Great films where music is a central theme.

Hey Duke

you blew it man and are risking the rath of the OP, read carefully, NOT soundtracks BUT where music is a central theme. In Psycho the music is effect, not the central theme. I hear you concerning Bernard Herrmann though, among a small handful of the greatest composers ever for film. My favorite, "Taxi Driver", now I'm risking the rath for going off on a tangent as well!

OK, I'll have to take some responsibility for the errant ways of my pupils here. Obviously I've somehow given the some misleading guidance from the start, and neglected to consider that folks tend to read three words and think they understood everything there was to understand about a post on the Internet. In retrospect I should have called the thread "Movies about Music", but I didn't really want to eliminate films where music was a plot element, yet was not necessarily the central theme. So I titled the thread what I did, and tried to describe it as best I could. I hope folks realize my "wrath" is all tongue-in-cheek and, being a film lover, as well as a music lover, I always love hearing about new films I may not have seen or aspects of films I didn't know about. I will continue to endeavor to keep the thread on track because there ARE plenty of threads on soundtracks and scores already and I did NOT want this to be another one of those. I will continue to edit with a sense of humor - I hope no one takes it personally, and I hope Richard's visits to various members who violated my dictate here... well, I hope those scars heal quickly, and that the women and children of the households did not have to bear witness to those disciplinary actions.

08-06-11: Jax2
... I didn't really want to eliminate films where music was a plot element, yet was not necessarily the central theme.

While "Psycho" is clearly not within the thread's boundaries, it brings to mind another Hitchcock film scored by Bernard Herrmann that does fit, the 1956 version of "The Man Who Knew Too Much." The section entitled "Music" in this Wikipedia writeup on the film has some interesting information, including the fact that Mr. Herrmann was the orchestral conductor during the film's lengthy climactic (although not concluding) scene.

Best regards,
-- Al

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

At the risk of sending Marco into a violent, convulsive siezure, I will note that Marshall Crenshaw's sountrack is great. To bring him back out of it, I'd add that the story is a "mockumentary" (a la Spinal Tap) which details the travails and joys of a fictional musician called Dewey Cox and is hilarious.

Marty

Delilah.