For no real reason, I was thinking about movies that have no music or very little music. This Yahoo Answers topic lists several. In addition to that list, I think All the President’s Men only has a little music in the parking garage scene, but nothing elsewhere (unless my memory is playing tricks on me). The linked list includes Dog Day Afternoon and Network, neither of which I remember well enough to say if there is any music in them or not.
So, what movies fit the bill (either no music at all, or unusually little music)? Let’s ignore silent movies. The Yahoo Answers list doesn’t list any movies past 1977. Have there been more recent examples?
A related topic – list some movies in which all the music comes from sources in the scene. I forget the word for that – the music isn’t a score over the scene, but comes from a radio or something present in the scene.
*No Country for Old Men *had no music - very unusual for a Coen Brothers film, as they generally choose terrific soundtracks. Of course, in this case it worked.
Not a movie, but in 60 hours over the course of five seasons, HBO’s The Wire used only situational music, except for the opening and closing themes, and a montage that closed each season.
Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise had music during the opening and closing credits, but other than that it’s all diegetic (i.e., the characters can hear it). I don’t recall if the same is true of Before Sunset, but I suspect it is.