In my opinion, music has the power to inspire as much emotion in the audience as an actor's gripping performance. This post is a tribute to some of those soundtracks in the history of moviemaking that have been positive influences in the on-screen narratives which they accompany. The tracks that have been chosen represent either a full sountrack/score behind a given work, or exist as a single song that I thought clicked with whatever story it was telling -- either way, I think they will be remembered for a long time. Each movie I have listed has a song attached to it that you can click to play at your convenience.
50. The Sting
49. The Shawshank Redemption
48. Top Gun
47. O Brother Where Art Thou?
46. The Wrestler
45. Philadelphia
44. Rocky
43. The Breakfast Club
42. The Rock
41. The Blues Brothers
40. High Noon
39. Easy Rider
38. Space Jam
37. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
36. The Jungle Book
35. The Graduate
34. Garden State
33. Requiem for a Dream
32. Forrest Gump
31. Jurassic Park
30. Snatch
29. Magnolia
28. Animal House
27. This is Spinal Tap
26. The Wedding Singer
25. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
24. Juno
23. The Lion King
22. The Little Mermaid
21. Austin Powers 3: Goldmember
20. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
19. Saturday Night Fever
18. Shaft
17. Toy Story
16. The Life Aquatic
15. The Wizard of Oz
14. Reservoir Dogs
13. Pulp Fiction
12. Midnight Cowboy
11. The Last of the Mohicans
10. Road to Perdition
9. Rudy
8. Lost in Translation
7. Good Will Hunting
6. The Magnificent Seven
5. Once Upon a Time in the West
4. Apocalypse Now
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Gladiator
1. Chariots of Fire
Others I couldn't find on Youtube: The Big Chill, American Graffiti, Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Honorable Mention: Star Wars, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Dazed and Confused, Grease, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Spongebob Squarepants.
12 comments:
A great post - some weird ones in there (Austin Powers, Space Jam ... interestingly I have the soundtrack but it is one of the much-less listened to soundtracks). Must point out James Newton-Howard - potentially a favourite composer of mine. Namely his soundtrack to The Village whereby the whole orchestra supports Hilary Hahn (is that how its spelt..?) on her violin. Not to mention The Dark Knight soundtarck whereby Newton-Howard joins Hans Zimmer. Dany Elfmans scores are generally very good - Edward Scissorhands is incredible - while the stuff for Men In Black, Spiderman all sounds very similar, with incredibly similar 'themes'. Lastly, you got Road to Perdition in there - and Thomas Newman is great, but I prefer the soundtrack to American Beauty and Wall*E. The songs in Snatch are great - but my personal preference is Klimt-Diamond from the opening credits (You can't get it on itunes strangely enough!)
Great post though!
Thank you. And yes, of course there was a ton of music i couldn't fit into 50. But, these are my personal faves. And i'm a weird guy, so i guess there are some weird ones in there. Not saying they are the best of the best.
Where are Marie Antoinette and Dirty Dancing?
Well, Dirty Dancing is a sad miss, but I like the inclusion of Space Jam, I believe I can fly was a great song, and some of the others on the soundtrack were a lot of fun. The Austin Powers ones are AWESOME as well.
However, I am a little miffed. I was planning on doing Best Soundtracks for my next Top Ten Thursday. Seeing as I only have a draft done, I can't in good conscience post it after having been so heavily influenced by some of the great choices on here I didn't consider.
I postpone it for a few weeks and if you're interested I'll send you the link and we can compare notes.
Really impressive list though Casey, and I love the look of your site!
Fun post! Found your blog thanks to MadHatter. I haven't seen some of the flicks on this list, but glad to see my faves Gladiator & Lord of the Rings here. I didn't have the diligence to post 50 of them, but I did post my Top 20 soundtracks/film scores a while ago (http://wp.me/pxXPC-98) I agree with you that music is powerful stuff, sometimes even more affecting than an actor's performance in many cases.
Thanks so much for the feedback guys. I don't pretend that the list is perfect by any means, but they represent my personal favorites anyway. Heather, please do send me that link when you come out with your list! Sorry if I made any sort of delay in your posting... Looking forward to seeing it though
rtm, just checked out your lists too. Really liked your pick on Bodyguard for soundtrack, and Batman Begins/Dark Knight and Phantom of the Opera for best score.
Teehee! It's okay Casey! I actually felt like I was rushing it anyway. I did it so quickly because it was from a reader request. I'll send it to you whenever I post it! This week was Top Ten Movies Adapted to TV shows which was way harder than I thought it would be! :)
I can only comment with my google ID here, so here's a link to Movie Mobsters if you ever want to visit: http://www.moviemobsters.com/
Thanks for the link. I'll definitely give it a look. That sounds like such an obscure list... movies to tv... I can only think of a few off the top of my head..
I am glad to see once upon a time in the west high on the list. Ennio Morricone makes the best scores,
foster
dude i saw a movie the other day that made me think of this list. i had forgotten how good it was. almost famous. one of most overlooked movies of 2000s.
One of the best lists I have seen. However not having "Purple Rain" on here is a sin. One of the best, if not the best ever. I loved "Glory" too. Same feel as "Last if the Mohicans."
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