great use of music in movies part 2

Diegetic or non-diegetic music, original music or not, anything goes here. Most of these are feature-length movies that are not Musicals, but some are, and there's at least one short cartoon here. Music is included here not just because of what it adds to the plot - sometimes the music is just a song I'd never heard or forgot about that I heard in a movie.

Super Fly (1972)

We hear Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman" as drug dealer Priest drives through NYC and enters a bar where Mayfield and his band are playing the song live.

Casablanca (1942)

Ingrid Bergman comes into Rick's club without Bogart knowing asks the piano player Sam to play "As Time Goes By" and Rick/Bogart loses his temper because he told Sam never to play the song.

In Rick's Club one night, German soldiers sing a patriotic song so anti-Nazi activist Victor Laszlo directs the club's band to play the French anthem "La Marseillaise." The club's patrons all stand up and sing along forcing the Germans to stop. This moment of hope and rebellion causes the club to be shut down.

Trainspotting (1996)

Great music throughout.

Choose Life - Who needs reasons when you've got heroin? to "Lust For Life" by Iggy Pop

Heroin fix and trip to the ER - Lou Reed - "Perfect Day."

Deliverance (1972)

"Dueling Banjos" - guitar and banjo duet at the gas station at the beginning of the movie. Variations on the theme are then played throughout the movie.

Ricki and the Flash (2015)

Ricki (Meryl Streep) demonstrates music's power to unite people when she sings Bruce Springsteen's "My Love Will Not Let You Down" at the wedding.

End of Watch (2012)

Jake Gyllenhall and Anna Kendrick in a car singing along to Cam'ron's - "Hey Ma."

Mughal-E-Azam (1960)

The Emperor orders Anarkali to dance and sing a song renouncing her love for his son, but she defies him singing "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" (Why should we be afraid, if we have loved?) telling him love is not a crime and she is not afraid to die for it.

Donnie Darko (2001)

Ending montage - "Mad World" sung by Gary Jules

M (1931)

A serial killer whistles the theme to Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and is caught because of it.

Magic Mike XXL (2015)

Making the gas station store clerk smile by dancing to "I Want it That Way" by the Backstreet Boys.

Moonlight (I) (2016)

Barbara Lewis singing "Hello Stranger" on the diner jukebox.

Captain Fantastic (2016)

The Family sings "Sweet Child of Mine" at the mother's funeral.

We hear "Rebel Girl" by Bikini Kill when the father fakes a heart attack to distract supermarket employees so his children can steal food.

Dil Se.. (1998)

The "Chaiyya Chaiya" song and dance on top of a moving train is one of the greats.

Lost in Translation (2003)

"Just Like Honey" by The Jesus and Mary Chain plays over the ending farewell scene and driving through Tokyo into the credits.

Scarlett Johannson sings The Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket" wearing a pink wig to begin a flirtation with Bill Murray in a Karaoke club. Murray counters with Roxy Music's "More Than This." The singing sucks, but this is all about chemistry.

The Great Beauty (2013)

This movie is full of great, unusual music used in interesting ways. The entire first 13 minutes uses several different pieces of music, beginning with David Lang and the Torino Vocal Ensemble's beautiful choral work "I Lie" which we hear then see a small group of women singing it on the balcony of Roman monument in front of a foreign tour group. The music stops as one of the tourists drops dead, then it begins again.

The ethereal choral music is interrupted when we hear a woman scream then there is an abrupt contrast in music when we hear Bob Sinclar's loud bouncy dance remix of a 1976 song by Italian singer Rafaella Carra "Far L'Amore" and see a crowd of high society people dancing wildly on a rooftop at night at a birthday party. The dance music is interrupted a few times by a mariachi band and some ambient electronic music. The party DJ then segues into "La Colita" by El Gato DJ and everyone does a silly line dance to the song until the music slows down along with the picture as the main subject of the film gradually becomes highlighted in the middle of the slow-motion dancers and introduces himself in a voice over.

