Music in Movies

It's clear to me that a good soundtrack is really what makes a lot of those shining sequences of brilliant cinema what they are. It's that combination of something visually stunning and a great song, that's what keeps you glued to the screen, it keeps your heart pumping with excitement. I thought I'd take a shot at coming up with my (not set in stone) top 5 musical tracks from a movie.

First of all I set up some rules. There will be no songs originally composed for a movie. So, there goes "Mrs. Robinson" from The Graduate. There will also be no songs that the actors sing themselves. So, that goes for any musical, or perhaps just a random song sung by an actor, for instance Paul Newman plays "Plastic Jesus" on a banjo in Cool Hand Luke. Finally, no classical music, just pop & rock is what I was looking for.

5) 2000 Man - The Rolling Stones

from the movie "Bottle Rocket"

I have Wes Anderson to thank for my love for The Stones, he directed and picked the music for this cool little flick starring Luke & Owen Wilson. In the movie they take part in a heist that goes wrong. This tune is playing as Owen Wilson makes his on-foot getaway from the cops and leads them into the warehouse that they tried to rob, as the police take him down, Mick Jagger's voice and the organ in the song pound through the speakers and truly make a great scene.

4) Heart of the Sunrise - Yes

from the movie "Buffalo '66"

This crazy rock 'n roller of a song plays as the actor Vincent Gallo walks into a strip-club and looks for a man he's trying to murder. Really it's a perfect song for the state of mind someone would have to be in to want to murder someone. It's fast and crazy and works perfectly as he pushes his hair back and aims his pistol. What happens next in the movie I won't say, but you can be sure that it was tracked well with the perfect song.

3) Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel

from the movie "Reservoir Dogs"

This song is actually sorta going against my own rules because it's playing on a radio in the room the characters are in, and you can hear the actor Michael Madsen quietly sing-a-long to it for a few seconds, but I think if you see the scene you'll know why I had to put it in the list. As the radio DJ K-Billy says in the movie, the song is a Dylan-esque, pop, bubble-gum favorite, and the cheerfulness of the song works entirely too well as Madsen does his dance with his razor as he's about to torture the cop they suspect of knowing something. Of course though, what makes the scene horrifying, and the reason this happy song is on the list is because he was just gonna torture him for fun, not to get anything out of him.

2) Big White Cloud - John Cale

from the movie "Smokin' Aces"

This classic song barrels in as an assassin makes his way into a hotel room to off a snitch that everyone is after, the snitch is played by Jeremy Piven. There's some desperate quality to the song that magnifies how pathetic Piven's character has become in the movie. When the assassin arrives Piven is in the bathroom, he has evidence of drugs around his nose, and he has these big dark circles around his teary eyes. The song with its heavy piano chords and the best portrayal of a drug addict I've ever seen for some reason moves me, especially as Piven puts in contacts to change the color of his eyes. You'd really have to see the movie to understand.

1) Atlantis - Donovan

from the movie "Goodfellas"

One of my favorite movies, and just one of the best scenes ever filmed in my eyes. It's the definition of a great moment in film, great acting, cool look to the way it is shot, and of course the perfect song to go along. Martin Scorsese is without a doubt the master of mixing movies with the best classic rock songs, and this one is beautiful. The scene - the actors Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent get into a verbal argument, Pesci leaves, Pesci comes back, Pesci and his friend played by Robert De Niro beat the living hell out of Frank Vincent. Seems simple, but for some reason as De Niro is burying his heel in Vincent's face I'm completely captivated. There's also this great part where Joe Pesci is about to shoot Frank Vincent but De Niro hits the gun out of his hand, and it's just as the snare drum is picking up in the song, and then Scorsese gets a shot of the gun falling apart on the ground, it's beautiful. Then they stop the beating and respectfully apologize for getting blood on the floor of Ray Liotta's bar. This is my personal favorite musical moment in a movie.