Best use of songs/soundtrack in film.

Shryke

Let's keep this to use of actual music as opposed to scores that were composed. What film stands out for you for its use of songs in scenes or even just over all?

You can nominate one film and maybe give one or two youtube videos, but keep it to a couple.
Please don't choose a film that has already been chosen.

I nominate Boogie Nights. It's a great classic with an all star cast and from the intro it just sucks you in with "Best of my Love".

Try not to fall straight into this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv_jwC3D3BI

And my second clip, with Jessies Girl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZRzeUrVy1o

The opening from Dusk Till Dawn springs to mind, Dark Night, epic.

judgefudge

I like when in 500 days of summer they use that hall and Oates song 'you make my dreams come true' after he gets laid.

yogi beer

it's easily Born Slippy at the end of Trainspotting.
Choose Life.

BRAIN FEEDs

yogi beer wrote: »

it's easily Born Slippy at the end of Trainspotting.
Choose Life.

class!!!!!!!!!!:)

brummytom

In Bruges - Raglan Road

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d6FBBWlu3k

Embedding Disabled.. bastard

My name is URL

Maybe not the best, but the first one that sprung into mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9iYchHgygc

Bloody good film that

biko

Ah -> Film

Biggins

Once upon a time in America
Every tune is well suited and some are now classics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj5Xczethmw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3UTb34_3JQ

Deborah's Theme is absolutely perfect.
Moves me emotionally every time.

TheIrishGrover

Paul Thomas Anderson is right up there with Scorsese with his use of songs in movies. A background song can make or break a scene. While it's original music as opposed to a song, take a look at Ladyhawke. Loved this as a kid but the 80's synth music is so dated and jars so badly with the movie (It's set in medieval times with a soundtrack like something from a dodgy 80's McGyver ripoff)

Anyway, as I was saying, it's no coincidence that the OP posted music from a Paul Thomas Anderson film, the man really knows how to use a song.......

Wise Up from Magnolia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ_phQnNE80

Schism

Goodfellas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZrNDBkXIeg

The above scene with Sunshine of Your Love is brilliant. De Niro has such presence without saying anything. The song complements what's going on prefectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0WMl9No0mg

This one I just think suits for how Henry is explaining what's happening.

EI_Flyboy

I'm sorry but I just have to chime in with Daft Punk's score for Tron Legacy and
Interstella 5555: The Story of the Secret Star System. Pure genius must be acknowledged. As for sticking to the rules, Stuck in the Middle With You on the radio during the infamous ear scene in Resevoir Dogs stands out. Not sticking to the rules again and we have Scorpio's Theme from Dirty Harry by Lalo Schifrin who you just gotta give kudos to anytime movie music is mentioned. Aphex Twin's Come to Daddy in 8mm. Lee Marvin, I Was Born Under a Wandering Star from Paint Yer Wagon. Theme tune from Where Eagles Dare. Ride of the Valkyries, Apocalypse Now and also the unidentified guitar solo on the cassette player during the Viet Cong storming of the bridge defenses PLUS the Stone's Satisfaction while Lance is waterskiing. Tracks of My Tears from the hotboxing scene in Platoon. The tune on the jukebox during the bike chase in Akira. Inna Gadda Da Vita, Iron Butterfly in Manhunter. Don't have time to add more right now!

callaway92

You've got a friend in me - Toy Story

crazygeryy

without doubt a classic.


http://vimeo.com/4419513

couldnt find the youtube of it.

The King of Moo

Putting out Fires with Gasoline (Theme from Cat People) in Inglorious Bastards. I didn't really like the film, but thought the combination of that song with the visuals and camera movement in the scene in the cinema near the end where it's used had a great rhythm and atmosphere.

The Times They are a Changin' in the opening credits of Watchmen. Far and away the best part of the film. Ditto for Johnny Cash's The Man Comes Around over the credits of The Dawn of the Dead (remake). Maybe Zack Snyder should stick to doing opening credits!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVL3Wc-JrKQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l44EbAbLid0

Jumpin' Jack Flash as Johnny Boy enters the bar in Mean Streets. It should be too on the nose, but Scorcese makes it seem absolutely perfect. It's a fantastic ability he seems to have with the use of popular music in his films.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ7UwnfQ2nA

And finally, Blue Moon during the transformation scene in An American Werewolf in London, the contrast is just perfect and makes it even more scary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9QPouW-XZ4

Sleepy

Every song used in Forrest Gump: who doesn't have a copy of that soundtrack?

