This week's question focuses on the merging of music and imagery - what is your favourite moment from a movie where these two elements combine perfectly? We had plenty of favourites - Kubrick's use of music, the cast singing together in Magnolia, Vangelis and the 'tears in the rain' scene in Bladerunner, Club Silencio from Mulholland Drive... but what about you guys? Please let us know!

Great question.... Sunshine of Your Love in Goodfellas... God Moving Over the Face of the Waters from Heat... Memo from Turner from Performance.... The Who's Baby O'Reiley from Summer of Sam... My Bloody Valentine's Sometimes from Lost In Translation... Q. Lazzarus' Goodbye Horses from Silence of the Lambs...

As soon as I post this I'll have thought of loads more....

Wes - I am suprised you did not mention the use of music in Apocalypse Now.

The use of the music in Suspiria is key to that nightmarish quality that film has - even the scenes with the girl walking through the airport and getting a Taxi is turned into an aural nightmare.

On the flip side of using music I would say scenes in Kubrik's 2001 are greatly enhanced by not having music such as the scene played out in the space suit with only the sound of strained breathing.

I was gonna say Apocalypse Now, too. The Helicopter attack is iconic.

One scene i really like, but isn't likely to be on many peoples list, is the hedonistic final scene in Shortbus. Has anyone here seen it?

Yup, loved Shortbus although I was so-so on the ending. Here is my review
http://www.theconnoisseurs.com/shortbus.html
And Mike who is gay did a review too
http://www.theconnoisseurs.com/shortbusmichael.html

Apocalypse now is a great example. I loved Malagueña Salerosa at the end of Kill Bill pt 2.

Still one of my favorites is the ending of Nights of Cabiria (Felini flick). The protagonist is sick and mad with anger and betrayal and she gets sucked into this big street celebration and she is dancing and twirling and incredibly upset. Luna Papa does something like that too, the heroine goes into a folk dance a couple of times when she is really upset.

Yes! That's a wonderful final sequence, building to a really uplifting, er, climax! I remember rewinding to watch the ending again as soon as it finished. Great movie too.

You're right of course Howl... the film is a perfect marriage of image and sound... I did think of including it in my original post but ditched it for fear of being seen as some sort of Apocalypse Now Fetishist if there is such a thing...

But !!!!

While we're talking about.... unforgettable opening reel with Doors epic The End*, and of course the Air Cav raining death down on Vin Drin Dop to the strains of Wagner**

I wrote at lenght about the Apocalypse Now Workprint in another post so instead of rehashing all that, I'll just say Coppola's temp soundtrack is fascinating - lots of Doors songs, and he wraps up the film with When the Music's Over which works great, if you can imagine it...

* Worth mentioning that Scorsese beat Coppola by 10 years, in the use of The End - it turns up in Scorsese's debut, Who's That Knocking At My Door

** Wagner's The Ride of the Valkyries also features memorably (though for all the wrong reasons) in DW Griffith's Birth of A Nation, as horsebacked Klansmen, charge to the rescue at the film's climax...

No mention of the John Williams scores of the 1970s and 1980s?

The moment when Luke is staring out at the the binary sunset on Tatooine in STAR WARS.

Superman taking his first flight out of the Fortress of Solitude.

E.T. and Elliot flying over the moon.

Far too-many to mention.


Also, the opening of RESERVOIR DOGS. Actually, Tarantino is a master at using songs to compliment the onscreen action.

Best use of music for me in recent years has to be Adagio in D Minor used for Kanada's Death scene in Danny Boyles 2007 movie SUNSHINE, really had a massive impact on me and is one of my favourite scenes in the past few years and even just listening to the soundtrack alone still brings a tear to my eye.

I really love Rob Zombie's use of music, A bit like Romero in Dawn of the Dead, he uses light-hearted music during heavy scenes to great effect - the best use that springs to mind is The Allman Brothers Band's 'Midnight Rider' during the opening credits for The Devil's Rejects. Also, 'Freebird' was put to good use at the end of that movie.

