Best use of music in a movie (1 Viewer)

[JohnE]

Excalibur - That scene towards the end when Arthur and his knights are riding through the trees as the blossoms fall around them and the music playing. Always thought that was a great scene.

I enjoyed the score to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon quite a bit too.

And I'll second the choice of the Conan soundtrack. that one rocked!

 

[Mark_Paul]

The Farelly Brothers use modern pop music superbly, especially in Dumb & Dumber and Kingpin.

 

[Andy_G]

I second Brazil and would add North by Northwest.

 

[Chad A Wright]

Not actually in the film, but the trailer for Black Hawk Down that has Knockin on Heaven's Door at the end always gets me.

 

[ChuckSolo]

The score to the movie version of Leon Uris' "Exodus" was excellent as was the score to "The Magnificent Seven."

 

[Angelo.M]

The score to The Red Violin.

 

[Simon_Lepine]

Tarantino and Scorsese both use pop Music really well in their films. For Scorcese, I especially like how he uses music in Mean Streets and Goodfellas.

Can you hear 'Stuck in the Middle with You' without thinking about Michael Madsen?

And I really dig 'Across 110th Street' at the end of Jackie Brown.

 

[Michael Martin]

A far better passage from this score in my opinion is the music that plays (spoiler snipped)

Marvin, I agree - that piece is just phenomenal. Actually, the whole score to Last of the Mohicans pretty much kicks ass. It's incredible to realize it was done by two composers who did not work together. It should have been a disaster, but it worked.

 

[DavidAC]

Pretty much everything in Amadeus, but especially the use of Mozart's Requiem in the end sequence of the film...

Ill second that.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Pretty much everything in Amadeus, but especially the use of Mozart's Requiem in the end sequence of the film...

I'll third it.

I have always been a Mozart fan, but when I saw Amadeus I had never heard the Requiem, and so that was my first exposure to it. And now, the Lacrymosa is inevitably tied to the image of the body of this great genius being dumped in a mass grave, and it's incredibly sad.

 

[Seth--L]

This was actually common practise in the 18th century. Over 85% of Vienna received that kind of burial. So it's not the ultimate insult like Forman makes it out to be. (Of course almost all of Amadues is fiction)

 

[Mike Mundt]

LOTR overall is my favorite sound track of a movie, they also mention it is one of the few movies where the entire music was written specifically for the movie. So ya that boy soprano part is actually part of my tests I do for center channel realism and clarity.

I just wanted to add, my favorite T2 is actually the two scenes where the T1000 runs after john on his dirt bike, and then the police car with the term. , john and his mom in it. The music they use there is something really different that I think is an example of a perfect choice for that scene. Either they came over it by accident or they really spent alot of time picking the right track to capture the suspense.

 

[steve jaros]

Two best IMO:

1) the "ecstasy of gold" playing while tuco searches frantically/euphorically for the hidden treasure in the graveyard (good/bad/ugly).

2) "gimme shelter" wailing away while an out-of-control Henry Hill mixes cocaine batches with his strumpet girlfriend (goodfellas)...

 

[Galen_V]

Sort of in the same vein as Amadeus, A Clockwork Orange really makes great use of combining both the futuristic techno music with classical music.
I mean, what's the orgy scene without the William Tell overture?


Apocalypse Now also comes to mind, especially the Kilgore/"Ride of the Valkyries" attack sequence, as well as The Doors (of course).

Jaws in my opinion, however, best uses music of any movie I have seen, especially how it is used to either let your guard up or down, and how Spielberg really uses it to trick us, the audience (case in point, no music when Jaws first appears.)

Other goodies: Gladiator score, Duel of the Fates, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the theme for the Fellowship in FOTR (The Bridge of Khazad-dum track on the FOTR sountrack).

 

[steve jaros]

Galen_V wrote:

"Apocalypse Now also comes to mind, especially the Kilgore/"Ride of the Valkyries" attack sequence, as well as The Doors (of course)."

Amen.

 

[Steve Felix]

"Sixteen Reasons" and "Llorando" ("Crying") in Mulholland Dr. Both are eerily intense in context.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

A few others I thought of:

The Two Towers: Gandalf and the Rohirrim riding down the hill and plowing into the Uruk-Hai army. The combination of the imagery and music is pure cinema magic.

The reprise of the hobbit theme that accompanies Sam's speech at the end is great.

Casablanca: I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one yet. Obviously, the various arrangements of "As Time Goes By" are memorable. But the really great one is the musical duel between Major Strasser leading "Die Wacht Am Rhein," and Laszlo leading "La Marsellaise." Powerful moment.

 

[Seth Paxton]

I agree on the "anything in a Wes Anderson film", especially Rushmore. That film consistently features the perfect pairing of song and scene.

Cameron Crowe is another director that is pretty adept at using rock songs in his films. I really loved the feeling that came from his Good Vibrations use in Vanilla Sky.


One of my fav rock songs scores is Dazed and Confused. Linklater nailed it with Dylan's "Hurricane" (pool hall entrance), as well as having very effective matches with "Jim Dandy" (truck chase), ZZ Top's "Balinese" (at the party), the "Sweet Emotion" opening, and the "Slow Ride" ending.

 

[Chris Atkins]

My personal favorite:

STAR WARS (1977) gunport sequence. The music, the editing, the action: probably the finest pieces of celluloid ever strung together, in my opinion.

 

[Marko_J]

Almost all of the INSIDER... M. Man can pick good tunes
Especially Iguazu (the drive to the cortroom scene), Safe from harm by Massive Attack on closing credits, and Sacrifice by Lisa Gerrard