Film is unique amongst the arts. Novels deal with language, painting and photography with images. Drama's primary emphasis is performance (and yes language), and music with sounds, but films feature all of the above; it is truly a univeral art form. Today, I want to single out the musical part of this equation by sharing a few of my favorite musical moments. Half of the initial clips I selected you would find on almost any similar list: the ending of Fight Club, the torture scene in Reservoir Dogs, "Needle in the Hay" from The Royal Tenenbaums, the opening to Se7en, et cetera. I left most of these out. Instead, I compiled another list that I hope will introduce you to some less known films with some great musical scenes. Enjoy!
1. The Yardbirds in Blow Up (1966)
In the midst of channeling Sam Spade, Thomas Hemmings walks into a nightclub where The Yardbirds are rocking out. I always found the crowd's petrified stance deeply uncomfortable. And yes, that's Jimmy Page.
2. The opening of Trainspotting (1996)
Choose life...I'll let Renton explain over some Iggy Pop.
3. Freedonia's going to war from Duck Soup (1933)
An outlandish end to a peculiar movie. The song is great, but I don't think the Marx Brothers deserve all the credit, there's a smack of Gershwin.
Speaking of Gershwin
4. The opening of Manhattan (1979)
Out of all of his great cinematic moments, I think this is Woody Allen's best. Three and a half minutes of perfect cinema.
5. The montage from The Parallax View (1974)
Joe Frady is trying to get to the bottom of a nationwide conspiracy that has something to do with the Parallax company. Turns out they brainwash people, turning them into assassins. This montage is a test of sorts. Depending on how you respond, the company can detect whether or not you fit their specific let's say employment model. Extremely psychedelic.
6. Chaplin speaks in Modern Times (1936)
Keeping in line with the tramp's impish proclivities, Chaplin chooses a nonsense song as his first speaking role on film.
7. The Goy's Teeth from A Serious Man (2009)
Yes, Jefferson Airplane is awesome and we all need someone to love, but I prefer Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun" accompanying the Rabbi Nachtner's story of the goy's teeth. If you don't think you can stomach the entire movie, this clip sums up the film perfectly: life is meaningless, but it can have a great soundtrack.
Couldn't embed this one, but check it out here.
2 comments:
Great list, and though I understand your reasons for only mentioning it briefly, it seems completely counter-intuitive to have a "Music in Film" list that only pays lip service to "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Stealers Wheel (the background song in the torture scene of Reservoir Dogs. I agree that music can have a powerful impact on the meaning and tone of a film. Similarly, films create lasting attachments to songs, even if we had previous experience listening to this music. After reading your list, I wrote down the first seven songs that popped into my head from films. I apologize if my list is plebeian in comparison, but hey, if you get to use the Coen Brothers, then so do I.
1)Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again" at the end of Dr. Strangelove.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxrWz9XVvls
2) "Hip to be Square" by Huey Lewis & the News: American Psycho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwicLgOGJOI
3) "Where Is My Mind" by The Pixies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkUaV9GZDuk&feature=related
4) "Layla" by Derek and the Dominoes: Goodfellas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbwFXngs9Lw
5) "The Man in Me" by Bob Dylan; "Just Dropped In" by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition; "Lookin' Out My Backdoor" by CCR: The Big Lebowski.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz2ET5K6zY0
6) "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu7UkclMOek&feature=related
7) "New Slang" by The Shins: Garden State
Just kidding. That film was terrible.
Great list...not just because it includes my movie!
1) Blow Up was a mess, and not in a good way...but rewatching that scene, I wonder if Antonioni is saying art doesn’t have the same impact without some kind of audience participation or even response. It’s a great song but if you watch it you just can’t enjoy it in the same way – even compared to closing your eyes or having it on an iPod. Or maybe that’s just me because I didn’t like Blow Up.
3) Haven’t gotten to Duck Soup, but I saw A Day at the Races recently and it also has a fantastic song and dance number (“All God’s Chillun Got Rhythm”, which became a minor jazz standard). I love that the anarchy of the Marx Brothers films extends to their dizzyingly diverse array of comedic and musical routines, not surprising given their vaudeville roots.
5) An interesting choice, given that the visual sequence on its own is one of the most famous and influential in cinema history (hey, it’s my movie). But I did re-watch, paying closer attention to the soundtrack, and was struck by how smoothly it rolls along. Even the brief foray into minor/dissonant sound (when the “bad” images start to seep in) and the electric guitar section (later, when the images are especially Sixties heavy) keep you moving, complementing the flow of images in leaving you no time to think, to process, to understand.
Great music in film isn’t just songs...think of The Untouchables, The Third Man, The Bridge Over the River Kwai, any Leone/Morricone spaghetti western...or recently, The Informant!, In Bruges, There Will Be Blood – the soundtrack becomes the fabric of the movie.
Post a Comment