The soundtrack to The Sting is baked into our minds. There's no way you can imagine the movie without thinking of Scott Joplin's piano. What's funny is how anachronistic it is! The movie is set in 1936, but the Joplin pieces are from around 1900. To put that in context, imagine a modern 2020s crime thriller with a soundtrack of all 80s music. It just wouldn't make sense?
But I don't think anyone on the planet would find a problem with it here. It was a bold move and it paid off.
My question is, what other movies done this, using anachronistic music (either past or future)?
I can only think of 3 off the top of my head:
EDIT Geez how could I forget one of my fave films of all time
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Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on January 10, 2024 at 10:43 AM
All the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies, I guess.
The Nu-Trek movies seem to love the Beastie Boys.
Not so much anachronistic music (though it is), the revisionist fairy tale "Mirror, Mirror" ends with a pop musical number that resembles a Bollywood dance number. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqVf4dMaka4
Thinking about it, though a bit different to your list as it's standard over there, every Indian action film I've seen contains song and dance numbers. Can you imagine Vin Diesel and Jason Momoa doing this it Fast 11? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsU0CGZoV8E
Reply by rooprect
on January 10, 2024 at 11:15 AM
Oh man you had to bring up Bollywood! That scene is hilarious and I can't figure out if it's an insult to cinema or the greatest leap forward since the invention of talkies. My first (and only) Bollywood movie was The Legend of Bhagat Singh which featured a hanging/execution scene where the condemned men are singing and dancing a similar pop diddy while putting their heads in the nooses 😐
I haven't seen any of the GotG films or Nu-Trek but 23rd century Beastie Boys works for me.
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on January 10, 2024 at 12:13 PM
Or, as (I think it's) McCoy says, "I love classical music!".
If we can include TV, while I guess "Schmigadoon!" has songs that are appropriate for the time period of the "Schmi" eras our contemporary heroes find themselves in and so rule it out, I'll take any chance to plug "Galavant", a fantasy comedy romance that features all sorts of song pastiches that are "anachronistic".
OT: If you fancy trying some newer Indian moves and don't mind films that pay scant attention to such things as physics and realism and have Netflix "RRR" (featuring Naatu Naatu) and "Jawan" are worth a look. If you have Amazon, the YRF Spy Universe gets off to a rocky start with "(Ek Tha) Tiger", but seems to get better and better.
Reply by bratface
on January 10, 2024 at 6:58 PM
A Knight's Tale
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183790/
The movie opens with Queen's 'We Will Rock You'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hi8IWqic0U
About the halfway mark (in this video) it becomes Bowie's 'Golden Years'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yygNdTxoHus
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on January 11, 2024 at 5:43 AM
How could I forget "A Knight's Tale"? Loved that at the time - have added it to my price watch and Amazon list as the DVD is in storage. I always feel that it's a shame that all the (living) guys seem to still be doing OK but the two main girls, whilst still working, never seem to have fulfilled their early potential. Now, did someone see "The 10th Kingdom" and decide to improve on their idea, or was "Medieval We Will Rock You" a thing at the start of the century?
We Will Shear You
Reply by northcoast
on January 11, 2024 at 10:23 AM
Breathless (1983) -- Richard Gere's car-thief criminal character is absolutely obsessed with 1950s-era Jerry Lee Lewis music, which often plays in the background (sometimes through an automobile cassette player) as he commits his 1980s shenanigans.
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on February 6, 2024 at 11:16 AM
As it's just come up whilst I'm listening to my Spotify "Liked Songs" on shuffle, the Ladyhawke soundtrack got (and still gets) a lot of stick for including electric guitars and synths in its score despite its medieval setting. I liked it at the time and still do and, despite its haters, it has seen a CD and a limited edition CD release. There isn't anywhere near as much guitar/synth as people make out, but I guess it qualifies as "anachronistic".
