I am bigsleepj and I approve this thread.
The Ecstasy of Gold - Ennio Morricone from
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
In a movie filled with memorable music and incredible visuals nothing quite beats the entrance to the cemetery, which manages to combine both elements beautifully. Tuco (the Ugly) is seeking the gold buried there and the movie and visuals seem to catch his obsession. Never mind that a sociopathic Clint Eastwood is hot on his trail - he has to find the gold. This is probably one of the best pieces written by Ennio Morricone in a long and illustrious career.
Wehe Khorazin - Popul Vuh - from
Fitzcarraldo
The opening shot of this film is the vast, endless Peruvian rainforest and with a paragraph, supposedly from Amazonian myth. "Here God has yet to finish His creation." Despite being supplanted soon by the music of Verdi and the visuals of the Manaus opera house this eerie music matches the eerie mood of the film about obsession in the Amazonian rainforest. Although Popul Vuh composed the music for the film and used this piece it was originally from an older album, so the visuals in the music video does not come from the film - the music video is something eerie in itself.
Fargo, North Dakota - Carter Burwell, from
Fargo.
The first film I ever watched by the Coen Brothers, and the first sound track I've heard by Burwell. I've been an on-off fan of the Coens for a long time, but this eerie song playing over the snow-covered fields of what should be Minnesota will haunt me forever, you betcha.
Oh What a Circus - Andrew Lloyd Webber / Tim Rice, performed by Antonio Banderas - from
Evita.
I'm not a big fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber's music or musicals, but I do tend to like
Evita, which has a darker, more layered story combined with fairly literate lyrics and good music (though a great deal of it strains my ears). The film version also has astounding (though not always theatrical) visuals that work well given the factual basis for the story. It also has Madonna giving what may be the performance of her life and Antonio Banderas at the stop of his stardom playing an omniscient narrator who may, it is implied, have his face on a T-shirt one day. The opening song is still the highlight for me as it probably will startle anyone expecting a conventional musical, if the opening "
requiem" (also a favourite) did not do so already.
Enough for now...
It's just so fun!
Possibly my favorite, most-used quote in the entire world is "I've been thinking." "A dangerous pastime." "I know!"
