Top 15 Uses of Song in a Movie [Alternate Universe]

So, I lived up to the title of the blog and forgot some very important [and, quite frankly] obvious songs.  Also, there have been a lot of great suggestions, so it demands Alternate Universe picks.  (note:  sticking to one per movie)

15. You’re the Best Around from Karate Kid – one song montage motivation!  So horrible it’s awesome.

14. My Endless Love from Happy Gilmore – hilarious if you wait for the reveal.

13. My Sharona from Reality Bites – Ah, dancing in a gas station.

12. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go from Zoolander – Ah, dancing in a gas station.

11. A Quick One from Rushmore – Release the bees!

10. Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You from The Deer Hunter – Like ‘Beautiful Girls’… if they all went to Vietnam (hat tip Nancy).

9. Red Red Wine from Bringing Out The Dead – Wine as blood.  Again, Marty with the Christ metaphors.

8. You Never Can Tell from Pulp Fiction – Travolta dances again!  On heroin!

7. The Sound of Silence from The Graduate – one of the magnificent endings.  Uncertainty personified.

6. Puttin’ on the Ritz from Young Frankenstein – okay, so this is the funniest use of song in a movie.  Ever. (hat tip Anne D)

5. Fire and Rain from Running on Empty – both in the kitchen scene and in the ending, a wonderful mix of melancholy and celebration.  Very underrated movie with standout performances from Judd Hirsch and River Phoenix.

4. Best of My Love from Boogie Nights – killer opening, killer tracking shot, killer song.

3. In Your Eyes from Say Anything – Cameron Crowe can really do no wrong (if you forget about Elizabethtown) and this was his first classic movie/music scene.

2. The End from Apocalypse Now – madness as Kurtz ends.  Best shot:  Sheen rising from the muddy water.

1. Layla from GoodFellas – the original master of pop music in movies, Scorsese turns in a bravura sequence that reminds us the best part of Layla is the outro.

Top 15 Uses of Song in a Movie

EDIT: Also, check out the bonus picks in the Alternate Universe.

15. Johnny B. Goode from Back to the Future - Michael J. Fox “sings” and “shreds” his way through the 50’s.  “You know that new sound you’re looking for?  Well listen to this!”

14. Blinded By The Light from Blow – a synthesizer soundtracks the raking in of money.  Thank you cocaine!

13. Sweet Emotion from Dazed & Confused – tone setter.  A car circa ‘76 circles the school parking lot in the baked sunlit morning.  School’s almost out.

12. Sweet Caroline from Beautiful Girls – nothing like dudes in a bar reconnecting for a singalong.

11. Where Is My Mind from Fight Club – a match for the WTF? feeling of the ending as buildings and Jack/Tyler collapse.

10. Go Daddy-O from Swingers – Mikey finally becomes a big bear with claws and goes after the bunny.

9. Everything In Its Right Place from Vanilla Sky – Waking up to Radiohead and a world in which nothing is in its right place except this eerie, lonely song.

8. Let’s Get It On from High Fidelity – Barry Jive & The Uptown Five bring it home and Jack Black caps off his breakthrough role.

7. Bohemian Rhapsody from Wayne’s World – The funniest use of song in a movie.  Ever.

6. Twist & Shout from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – Everyone wanted to be Ferris Bueller because of this scene.

5. Sussudio from American Psycho – Mr. Bale scarily deconstructs the genius of Phil Collins.  “But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist.”

4. A Change Is Gonna Come from Malcolm X – masterful filmmaking (that dolly shot) by Spike Lee during this scene leading up to the final speech of Malcolm X.  The dreary wait for overdue change.

3. Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head from Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid – the summation of “carefree.”  And Paul Newman being Paul Newman to boot.  Bonus points for being a cool part of Spider-Man 2.

2. Wise Up from Magnolia – The actors sing along and the audacious earnestness of Magnolia knocks down another wall.

1. Tiny Dancer from Almost Famous – THE blend of music and movie.  All the emotions that Cameron Crowe is so good at capturing on film through music – warm memory, community, giving each other the benefit of the doubt, reconciliation, romanticism and rock & roll.