It's a way in before anything "modern" can be heard in the End Title: https://open.spotify.com/track/1r9ltFxWsTkrgnPh1ipGY0?si=7d0e5529ae2a481f
Reply by bratface
on February 6, 2024 at 3:40 PM
The sound of Ladyhawke might have something to do with it being produced by Alan Parsons. 😉
https://www.themoviedb.org/person/227694-alan-parsons?language=en-US
I remember really liking Ladyhawke but Matthew Broderick was all wrong for the part of Gaston, don't get me wrong I like Broderick but Medieval Europe just isn't the era for him.
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on February 7, 2024 at 7:54 AM
Yeah, and the reaction to the score seems to have put him and composer Andrew Powell off the idea of continuing down the "movie" path.
Broderick was miscast, but I can see why they needed a "name". Apparently Dustin Hoffman and Sean Penn were also considered.
Reply by rooprect
on February 7, 2024 at 8:56 AM
No way, produced by Alan PinkFloydDarkSideOfTheMoon Parsons?? I gotta check it out just for that. It would make sense that he'd try something revolutionary, whether it ended up a hit or a miss.
It reminds me of the soundtrack to the Johnny Depp flick Dead Man (itself a western set in the early 1900s I think?) scored by Neil Young basically smacking an electric guitar bolted to a giant spring for 2 hours. That might've been a slight miss... but I have a soft spot for rock stars crossing over into film scoring. They do have some unusual ideas 😐
On Ferris Bueller playing a medieval role... hmm. That might rank up there with Keanu Reeves "Bill & Ted" playing Shakespeare. They're both fine actors and great human beings from what I've heard, but sometimes the typecast image ruins any chance.
Reply by rooprect
on February 7, 2024 at 9:06 AM
That's so cool! I haven't seen Breathless 1983 but I've seen the original French version, and I remember the opening scenes (and murder) feature the main character listening to old songs on a car radio. Sounds like the 1983 version took that idea and ran with it.
On a side note, that's a brilliant way for films to feature old music in context. "Diegetic music" I think it's called, where the music in the film is actually heard/played by the characters. So you can get away with using any song as long as it's something the character might be listening to. Pretty sure Pulp Fiction did that also? (at least in the dancing scene)
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on February 7, 2024 at 9:37 AM
The soundtrack is readily available on YouTube and Spotify and, if you're in the US, the film seems to be on most services; for some reason those of us in the UK have a somewhat limited choice. (I'd stroke my DVD if I knew where it was). The film is worth a watch if you want a romantic medieval fantasy. It's one of those that I sometimes wish would get a remake but realise that, while the effects could be improved on and possibly the "mid budget" look (and the casting of Broderick's character), the casting of Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer was just too perfect to ever replicate. Plus I will never stop defending the score. The music playing when Broderick is describing his meeting with Pfeiffer to Hauer - who is cursed to never see his lover in human form - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfMr3e3_Gow) and its reprisal for the finale really pack an emotional punch. Though don't be expecting "Dark Side"!
I remember seeing "Much Ado" theatrically and there was much amusement when Keanu's character explained that he was "not of many words": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amza8IiQfVw . He has much improved since then and, as you say, seems to be a rather nice person.
Reply by bratface
on February 7, 2024 at 3:56 PM
The thing is, Broderick hadn't really 'broken out' yet. He only had one TV credit & two movies, I have never seen 'Max Dugan Returns' but I think it was the next movie, 'Wargames', that brought him recognition. Filming started (August 1983) on Ladyhawke just a couple of months after 'Wargames' release.
Reply by bratface
on February 7, 2024 at 7:59 PM
I still cannot see anything but 'Theodore "Ted" Logan' when I see Keanu Reeves in anything.
Reply by Philippe LeMarchand
on February 8, 2024 at 5:30 AM
I could have sworn I "knew" Broderick better than just "Wargames" by the time he was in "Ladyhawke". It was a long time ago and maybe I'd just watched "Wargames" a few times! Possibly the producers etc on "Ladyhawke" had seen early cuts of "Wargames" and picked MB based on that?