Beetle in the Hay, Happiness, and Ruby Tuesday in The Royal Tennenbaums.
It’s ambient music, but the Portuguese version of Space Oddity as the pirates approach in The Life Aquatic. Also the tinny synthesized Zissou theme becoming orchestral as the team springs into action.
The opening to “Don’t Let me be Misunderstood” as The Bride and O-Ren square off in the snow in “Kill Bill”.
Excellent thread. I could go on for hours here, but I’ll try to think of my favorites:
David Lynch’s Lost Highway: This Magic Moment, sung by Lou Reed, playing in the scene where Alice walks into the mechanic’s garage and Pete sees her for the first time.
From TV series:
The Shield: Disarm by the Smashing Pumpkins, playing over the final few minutes of the second-to-last episode of the 5th season. Lem has been arrested, the Strike Team is in dissaray, and for the first time we really see Vic Mackey without his confidence and him and his partners as scared, desperate men in over their heads.
The Sopranos: Thru and Thru by the Rolling Stones, over the last few minutes of the final episode of Season 2. All the characters are shown in a montage doing various mundane things after having murdered their traitorous best friend.
Joseph Arthur’s In the Sun in the movie Saved! was perfect.
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Let Go* by Frou Frou in *Garden State * (as well as the rest of the soundtrack, really) helped carry the story to another level.
Slightly off topic: Sia’s Breathe Me in the finale of Six Feet Under haunts me everytime I hear the song.
From Wayne’s World:
“I think we’ll go with a little Bohemian Rhapsody, gentlemen”
“Good call”
I have to third Perfect Day. Best part of the movie.
There’s a great scene of this type in Citizen Kane. I don’t remember all of it, but Kane and Susan Alexander are at a party and the band is doing a song with the words “There can’t be love, for there is no true love”, which in their case is true.
I agree, this is a really good choice.
The first thing that popped into my head was Where is My Mind by The Pixies from Fight Club. Mad World from Donnie Darko is also a very well chosen piece.
I’d agree with Goodfellas, but would go for another song and another scene.
How about Then He Kissed Me by the Crystals which was the PERFECT background for the nightclub scene (a scene which was an amazing, flowing, ballet).
That was great, but even better (IMO) was *It Was A Very Good Year * by Sinatra during the opening moments of the first ep of season 2. I can still see Silvio preening in front of the mirror during that opening montage.
The freakin’ Pixies at the end of freakin’ Fight Club. Made the song even more astounding some how.
I’d agree with both of these. Note that Scorsese used only the extended coda to “Layla” (mostly Duane Allman’s work on the guitar) in Goodfellas, over the montage of finding all the bodies that Jimmy Conway had knocked off. It was a brilliant interlude between the successful Lufthansa heist and the “Sunday, May 11th 1980” sequence (which starts with The Stones “Gimmie Shelter”, Scorsese’s most overused track) and works its way through several tracks varying from delta blues to acid metal to keep the frenetic, disjointed mood going through the whole fifteen minute sequence. You really get a sense of how anxious and rushed Henry Hill’s life is, from having to balance his women through having to get the drug shipment out on time down to making sure the sauce doesn’t stick to the side of the pan. “When they found Carbone in the meat truck, he was frozen so stiff it took them three days to thaw him out for the autopsy.”
The use of The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s “Take Five” in Pleasantville, in the diner scene where people start asking about the previously empty books in the library, is also extraordinary. The film is kind of heavy handed in its symbolism (but still highly entertaining), but this scene is particularly striking.
Stranger
I’m assuming *Beetle in the Hay * is a typo (and a pretty good one at that) but for everyone else it’s Needle in the Hay (Elliot Smith) and I whole heartedly agree with you. I love the soundtracks to Wes Anderson’s movies; I think Mark Mothersbaugh is a genius.
Two Woody Allens:
Gershwin’s **Rhapsody In Blue ** in the opening scenes in Manhattan.
**Twisted ** in Deconstructing Harry. It goes so perfect between the opening credits and the numerous cuts of Judy Davis slamming the cab door.
Really? I’ve always heard Beetle. Huh. Thought it was a pun.
Well, 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy.
And Paulie banging the stripper on the pool table.
Yeah, that montage was definitely amazing also.
I too admired:
May I add Jeff Buckley singing ‘Hallelujah’ in The West Wing (where CJ Cregg discovers her secret service agent has been shot).
One of my favorites was in Almost Famous, when the lead singer (Russell Hammond, played by Billy Crudup) had been behaving atrociously and alienating the rest of the band. On the bus ride, Elton John’s Tiny Dancer played as one by one, everyone starts singing along, with even Russell joining in, and through the song, he apologizes and is forgiven. A beautiful scene from a great movie.
Uh, lead guitarist.
In the opening moments of the first ep of season 3(4?), they were establishing the level of FI surveillance, and they did a “mash up” of the theme from Peter Gunn and “Every Breath You Take” (I’ll be watching you) by the Police. They basically kept the same beat and bass line, but the song kept changing between the two.
They’ve had a lot of inspired music moments on that show.
The Dropkick Murphys’ “Shipping Up To Boston” in The Departed. All the baby boomer movie critics mention the use of the Rolling Stones, which, admittedly, was pretty good, but the use of the Dropkick Murphys track is amazing.
“Inna Gadda Da Vida” in the final fight sequence of “Manhunter.” The director cut between slo-mo shots and normal speed action sequences in exact counterpoint to the music. Tasty.