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One of the aspects of movies I really enjoy is the soundtrack—
Many, many movies are really enhanced by their soundtracks and others just waste the opportunity either by the volume used or the music style…
One movie with the worst soundtrack I have ever endured was “Ladyhawke” with Michelle Pfieffer and Rutgar Hauer….and a very young Matthew Broderick…..
I thought the movie was wonderful but hated the soundtrack which seems like shrieking heavy metal==
Totally inappropriate to the Medieval fantasy setting….
I have tried to rewatch it with the sound turned off and closed captions on just to avoid the horrible music
And when we watched “Belfast” this weekend I was struck by the use of Van Morrison’s music—
So appropriate for the era and the setting and yet it went beyond just that—the lyrics and tone of the songs were inserted in exactly the right spots of the story line….
They added greatly to the mood and empathetic tone…
I used to teach High School English and used CDs of movie soundtracks for background when students were doing writing assignments—I found them helpful to illustrate the connection between tone and language…
Any other movie fans who find the music an especially important aspect to your enjoyment of movies?
One movie with the worst soundtrack I have ever endured was “Ladyhawke” with Michelle Pfieffer and Rutgar Hauer….and a very young Matthew Broderick…..
I thought the movie was wonderful but hated the soundtrack
You could not be more right on that one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by loves2read
Any other movie fans who find the music an especially important aspect to your enjoyment of movies?
Oh, yeah.
Movies with fantastic scores that help to make the movie:
THE MISSION, by Ennio Morricone
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, by Ennio Morricone
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, by Ennio Morricone
FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, by Ennio Morricone
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, by Ennio Morricone
THE UNTOUCHABLES, by Ennio Morricone
CONAN THE BARBARIAN, by Basil Poledouris
BLADE RUNNER, by Vangelis
SUPERMAN, by John Williams
JAWS, by John Williams
STAR WARS, by John Williams
JURASSIC PARK, by John Williams.
MUNICH, by John Williams
ALIEN, by Jerry Goldsmith
Along with Ladyhawke, the other film that immediately popped into my mind was 1972's Silent Running. It's a science fiction film set on space freighters orbiting Saturn with robots ... and Joan Baez singing. That's not the film's only problem (though it is not without its merits), but it's a glaring one.
Movies with fantastic scores that help to make the movie:
THE MISSION, by Ennio Morricone
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, by Ennio Morricone
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, by Ennio Morricone
FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, by Ennio Morricone
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, by Ennio Morricone
THE UNTOUCHABLES, by Ennio Morricone
CONAN THE BARBARIAN, by Basil Poledouris
BLADE RUNNER, by Vangelis
SUPERMAN, by John Williams
JAWS, by John Williams
STAR WARS, by John Williams
JURASSIC PARK, by John Williams.
MUNICH, by John Williams
ALIEN, by Jerry Goldsmith
Agree with your choices—even though the music in the “Dollars” movies is as overdone and braggadocio as the films themselves, that’s the point I guess…
And I have bought soundtrack cds for many of the ones on your list—
Along with Ladyhawke, the other film that immediately popped into my mind was 1972's Silent Running. It's a science fiction film set on space freighters orbiting Saturn with robots ... and Joan Baez singing. That's not the film's only problem (though it is not without its merits), but it's a glaring one.
This ... just does not work ...
Yup. Whatever gene other people have that permits them to enjoy Joan Baez ... I am missing.
Yup, a great soundtrack makes a movie that much better overall and definitely more memorable. So many movies I've seen, I can recall scenes but I can never recall the soundtrack to them.
And to me a great movie soundtrack is not so much using existing popular songs for a scene (of which Tarantino is a master of), but wholly original compositions.
These movies I absolutely remember the soundtrack from them
Sometimes it works but sometimes it simply stops the plot in a pretty intrusive way, obviously in order to market a soundtrack album deal that was made. This is especially true of the films that insert pre-existing songs into scenes, not specially composed sountrack music that is almost always a better fit. I'm guessing that Easy Rider was the first to do this? It worked great there & later in American Graffiti where the music embodied a character - the ever present teen top 40 radio that united everyone.
But I tried to watch Peaky Blinders where modern music was just dropped into scenes for no apparent plot reason other than to fill out time and accompany glamour shot sequences, I almost expected the characters to break out dancing. At least Scorcese uses tunes connected to the era/story. Plus too many films have way too much music ramping up almost every minute for some emotional payoff that they aren't trusting their story/actors to deliver. Silence can be very dramatic.
ETA: So some soundtracks that I've found memorable: the 3 Sergio Leone/Ennio Morricone/Eastwood flics; 2001; Easy Rider; Full Metal Jacket; Jaws (of course!); Psycho; Year of Living Dangerously; Mean Streets; O Brother Where Art Thou...
Sometimes it works but sometimes it simply stops the plot in a pretty intrusive way, obviously in order to market a soundtrack album deal that was made. This is especially true of the films that insert pre-existing songs into scenes, not specially composed soundtrack music that is almost always a better fit.
Yup. It takes a very deft director to pull this off. Scorsese is a master at it. Tarantino is pretty good at it.
But then you have Michael Mann movies or THE BATMAN (now in theaters) who use a song instead of things like character development, plot, or dialogue. The writers and/or director are too lazy or inept to move the audience to an emotion, so they simply film some nice cinematography and play an appropriate Nirvana song. "This is what you should feel now!"
It's poor filmmaking. Michael Mann is the poster child for this, but THE BATMAN was a more recent example --- and it added the cardinal sin of a bad voiceover narration, which is a sign of lazy or inept writing.
Great thread, L2R! We play movie soundtracks on road trips. Great epic themes for majestic scenery! Some soundtrack compilations work particularly well. I'll have to do some research and come up with some titles. But off the top of my head, favorite specific movie soundtracks include:
El Cid
Gettysburg
The Big Country
How The West Was Won
Ben Hur
Lonesome Dove
Quigley Down Under
Gladiator
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You could not be more right on that one. 
