruined by the music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329 "2012-03-20T15:56:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/21 "2012-03-20T18:55:36Z")
Too many movies these days, but the _Resident Evil_ franchise suffers from this. Fight scenes that are overlayed by nu-metal and Rob Zombie-esque growls and yells. It takes me out of the action (any action really) if the music overwhelms what the stunts and choreography are attempting to tell. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/22 "2012-03-20T19:09:42Z")
**Wise Blood** , after the Flannery O’Connor novel, would have been a pretty odd movie regardless, but its totally jarring “wacky hijinks” soundtrack does not fit at all and actively ruins some scenes. Terrible decision. ---
**Author:** ![Pitchmeister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pitchmeister/32/3459_2.png) [@Pitchmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pitchmeister)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/23 "2012-03-20T19:23:44Z")
The Princess Bride is another example. It’s not that the music itself is really bad, but it’s played with a really bad synthetic orchestra, which in my mind and ear puts it in the “bad kids’ TV adventure series” category as opposed to the great movie that it is. Seriously, they didn’t have the money to book an actual orchestra? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/24 "2012-03-20T19:26:30Z")
As a big fan of the _Chemical Brothers_ I still think they had no idea what they were doing scoring **Hanna**. A movie about a 16 year-old trained survivalist/assassin and they have this bizzare electronic score that makes you think there will be a twist at the end revealing she’s a cyborg. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/25 "2012-03-20T19:28:44Z")
Vangelis’s soundtrack for _Chariots of Fire_. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/26 "2012-03-20T19:33:27Z")
Acsenray - really? I rewatched Chariots recently and I think the soundtrack (and the costume & art design) really add to it. obviously, mileage varies. The music has been terribly overplayed though. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/27 "2012-03-20T19:34:18Z")
Yeah, it’s way too anachronistic. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/28 "2012-03-20T19:38:01Z")
Almost every single Michael Mann movie. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/29 "2012-03-20T19:49:24Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Almost every single Michael Mann movie. A lot of people would disagree with you here. At least with regard to Heat and Last of the Mohicans. Thief and Manhunter are pretty dated. ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/30 "2012-03-20T20:00:27Z")
> [@Woeg](#): > > Ladyhawke - awesome medievally movie, nearly ruined by the cheesy bombastic 80’s synthesizer music. If they rereleased this with a nice orchestral soundtrack, I’d buy it in a heartbeat. Heh, I was just coming here to mention Ladyhawke, and Legend in the same vein. I grew up loving both those movies, and still love them, but oh that music… yeesh. Luckily, there’s a director’s version of Legend that uses the originally intended orchestral score (the studio forced a release of a more “modern” soundtrack by Tangerine Dream close to the last minute.) ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/31 "2012-03-20T20:00:35Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > A lot of people would disagree with you here. At least with regard to Heat and Last of the Mohicans. Thief and Manhunter are pretty dated. Manhunter was done in the “Miami Vice” style of the time. It was cutting edge then, and yes, pretty ridiculous 25 years on. The theme going into the end credits is especially dated now. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/32 "2012-03-20T21:00:03Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > “The Great Escape” is a wonderful movie almost ruined by its soundtrack theme. It’s played over & over & over and I’m noticing the music not the movie. > [@KarlGauss](#): > > Sorry, the soundtrack is, possibly, even more iconic now than the film itself. And, even when it was first released (I know, I date myself,) we whistled the musical theme all the way home. Possibly. For me, it just made me giggle a lot. I mean, here’s Steve McQueen trying to escape on his motorbike and getting all tangled in barbed wire and very dramatic, and all I hear is “Hogan’s Heroes.” It didn’t work at all. I thought that **Shutter Island** was a thought-provoking movie, and excellently crafted, but the score (while nice) was just overly bombastic. It just came and hit you over the head and was annoying. Fail. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/33 "2012-03-20T21:29:09Z")
Can we include movies where the music worked, but doesn’t work upon rewatching? That would have to be **Juno** for me. The dialog is cloying enough the second time, but the music is impossible to get through. Also, and this is no fault of **Kill Bill** , but the scene where Beatrix hides in the bathroom at the restaurant and the band is playing that “Woo Hoo, Woo Hoo Hoo” song during a long tracking shot - I’m forced to fast forward. Some commercial used up the remaining twenty times I could hear that song for the rest of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/34 "2012-03-21T01:19:15Z")
> [@Labtrash](#): > > I may be in the minority but I absolutely \*hated \*the modern music soundtrack to _A Knight’s Tale_. Another one that does this is _Marie Antoinette_. I really like it; I think in both of these cases, the music, whether you like the particular song or not, captures emotion to modern ears in a way that period music doesn’t. Both of these movies have, for example, party scenes in which they play modern rock music. As modern audiences, we get the excitement and the energy that we’d get if we walked into an equally-fun party in recent times. Playing period-appropriate music just doesn’t bring that to most of us; music from pre-revolution France to our ears brings up visions of museums or symphonies, not raucous parties. I kinda wish more movies set in Olden Dayes would do this. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/35 "2012-03-21T03:14:28Z")
**Donnie Darko**. \*Great \*movie. _ **Horrible** _ 80’s-sounding pop crap. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/36 "2012-03-21T03:24:12Z")
I thought that the use of music in _Casino_ was overdone. I won’t say it ruined the movie for me, as I still like it, but it does detract from it to some extent. It worked in _Goodfellas_, but not _Casino_. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/37 "2012-03-21T03:25:23Z")
[David and Lisa](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055892/). I’m not sure it needs a soundtrack at all, since it’s one of those early '60s Deep Meaningful Films that could just as easily be a stage play. What it definitely doesn’t need is on-the-nose, overly dramatic, _ **loud!!!** _ orchestration. Saw it on DVD, gave serious thought to getting my own copy, decided the soundtrack would make it unbearable on a second viewing. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/38 "2012-03-21T03:32:13Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > **The Transformers: The Movie** - the 1986 animated one, not that piece of shit with Shia TheBeef. The soundtrack is all 80s hair metal. And not just 80s hair metal, _obscure_ no-name 80s hair metal. Completely hilarious. Did you mean to post this in **“Movies that are made completely extra awesome by the music”**? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/39 "2012-03-21T03:33:56Z")
[quote=“Labtrash, post:10, topic:616329”] I may be in the minority but I absolutely \*hated \*the modern music soundtrack to _A Knight’s Tale_.[/QUOTE :eek: Me too! I thought it was absolutely appalling. ---
**Author:** ![4d3fect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/4d3fect/32/9728_2.png) [@4d3fect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4d3fect)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329/40 "2012-03-21T04:09:32Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Vangelis’s soundtrack for _Chariots of Fire_. Vangelis’ score for Blade Runner. Cheesy dated 80’s synthesizer washes. Not illustrative of mood or tone. Scott must have gone way over budget by the time he got to thinking about scoring this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-are-partly-or-completely-ruined-by-the-music/616329.md?page=3)