Pop songs used in film scenes to good effect

[Derrick]

The use of popular music in feature films is now commonplace. Martin Scorsese though, used pop music to great effect in Mean Streets (The Stones' Jumpin' Jack Flash during the slo-mo entrance of deNiro into the bar) and was one of the very first to do so in serious film-making.

Here's five more of my favourites

Goodfellas
Cream - Sunshine Of Your Love. deNiro is contemplating whacking Morrie the wig merchant. Very sinister.

Derek and the Dominoes - Layla (instrumental ending). Morrie and his missus are found murdered in their car by a bunch of small kids.

Apocalypse Now
The Doors - The End. Martin Sheen totally out of his face in his room before embarking on his suicide mission to meet Brando.

Letter To Brezhnev
Sandy Shaw - Always Something There To Remind Me. Peter Firth and Alexandra Pigg spend the night together and connect via the stars.

The Big Chill
The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want. The aftermath of Alex's funeral where a couple of the characters get stoned.

Is it easy to marry pop/rock music to a film scene? What do you think?

Derrick

[kensei]

TOP GUN- Sex scene with Tom Cruise & Kelly McGillis, "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin, one of the most romantic pop songs of all time!

WATCHMEN- Ok, I'm a geek who loves comic book movies, but the use of old 60s songs in this movie was amazing. Bob Dillon's "The Times They are A-Changing" in the opening credits montage was absolutely perfect for a quick run-through of the characters' backstory. Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence" merged seamlessly into the gloomy funeral scene for the Comedian. And Jimmy Hendricks' "All Along the Watchtower"- how they found a song with lyrics to exactly mirror what was happening on screen was a work of sheer genius. ("A wildcat did growl- Two riders were approaching, and the wind began to howl.")

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS- As the senator's daughter is driving toward her fateful meeting with and abduction by Buffalo Bill, she is singing along to "American Girl" by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers on her car radio- "Yeah, but then she had to die!" Creepy.

FORREST GUMP- Where does one start? This movie's soundtrack is an absolute masterpiece.

[DVV]

"Midnight" by Al Bowlly at the end of Shining.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCUGYgWSz8c

[Chris]

I'm not sure whether this is quite the kind of thing you had in mind, but I think the "Head Over Heels" sequence from Donnie Darko is brilliant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWJPa0bvWnM

[mariab]

Nat King Cole's L-O-V-E song (which is jazz, not pop) in À la folie/pas du tout with Audrey Tautou. Creepy movie (and a cleverer version of Fatal attraction). Full total creepiness.

[DVV]

Hello Maria

jazz was basically a popular music before brains took it over...

Amitiés

[mariab]

Tout à fait, David. And waltz was considered cheap music in the 19th century, something for the teenagers to shake and frolick along.

[c.d.]

Not really a pop song I guess but "Tubular Bells" was an excellent choice for the theme to "The Exorcist." Very eerie and haunting and really set the tone for the movie.

c.d.

[Sister Hyde]

Not really a pop song I guess but "Tubular Bells" was an excellent choice for the theme to "The Exorcist." Very eerie and haunting and really set the tone for the movie.

c.d.

Amen!

[kensei]

Nat King Cole's L-O-V-E song (which is jazz, not pop) in À la folie/pas du tout with Audrey Tautou. Creepy movie (and a cleverer version of Fatal attraction). Full total creepiness.

Another Nat King Cole song, in another nod to "Watchmen"- in the opening scene, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian is listening to the gentle and moving "Unforgettable" and reminiscing about an old love when he is attacked, beaten to a pulp and thrown out a 30th story window. The song continues to play through the entire scene. Quite the contrast.

[DirectorDave]

Hey Jude in the Royal Tenenbaums.

[Red Zeppelin]

Can't believe nobody has mentioned the obvious one.

Reservoir Dogs using 'Stuck in the Middle With You'.

Yikes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=komvFIGYBYM

[brummie]

A couple stick in the memory:
Blondie's Call me at the beginning of American Gigolo
and Simon and Garfunkel -Sound of Silence in The Graduate