Motoring, Redux: Music and Movie Scenes

While it's not necessarily comprehensive and in no way complete, we worked long and hard (thatswhatshesaid) and came up with our top 10 movie scene/song combos.  It's a highly subjective selection, because duh, what's the fun in anything that isn't?  Enjoy!


DON SAYS:

(Because this is such a far-ranging question, I am going to impose some discipline and limit my list to only that music that existed before the film was made. As such, original background scores are out even though they sometimes are critical to a movie and are highly recognizable. So no Rocky and no Chariots of Fire. Also out………songs that were written specifically for a movie and achieved commercial success thereafter. So, there is no Saturday Night Fever, no Bodyguard, no Streets of Fire, no fucking Titanic. Lastly, my list will be determined by two factors: 1) what role did the song play in “making” the scene; and, 2) how strongly I associate the song with the film.)

I have to have at least one piece of classical music on my list and I have narrowed it down to two pieces …..Carmen from Bad News Bears and The Ride of Valkries from Apocalypse Now . This is a close call for me, especially as I am a huge BNB fan and I am one of the only 40 something males who thought AN was hugely overrated, but the helicopter attack scene from that movie is one of the greats in film history and that song absolutely made the scene. In a nutshell, you can’t think of that movie, let alone that scene, and not think of that song.

A Million Miles Away, the Plimsouls, Valley Girl: (song begins at 3:45) This movie is a big part of my childhood growing up in Santa Monica and I can’t think about this movie without thinking about the song. A funny thing about this inclusion though: in the film, Nick Cage is supposed to be a punk rocker and this song is supposed to represent his lifestyle. The movie was released in 1983 and I listened to a fair amount of punk rock that year. I don’t remember anyone ever linking the Plimsouls with the Dead Kennedy’s or the Circle Jerks.

Shadow on the Sun, Audioslave, from the movie Collateral: Michael Mann is just about the best in the business at doing “nighttime mood,” especially in Los Angeles and this song absolutely crushes it. Haunting and desperate. Chris Cornell’s vocals over-layed on a wolf running through the streets of downtown LA ……all worked perfectly for me.

You’ll be a Woman Soon, Urge Overkill, Pulp Fiction:One of the things that Tarrantino does so well is take obscure music and incorporate it into his films. There aren’t many people outside of hard-core Neil Diamond fans who could have identified this song before Pulp Fiction. After its release, is there anyone who couldn’t answer this question on Jeopardy?

Your Hand in Mine, Explosions in the Sky, Friday Night Lights: This instrumental is the background during the climactic scene where Permian comes up just short in the Texas State AAAAA Football Championship. There is no dialogue because this song captures the disappointment so perfectly. Kids dejected. Tim McGraw making amends with his kid. Coaches despondent. All backed by a couple of steel guitars that convey it all.  (ed. note: Don and I saw EinS this summer and I am pretty sure that HE CRIED for the love of the music. -- m.)

Sister Christian, Night Ranger, Boogie Nights: This song backs one of my favorite film scenes, PERIOD! But it does more than just back the scene. It helps make the scene. The scene is edited so fucking well that all the tempo changes in the song perfectly heighten the tension that is critical to the scene. The funny thing is …….when Sister Christian ends, the tape flips over to Jessie’s Girl and that song works almost as perfectly. At the end of the day, who can ever hear Sister Christian and not think about this crazy scene?

Layla, Derek and the Dominoes, Goodfellas: Is it cliché for a 40 year-old male like myself to include something from GoodFellas on a list like this? Probably, but there is no denying Scorsese nailed this one. As that fat little kid wanders up to the pink caddy and Clapton’s piano kicks in, you had film history. Scorsese might have listened to 1000 songs before settling on Layla and his choice probably would have been the same had he listened to 10,000. When it works, it works.

Moving in Stereo, The Cars, Fast Times at Ridgemont High: To a 14 year-old boy, what is more memorable than Phoebe Cates’ TITS? This song and Ms. Cates will be forever linked in my mind and most males born between the years of 1966 and 1971.

Tessie, Dropkick Murphys, Fever Pitch: I watch 150 Red Sox games a year. You don’t think I am going to include a song that is linked to the greatest comeback in baseball history? In the film, the song kicks in after a 90 second montage that summarizes those eight beautiful nights in October of 2004. I argue that it is the greatest 90 seconds in film history!

