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Topic: The Best Music or Song Used in a Movie

Evans A Criswell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1579
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 04-08-2004 04:29 PM

I liked the music used in the movie Good Will Hunting.

There was one track "Miss Misery" that I heard elsewhere and instantly recongnized. I loved that movie and hearing that track brings back part of the experience of seeing that movie for the first time. After hearing that track months later on a "movie tunes" type thing at Carmike 10, I went the next day and bought the soundtrack CD for the movie.

[ 04-09-2004, 10:08 AM: Message edited by: Evans A Criswell ]

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 04-08-2004 05:55 PM

Although it really ruined their career, the Bee Gees' soundtrack for "Saturday Night Fever" really made that movie. Without that music, it would have flopped. That soundtrack changed the world. (And if all dance music would have remained that quality, "disco sucks" would have been a non-issue.)

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 04-08-2004 06:19 PM

James Horner's music for the main title sequence of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan."

"The Right Stuff" not only has an excellent theme but it also uses Debussy's Claire de Lune for the fan dance near the end.

Adagio for Strings is used extensively throughout Oliver Stone's "Platoon." I believe Georges Delarue is listed as the composer for the film but this has always struck me as an injustice to Samuel Barber who is the actual composer of the film's "theme."

Take My Breath Away by Berlin, in the movie "Top Gun."

I'm Going Home performed by Tim Curry, in the movie "Rocky Horror Picture Show."

The Rose performed by Bette Midler, in "The Rose."

More performed by Madonna (written by Stephen Sondheim), in the movie "Dick Tracy."

If We Hold On Together performed by Diana Ross, in the movie "The Land Before Time."

Go The Distance performed by Michael Bolton, in Walt Disney's "Hercules."

Reflection performed by Christina Aguilera, in Walt Disney's "Mulan."

John Williams is easily my favorite contemporary composer for cinema:

"The Empire Strikes Back" (Darth Vader's Theme & Closing Titles)
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" (Map Room Sequence)
"Saving Private Ryan" (Hymn to the Fallen)
"E.T." (The amazing fifteen minute climax sequence, re-edited by Spielberg to match Williams' score)

Theme from "Band of Brothers" (technically, a TV miniseries) is by Michael Kamen.

Another TV miniseries with a great theme is "Taken."

Best TV theme ever written -- "Theme from JAG" by Bruce Broughton.

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Richard Greco
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1180
From: Plant City, FL
Registered: Nov 2003

posted 04-08-2004 07:00 PM

I find that "Down With The Sickness" by - Disturbed
in "Dawn of the Dead" was very fitting.

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Will Kutler
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1506
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 04-08-2004 08:52 PM

Pick any Disney film!:
Mary Poppins
The Aristocats

Those Magnificant Men and Their Flying Machines probably had the best opening title sequence of any film ever made....including that very special Fox Fanfare rendition.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

The Good, THe Bad and the Ugly

Cabaret (Broadway and film)

Schindler's List

Star Wars

Superman

James Bond Themes

Grease soundtrack

The Longest Day

Patton

Rocky

The Godfather

The Music Man (Broadway and film)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Wizzard of Oz

Yankee Doodle Dandy (Cagney)

Hello Dolly, and most MGM musicals

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 04-08-2004 09:23 PM

Will: I thought we weren't supposed to duplicate. "Star Wars," "Schindler's List" and the James Bond themes have been included already.

I have to agree with you about the music in "Mary Poppins." Feed The Birds was known to reduce Walt Disney to tears. Over the years, I have gained a greater appreciation for the Chim Chim Cher-ee music (but not the lyrics).

Speaking of underappreciated Disney music, "The Little Mermaid" contains some excellent lyrics and a wide variety of music styles, ranging from the sort-of "Yo-Ho-Heave-Ho" opening number by the sailors (Fathoms Below) to Sebastian's calypso numbers (Kiss the Girl and Under the Sea) and a couple of camp 'n' vamp numbers (Poor Unfortunate Souls and Les Poissons). Of course, there is also the classical component of the rest of the score.

Adding to my earlier list -- two other films that used Claire de Lune are "Seven Years in Tibet" and the remake of "Ocean's Eleven."

I might as well go ahead and add the suite from "Forrest Gump."

Annie Lennox performs haunting vocals on the "Apollo 13" soundtrack. And, then, there are the songs she performs over the closing titles of "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (Love Song for a Vampire) and "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" (Into the West).

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 04-08-2004 10:17 PM

IMHO, the best sounding "Fox Fanfare" intro is the one on "Die Hard." Very thunderous. It rocked in 70mm Dolby mag and plays very well on the Five Star Collection DVD.

Some of my favorite movie music (pardon any duplications from previous posts):

"The Untouchables" Ennio Morricone
--the main title theme "The Strength of the Righteous" opens the film well. I remember it having a very "live" sounding quality when played in 70mm at Loews New York Twin.

