Stanley Kubrick was as groundbreaking a director as he was constant, directing 13 films that vary from good to masterful. Those movies coated quite a few genres and demonstrated there was nearly nothing Kubrick could not do, from large-scale historic epics, to darkly comedic satires, to dystopian science-fiction, to horror, and even to crime-thrillers.
His distinctive model and daring visuals have been praised to the moon and again, however his skill to pick the proper music to accompany his numerous movies deserves extra recognition. He typically had unique music composed for his films, and typically used pre-existing songs, however both method, his soundtrack selections have been usually good, as the next examples will hopefully exhibit.
10 “Title Music from A Clockwork Orange” in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ (1971)
It’s fairly simple to name A Clockwork Orange Kubrick’s most controversial – and maybe boldest – movie. It adapts the 1962 novel of the identical title, and presents a very bleak future the place criminals run rampant, and the State finds itself resorting to dramatic and psychologically damaging measures in its infinite endeavor to forestall crime.
Its use of music is without doubt one of the issues that makes it a one-of-a-kind film, because it incorporates each conventional classical music and numerous items of classical music which have been reworked electronically by composer Wendy Carlos. The merely titled “Title Music from A Clockwork Orange” is without doubt one of the only examples of the latter, with the haunting remodeling of “Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary” by Henry Purcell immediately establishing the movie’s eerie and menacing tone.
9 “Also sprach Zarathustra” in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968)
2001: A Space Odyssey nonetheless feels as if it may very well be futuristic, despite the fact that it is now technically set prior to now. It spends most of its time within the titular 12 months, displaying humanity exploring area and every thing that lies past the boundaries of Earth, although its prologue memorably takes place within the distant previous.
It’s this phase – that exhibits humanity’s evolution – which incorporates one piece of music so memorably that it is arduous to listen to it and never consider 2001: A Space Odyssey. That music is “Also sprach Zarathustra” by German composer Richard Strauss, with its sluggish construct and eventual explosion of sound being the proper aural accompaniment to humanity’s descendants discovering use instruments for the primary time.
8 “We’ll Meet Again” in ‘Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb’ (1964)
Stanley Kubrick made loads of good films earlier than Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, but it surely was this 1964 movie that stands as arguably his first masterpiece. It’s a satire in regards to the Cold War, with a chaotic plot following quite a few characters who’re all making an attempt to forestall an imminent nuclear warfare from breaking out.
While it is very humorous, it additionally will get severe when it must, and that is very true of the movie’s hauntingly highly effective closing scene. The closing montage is underscored by Vera Lynn’s 1939 music “We’ll Meet Again,” which was usually related to the Second World War, and in Dr. Strangelove, additionally will get linked to a hypothetical, probably much more harmful warfare.
7 “Singin’ within the Rain” in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ (1971)
If the menacing opening scene of A Clockwork Orange and its title music do not set up how horrifying the film can be, the following scenes will go away little doubt amongst viewers about what sort of film that is. The first 10 to fifteen minutes depict the protagonist, Alex, and his “droogs” occurring a criminal offense spree, inflicting havoc, destruction, and bodily hurt wherever they go.
The most distressing scene on this sequence is the house invasion, which exhibits the start of a brutal assault on a author and his spouse, after which implies it solely will get worse after the scene cuts. The reality Alex is casually singing “Singin’ within the Rain” all through makes it all of the extra unnerving. It’s a horrific scene to observe, but it surely’s arduous to overlook, and it makes use of the music in a wholly totally different approach to the 1952 musical that makes use of it as its title monitor.
About midway by way of Full Metal Jacket, the Vietnam War movie activates its head and turns into one thing utterly totally different. The first half follows a bunch of recruits as they practice in boot camp, and the second half follows a handful of them as soon as they make it to Vietnam and discover themselves in precise fight.
The transition between the primary half and the second half is jarring, but it surely’s undoubtedly memorable. The boot camp sequence ends in a really dramatic method, there are just a few seconds of black display, after which viewers are all of a sudden transported to the streets of Da Nang, with using “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” by Nancy Sinatra making it really feel much more abrupt. It’s a shock to the system, positive, however at the least it is undeniably memorable.
5 “The Blue Danube” in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (1968)
The one piece of music in 2001: A Space Odyssey that rivals “Also sprach Zarathustra” must be “The Blue Danube,” when speaking about music that has grow to be synonymous with Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece. It was composed by Johann Strauss II simply over a century earlier than 2001: A Space Odyssey got here out, but it surely’s arduous to listen to it now with out fascinated about the movie.
It’s a chunk of music that implies surprise and grandeur, and it completely accompanies a few of the movie’s most astounding particular results sequences. It’s the form of music that additionally provides to the movie’s (largely) optimistic and wide-eyed look towards the longer term.
4 “March from A Clockwork Orange” in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ (1971)
Like the equally named “Title Music from A Clockwork Orange,” “March from A Clockwork Orange” is one other piece of classical music given an digital remodeling by Wendy Carlos. In this case, it is a futuristic-sounding spin on Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement.”
The famed German composer is an enormous a part of the movie, being referenced by protagonist Alex, and being featured within the soundtrack at quite a few factors, with each digital and non-electronic variations getting used. “March from A Clockwork Orange” is especially memorable for its use of distorted vocals, and the actual fact it is featured within the movie greater than as soon as, together with in a report retailer scene, and a scene the place Alex is subjected to the notorious Ludovico method.
3 “The Faithful Soldier” in ‘Paths of Glory’ (1957)
Few anti-war movies are as unflinching or highly effective as 1957’s Paths of Glory. It’s set throughout World War One, and follows the aftermath of a disastrous trench warfare battle that sees three troopers being placed on trial for cowardice, successfully as a approach to punish your complete group of troopers concerned within the offensive.
Like any good anti-war movie, it does not finish on a contented word, and memorably includes a younger girl singing a German folks music known as “The Faithful Soldier,” which brings a bunch of beforehand rowdy troopers in an inn to tears. Interestingly, it is sung by Christiane Kubrick, who married Kubrick a 12 months after Paths of Glory got here out, and stayed married to him till his loss of life in 1999.
2 “Waltz No. 2” in ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ (1999)
Kubrick went out with a bang by having Eyes Wide Shut be his closing movie. It won’t be his hottest, but it surely’s one in all his most distinct, and its complicated, mysterious, weird, and typically darkly joke about infidelity and underground secret societies arguably feels just like the form of factor his entire profession was constructing to.
It additionally demonstrated that proper till the top, Kubrick knew decide music for his films, clearly seen by the movie’s use of “Waltz No. 2” by Dmitri Shostakovich. It completely accompanies the mysterious but perhaps even darkly playful tone of a film that manages to be each indirect and intoxicating , and it really works effectively as a type of unofficial theme for Kubrick’s closing movie.
Kubrick wasn’t content material to solely have one piece of music really feel jarring in Full Metal Jacket. Just as “These Boots Were Made For Walkin'” feels sudden on the midway level, so too does “Paint it Black” by The Rolling Stones hit all of a sudden and fairly abruptly on the movie’s finish, proper after its bloody and haunting climax.
Even additional, between the bloodshed and The Stones, there is a scene of the troopers singing alongside to “The Mickey Mouse March” whereas fires rage within the background. It’s an understatement to name all of it a daring ending to a daring warfare movie, and having all these parts really feel surprisingly coherent is one thing few administrators moreover Kubrick might ever do.