LIGHTS, CAMERA, SOUNDTRACK
Soundtracks give incredible form to movies, setting moods and making moments of pure magic. Here are five of our favourites
THE LOST BOYS
WRITTEN BY TIMOTHEA MOYLAN
TRAILER: A sweet, single mum and her two teenage sons move to a sunny Californian beach town, which, to their surprise, is overrun with vampires. Cue approximately 90 chaotic minutes of delicious mullets, night-dwelling bikers, glittery fake blood (beat you to it, Edward Cullen) and a whole lot of garlic-infused holy water. Of course, there’s also a ripper soundtrack.
THREE HIGHLIGHTS: Echo & the Bunnymen (‘People Are Strange’), INXS with Jimmy Barnes (‘Good Times’) and the unsettling, church choir-driven theme song, Gerard McMahon’s ‘Cry Little Sister’.
MOMENT WHEN MUSIC + MOVIE = MAGIC: Two soon-to-be-lovers lock eyes across the carnival. Hearts beat. Hormones rage. You can smell the hairspray. And in the background, a shirtless and inexplicably oiled up Tim Capello belts out the oh-so-80s banger ‘I Still Believe’ on the sax.
TRIVIA: Kiefer Sutherland – who plays enigmatic vampire David – was initially reluctant to be part of the film. However, the promise of INXS on the soundtrack sweetened the deal and landed him one of his most iconic roles.
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
WRITTEN BY OLIVER RAGGATT
TRAILER: Quentin Tarantino calls it ‘the greatest achievement in the history of cinema’. Need we say more? The epitome of the ‘spaghetti western’, Sergio Leone’s third film of his ‘Dollars Trilogy’ again stars Clint Eastwood and follows Blondie (The Good), Angel Eyes (The Bad) and Tuco
(The Ugly) on a hunt for gold. Ennio Morricone’s soundtrack was award-winning and gave the world a true musical curiosity: a five-note whistle answered by ‘wah-wah-wahhhh’.
THREE HIGHLIGHTS: ‘The Ecstasy of Gold’, ‘The Trio’ and ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’.
MOMENT WHEN MUSIC + MOVIE = MAGIC: You can’t go past the final duel, the best in cinematic history. The stand-off is accompanied by Morricone’s ‘The Trio’ and lasts six minutes with no dialogue; extreme close-ups on eyes and body language says more than words could.
TRIVIA: Until TG, TB And TU, spaghetti westerns were considered inferior to their American counterparts. American productions had clear heroes triumphing over evil, whereas these European productions blurred the lines. Eastwood’s Good is an anti-hero – he dispatches 11 people to get to the gold while The Ugly kills six and The Bad kills three.
GARDEN STATE
WRITTEN BY WAYNE SAUNDERS
TRAILER: Zach Braff’s 2004 indie hit, sees a depressed Andrew Largeman (played by Braff) return home to his estranged family following the death of his mother. The movie defined a generation in the mid-late 00’s with its indie folk jaunts, so much so that you’d be forgiven if you based your entire personality on it. As Natalie Portman’s character Sam says, “It’ll change your life; I swear.”
THREE HIGHLIGHTS: ‘New Slang’ by The Shins, ‘The Only Living Boy in New York’ by Simon & Garfunkel and ‘Such Great Heights’ by Iron & Wine.
MOMENT WHEN MUSIC + MOVIE = MAGIC: Each track is curated perfectly to emotionally punctuate each scene they feature in. But you can’t go past the final scene with Frou Frou’s ‘Let Go’ – a perfect accompaniment to the emotional crescendo.
TRIVIA: When sending the script to people, Zach Braff would also send them a copy of the songs, which would later be the film’s soundtrack.
GOOD MORNING VIETNAM
WRITTEN BY MAX ANDERSON
TRAILER: Much of Barry Levinson’s 1988 hit movie is given over to DJ Adrian Cronauer (Robin Williams) revving up the troops with his anarchic on-base radio show. This made for an open-goal gimme when it came to releasing the movie soundtrack, with 12 Sixties classics easily transferring to vinyl, complete with Williams’ brilliant (and much- improvised) radio hosting.
THREE HIGHLIGHTS: Martha and The Vandellas (‘Nowhere To Run’), Beach Boys (‘The Warmth Of The Sun’), and a little-bidda James Brown comin’ your wayyyyy!
MOMENT WHEN MUSIC + MOVIE = MAGIC: The comedy is pulled up short with spliced scenes of grunts going off to fight, civilian protests and American jets razing villages. As the fireballs lift into the sky, Louis Armstrong’s ‘What A Wonderful World’ brings searing pathos.
TRIVIA: The real Adrian Cronauer was a modest character whose on-air catchphrase to wake the troops was delivered quite softly, with an extended “Goooood morning, Vietnam”. Williams, of course, turned it into a reveille of hurricane proportions.
MAMMA MIA!
WRITTEN BY ZARA RICHARDS
TRAILER: Soon-to-be-wed Sophie invites three unknown men to her wedding. Each man is from her mother Donna’s past and one of them, she believes, is her father. Chaos ensues – and ABBA’s greatest hits are belted out by a star-studded cast as they try to untangle who Sophie’s dad is before she walks down the aisle.
THREE HIGHLIGHTS: Meryl Streep, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski’s rendition of ’80s hit ‘Super Trouper’; the very steamy, hunk-filled performance of ‘Does Your Mother Know’; and Julie Walters, again, trying to seduce Stellan Skarsgård with the love-filled lines of ‘Take A Chance On Me’.
MOMENT WHEN MUSIC + MOVIE = MAGIC: Donna singing ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’ as she helps Sophie get ready for her wedding. It’s a scene that totally pulls on your heartstrings and makes you want to hug your mum.
TRIVIA: Pierce Brosnan said he didn’t know he’d signed on for Mamma Mia!, only a movie in Greece starring Meryl Streep (who he had a crush on in drama school). Producer Gary Goetzman also confessed that the film’s chaotic energy came from the cast’s daily consumption of Ouzo...