I don't think much of his direction but Tarantino utterly nails his soundtracks too.

madma

my fav would still be the same as when i first saw it 16/17 years ago..1 my fav films of all time too..

amazing track, by moby 'good moving over the face of the waters' just a perfect tune to finish off with and just fitted so well with the ending

clip still nearly brings a tear to the eye

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfGR6jaOfuY

by the way OP great choice..boogie nights is also up there with the best films ive ever seen...

yogi beer

oh also forgot to mention this one:

TAKE COVER CHIIIIILD!

johnny_ultimate

My favourite of recent years...

I could actually pick at least two or three specific music cues from the Evangelion series (particularly the stunning Komm Susser Todd sequence in End of... and the brilliantly ironic choice of the cheery Kyo no Hi wa Sayonara over the most brutally violent scene of Eva 2.0) but I'm sticking with a certain one as I still remember the sensory overload of experiencing it in the cinema for the first time.

But the ending sequence of Evangelion 2.0, scored to an epic re-imagining of Japanese folk song Tsubasa wo Kudasai, is the stuff of goosebumps. It's such a bizarre, surreal choice, but it works perfectly. I love the fact that there are three distinct shifts in the energy of the scene music. First, the cue itself, where all background sounds are momentarily silenced in favour of the music. Secondly, the change to a chorus of voices as

Shinji breaches the A.T. Field

. And then the further shift as

Shinji 'rescues' Rei

, and the whole scene goes ****ing electric. For a bonus point, I also love the seamless transition between the song and credit track Beautiful World.

The fact that the song is traditionally used at Japanese graduations makes it the perfect accompaniment to a scene where

a giant semi-organic robot and two teenagers transcend humanity and become some sort of deity that signals an imminent apocalypse

. I'm sure we can all agree on that.

A video below (cue at around 3:20), but it's a massive SPOILER so I'd highly recommend seeing it in context as it should be.

In short: several hundred times more thrilling and emotive than the Linkin Park / Green Day tracks Michael Bay tends to score his robot action with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx53rD-r398

kevohmsford

Definitely this. Cinema Paradiso was amazing as well.
Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for Inception was class.

kevohmsford

Cannot forget this one. Epic.

LCD

Almost Famous - Tiny Dancer

They are all on the bus very pi$$ed off with the leader singer's antics & you can feel the tension in the air. Elton John's classic comes on the radio & they all start singing along. Great secne, made by a great song

Duggy747

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubVc2MQwMkg

Followed up by this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmdAsL1n6q4

In fact, that whole movie had a great soundtrack.

xalot

The beginning of Kill Bill Vol 1, (Bang Bang, my baby shot me down). Still my favourite film opening ever.
The use of the whistle song in that film is great too

Duggy747

xalot wrote: »

The beginning of Kill Bill Vol 1, (Bang Bang, my baby shot me down). Still my favourite film opening ever.
The use of the whistle song in that film is great too

Yea, this was a great way to end to the first film, it's a Romanian song too :pac::

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qsgBF7ZIsk

gerardk55

Ave Maria at the end of Alive, bring a tear from a stone!

One of the best soundtracks in recent memory most certainly has to be that of Sunshine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ordR7PDWoYc

It was beautiful and it just fitted in so well with the movie.

Alongside this, I quite loved the soundtracks for the like of Hanna and Tron: Legacy, which was done by the Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk consecutively.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE4_XlnNCcs

It's also hard not to mention the likes of Drive, when you are dealing with soundtracks.

Myrddin

The opening sequence to 28 weeks later, the slow, almost quiet/subtle build up...which eventually explodes into an arm clenching escape scene...seen it in the cinema it was deafening & utterly brilliant

mikemac1

Shryke wrote: »

Let's keep this to use of actual music as opposed to scores that were composed.

