I don’t know who came up with the concept of cross promoting a movie and its accompanying soundtrack- Elvis and the Beatles in all likelihood.
But as far as commercially successful albums that were comprised of songs that were popular, or would soon become popular, thanks to an equally successful movie, Saturday Night Fever is the first that comes to mind for a lot of people.
In the end it doesn’t matter who did it first or whose idea it was, it’s a genius move.
And while Kenny Loggins and The Bee Gees has some measure of success before they were made synonymous with the movies their music featured in, they still earned a considerable audience for this very reason. Heck, Phil Collins first appeared on my radar when I was a teenager because he wrote the soundtrack for Disney’s Tarzan. Years later I was inspired to check out his other music, both as a solo artist and from his days in Genesis. So much amazing music but a movie was where all that started for me.
Having said all that, I’ve noticed over the years an interesting phenomenon. A lot of these movies have really fun soundtracks but the movies themselves often fall short of that initial promise. This isn’t a question about whether these movies are good examples of filmmaking- not all of them are- but a lot of the time, I find that most of them fall into the same trap or at least the same predictable pattern.
Plain and simple- it’s all fun and games until someone dies or gets hurt or the plot completely stops for some cliched reason.
Obviously movies need conflict or there’s not much of a story but there are some movies are able to recover when this happens and we have a happy ending… or we don’t.
I can only speak for myself but 9 times out of 10, I prefer happy endings in my movies. And if it doesn’t, there’d better be a damn good reason or at least a reason I find acceptable. Otherwise I feel like I’d wasted my time.
This should be obvious but I’ll say it anyway.
AMPLE SPOILERS ahead.
You have been warned.
Also, I don't remember all of these movies perfectly so I'll make corrections to my impressions as I go through each one.
Saturday Night Fever (1975)
I’d seen this movie maybe twice in my life and it fell into that trap where someone dies and my final impression wasn’t a positive one.
With a few exceptions, nearly all the songs are from The Bee Gees.
Listen to “Stayin Alive” and John Travolta walking down the street with a paint can immediately jumps to mind.
“You should be dancing”- you see Travolta on the dance floor doing all those moves synonymous with the disco era (for younger generations, Gru does this same dance routine at the end of the original Despicable Me).
From memory, the movie’s mostly about the escapades of Travolta and his buddies as they make their local discotheque their nightly haunt. There’s a love story. There’s a dance contest where the judges were prejudiced against the Latino competitors and he was vehemently disagreed with their decision to declare him the winner instead.
Then someone dies (I think they fall out of a car during a chase scene or something) and the final scene is Travolta being comforted by his girlfriend and “how deep is your love” plays as the credits roll.
No redemption arc or anything… it just ends like this. I don’t know what they could’ve done better without it feeling disingenuous but it needed something better.
After reading the synoposis... wow, a lot of dark stuff happens in this movie. And all the female characters, however few of them there are, get the short end of the stick. And the guy who dies actually commits suicide because he knocked up his girlfriend and is under pressure to marry her because his family is Catholic and he's probably going to hell regardless of what happens next. Also, one of the guys gets beat up and he says it's a Puerto Rican gang and Tony learns later on he blamed the wrong gang.
Xanadu (1980)
Maybe not much of a movie but great music from ELO featured throughout.
At least when Kira leaves and Sonny deals with the void of her absence, that part of the movie doesn’t last long.
If I could change anything, I just wish the ending lasted longer. Kira leaves after her big finale number but then she or a doppelgänger of her shows up and the credits roll as she and Sonny get acquainted. It’s sad seeing her go and we aren’t given enough time to appreciate Sonny getting his happy ending.
Flashdance (1983)
Another of the movie soundtracks we own and I’d heard several times before seeing the actual movie.
Iconic songs include “maniac” for the iconic training montage and “what a feeling” for the epic audition at the end.
This is one of a few that doesn’t involve someone dying so that’s already a plus.
