# What is the most mainstream movie to not have any music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946 "2011-02-02T22:03:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/1 "2011-02-02T22:03:20Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/2 "2011-02-02T22:10:28Z")
Cloverfield didn’t have any music. The ending credits were even silent for the first minute or so. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/3 "2011-02-02T22:27:13Z")
Hitchcocks ‘The Birds’ I pretty sure didn’t have any music. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/4 "2011-02-02T22:37:23Z")
I’m thinking a lot of film noir has no music. I’ve a spin-off question for you. Name some movies with no women/men. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/5 "2011-02-02T22:43:18Z")
**janeslogin** - March of the Penguins StG ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/6 "2011-02-02T22:47:38Z")
I don’t recall any music at all in **No Country for Old Men**. ETA: …there was music over the end credits. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/7 "2011-02-02T22:47:47Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > I’m thinking a lot of film noir has no music. > > I’ve a spin-off question for you. Name some movies with no women/men. No women - _Ice Station Zero_. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/8 "2011-02-02T22:48:41Z")
I quote from IMDb Trivia for _The China Syndrome_: > [@](#): > > All of the music in the film, including the title song “Somewhere In Between” by Stephen Bishop, comes from normal sources of music within the film: car radios, barroom jukeboxes, television commercials, etc. There is no traditional “soundtrack” of music that the audience can hear but the characters cannot. I feel perfectly qualified to quote that, because I wrote it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/9 "2011-02-03T00:30:39Z")
Did **Schindler’s List** have a soundtrack? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/10 "2011-02-03T00:41:30Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I quote from IMDb Trivia for _The China Syndrome_: > > I feel perfectly qualified to quote that, because I wrote it. 🙂 You are your own cite! ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/11 "2011-02-03T00:44:28Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I quote from IMDb Trivia for _The China Syndrome_: > > I feel perfectly qualified to quote that, because I wrote it. 🙂 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. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/12 "2011-02-03T00:47:39Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > There is no traditional “soundtrack” of music that the audience can hear but the characters cannot. Ok, then by that measure, all the conforming [Dogme 95](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogme) films count, with [Festen (the Celebration)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Celebration) as one of the more famous examples. It would also include pretty much all _musicals_… ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/13 "2011-02-03T00:49:29Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > You are your own cite! Word. > [@not\_alice](#): > > 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. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/14 "2011-02-03T00:50:46Z")
_Glengarry Glen Ross_ comes close to not having any women, but there is a woman at the Chinese restaurant who takes Shelly Levene’s coat, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/15 "2011-02-03T01:41:18Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > No women - _Ice Station Zero_. Also, John Carpenter’s _The Thing_. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/16 "2011-02-03T01:46:11Z")
[No Escape](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110678/), starring Ray Liotta, had no women. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/17 "2011-02-03T02:03:59Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > I’ve a spin-off question for you. Name some movies with no women/men. Master and Commander. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/18 "2011-02-03T02:10:25Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > I’m thinking a lot of film noir has no music. > > I’ve a spin-off question for you. Name some movies with no women/men. The Women, 1939. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/19 "2011-02-03T02:25:30Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > I’ve a spin-off question for you. Name some movies with no women/men. _12 Angry Men_, 1957. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946/20 "2011-02-03T02:29:30Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > The Women, 1939. And it’s 2008 remake, at least… until the very end. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-mainstream-movie-to-not-have-any-music/569946.md?page=2)