The other day I was thinking about music in movies, how utterly important that aspect of the filmmaking process is. For instance, you can go here and see the famous shower scene from Psycho with, then without the musical score [composed by the great Bernard Hermann].
When I see a movie and I’m moved by the soundtrack, more often than not I’ll buy it. I listen to soundtracks a lot when I write. For focus. Solitude. Inspiration.
One of my all-time favorite soundtracks is from one of my all-time favorite movies: The Shawshank Redemption, music composed by Thomas Newman. A great selection from the movie is the music that accompanies the sequence when Andy escapes.
Thomas Newman: “The Shawshank Redemption” from The Shawshank Redemption
You can go here to see the music in the context of the scene. Note how Newman uses the brass to herald that moment where Andy thrusts his hands up toward the heavens, finally a free man.
Here is a feature on Wall-E that includes an interview with Newman:
Recently I have been listening to “Time” from Inception over and over again. Composed by Hans Zimmer, it accompanies the entire denouement sequence tracing Cobb’s journey from the airplane, through customs, baggage claim, then home. It’s absolutely hypnotic and fits the moment perfectly.
Here is a video with Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer:
Hans Zimmer: “Time” from Inception
You can go here to see the ending of Inception.
I invite you to post your favorite movie composers, soundtracks, and those special cinematic moments where the music perfectly matches what is transpiring on film.
Angelo Badalamenti is a favourite of mine, especially “Lauren’s Walking” (The Straight Story).
Some others…
Philip Glass – “Houston Skyline” (The Thin Blue Line).
Ennio Morricone – “Strength of the Righteous” (The Untouchables).
Bernard Herrmann – “Theme from Taxi Driver” (Taxi Driver).
A follow-up post could be “favourite movie songs”…
You have a lot of the same favorites as me, Scott.
From Last of the Mohicans, Trevor Jones and Randy Edelman “Promontory”:
From Atonement, Dario Marianelli and “Elegy for Dunkirk”:
From October Sky, Mark Isham and the main title theme:
From The Cider House Rules, Rachel Portman and the main title theme:
One of my favorites, from To Kill a Mockingbird, Elmer Bernstein and “Boo Who?”:
Of special note: the CD edition of this released about 10 years ago came with an essay on music theory and how it relates to the various themes and characters in the movie. Great stuff to read.
And of course, the end credits from Braveheart and James Horner. Who didn’t want to grab a battle axe after hearing this?
Hmmm… not sure why the codes didn’t work.
I think I must have listened to the soundtrack for Take Shelter fourteen times yesterday, composed by David Wingo. YouTube has a playlist of all the songs if you care to take a listen. (“At The Beach” is a favorite.)
Good call on the Take Shelter sountrack!! This is pretty amazing, i’m definitely going to get this on the ipod.
Gonna go foreign on all ya’ll…
Joe Hisaishi – All the Miyazaki films, but personal favorites are ‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’ and ‘Spirited Away’.
Yoko Kanno – Lots of animated tv show credits. Famous favorites… ‘Cowboy Bebop’, ‘Wolf’s Rain’, and the ‘Ghost in the Shell’ series.
I always thought that the score to ‘Rocky’ by Bill Conti was as important as any character in the film — it fit so beautifully and was appropriately tender and inspiring.
Just about anything John Williams has done (especially the Spielberg films) is top notch in my book — even his ‘lesser’ work (Empire of the Sun and 1941 being my favorites) contain some truly beautiful, haunting and thrilling music. But you really can’t beat the iconic themes from Raiders, Close Encounters, Superman or Star Wars.
Jerry Goldsmith’s score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a big favorite of mine too — the film has many faults, but the music is what holds it together and makes it watchable — a great soundtrack for driving long distances too.
David Shire’s excellent score for The Taking of Pelham 123 (the original) immediately sets the mood for the film in it’s opening credits — 70′s jazzy funk.
I could go on and on…
Randy Newman’s score fpr The Natural.
Jerry Goldsmith’s score fpr Patton.
Anything by Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini, John Barry, Michel Legrand, Maurice Jarre and Elmer Bernstein.
Plus, if we’re also talking about soundtracks created for a movie (non musical), maybe using pre-existing music:
The Exorcist, with Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield.
The Sting (Scott Joplin)
Round Midnight.
No love for Howard Shore?
I could make a list that’s a mile long with all the movie music that has inspired me
Here are some scores and moments that I like:
The main titles for North by Northwest, Vertigo, The Taking of Pelham 123, Signs, The Man With The Golden Arm, Planet of the Apes, Lawrence of Arabia, Ed Wood,
Raiders of the Lost Ark, and many more from the golden age of Hollywood when movies had memorable theme music. It’s tough to beat this.
The ambiguity of the music in this scene from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly as Angel Eyes is introduced.
The subtext in Wojciech Kilar’s love theme from Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
The entire score to The Untouchables and specifically Ness chasing Nitti in the court house stairwell.