And sure the writing isn’t the greatest but the movie starts out really good and the way it comes to a grinding halt halfway through isn’t a great feeling. It’s also over the stupidest reason. Alex withdraws her application from the fancy dance school when she finds out her boyfriend is paying for it. I mean, come on! I get that her point is that she wants to do this on her own and maybe her girl friend coming up short with her figure skating freaked her out a bit but how important is this dream if you’re letting something as silly as pride get in the way?
The logic is understandable to a point- all of us are afraid of success and if you say otherwise you’re lying- but it made me want to scream “he’s handing you this audition on a silver platter- take it!”
It’s like that line from The Devil Wears Prada (paraphrasing here)- thousands of girls would kill for this opportunity and if you don’t want it, it’ll be given away to someone who actually does.
The ending is a bit abrupt. She does a killer audition and runs out of there with a big smile on her face. We don’t find out for sure whether she got in or not. The smile could just as easily said “I don’t care if they liked me or not, I’m proud of myself”. But in this case, the vagueness works. As long as Alex is happy, what more could you want?
Footloose (1984)
Ugh… I was so excited to finally see this movie just because the title song and Kevin Bacon are so iconic.
I had no idea what it was about and it was the dumbest story. Kevin Bacon shows up in this town where music and dance are completely banned for no reason. Not one I can remember anyway. At least in the remake this was explained better- they did have rock n roll at one point but after a couple teenagers got into a fatal car accident after attending a dance, the institution was banned.
In this movie I have no idea why other than the adults had sticks up their butts (just ask Star-Lord). But a town without music- I can’t imagine such an idiotic notion. I’d hightail it out of there at my first opportunity.
And from what little I remember, Kevin Bacon doesn’t change anything. Dance is still banned so they have that celebratory prom scene in secret… what’s even the point if nothing changes? Other than ensuring the kids won’t grow up to be as boring as their parents.
Cocktail (1988)
Another soundtrack I grew up with.
I’d only seen the movie twice so I couldn’t tell you which songs went where.
I only know is that this movie starts on a downer, gets really fun and ends on a worse downer.
It’s a bumpy start because Tom Cruise is fresh out of a major college and can’t get a job. Not a very encouraging start to a movie.
He gets into bartending when an old pro takes him under his wing. The scenes where they’re flipping bottles for a live audience is super fun and entertaining.
But then we later find out his mentor (if I remember correctly they have a parting of ways midway through the movie) has gotten into some questionable stuff and he winds up killing himself over it.
I know flipping bottles can’t sustain a movie forever but did it have to come to that?
I know Ryan Gosling is one of the hottest guys in Hollywood and has been for some time but it seems like every movie he’s in, he plays a character that annoys me or derails what made the movie fun in the first place. Barbie is another recent example- I like him as a person but his characters, half the time I just want to beat them up so they stop ruining my good time, lol
Saturday Night Fever (1975)
I’d seen this movie maybe twice in my life and it fell into that trap where someone dies and my final impression wasn’t a positive one.
With a few exceptions, nearly all the songs are from The Bee Gees.
Listen to “Stayin Alive” and John Travolta walking down the street with a paint can immediately jumps to mind.
“You should be dancing”- you see Travolta on the dance floor doing all those moves synonymous with the disco era (for younger generations, Gru does this same dance routine at the end of the original Despicable Me).
From memory, the movie’s mostly about the escapades of Travolta and his buddies as they make their local discotheque their nightly haunt. There’s a love story. There’s a dance contest where the judges were prejudiced against the Latino competitors and he was vehemently disagreed with their decision to declare him the winner instead.
Then someone dies (I think they fall out of a car during a chase scene or something) and the final scene is Travolta being comforted by his girlfriend and “how deep is your love” plays as the credits roll.
No redemption arc or anything… it just ends like this. I don’t know what they could’ve done better without it feeling disingenuous but it needed something better.