"The Beatitudes" by Kronos Quartet, is heard during a slow hypnotic boat ride up the Tiber River in a beautiful ending credits scene that you will want to watch until the very end.

Dazed and Confused (1993)

Lots of great music in this movie, including "Low Rider" by War.

Blue Velvet (1986)

Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet" plays during the opening sequence heart attack and descent into the insect world.

A man lip syncs to Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" until Dennis Hopper forces everyone to leave.

Tokyo Sonata (2008)

The boy plays Debussy's Claire de Lune so well at his audition that everybody is stunned into silence.

Almost Famous (2000)

The band members are not getting along until one by one they and their followers on a tour bus sing along to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer."

Mean Streets (1973)

Opening credits to the Ronettes "Be My Baby."

Pool hall fight scene to The Marvelettes "Please Mr. Postman"

The Blue Angel (1930)

Marlene Dietrich in top hat, stockings, and garter belt, sits on a barrel and sings "Ich bi von kpf bis fuß." In the inferior English language version she sings "Falling in Love Again" sitting on a chair turned backwards.

Gilda (1946)

Gilda (Rita Hayworth) sings "Put the Blame on Mame" in the nightclub.

The Hunger (1983)

Bauhaus sings "Bela Lugosi's Dead" over the opening credits in the best opening to a vampire movie ever.

Ghost (1990)

A spiritualist lets a ghost take possession of her body so he can feel the touch of his former wife as they dance to the Righteous Brothers singing "Unchained Melody."

Previously when he was alive we heard the song playing on their jukebox as we watched them get aroused by a pile of wet clay.

Rocky (1976)

The training montage to Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger."

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

Will Ferrell picks up a guitar and sings Wreckless Eric's "Whole Wide World." Then we hear the original version.

Beetlejuice (1988)

The ghosts make everybody at a dinner party dance to "Day-O" by Harry Belafonte.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Audrey Hepburn strums a guitar and sings "Moon River" on the fire escape.

American Psycho (2000)

Psycho Patrick Bateman plays a CD of "Hip To Be Square" by Huey Lewis and the News while killing a man with an axe.

Mulholland Drive (2001)

In Club Silencio, Rebekah del Rio sings "Llorando," a Spanish version of the Roy Orbison song "Crying," and the audience is all crying, even after the song keeps going on after the singer passes out and is carried away.

Platoon (1986)

Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings plays as soldiers in a helicopter watch their Sergeant chased and killed in slow motion.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

The train scene to M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes"

R. Rahman's "Jai Ho" played during the dance in the train station at the end.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Jessica Rabbit sings "Why Don't You Do Right."

High Fidelity (2000)

Jack Black surprises his boss by singing a great version of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On" at a record release party.

Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

Screamin' Jay Hawkins - "I Put a Spell on You."

Fallen Angels (1995)

Recurring use of a cappella version of "Only You" by Yaz sung by The Flying Pickets.

Swing Time (1936)

This is a musical, sure, but in a realistic scene Fred Astaire sits at a piano and sings "The Way You Look Tonight" as Ginger Rodgers washes her hair and falls in love.

Band of Outsiders (1964)

Anna Karina and two guys dance and clap in a cafe to music that the director cuts in and out for a voice-over just to annoy us.

Paris, Texas (1984)

Ry Cooder's sparse atmospheric slide guitar music soundtrack is a perfect match for the wide open landscapes of the film's opening and elsewhere.

Pump Up the Volume (1990)

"Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen.

Down by Law (1986)

When the film begins we hear Tom Waits singing "Jockey Full of Bourbon" and see a series of tracking shots to the left of houses in and around New Orleans. The music stops when we are inside a house and see John Lurie in bed with a woman. He gets out then gets back in and when the woman opens her eyes the music begins again and we see a series of tracking shots of New Orleans but to the right this time. The music stops again when we are inside another house and see Tom Waits. When he gets in bed with a woman and she opens her eyes, the music starts again and we see another series of tracking shots, this time to the left again, until the music ends and the opening credits appear. This introduces two of the main characters who end up going in two different directions at the end of the film.