Lot of compositions here



I like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BWA1T78WpI

DrumSteve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVlx6mco7XY

Probably this.

Very underrated film (i frickin' love it).

ricero

this is pulp fiction was brilliant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAHA4Jh5jkw

Definitely agree with the Fountain. Had some absolutely gorgeous songs.

Up there as well, I think, has to be the wonderful Life In a Day, which if people haven't seen it, then I strongly recommend you do. It featured just so many wonderful and amazing soundtracks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfLT2QViM1s

They also had an excellent idea of having the bright and dark version of an Ellie Goulding song, Penny at a time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMKIhau1ONY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STLPvSL8v6A

Actually, going back to Ink, which has been mentioned previously, for a movie that was as low budget as it was, it featured a pretty excellent soundtrack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqU5zzcQZP0

(Spoiler from the ending)

But to move it away from just a listing thread, for me a soundtrack is only good if it fits in with the scene fully. I hate it when certain songs just jar away, as you never settle in fully with whats going on. This is what happened with me sometimes with the likes of Inglorious Basterds.

the purple tin

Jaws wouldn't have been half as enjoyable without the da-dum da-dum theme.

The King of Moo

To hell with the rules!

I love this piece as used in the opening scene of Star Trek (2009).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zjl-7yQ4Jk

It's a beautiful piece in its own right, but it really manages to create a sense of continuity between the, on paper, very different scenes of Kirk's birth and his father holding off Nero's attack.
It's the only film I can think of that gives me goosebumps and puts a lump in my throat in its first scenes apart from UP, and the music is largely responsible for that.

I also love the main theme, especially when the completed Enterprise is revealed for the first time, and when it comes out of warp near the end of the film.

krudler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sr-vxVaY_M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyaj2P-dSi8

kevohmsford

Like this one aswell.

tipping point

Thought this song was amazing when I first saw the film


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgHxIWbLiBI

Kilkenny14

In terms of music that was used in a film I thought High fidelity had some great music - the best one being the end scen with Jack Black singing Let's Get it on:

bullvine

ricero wrote: »

this is pulp fiction was brilliant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAHA4Jh5jkw

I think thats the best use ever of a song not a theme in a movie.

bullvine

The Cure from The Crow

Necronomicon

Michael Giacchino's wonderful score for Up is what came to mind when I saw the thread title. Manliness be damned, who didn't honestly feel like they had something in their eye during this scene?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yjAFMNkCDo

The absence of dialogue and the shift in the music from upbeat to melancholy to follow the narrative is just masterful.

Jimdagym

I always felt the running of the outro of 3 kings into u2's "In God's Country" was the best use of music in a film.

Supermensch

Another vote for Interstella 5555, even though it probably doesn't count as the film is about the music.

Anyway, I'm between the OST of My Neighbour Totoro and 2001 A Space Odyssey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOOkdpj62p4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpvOUnz4T7Q

The Pixies' "Where Is My Mind" in Fight Club is also quite good.

Reg'stoy

Different styles but all work for me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyF2LB2UzCU

from Eyes wide shut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siwpn14IE7E

From Top Gun a perfect match of sound and picture

AwayWithFaries

ricero wrote: »

this is pulp fiction was brilliant

This whole soundtrack is amazing. Tarantino really understands the importance of soundtracks.
Someone mentioned the ear scene in Reservoir Dogs but my favorite has be Kill Bill, this in particular:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E84OWq6z3IQ

barone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ScNLt2zNc

whole album

krudler

barone wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ScNLt2zNc

whole album

one of the best soundtracks ever, hands down.

krudler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfqTq5Aso4o

johnny_ultimate

Chungking Express is one of those one in a thousand (ten thousand?) films that make you fall head over heels in love with cinema again. But it also get California Dreamin' in your head for weeks afterwards. The way they use the song to cut between different days is simply inspired, and amongst the finest editing tricks I've ever seen. Or should I say heard?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAH-0GKvIrM

EDit

Always felt White Rabbit was just perfect for the toking scene in the makeshift club in Platoon.

krudler

this left me with a massive grin on my face

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AFnThY472c

and who doesnt want to be part of a pointless massive song n dance routine at some point?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vltUWa_tOhE