After reading the synoposis... wow, a lot of dark stuff happens in this movie. And all the female characters, however few of them there are, get the short end of the stick. And the guy who dies actually commits suicide because he knocked up his girlfriend and is under pressure to marry her because his family is Catholic and he's probably going to hell regardless of what happens next. Also, one of the guys gets beat up and he says it's a Puerto Rican gang and Tony learns later on he blamed the wrong gang.
Xanadu (1980)
Maybe not much of a movie but great music from ELO featured throughout.
At least when Kira leaves and Sonny deals with the void of her absence, that part of the movie doesn’t last long.
If I could change anything, I just wish the ending lasted longer. Kira leaves after her big finale number but then she or a doppelgänger of her shows up and the credits roll as she and Sonny get acquainted. It’s sad seeing her go and we aren’t given enough time to appreciate Sonny getting his happy ending.
Flashdance (1983)
Another of the movie soundtracks we own and I’d heard several times before seeing the actual movie.
Iconic songs include “maniac” for the iconic training montage and “what a feeling” for the epic audition at the end.
This is one of a few that doesn’t involve someone dying so that’s already a plus.
And sure the writing isn’t the greatest but the movie starts out really good and the way it comes to a grinding halt halfway through isn’t a great feeling. It’s also over the stupidest reason. Alex withdraws her application from the fancy dance school when she finds out her boyfriend is paying for it. I mean, come on! I get that her point is that she wants to do this on her own and maybe her girl friend coming up short with her figure skating freaked her out a bit but how important is this dream if you’re letting something as silly as pride get in the way?
The logic is understandable to a point- all of us are afraid of success and if you say otherwise you’re lying- but it made me want to scream “he’s handing you this audition on a silver platter- take it!”
It’s like that line from The Devil Wears Prada (paraphrasing here)- thousands of girls would kill for this opportunity and if you don’t want it, it’ll be given away to someone who actually does.
The ending is a bit abrupt. She does a killer audition and runs out of there with a big smile on her face. We don’t find out for sure whether she got in or not. The smile could just as easily said “I don’t care if they liked me or not, I’m proud of myself”. But in this case, the vagueness works. As long as Alex is happy, what more could you want?
Footloose (1984)
Ugh… I was so excited to finally see this movie just because the title song and Kevin Bacon are so iconic.
I had no idea what it was about and it was the dumbest story. Kevin Bacon shows up in this town where music and dance are completely banned for no reason. Not one I can remember anyway. At least in the remake this was explained better- they did have rock n roll at one point but after a couple teenagers got into a fatal car accident after attending a dance, the institution was banned.
In this movie I have no idea why other than the adults had sticks up their butts (just ask Star-Lord). But a town without music- I can’t imagine such an idiotic notion. I’d hightail it out of there at my first opportunity.
And from what little I remember, Kevin Bacon doesn’t change anything. Dance is still banned so they have that celebratory prom scene in secret… what’s even the point if nothing changes? Other than ensuring the kids won’t grow up to be as boring as their parents.
Looking it up- yeah, they did have the same storyline as the remake where a car accident 5 years ago prompted the church council to ban alcohol, music and dance. The council votes again on whether to appeal the dance ban and they don't have all the votes to do so. And the prom happens just outside the city limits so that's how they're able to have it.
I was rapt up in the fact the movie wasn't as fun as I thought it was going to be that I missed out on some minor details
Top Gun (1986)
It’s all fun and volleyball games until Goose dies. Then the movie is a downer for the next 15-20 minutes while Maverick comes to grips with the loss of his best friend.
And he helps save the day when he, Iceman and their comrades are called to duty for the very type of situation they’d been training for at the academy.
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Grew up with this soundtrack as well and so many parts are super iconic.
It’s a really fun concept- Baby and her family are staying at a resort in the mountains for the summer and a troupe of dancers is part of the local entertainment. And she gets to meet and hang out with the dancers, making some new friends along the way. Then Penny’s story arc unfolds and yields some mixed results. What really makes this movie a bummer, though, is the fact Johnny tells Baby’s doctor father he’s responsible for Penny. I know neither of them want to lose their jobs and that’s why they say nothing about the person whose really responsible. But, ugh!! Patrick Swayze deserved better than he got in this movie.
