This is the last gift sponsored by Sandisk slotRadio, so I thought we might actually talk about music. Since John Hughes passed, I’ve been thinking about how much more I enjoy movies when a director is passionate about the soundtrack.
My favorite Hughes scenes are about the music that’s playing in his characters’ lives. Remember Duckie lip-syncing to “Try a little Tenderness?”
Or Ferris Bueller’s “Danke Schoen” cum “Twist and Shout” on the parade float:
And of course, The Breakfast Club dance scene:
Then there are the Hughes songs that knock you flat and replay footage of your bedroom ceiling, circa 1985.
“Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds
“If You Were Here” by the Thompson Twins
“If You Leave” by OMD
So this present celebrates the music Mr. Hughes brought into our lives. If you win, I’ll send you everything you need for a nostalgic movie night.
The Ringwald holy trinity:
An absurdly large box of Watermelon Flavored Pop Rocks, (Purchased after I ate the packages I bought for you at the corner store. Taste the Explosion!):
And, of course, a Sandisk slotRadio:
It comes with a bunch of songs already, but also gives you the option of picking your own music. Before you load your workout mix, I’d like you to check into these:
The Ultimate John Hughes Playlist
John Hughes Movie Soundtrack Hits
Leave a comment below, bonus points if you tell me about your favorite music-related movie scene. Be sure to include your email address in the field provided (so I can reach you if you win) by August 14 at 5 p.m. PST. Just one comment, please — I have to delete duplicates for fairness. Random.org will decide who wins. I’ll contact the lucky via email, and I’ll also tell you who won here.
Danke schoen to Sandisk for making this gift project a go. It’s been fun.
Mighty Girl 
Yeah, the Duckie “Try a Little Tenderness” is hands down my FAVORITE movie music moment ever… ah Jon Cryer..
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And my favorite movie soundtrack is Breakfast Club – for real – I graduated high school in 1985, right up John Hughes alley as it were.
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I love the entire Empire Records soundtrack! It’s great to sing (loudly) along to.
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Can you believe I’ve never actually seen Pretty in Pink? Can I still be considered a Hughes fan?
Favorite music/movie moment actually comes from Empire Records, a mid-90s movie about kids who work in a record store, the one where Lucas runs down Warren the Shoplifter to the tune of “Money (That’s What I Want).”
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My favorite music moment is almost the entirety of the movie “That Thing You Do.” Amazing!
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I graduated in 1984, so that’s a big chunk of my life you’ve posted there. 🙂 Right now the only music-related movie moment sticking in my head is from Footloose.
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I agree that John Hughes used music in his movies brilliantly. Another filmmaker who does the same thing at least as well is Cameron Crowe. And John Cusak standing outside Ione Skye’s window holding up the boom box playing Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes is just a defining movie moment of my generation.
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First of all, I want to say Melissa is awesome for mentioning anything from Empire Records, since that is one of my favorite movies. BUT I think my favorite movie/music moment is when Nicely Nicely sings Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat in the movie version of Guys and Dolls. I just like the passion in the song.
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DEFINITELY Sixteen Candles at the end scene. John Hughes had such an amazing gift of music/movie scene melding. Even without the passing of John Hughes, this is still my favorite music/movie moment.
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The high school dance scene in Sixteen Candles, with Anthony Michael Hall as Farmer Ted is priceless. Or when he sings a Beatles medley to Molly Ringwald in auto shop… Even my thirteen-year-old son is developing an appreciation for Hughes’ prowess as a movie maker.
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Oh, but I have so many! ONE OF my favorites is Liv Tyler running down the street screaming while “That Thing You Do” plays on her radio in That Thing You Do.
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Cliche but I love the scene in Say Anything where John Cusack holds up the boombox and plays In Your Eyes in front of Ione Skye’s house. I still love that song and had the pleasure of see Peter Gabriel perform it in concert.
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Beetlejuice. Day-o. I’m such a child of the eighties, it’s not even funny.
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I graduated in 1987, and my much younger cousin always laments the fact that she didn’t have someone like John Hughes to chronicle her high school years for her. And it’s true. My memories of those years virtually blind me whenever I hear one of those songs from his movies. (Which more and more frequently, distressingly, is over the Musak system at the grocery store. I mean, New Order at Kroger? Seriously?)
