Sometimes it's annoying when popular rock and pop songs are used as the soundtrack for a movie. It's often just one more symptom of a movie maker's absolute lack of creativity, originality and focus.

But, sometimes, a pop song is worked into a movie with real creativity and with real dramatic impact. When a pop song is used well in a movie, both the song and the movie benefit from the mix. Sometimes, in fact, a pop song is used so well in a movie that I can't help but associate the song and the movie forever after. It's a tribute to the skills of the director and/or writer when, working completely independent of the song writer, he or she is able to turn a pop song into an important element of a good movie. Put simply, when it's done right, it's awesome.

Some directors are particularly good at pulling it off. Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino come to mind. Other directors try it rarely, but sometimes to great effect.

This is a list of some of my favorite examples of doing it right.

But first, some rules:

• The song must be arguably popular before it's inclusion in the movie. Unknown songs included to quirky effect on movie soundtracks don't count. Sorry, Garden State.



• The song must be the original recording by the artist that made the song popular. Songs re-recorded for a movie aren't up for consideration. So forget about Guns N' Roses and their unfortunate remake of Sympathy for the Devil from Interview With The Vampire.



• The song can't be something written specifically for the movie. It must be something that the director and/or writer included in the film without the direct contribution of the song's writer. Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On will forever be associated with Titanic, but it doesn't count.
  
  
• The song must be a plot element, not not movie background music. In other words, the characters must be aware of the song. Maybe it's playing in the bar or at the house where they are during a given scene. Maybe they're singing along with the song. But it can't simply be part of the soundtrack. As much as I enjoy the music used in Goodfellas, it doesn't count.



• The song can't be a plot element because it's being performed live in the movie. That rules out nearly every musician biopic ever made. For the song to qualify, it has to be played on a radio, a jukebox, or from some other recorded source. It's importance in the scene should seem almost accidental.

And now ... the movies and the music (eleven songs, ten films), in no particular order.

• The Song: American Girl by Tom Petty & The Hearbreakers
  The Movie: The Silence Of The Lambs
  
  Brooke Smith (Grey's Anatomy) is one of the best unsung elements of Jonathan Demme's suspense masterpiece. As Catherine Martin, a prisoner and potential victim of serial killer "Buffalo Bill," Smith manages to convey both extreme vulnerability and surprising resourcefulness. In her first scene in the film, Catherine is driving home, singing along with the radio, utterly unaware of the maniac waiting in the darkness. I can't hear this song without picturing her singing along:





• The Song: You Never Can Tell by Chuck Berry
  The Movie: Pulp Fiction
  
  The unspoken attraction between John Travolta and Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction is what makes the movie's first third work so well. That connection culminates (you might even say it's consummated) when the two characters enter a dance competition at a 50's themed club:




• The Songs: Sister Christian by Night Ranger and Jesse's Girl by Rick Springfield
  The Movie: Boogie Nights
  
  The primary characters in Boogie Nights are caught in a terrible downward spiral. Late in the film, Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly and Thomas Jayne attempt to rob Alfred Molina's whacked out, music obsessed drug dealer. Molina blasts Night Ranger and Rick Springfield on his stereo while his "pool boy" walks around letting off fire crackers ... and the tension builds to tremendous heights. The moment when the tape stops and flips to the other side is particularly jarring:




• The Song: Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
  The Movie: Wayne's World
  
  It's silly, it's trivial, it's infectious fun:




• The Song: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In) by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition
  The Movie: The Big Lebowski
  
  I considered the possibility that this scene violated my "character cognizance" rule, since it's an elaborate dream sequence. But I decided that the scene's inclusion was valid since the Dude is clearly aware of the song. He even choreographs his dream to the music. Besides, it's an intrinsic element of who Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski is. "Mr. Treehorn treats objects like women, man."




• The Song: Old Time Rock And Roll by Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
  The Movie: Risky Business
  
  Enough said:




• The Song: The Logical Song by Supertramp
  The Movie: Magnolia
  
  Frankly, I'm surprised at how much luck I've had finding YouTube clips for the scenes in my list. This is the only one I ran into where my luck ran out completely. No YouTube clip for the scene I'm thinking about apparently exists.
  
  That's unfortunate, because it's a great scene from a wonderful film. And it's a film that uses music inventively and to great effect. Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia utilizes the music in it's soundtrack better than just about any film I can think of. Several of the songs are original compositions by Aimee Mann, written specifically for the film. The scene that revolves around her song Wise Up is particularly well done.
  
  But the scene I'm thinking about involves a horribly sad emotional breakdown by William H. Macy's character. His character is a closeted gay man and former child star with a crush on a bartender at a local bar. As his character confesses his feelings and argues with other bar patrons, Supertramp's Logical Song plays on the jukebox and heightens the drama. I wish I could have found that scene, it's remarkably well constructed.
  
  Lacking that scene, here's a trailer for Anderson's outstanding movie:




• The Song: Stuck In The Middle With You by Stealer's Wheel
  The Movie: Reservoir Dogs
  
  It's a horribly violent, gory scene ... so don't watch this clip without a strong stomach.
  
  It's also one of the most suspenseful, gripping scene's that Quentin Tarantino has ever directed. It might be his finest sequence ever. Like the scene in Boogie Nights with the flipping cassette tape, Tarantino uses the music's absence powerfully. Mr. Blonde begins torturing Marvin the cop, blasting Stealer's Wheel on the radio. Then he walks out to his car to get a can of gasoline, and we follow him, leaving the music behind. When he returns to the warehouse, the very second that I hear the song begin again, my gut clinches up with dread. And that happens every time I see the film. I've probably seen it six or eight times.




• The Song: Tu Es Partout by Edith Piaf
  The Movie: Saving Private Ryan
  
  This song probably isn't something you're going to hear on the radio today, but going by the strictest understanding of my rules, it qualifies.
  
  Shortly before the climactic battle in Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks and Matt Damon pause and listen to Edith Piaf on a record player. Hanks translates the lyrics for Damon, and they talk about their families and the lives they've left behind to go to war. The tension is unspoken, but palpable. Both men know that a battle looms and that they are terribly outgunned, and that neither of them are likely to survive. The song provides both soldiers a moment of respite that's both poignant and profound.
  
  And, of course, there's no YouTube clip for this one, either.
  
  But I did find the song, uploaded to YouTube, by someone else who apparently associates it indelibly with Saving Private Ryan:




• The Song: In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel
  The Movie: Say Anything
  
  It's overt. There's nothing subtle about this scene. You could even call it ham-fisted. But there's no denying that it works exactly like it's supposed to:

This is only a partial list of many good examples of movie scenes that utilize pop music organically and artistically. I'm sure you may have a favorite that I didn't include on the list. I'd love to hear about other scenes I may have forgotten ... or may have never seen!

Labels: Movies, Music, You Tube