Ctrl-F will allow you to search a thread for previous mentions..
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School
Clerks
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Big Lebowski
Sorry, folks–time to throw in the monkey wrench. It seems to me we are discussing 4 different kinds of movie music here–each with its own merit.
Original (orchestral?) music–created to advance plot, help establish characterization(s), and other things I’m too lazy to think up at the moment,
Original song score–I think the tunes in “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School” were written for the movie, so that qualifies as a score,
Collection of otherwise unrelated tunes (more elegant phrase unavailable)–cheapjack method of inserting “vibes” or some such. “The Big Chill” an example (however Three Dog Night kicks ass),
“Music inspired by”–music created after the fact; usually not included in theatrical releases (for that matter sometimes inserted into, say, DVD releases when lawyers can’t agree on royalties). Princes “Batman” “soundtrack” springs immediately to mind.
#1 and #2 have merit, #3 less so, #4–reprehensible.
There are probably other “categories,” but as Dave Barry says, " I realize I’m generalizing here, but as is usually the case when I generalize, I don’t care.
None of this is apropos of anything.
Shaun of the Dead.
The two tracks about Zombies, plus Grand Master Flash with White Lines .
A great movie on so many levels, plus a good choice of music.
Thank you.
:o
Lost in Translation has some beautiful electronic music in it.
Air - Alone in Kyoto is a favorite.
Disappointed I’m the only one to show any love for the music of theirs of the Rings movies. Brilliance by Howard Shore.
Count me as another who owns & loves The Good The Bad & The pUgly soundtrack
No, it’s a good point, and one I didn’t really know how to separate out when I made the thread. But it’s ok, because music+visuals often seems to give more of an impact that the music alone, so there’s bound to be all kinds of interpretation there.
Does The Song Remains The Same count? It’s not a musical, right?
Wow, Taomist, I was expecting to have my ass handed to me by someone for making such flippant generalizations. Thanks. Sweet, sweet verification.
Squeegee, TSRTS is an interesting case: even though the songs in that movie were composed some time before, the fact they were being recorded for the movie, some in different arrangements, some in different keys, Plant mixing up verses, etc, makes the soundtrack, in my mind, a song score (see #2) to the movie (additionally, some of the individual songs were pasted together from different performances on different nights–Zep members probably hated wearing the same outfits night after night for continuity sake) You just added a subset to the Song Score category; this is definitely not the same as “Big Chill.” However, I’m still too lazy to think up a name for it–have at it.
In closing–And birds go tweet. (Big grin)
When will I learn not to post from my phone. I meant to type “The Lord of the Rings” earlier.
And Ugly not pugly. .
Run Lola Run – More of an 80-minute techno music video than a movie; in fact, director Tom Tykwer edited the film to fit the score, not the other way around as is usual. Absolutely captivating.
Boogie Nights – Unlike many “hits of the era” soundtracks, this one’s a perfect throwback to the 70’s and early 80’s; again, it seems like many scenes were edited to fit the music. Best part’s when the camera follows an actress diving into a swimming pool accompanied by War’s “Spill the Wine”, and the music starts “gurgling” as if Eric Burdon was singing underwater.
Goodfellas and Lord of the Rings were already mentioned, I think.
The Killing Fields had one of the most amazing soundtracks I’ve ever heard (certainly helps that Mike Oldfield’s a brilliant genius) and while playing John Lennon’s “Imagine” during Schanberg & Pran’s reunion may seem too obvious and/or cliché, in this instance it totally worked.
The China Syndrome 
633 Squadron, Battle of Britain, Where Eagles Dare, and The Dam Busters.
A Shot in the Dark, one of Mancini’s best scores IMHO.
No mention of A Hard Day’s Night either - I am *stunned.
*
Brilliant film, brilliant score, and they play off each other perfectly. Much more than just a “concert video”, and great fun to watch AND to listen to.
Lawrence of Arabia - wonderful score by Maurice Jarre, especially good use of instruments native to Arabia and the Middle East.
Many of the films mentioned here have terrific soundtracks!
It’s not a cinema film, but the 2005 mini-series The Virgin Queen has a great soundtrack.
And while people disparage Yahoo Serious, both Young Einstein and Reckless Kelly have fantastic songs on their soundtrack; he tended to showcase Australian bands in his projects (no surprise!) Back in the '90s I had a hell of a time sourcing soundtrack albums to these two films, but it was worth it.
Here’s the song used in the opening credits of Reckless Kelly
Opening sequence itself (about 2’30")
Full(ish) version of the same song, called Djapana (‘Sunset Dreaming’) (about 4’05"), by Yothu Yindi.
If you can get a proper audio version, do, as it sounds like crap compressed all to fuck like that. It is also awesome to accompany on guitar.
“I know those words but together they don’t make any sense.”
Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey had some of the most awesome metal/alternative bands around at the time. I think I ended up buying most of the full albums. You just gotta love Faith No More’s Perfect Crime, which was written for the film.
And Red Violin. Joshua Bell is amazing.
Also by Maurice Jarre: Doctor Zhivago.
I had always assumed that the theme for The Big Country, one of my all-time favorites, was composed by Elmer Bernstein. It wasn’t:
I enjoyed M83’s soundtrackfor the Tom Cruise sci fi flick Oblivion.
The Danny Boyle film Sunshine. You may recognize the piece Adagio in D Minorfrom…well…pretty much everywhere (including The Walking Dead, Kick Ass, bunch of other films and shows).