On a lighter note, I also gotta ask- why is Baby’s sister so tone deaf? Did they deliberately cast an actress who couldn’t sing or did they tell her to sing badly on purpose?
Either way, listening to her is painful…
Mixed feelings aside, I still enjoy this movie very much and it’s one of the few instances where we get a proper send off where all the loose endings are tied up and the final tone is nothing sort of celebratory.
I was rapt up in the fact the movie wasn't as fun as I thought it was going to be that I missed out on some minor details
Top Gun (1986)
It’s all fun and volleyball games until Goose dies. Then the movie is a downer for the next 15-20 minutes while Maverick comes to grips with the loss of his best friend.
And he helps save the day when he, Iceman and their comrades are called to duty for the very type of situation they’d been training for at the academy.
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Grew up with this soundtrack as well and so many parts are super iconic.
It’s a really fun concept- Baby and her family are staying at a resort in the mountains for the summer and a troupe of dancers is part of the local entertainment. And she gets to meet and hang out with the dancers, making some new friends along the way. Then Penny’s story arc unfolds and yields some mixed results. What really makes this movie a bummer, though, is the fact Johnny tells Baby’s doctor father he’s responsible for Penny. I know neither of them want to lose their jobs and that’s why they say nothing about the person whose really responsible. But, ugh!! Patrick Swayze deserved better than he got in this movie.
On a lighter note, I also gotta ask- why is Baby’s sister so tone deaf? Did they deliberately cast an actress who couldn’t sing or did they tell her to sing badly on purpose?
Either way, listening to her is painful…
Mixed feelings aside, I still enjoy this movie very much and it’s one of the few instances where we get a proper send off where all the loose endings are tied up and the final tone is nothing sort of celebratory.
Cocktail (1988)
Another soundtrack I grew up with.
I’d only seen the movie twice so I couldn’t tell you which songs went where.
I only know is that this movie starts on a downer, gets really fun and ends on a worse downer.
It’s a bumpy start because Tom Cruise is fresh out of a major college and can’t get a job. Not a very encouraging start to a movie.
He gets into bartending when an old pro takes him under his wing. The scenes where they’re flipping bottles for a live audience is super fun and entertaining.
But then we later find out his mentor (if I remember correctly they have a parting of ways midway through the movie) has gotten into some questionable stuff and he winds up killing himself over it.
I know flipping bottles can’t sustain a movie forever but did it have to come to that?
Apparently, a lot of stuff happens. His mentor doesn't seem like the nicest guy. He keeps putting him in situations saying "I bet you can't do this" and he screws up his relationships because of it. He's in love with a girl who no longer wants anything to do with him, but of course he wins her back over time. Then his mentor- whom he'd parted ways with because one of these stupid bets made his life go sideways- lost his business, invested all of his assets (and his wife's) and loses everything. And he commits suicide over that.
Essentially every movie/soundtrack combo Prince did…
In addition to Purple Rain, he also did “Under the Cherry Moon” (where he’s gigalo Romeo to Mary Sharon’s daddy’s little rich girl Juliet) and “graffiti bridge” (the purple rain sequel everyone asked for but wound up not wanting when it finally came out 6 years later).
But since Purple Rain was the closest he came to halfway decent film making, it’s the only one I’ll spend time on. The others fall more under the umbrella of “mediocre movies that happen to feature great Prince music and star him playing a characterization of himself.” Worth checking out if you’re interested in him in particular but film buffs can properly skip out on them without being worse off for it.
Admittedly as a fan I’m a little vague on the details, Purple Rain came about because of a stipulation Prince wanted in his contract when it came time to renew with his current management team Ruffalo, Cavallo and Fargnoli. He wanted to make a movie and for his name to be above the title.
