Great films where music is a central theme.


I'm a film lover for as long as I can remember. There's nothing like a film that combines my passion for music and film. I'm going to leave out concert films from this, as there are plenty of threads on that. Lets stick to other films - dramas or documentaries - that use music as a central theme, or have it as a key element in the narrative. Here are a few of my own favorites to get the ball rolling.

As it is in Heaven
The Bands Visit
Schultze Gets the Blues
Troubled Water (the Erik Poppe film)
Sweet and Lowdown
Bird
'Round Midnight
I'm Not Here

Documentaries:

Throw Down Your Heart
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Lets Get Close (Bruce Weber)
Buena Vista Social Club
Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man

So it's really could be split into two threads; Narative films and Documentaries. But lets try leaving it open to both, just no concert films. What are some of your favorites?
jax2

Showing 4 responses by bikecommuter

Of course there is always Alex and Ludwig van in Clockwork Orange. And Blues Brothers. And it that vein, there is also Ferris Bueller's Day Off, with his great Danke Schoen cover in downtown Chicago.

Great thread.
What about A Mighty Wind? And/or This is Spinal Tap? And, as an aside, I realize that it's not a movie, the HBO series Treme, for sure. Close Encounters is close. I'm sure there are more...
Jax2,

Surprised we didn't come up with Young Frankenstein. I think the violin theme definitely meets the parameters. Then there is also Dreamgirls, which we missed somehow.

Back to your question about Close Encounters: I said "close" because I wasn't entirely persuaded it fit the thread. The idea that the "space people" communicated via music, including the fugue written on that five note theme, is why I think it belongs.

I couldn't come up with Crossroads, but glad Bianchi did. It was hovering just outside my awareness.

David
OMG! How could I have forgotten Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and their most excellent band, Wyld Stallyns? Most heinous. Party on dudes!

David