"Glory" James Horner
--the music in "Charging Fort Wagner" has been used on quite a few movie trailers. "An Epitaph to War" has some passages sang by the Boys Choir of Harlem that are both beautiful and quite haunting.

"E.T." John Williams
--okay, Manny. I know you listed this one too. The track "Adventure on Earth" (the long track of the climax) is great. But I also like the scary sounding "Abandoned and Pursued" track. The string section really played their asses off on that one. Did they have Paganini sitting in for that one?

"Jurassic Park" John Williams
--I bought the soundtrack CD of this one right after seeing the movie, not just because it played well during the show. The Northpark #1 theater in Dallas ran it before the show (instead of that dull movie tunes crap). "Dennis Steals the Embryo" is my favorite track for its sneaky, creepy quality. Great overall escapist movie score.

"Miller's Crossing" Carter Burwell
--This is another flick whose main title theme has been recycled for movie trailer music.

And here's some other scores:
"American Beauty" Thomas Newman
"Road To Perdition" Thomas Newman
"L.A. Confidential" Jerry Goldsmith (5.1 music track on DVD)
"Total Recall" Jerry Goldsmith
"Patton" Jerry Goldsmith
"Fistful of Dollars" Ennio Morricone

Other miscellaneous songs, scores, etc.:
"(Everything I Do) I Do It For You"
from "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves"
by Bryan Adams & the sadly late Michael Kamen

End Title music for "X-Files: Fight the Future"
by Mark Snow. Good bass & 360 surround pan on that one.

The "Lost Highway" song soundtrack.

The soundtrack & songs from "Magnolia" by Jon Brion and Aimee Mann.

"Seven" both for the score by Howard Shore and its songs by Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 04-08-2004 10:38 PM

Bobby --

There are a few good musical cues in "The Untouchables." I bought the soundtrack even though I wasn't a big fan of the movie.

Also by Ennio Morricone -- "The Mission" soundtrack, in particular, the Gabriel's Oboe theme and also Ave Maria Guarani and Te Deum Guarani.

Haven't seen any of his movies but Michael J. Lewis has a 2CD set of his film music and he's done some nice work.

Have You Really Ever Loved a Woman? from "Don Juan DeMarco."

My One True Friend by Bette Midler, from the film of the same name.

I'm going to be a little bit controversial here and include two songs by Kander & Ebb. The first is Class from "Chicago." The song was actually cut from the movie. I wish it was also cut from the CD and DVD because it was a lifeless rendition and would have brought the movie down a notch. Nonetheless, it's still a great song in its own right. The second song is the Nazi anthem Tomorrow Belongs to Me from "Cabaret."

Somebody mentioned Your Song from "Moulin Rouge" and I would like to add Come What May and One Day I'll Fly Away.

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 04-08-2004 11:00 PM

Well, hello there, Hillary! Haven't seen you for a while. [Smile]

quote:
IMHO, the best sounding "Fox Fanfare" intro is the one on "Die Hard." Very thunderous.

Not sure which recording that is, but my vote for best Fox Fanfare recording is the one used in the 50s and 60s:
Fox Fanfare
The main reason being that later arrangements don't have the drums beating along with the melody (listen carefully), which make it sound bigger and fuller. There's a bit more reverberation in the room, too. Aesthetically, the new versions sound almost amateurish by comparison (wider dynamics and noise level notwithstanding), and are severely lacking.

Also don't care for the 3D rendering/animation of the 20th Century-Fox logo -- the painted one from the 60s still looks best to me -- but that is another thread...

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Phil Hill
I love my cootie bug

Posts: 7595
From: Hollywood, CA USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 04-08-2004 11:20 PM

But Tim, that version doesn't have the CinemaScope extension!

A couple of my favorites are:

"Surf Rider" from "Pulp Fiction"

"Sugar Daddy" from "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"

"Sweet Transvestite" from RHPS (Actually all the tunes from that pic)

And of course the swimming pool scene buy-out music from the porno “Pleasure Beach”. HOT!

>>> Phil

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 04-08-2004 11:41 PM

Tim, that Fox Fanfare MP3 is indeed a pretty old version. You like it and that's fine. I don't. First, it doesn't have the CinemaScope extension, as Phil mentioned. Second, the trumpets seem out of tune on the end chord. Finally, the recording just doesn't have very good audio quality at all. This version was also used on "Alien" and it doesn't sound very good there either even in DD/DTS.

Now, I will agree the newest versions of "Fox Fanfare" are pretty wimpy, especially the arrangement used on Episodes I and II of those "Star Wars" prequels.

The version on "Die Hard" just plays with awesome authority. The drums really have impact, especially on that final note at the end of the CinemaScope extension. The horns are in tune and the string section really makes it fly. It's my favorite arrangement of that intro by far.

