Something that has always fascinated me is the role that background music plays in movies. So many movies, if you took the music away, they would be totally different movies. Almost every movie I have ever watched, the music is such an integral part of the movie that altering it would drastically alter the movie.
I really hate bombastic movie music (except in Star Wars, maybe). And I’ve always believed that, in general, especially right now, there is too much music used in movies, and that many movies would be greatly improved if they had cut back a little on the use of music (both “incidental” scored music and pop music used as background music.)
However, I can think of only a tiny number of movies without any music.
And the only remotely mainstream film with no background music is Dog Day Afternoon. Okay, there is the opening credits with Elton John’s Amoreena, but aside from that, there is no music other than the sound of Maria’s transistor radio when she is pulled from the bathroom and the news channel’s ditty when Sonny turns on the TV to watch himself.
So even that one just barely counts.
The film Scum, about a British “Borstal” (reformatory) starring Ray Winstone has no music, but that film is far from mainstream.
Does anyone have any idea as to the most mainstream film (or films) with no music?
Interesting! did the sounds actually come from those devices, or were they dropped in, punched up after the fact? If the former, I wonder how they were miked.
There’s no question that the Stephen Bishop number is not true “source” music. The others are all very well done, but were doubtless enhanced in post-production. I won’t pretend to understand all the possible ways it could be done, I’m just going on my presumption that anything I can hear clearly in a movie that’s not the main characters speaking or an explosion probably got tweaked a bit.