I will say that I have always been weirdly attached to two little Ducky moments that are seared in my brain, and the almost incidental music playing in those scenes that was nonetheless beautifully thought out.
First, when he is disconsolately sitting on his sad mattress on the floor and it’s raining and he’s flipping cards into a hat and you see how poor he really is for the first time – It’s “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” by the Smiths playing quietly on his radio. Perfection. The second is when he’s outside sitting on the newspaper box and it starts to rain on him and he just puts his head down – the music that starts to play, just for a few seconds, is a Thompson Twins song that’s not on the soundtrack. You don’t even hear any lyrics. But that little refrain is perfect. John Hughes, I will love you forever.
Here’s a link to a lovely and surprising blog post from a girl who was a pen pal with John Hughes for many years, that shows him in a new light and makes me love him even more:
http://wellknowwhenwegetthere.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-john-hughes.html
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First off RIP Mr. Hughes! You gave us fun great movies. and second, My favorite music movie part is in Grease. The song “Look at me I’m sandra Dee” where all the pink ladys were in the bedroom and having a good old time. Love that.
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Hands down, the Final Dance scene in Dirty Dancing. YUM YUM YUM.
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Okay, this is a TV related music scene, but I haven’t been able to get the closing scene from last season’s Scrubs out of my head. It’s a pseudo-montage set to Peter Gabriel singing “Book of Love.” I’ve watched it SO many times and tear up every time. So good.
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Not a movie per se, but I found the scene at the of the third season finale of West Wing where Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” is playing to be an incredibly powerful interplay of music and cinematography
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What a great prize!
My favorite movie-related moment would be Almost Famous. And, not actually the Tiny Dancer scene but two other: Cat Stevens “The Wind” and Elton John’s “Mona Lisas and Madhatters.” Probably because Penny Lane is one of my favorite movie characters of all time.
And, admittedly, my first music-related movie memory is of “An American Tale.” I used to sing “Somewhere Out There” constantly.
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Grosse Point Blank. When John Cusack goes to visit his childhood home and it’s been replaced by a mini-mart. The scene opens with him out on the street and Gun’s & Roses’ cover of “Live and Let Die” and then, as he enters the convenience store it segues perfectly into a Muzak version of the same song. It is awesome and perfect on so many levels.
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My absolute most favorite music-related movie scene is from Breakfast at Tiffany’s when Holly and “Fred” are in the 5&10 and trying to find items to shoplift. The choreography (if you can call it that) is such fun to watch!
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I’m going to have to go with the final scene in Dirty Dancing, where they dance to “I’ve Had the Time of My Life,” with special emphasis on the moment where Patrick Swayze makes the funny face and rocks out in a very understated way. Alas, I can’t recall the line at that moment.
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Well, that’s not fair. You already mentioned Jon Cryer’s Try a Little Tenderness scene…ooh, the cute little creepers sliding across the floor on the way in, the girls’ jaws dropped in semi-disgust, the neighbor banging on the wall, ahh. That scene got me into Otis Redding.
OK, so I will pick one not already mentioned in your post.
The Big Lebowski psychedelic dream sequence with the entire song Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) by Kenny Rogers and The First Edition….complete with virtual bowling alley and Julianne Moore as a Viking empress with bronze bowling ball breastplate.
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One of my favorite music-in-a-movie scenes occurs in “She’s Having a Baby.” Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” is the perfect soundtrack to the heart wrenching scene when you aren’t sure if Kristy is going to be OK after complications from childbirth.
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I wanted to be Molly Ringwald. Love those movies!
I love all of the movie music scenes in Dirty Dancing. Can’t pick just one. Its a movie I’ve watched a zillion times.
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You got it the first time: Duckie’s scene. He is so fantastic (she should chosen him!).
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I love the scene in Sixteen Candles when Sam and Jake have their first kiss with the Thompson Twins If You Were Here playing, sigh!!!
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I really loved the music by Tangerine Dream for the movie Legend.
It was unique and very much fit the fairy tale setting.
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Too many to choose from! Maybe “A Million Miles Away” by the Plimsouls in “Valley Girl.” All this John Hughes love has me nostalgic for all the teen flicks from my youth.
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I fell for Concrete Blonde after hearing their version of “Everybody Knows” on the soundtrack from Pump Up the Volume.