This conversation happened, most likely, before Michael Jackson did his groundbreaking Thriller. If the rumors of the two of them having a rivalry are to be believed (most fans would probably say they were contemporaries with a mutual respect for one another), it only fueled his desire to make his project the best it could be.
Sure, it’s a very loose story with a bunch of musical numbers in between but all things considered, it turned out well.
It does get kinda dark and dramatic midway through as his many conflicts steadily come to a head.
The people on the DVD commentary of Purple Rain did joke “if it were up to Prince, a lot of people would’ve died” in the film… the climax had originally been a murder-suicide when it was changed to his father’s suicide.
But even with all that, it’s probably the best redemption arc in any film of its kind. The titular song wins over critics and skeptics alike and everyone participates in the party atmosphere the final two songs bring to the film. Could it have used a little more dialogue? Maybe but Prince was always about his music speaking for him so it works.
La La Land (2016)
The whole concept of this movie was so good. Bringing nuances from old school Hollywood musicals into modern day. Great choreography and fun dance numbers. Emma Stone and Ryan gosling have great chemistry… so much promise and everything just goes wrong because this movie didn’t have a happy ending where the two of them work out their differences and stay together. I don’t know about anyone else but I never got over this. And the fact they dangled the picture perfect ending in front of us, only to go “oh wait, it was all a dream sequence, psyche!”
Essentially every movie/soundtrack combo Prince did…
In addition to Purple Rain, he also did “Under the Cherry Moon” (where he’s gigalo Romeo to Mary Sharon’s daddy’s little rich girl Juliet) and “graffiti bridge” (the purple rain sequel everyone asked for but wound up not wanting when it finally came out 6 years later).
But since Purple Rain was the closest he came to halfway decent film making, it’s the only one I’ll spend time on. The others fall more under the umbrella of “mediocre movies that happen to feature great Prince music and star him playing a characterization of himself.” Worth checking out if you’re interested in him in particular but film buffs can properly skip out on them without being worse off for it.
Admittedly as a fan I’m a little vague on the details, Purple Rain came about because of a stipulation Prince wanted in his contract when it came time to renew with his current management team Ruffalo, Cavallo and Fargnoli. He wanted to make a movie and for his name to be above the title.
This conversation happened, most likely, before Michael Jackson did his groundbreaking Thriller. If the rumors of the two of them having a rivalry are to be believed (most fans would probably say they were contemporaries with a mutual respect for one another), it only fueled his desire to make his project the best it could be.
Sure, it’s a very loose story with a bunch of musical numbers in between but all things considered, it turned out well.
It does get kinda dark and dramatic midway through as his many conflicts steadily come to a head.
The people on the DVD commentary of Purple Rain did joke “if it were up to Prince, a lot of people would’ve died” in the film… the climax had originally been a murder-suicide when it was changed to his father’s suicide.
But even with all that, it’s probably the best redemption arc in any film of its kind. The titular song wins over critics and skeptics alike and everyone participates in the party atmosphere the final two songs bring to the film. Could it have used a little more dialogue? Maybe but Prince was always about his music speaking for him so it works.
La La Land (2016)
The whole concept of this movie was so good. Bringing nuances from old school Hollywood musicals into modern day. Great choreography and fun dance numbers. Emma Stone and Ryan gosling have great chemistry… so much promise and everything just goes wrong because this movie didn’t have a happy ending where the two of them work out their differences and stay together. I don’t know about anyone else but I never got over this. And the fact they dangled the picture perfect ending in front of us, only to go “oh wait, it was all a dream sequence, psyche!”
I know Ryan Gosling is one of the hottest guys in Hollywood and has been for some time but it seems like every movie he’s in, he plays a character that annoys me or derails what made the movie fun in the first place. Barbie is another recent example- I like him as a person but his characters, half the time I just want to beat them up so they stop ruining my good time, lol
No comments:
Post a Comment