Soundtracks often make or break movies. They add emotion to the screen and when carefully executed, make a movie better than it really should be. Looking back at John Carpenter’s Halloween, it isn’t scary without the creepy Michael Myers music. Carpenter himself said so in numerous interviews and that movie depends greatly on the “musical ambiance” that is set forth. Movie soundtracks have a way of crawling into pop culture as they become more recognizable. Everyone knows that John Williams is the probably the master of the soundtrack. He has Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, E.T., Jaws, and many more to his credit. These soundtracks are all impressive in their own right because they identify characters and situations in such distinctive ways. Then there is the lyrical soundtrack. It has to be difficult to put together music from a collection to reflect the situations that exist on screen. Sometimes it is the director’s taste or it is music from a certain period. Think about Pulp Fiction and its glorious soundtrack. If different songs are chosen Tarrantino ends up with a completely different movie. The audience reaction is probably not as strong and Pulp Fiction goes down as an ordinary film. The point is that the soundtrack may be the most important part of film making. Today’s Roar is dedicated to the soundtrack and no, Dirty Dancing will not be in top five just in case you were wondering.
5) Star Wars Trilogy
Yes, I am a geek when it comes to this ,but the Imperial March gives me goose bumps. You know you’ve hit big when every college football band plays your music. The Cantina Band was very innovative for its time and I still love that scene in Star Wars. EVERYONE knows the main theme and its brief appearance in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off made that movie for me.
4) Resevoir Dogs
“Stuck in the Middle with You…” I cannot help but to think of ears when I hear that song. Michael Madsen is one psychotic wacko, but that was fun to watch. Put the Lime in the Coconut and Shake it All Up!
3) Oh Brother Where Art Thou?
I do not think there is a more unique soundtrack and this one is really just preference on my part. There is something calming about old blue grass/and field hollering music. I listen to this often and it soothes my sometimes aching soul. Not a bad flick either.
2) Pulp Fiction
Of course Pulp Fiction! Every song defines a moment in the film from Bustin’ Surfboards to Jungle Boogie. I must confess that I listened to this soundtrack more than any other for the dialogue. I now want a Royale with Cheese.
1) The Big Chill
When I was kid I’d steal this record from my mom’s collection and take it to my room. It was my first experience with Motown and I credit it for broadening my horizons beyond Mister Mister. Smokey Robinson’s Tears of a Clown is still my favorite song and I would have loved to experience Motown firsthand, but The Big Chill will have to do.
3 comments:
I have racked my brain for 24 hours...and I dispute none of these....
I cannot, however, come up with any more...
However, two directors that use music quite effectively (aside from Tarintino) are Martin Scorcese and Wes Anderson.
OH WAIT!
Boogie Nights has quite a soundtrack! And theMuppet Movie!!
I have to agree with your top 5 with the exception of "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?". The one that I prefer exclusively is the soundtrack from "Singles". For me, it completely represents that time period for me and kicked off the grunge scene.
As for "The Big Chill", I heard the song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" for the first time because of that movie and have loved it ever since. A little FYI, the corpse in that movie was Kevin Costner.
Empire Strikes Back soundtrack and sound effects in general have the power to captivate a 1 year old. My son—a boy who's attention span is about as long as a fruit fly's in a dumpster—actually was entranced by Empire for a solid hour and a half. Granted Yoda is a puppet, Chewie looks like a big doggy, and R2 makes cool beeps, but the music was key. Every time he started to get bored and wander off (usually when Han was making the moves on Leia) they'd come back in with the Vader music and he'd turn around and get sucked back in. That's the power of a soundtrack.
And it's played at football stadiums everywhere to boot.
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