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honestly? 1982’s movie annie and the song “let’s go to the movies”. i could sing that entire movie by heart (still, even today) but that song still makes me happy. also: any song from the movie labyrinth. (man i’m a dork)(but!! david bowie in leather!).
i have to say, i completely concur with laura b– that scene in west wing was insanely powerful and i still get a little choked up thinking about that one… 🙂
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i loved éric serra’s music to le grand bleu. i would listen to it for hours as a twelve year old. (just saw that the US version had different music by a different composer?!?)
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My favorite has to be the Toga party in Animal House. It just seems like the most fun, exciting place to be in that moment, and “Shout” is definitely a huge part of that.
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I so wanted to be Molly Ringwald! My fave was the end of Sixteen Candles…Just doesn’t get much better than “If You Were Here!” Fabulous!
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I’m tempted to say the “In your Eyes” scene from “Say Anything”, or any scene from “Empire Records”, but because they’ve already been mentioned I will say the scene from “Magnolia” where everyone sings the Aimee Mann song, “Wise Up” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsqCl2vO9xA
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I love the kissing scene between Watts & Keith in Some Kind of Wonderful!
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Now I’m in an 80’s movie kind of mood. I love the scene from Say Anything where Lloyd holds up the radio, playing “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel.
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The Dirty Dancing scene from Ferris Bueller has always been my favorite and my love for it has been renewed since moving to Chicago. It means so much more now. That orange statue thing Cameron and Sloane stand in front of is now my landmark for finding the post office of death! The building Bueller’s dad works in is across from the building my boyfriend works in! The stairs those kids dance up are actually the stairs up from the Blue Line! Oh John Hughes, you were brilliant.
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Sweet Transvestite in Rocky Horror. I love when Frank comes down the elevator tapping his awesome boots.
“I see you shiver with antici… pation!”
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The last dance scene from Dirty Dancing. Nobody puts Baby in a corner!
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As a Broadway fanatic, it would have to be “I Could Have Danced All Night” Audrey Hepburn, My Fair Lady. *sigh* I used to dance around in my bedroom to that song. Heck, I still dance around in my bedroom to that song 🙂
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I’m a huge fan of The Muppets and love all of the songs in The Muppet Movie. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve really learned to appreciate Rowlf and Kermit’s duet of “I Hope That Somethin’ Better Comes Along.”
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What a great playlist. I initially thought about the end of “Pretty in Pink.” Blaine telling is telling Andie that he will always love her–heart-wrenching! But then I read the comment about “She’s Having a Baby,” the scene where we are left wondering if she’ll make it. SO good. After watching that movie, I spent a fair amount of time listening to “This Woman’s Work.”
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This exact song but in the movie The Commitments
2nd runner up: the scene from the blues club in Adventures in Babysitting
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Favorite music related movie scene… I have to say I loved the dance sequence at the end of “Slumdog Millionaire.” On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum, I love the opening scene of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” when Joel is driving to Beck’s “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime.”
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Hmm… well I don’t so much love the movie as a whole, but I love the car scene in ‘Cruel Intentions’ where Bittersweet Symphony is playing in the background.
My birthday is Thurs and this would be a rockin’ (literally!) gift!
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The scene in Heaven Help Us when Andrew McCarthy and Mary Stuart Masterson dance to “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” by Otis Redding has sleighed me since I was 10 years old and first saw it on HBO.
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It’s not as heart rendering as most of the other comments, but my absolute favorite music-related movie scene is when Goldie Hawn is in Dudley Moore’s apartment in the movie Foul Play and “Stayin’ Alive” comes on. I always giggle when I think about it.
Otherwise, it’s when Andie sees Jake after her sister’s wedding and “If You Were Here” starts up. I won’t lie, I danced to that song as my first dance at my wedding.
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My favorite, make your heart flutter, musical scene is in 10 things I hate about you where Heath Ledger sings – I want you baby…I just introduced my boyfriend’s pre-teen/teen daughters to this movie and it was this scene that made them fall in love with Heath…much like many women who are now in their late 20’s.
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Well! there have been some good ones cited above, so I’m going to go ahead and pick a recent one that’s been sticking in my mind–in Rudo y Cursi, when Gael Garcia Bernal sings his cover IN SPANISH of that Cheap Trick song “I Want You To Want Me.” Very very very very funny and also poignant, too.
Also, I am a mother of five, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of our family’s favorite movies.
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