Subject: Soundtracks to Movies
Posted by: brm50diboll
Date: Apr 24 21
Originally, I was going to title this "Movie Theme Songs", but I decided that songs in the soundtrack of a movie can have a great effect, not only the themes. The power of the songs in a movie to create the mood is sometimes overlooked, but it is massive. Frequently just hearing a few bars of a song brings a whole host of images. To pick one of hundreds of possible examples, consider John Williams' "Imperial March" in Star Wars. In this thread, I will sporadically give a few songs in movies and comment on what that song did for me and that particular movie it was in.
Posted by: brm50diboll
Date: Apr 24 21
Originally, I was going to title this "Movie Theme Songs", but I decided that songs in the soundtrack of a movie can have a great effect, not only the themes. The power of the songs in a movie to create the mood is sometimes overlooked, but it is massive. Frequently just hearing a few bars of a song brings a whole host of images. To pick one of hundreds of possible examples, consider John Williams' "Imperial March" in Star Wars. In this thread, I will sporadically give a few songs in movies and comment on what that song did for me and that particular movie it was in.
27 replies. On page 2 of 2 pages. 1 2
brm50diboll 
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Then there is my favorite horror movie: "Creepshow". I have expounded upon "Creepshow" in other threads in the past and the reason I'd stated it was my favorite is the dark humor that pervades each segment of it. But I would be remiss if I did not mention the contribution of the score by John Harrison. Every part of it is appropriate to the section of the most vie it appears in, but my favorite part of it is the opening: https://tinyurl.com/vd7st3vtNow here is the score again, isolated: https://tinyurl.com/3kdu82mzOne last thing: "Just tell it to call you Billie!" https://giphy.com/gifs/absurdnoise-creepshow-3o49vMsm6WXOECurious that the monster's name in "The Crate" segment was "Fluffy". Reply #21. Jul 19 21, 4:36 PM |
| brm50diboll
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most vie? That should read "movie". I hate autocorrect. It creates more typos than it fixes. Reply #22. Jul 19 21, 4:39 PM |
odo5435
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While I've found this post interesting, it's disappointing that many of the great film soundtracks are being ignored. There is so much to be explored in these earlier years. Without the 'Fred and Ginger' soundtracks of the thirties and the grand musicals of the forties and early fifties; without the iconic music of film composers like Bernard Herrmann, Dmitri Tiompkin, Alfred Newman, Max Steiner, Henry Mancini and (possibly the greatest of them all) Ennio Morricone, the film soundtracks you've described so far would not exist. The subject of music in films is vast in its entirety. Film music has contributed much to our current musical standards and appreciation; both 'classical' and 'popular'. It deserves a discussion that goes back more than the last thirty years. Reply #23. Jul 30 21, 9:14 AM |
| brm50diboll
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Anyone could contribute to this thread if they want to. Or start another thread that focuses on the movies and themes they like, as well. I happen to be 57 (58 in a few days) and, to be honest, don't care much for movies from the 1930s (although I have watched a few). For the most part, I find both the visual and auditory qualities of old movies lacking. Remastering does help, but only to some extent. For my own part, I like attaching links to videos of the movies and themes I like, and to the extent that such clips exist, I find most of them to be of poor quality. This is just my opinion and if someone else wants to post themes to old movies like "Casablanca" or "Citizen Kane", that would be fine by me. Or anything else someone likes. But yeah, I like movies I grew up with. So anything before 1980 is pretty much ancient history for me. I did get to see "Grease" when it first came out. In 1978, I turned 15. Here's a couple of songs I loved from that "ancient" movie (for me, anyway): The "Grease" theme: https://tinyurl.com/244p6tmc"Beauty School Dropout": https://tinyurl.com/y9dnybf2We went to see "Grease" at a drive-through theater, believe it or not. It was a family outing, Mom, Dad, and us three kids (I was the oldest). My parents were more enthusiastic about "Grease" than I was, probably because they both graduated high school in the 50s and related more to the time period the movie was set in than I could. In retrospect, it seems to me that the "Age of Eisenhower" would have been a nice time to be alive. My mom even knew who Frankie Avalon was. I had no idea. But as a high school teacher with a bit of a warped sense of humor, I have occasionally played "Beauty School Dropout" to my students as a warning to those who might not take their studies seriously. After all, some of them might even grow up to become a President Eisenhower or even a Vice-President Nixon (loved that Eve Arden line). Reply #24. Jul 30 21, 5:42 PM |
| brm50diboll
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Ah yes, Pulp Fiction. The movie that is said to have revived John Travolta's flagging career. And a big part of the movie's impact was "Misirlou", recorded as a sort of surfing song by Dick Dale in 1962, but with roots much older even than that. The basic theme was a Middle Eastern folk song. But when Quentin Tarantino resurrected the old song for Pulp Fiction, he gave it a lightning fast pace that set the theme for the movie. https://tinyurl.com/v3sum8jb Reply #25. Sep 02 21, 6:06 PM |
boxjaw
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'Adagio for Strings', composed by Samuel Barber has some powerful moments in film. 'The Elephant Man' 'Platoon' And many others, but those two films made my eyes wet when it was played. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQsgE0L450&ab_channel=MarshallJ.HendricksonThen I laughed when it was played in an episode of 'Seinfeld' - 'The Fatigues' Wonderful music Reply #26. Sep 03 21, 10:41 AM |
| brm50diboll
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Yes. Very true. The scene where that is played in "Platoon" is especially dramatic. Reply #27. Sep 03 21, 12:57 PM |
27 replies. On page 2 of 2 pages. 1 2
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