Random examples are the Morbid Angel tracks used in Night of the Demons: Angela's Revenge, Damon Albarn's almost psychadelic keyboard score in Ravenous, the soundtrack to The Omen, The Imperial March in Star Wars and I really love the track that's used in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003 trailer, but isn't in the movie.

Basically, the best use of music signifies something on the screen that may not be obvious with a visual, i.e. Darth Vader's looming presence.

The introduction of the Enterprise in STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE.

Wong Kar Wai is awesome at using music. The use of Only You at the end of FALLEN ANGELS. The use of Faye Wong's version of DREAMS and California Dreaming in CHUNKING EXPRESS, especially at the end. The hypnotic music in IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE and 2046.

All the graveyard stuff in THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.

Nick and Nora Jr. lip-synching to IN DREAMS in BLUE VELVET.

The end of ROBOCOP. "What's your name son?" "Murphy" BAM. Credits. Music.

The use of Ode to Joy throughout DIE HARD.

Colonel Bogey March - THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI.

And all uses of inspirational music in the ROCKY series. My favourite bit is probably the GOING THE DISTANCE montage in ROCKY II with Rocky doing push ups silhouetted against the rising sun. Genius.

As soon as this question came up, I thought of this one. Agreed. (Took me a while to find this piece of music too, I might add...)

Others I thought of...

Where is my Mind at the closing sequence/end credits of Fight Club. Okay, I admit I was a Pixies fan before seeing the film, but it's now forever linked in my mind to the buildings collapsing. Really, the music in that movie fit the style of the film perfectly, in my opinion.

Closer(Precurser) at the opening sequences of Seven perhaps?

Another film where the music really did a great job of setting the mood throughout the film to me was the really strange banjo(?) music in Ravenous. But I realize that you guys were asking for something more specific.

On the whole, I'm drawing a blank all of a sudden, but for laughs, I'll offer up the following:

Damn, It Feels Good to be a Gangster from Office Space.



EDIT: As a side note- I agree with you guys about bringing back the "Homework" segment of the show. I thought that was a great feature.

Would also like to add, perhaps as a counterpoint, that I really despise when a film only has enough budget to get only one song, and then proceed to use it multiple times during the film. I've seen this happen a few times with lower budget films and it annoys me every single time. (Granted, they usually aren't very good movies to begin with, but still...)

Alien : The music used during the scene where the alien attacks Parker and Lambert.

Any of the music playing while the main protagonist in Vanishing Point is driving along endless roads in the desert.

I'm not sure if you can really call it music or not, but anyway i really like the music you hear in the stargate sequence in 2001 A Space Odyssey. Sounds very mysterious and kind of creepy

I'm giving an honourable mention to the Halloween advert ditty in Halloween 3. 'Happy happy Halloween, halloween halloween, happy happy halloween, silver shamrock'

Pusherman by Steppenwolf, perfectly accompanies the first time you see Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper riding their bikes.

I also like Wong Fei Hung's theme song that plays every so often during the Once Upon A Time In China movies

Apocalypse Now....God there are so many scenes in that. THe opening with the Napalm bombing and the closing scene with the Cattle being Slaughtered, the girl at the temple door with the rain in the back.

Trainspotting...The scene with BLUR'S SING when they find out the the dead baby's father is Sick Boy...Everything changes for them after that.

Goodfellas...I wills second the cream song...but also the use of the LAYLA Coda.

BLade Runner...those beautiful little water bells after Roy finishes his monologue

Phantom of the Paradise...The beautiful music video moment when Winslow is composing the final Opera for the performance as Swan is bricking him in...lovely.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls...The bit with IN THE LONG RUN that goes from the Carry Nations performing in that club to recording the track with those great superimpositions of John Lazar.

OH AND MOST OF THE JOHN CARPENTER FILMS in particular the score from Escape from New York has great visual moments...e.g. THe Arrival of the Duke....
oh dear.must rest and think of more....

Hell yes!