The entire score to The Mission and this scene. Plus numerous other Ennio Morricone scores.
Mohammed Rafi singing “Jan Pehchan Ho” in Gumnaam to one of the craziest dance numbers ever.
The Scene d’Amour from Vertigo that rivals any Pas de Deux ever written.
Rebekah del Rio singing “Llorando” in Mulholland Drive.
György Ligeti in Eyes Wide Shut, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Shutter Island.
Alberto Iglesias’ brilliant score for Hable Con Ella. Also check out his Oscar nominated score for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
Headbanging to Queen in Wayne’s World.
Philip Glass captures the sadness, beauty and struggle of the human existence in The Hours.
Little Women. Another great Thomas Newman score.
Run, Forrest, Run!
Howard Shore’s score to Se7en and especially Chasing John Doe. Do I need to mention Lord of the Rings? Awesome.
Hans Zimmer’s scores for The Ring, Rain Man, Black Hawk Down and many more.
My favorite John Williams score. There. I said it.
Carter Burwell’s Scandinavian influenced score for Fargo.
Ry Cooder’s slide guitar in Paris, Texas.
Danny Elfman’s score to Batman, that brought back the sound of big, unapologetic orchestral music to Hollywood after two decades of scores with smaller ensembles.
Kit and Holly falling in love to “Gassenhauer” in Badlands.
Clint Mansell’s awesome score to The Fountain.
John Powell gives us pure adrenaline with “Berlin Foot Chase” from The Bourne Supremacy.
Benjamin Braddock’s Alfa Romeo runs out of gas in The Graduate and so does Paul Simon’s guitar.
The minimalist piano music when Alexander meets Ismael in Fanny & Alexander.
Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s Oscar winning score to Finding Neverland and especially this scene.
Nilsson singing “Everybody’s Talkin’” in Midnight Cowboy.
Evert single note of music in Amarcord.
Robert Redford hits a homerun and so does Randy Newman in The Natural.
My favorite movie moment ever was the few seconds of silence between the 20th Century Fox fanfare and the main title for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Nothing will ever beat the feeling of pure excitement and anticipation sitting in that dark theatre waiting for that first chord to punch me in the face. And when it did, the entire audience screamed like the fucking Beatles had just appeared on stage. It was spectacular. Then Jar Jar ruined everything.
Okay, so the list is only half a mile long. Thanks for reading.
omg… Paris, Texas.. completely forgot about that one.
And there were two years where I listened only to records with either Ry Cooder or Allan Holdsworth playing on them.
Jerry Goldsmith’s score for City Hall.
Bill Conti on The Thomas Crown Affair [remake].
Dario Marianelli for Jane Eyre.
Eric Serra for Leon [The Professional].
Hans Zimmer’s Backdraft – so rousing!
Henry Jackman for X-Men First Class.
Howard Shore for Eastern Promises.
John Barry for Dances With Wolves [or The Laet Valley; or Enigma].
John Powell for any of the Bourne scores.
Jon Brion for Magnolia.
Mark Mancina for Speed.
Michael Nyman for The Piano.
Randy Newman for The Natural.
So many Thomas Newman scores – how about Road to Perdition.
Victoria Kelly for Under the Mountain.
A cheat, but I think there are some great TV scores too…
Michael Giacchino for Lost.
Barrington Pheloung for Inspector Morse; Lewis; Endeavour.
Adrian Johnston for The Lost Prince [hoe I wish his score for Tipping the Velvet was available].
Clint Mansell for United.
Braveheart – James Horner.
My favorite movie, but the soundtrack alone can bring me to tears.
Gladiator – Hans Zimmer. Good one, too.
Excellent topic! I’m hopelessly addicted to film OSTs. My favorites:
Shigeru Umebayashi – In the Mood for Love (Yumeji’s Theme) and 2046 (Main Theme) – I don’t think any other music can suit Wong Kar-wai’s visual style better.
Philip Glass – The Hours (Dead Things)
Jan A.P. Kaczmarek – Unfaithful
I can see Thomas Newman is a recurring mention – he’s just so good.
I particularly liked Revolutionary Road.
Eric Serra’s score for Subway was also very interesting (and progressive for its time).
John Williams – Memoirs of a Geisha (The Chairman’s Waltz)
Another just popped into my head: just about anything from Ennio Moriconne’s soundtrack to Once Upon a Time in America, particularly Deborah’s Theme
Another musical moment that I like.
Bonding over Boccherini in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
I love this film. It was kinda overshadowed by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and it didn’t quite get the attention I think it deserves. It did okay at the box office but not well enough to warrant a sequel, unfortunately. It’s a classic high-seas adventure story with great battle scenes and suspense, but at the heart of the film lies a story about friendship, mutual respect and loyalty between Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin.
These two characters have very different worldviews but somehow manage to become good friends that play music together. This is the end scene where they play Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid by Luigi Boccherini. The rest of the score is really good as well, and I can highly recommend the soundtrack CD.