Lunatic Fringe, Red Rider, VisionQuest: This one is near and dear to my heart. The song backs a scene where Matt Modine is firing himself up to wrestle an unbeatable state champ. I found the scene and song inspiring and as a result, I had the song on a mix that I‘d listen to when I was psyching myself up in HS. How can such a song not be on the list?

MOLLY SAYS:

Golden Years, First Knight. Shut up, I like it. It's a silly movie, sure, but I could watch Heath Ledger (sniff) dancing over and over again, happily.

I am scrapping my Pixies cover/karaoke choice from (500) Days of Summer and adding Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield, in Pulp Fiction. It’s hard to choose between this song and the Urge Overkill song, but as frantic and restless as Uma Thurman made Mia (which was totally underscored by that song), John Travolta made Vincent sooooo smooth, and SooPM completely captures that for me. And I don’t even LIKE John Travolta!

Mad World, The Church (do covers count?), Donnie Darko: It might not technically fit the criteria (is over a montage at the end) but it’s moody and weird and I remember trying to buy the single after seeing the movie and at that time, it wasn’t available and I don’t know if it’s ever been released but even when I hear the original Tears for Fears version, I think of this odd, odd movie.

Be For Real, Afghan Whigs, Beautiful Girls: Greg Dulli’s voice is gritty and familiar in the same way that the characters and hometown in this movie are gritty and familiar. It makes me want to drink cheap beer and waste lots of money on a jukebox.

More Than This (potentially not allowed on this list as it is karaoke), Bill Murray, Lost in Translation: It makes my heart hurt. This is my idea of a perfect movie and while the karaoke might not be technically eligible in this category, Bill Murray says everything while he is singing to Charlotte/Scarlett.

In Your Eyes, Peter Gabriel, Say Anything: It's too obvious, sure, but how can I *not* include the boombox? I was a thirteen year old girl when I saw this movie. It was my prom theme, for christ's sake. I mean, COME ON!


This Woman's Work, Kate Bush, She's Having a Baby: (Starts at 3:20ish)Tears.  The first time I saw this movie I thought it was funny. I was a kid and things like ‘marriage’ and ‘fertility’ and ‘fatherhood’ were not really forefront in my mind, but I knew that when Kevin Bacon was in that waiting room, he was scared. When I watch that scene now, as an adult, it stings even more because I can appreciate how complicated relationships can be, but I also can appreciate those moments of clarity that come along every now and then.

American Girl, playing as Brooke Smith drives to her abduction in Silence of the Lambs: Classic. I can think of several singing-along-in-the-car scenes that stand out (Tom Cruise singing Free Fallin’ in Jerry Maguire, John Mahoney singing Ricky Don’t Lose that Number in Say Anything), but this one wins for me because the actress is so open and comfortable yet you still can feel something sordid and dark on the edge of the scene and them BOOM, she’s putting the lotion in the basket.

Tiny Dancer, Almost Famous: So sincere it is impossible not to love. This entire movie is sweet and sun-dappled and watching this scene is like leaning against your best friend’s shoulder and getting a soft hug in return. Or something like that.

Sister Christian by Night Ranger, in the scene with Alfred Molina and the coke, Boogie Nights: Duh. It’s uncomfortable to watch it’s so tense and vivid and everything about it is strung out and it’s pretty much perfect.

I have to give one honorable mention to the song Breathe Me by Sia which was played over the last scene of Six Feet Under and is therefore forever and always linked to my greatest emotional breakdown, ever. EVER! For months and months I could not hear that song without almost choking. No other song has ever had a lasting and visceral impact on me like that, no other scene has ever caused MASSIVE EMOTIONAL TRAUMA the way the end of Six Feet Under did, but as it's not in a movie I am leaving it off my list. Or at least, off *this* list.  Layla/Goodfellas, Gimee Shelter/The Departed, If You Leave/Sixteen Candles, Stuck in the Middle With You/Resevoir Dogs, I’m Shipping Up to Boston/The Departed, Dry the Rain/High Fidelity are all on my short(well, shortish) list as well.