Here's a weird thing about that "Die Hard" intro. Did anyone else besides me see "Die Hard" in 70mm? I keenly remember how GREAT the opening music sounded. But the picture was ODD! The 20th Century Fox logo was horizontally stretched to an extreme. It was like Fox just grabbed an academy frame version of the Fox logo and anamorphically stretched it all to hell. Was the logo like that on 35mm as well? The Fox logo also got screwed up on 70mm prints of "The Abyss" (severely cropped; only part of the "20" in the logo was visible on screen).

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 04-09-2004 12:05 AM

That has got to be the worst-sounding "Fox Fanfare" I have ever heard.

Can anyone confirm that "True Lies" was the film that introduced the 3D version of the 20th Century-Fox along with the re-intro of the "Fanfare" ?

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Tim Reed
Better Projection Pays

Posts: 5246
From: Northampton, PA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 04-09-2004 12:28 AM

quote:
That has got to be the worst-sounding "Fox Fanfare" I have ever heard.

Uh... guys, that's what I meant by "wider dynamics and noise level notwithstanding".

Bobby, there may be some wow, but it's perfectly in tune; it's the new ones that are wrong. It was conducted by Newman himself, and recorded on United Artists Soundstage 7, in the early 1930s (when 20th Century Films were being distributed by UA.) You're just used to the version from your generation.

The CinemaScope extension was a different arrangement altogether. Bah! [Razz]

But Phil, I agree, buyout music can be great!

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 04-09-2004 12:32 AM

quote:
Can anyone confirm that "True Lies" was the film that introduced the 3D version of the 20th Century-Fox along with the re-intro of the "Fanfare" ?

Theatrically, yes, I believe True Lies was the first to use the new intro. (Some films released theatrically prior to True Lies showed up on ancillary market versions with the new logo.)

quote:
Now, I will agree the newest versions of "Fox Fanfare" are pretty wimpy, especially the arrangement used on Episodes I and II of those "Star Wars" prequels.

I agree the new fanfare sounds wimpy, but isn't the recording used in the Star Wars prequels the same version recorded by John Williams and the London Symphony for The Empire Strikes Back (and used in Jedi as well)?

quote:
Did anyone else besides me see "Die Hard" in 70mm?

Yes, twice (Avco Westwood -- gets my vote for the Avco's finest moment).

quote:
But the picture was ODD! The 20th Century Fox logo was horizontally stretched to an extreme. It was like Fox just grabbed an academy frame version of the Fox logo and anamorphically stretched it all to hell. Was the logo like that on 35mm as well?

Yes...and on the laserdisc too (first version, not Dolby Digital re-issue).

Back to the music topic....

Many of my favorites have been mentioned already, and since we have been asked not to repeat any, I won't. What I will mention instead is a bizarre but memorable scene from Boogie Nights. It's the drug deal scene with Alfred Molina (remember him as Indy's South American guide in Raiders?) and Night Ranger's "Sister Christian".... Not my favorite band or song and not my favorite movie, but I found the combination of the two to be entertaining.

Lots of John Williams identified. Good! I'll add that my favorite Williams theme (not complete score or soundtrack album, but theme) is probably the one from 1941. As for favorite soundtrack cue from Williams, it's a piece from The Empire Strikes Back called "Rebels At Bay" which included a number of individual cues segued into a "complete" album track. Great music! What's interesting about it -- and many of you Williams fans probably know this -- is the piece begins with an original version of the rebels searching for Luke and Han while lost on Hoth (the film version used the "Hyperspace" cue also used later in the film). The piece also included a bunch of planet Hoth and snowspeeder-Imperial walker battle bits, including stuff not used in the film. Unfortunately, this piece appeared only on the original 1980 soundtrack. The cue did not appear on the first CD version, nor did it appear (in original album form) on any of the subsequent compilations or Special Edition albums.

**Edited for clarification**

[ 04-09-2004, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: Michael Coate ]

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Hillary Charles
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 748
From: York, PA, USA
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 04-09-2004 08:25 AM

Hi Back at Ya, Tim!

Weighing in on the Great Fox Fanfare Debate, I opt for the early CinemaScope version. Maybe not the greatest dynamic range that is afforded by modern recording techniques, but nice discrete separation to emphasize the 4-track mag sound for a sweeping effect. Goosebump inducing.

John Williams "Imperial Death March" from "Empire Strikes Back" is my favorite of his pieces, and has been used countless times elsewhere to underscore pure evil (including The Daily Show this week). I got chills the first time I heard it in Empire, and it has since become as iconic as the JAWS music.

I had forgotten about Ennio Morricone! Some great scores of his mentioned, and I'll add the score from "Danger Diabolik." The theme song, "Deep Deep Down" is arranged a dozen different ways, and other tracks make great use of that 1960's fuzz guitar sound, as well as some spaghetti western-sounding stuff. An insane score for an insane movie.

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