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 
Okay, I was born in 1985, so I suppose I have no business commenting. But Sixteen Candles is one of my favourite movies of all time.
Ferris twisting and shouting is probably my fave music scene, but who can forget Heath Ledger belting out Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You on the bleachers in the soccer field in 10 Things I Hate About You?
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I think music can make or break movies. I love in “My Best Friend’s Wedding” where they all break out into song over lobster. My sister actually accomplished this at her work once (and it was a military office!). She’s my hero.
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My favorite scene of all time is actually the final dance scene is Strictly Ballroom. OMG, this comment is lamely-written. Really, I just want to win the shwag!
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My most powerful memory of this sort is also from TV. Specifically, the last scene in finale of Six Feet Under where each character’s death is played out to Sia’s ‘Breathe Me’. Haunting, emotional, and satisfying considering the show’s theme.
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Hughes really was a pioneer in integrating the music and the storyline — how perfect was the scene with Ducky on the roof and the Smiths “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want”?
Pretty in Pink is miles better than current dreck like Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, which panders and poses and seems to exist only to have a “cool soundtrack”, caring little about the relationship between the songs and what little plot there was.
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Dirty Dancing. I’ve wanted to dance like that ever since. “I’ve Had the Time of My Life”
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I think I may put a birthday cake on my table and sit on it this month just to see if a hunky guy will stop in for a bite and a kiss.
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I love the Pretty in Pink soundtrack but all of my favorite Jon Hughes musical moments are in 16 Candles with the ending scene being my favorite. Such a great song.
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Say Anything – John Cusack outside with the boombox playing In Your Eyes. It makes me melt every time.
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David Bowie as the Goblin King singing ‘Dance Magic Dance’.
David Bowie in tights. What more do you need?
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Loved ‘The Dark End of the Street’ in the Commitments when everything goes pear-shaped. Sigh.
Has anyone else read this yet? A really moving story:
http://www.wellknowwhenwegetthere.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-john-hughes.html
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I’m not the first, but I agree with Emily (159). John Cusack and a boom box is better than anything in the movies these days. Plus, when he describes to her father how he doesn’t want to sell anything bought, or buy anything sold…
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When we heard John Hughes had died, my friends and I got together, put up a screen in their backyard, and did an emergency, plein-aire screening of Sixteen Candles.
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Pretty in Pink soundtrack on the BQE at 11pm, going into the city – standing on line at Palladium, trying to get the bouncer’s attention, with my fingerless gloves, leggings, Doc Maartens and bustier, hair teased within an inch of it’s life…dancing on a speaker to New Order and the Smiths…
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My favourite is in another John Hughes movie – Some Kind of Wonderful.
When Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson) is testing Keith’s (Eric Stoltz) kissing skills before the big date and “She loves me” by Stephen Duffy plays in the background. The kiss and the song – great combination.
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It’s got to be something from Magnolia, because of my deep and abiding love for Aimee Mann.
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I love the soundtrack to Empire Records . . . I was a teenager in the 90s. How could I not. Gin Blossoms take me back.
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Definitely the Jack Black as snotty record-clerk scene from High Fidelity. “Do you even KNOW your daughter?? There’s NO WAY she likes that song.”
That scene makes me laugh so hard, every time, because back in the day of the record store, every single one had at least one clerk just like that.
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Don’t You Forget About Me – Totally the theme for my 8th grade graduation. One movie scene, too hard. All of Grosse Point Blank.
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Can you even talk about music and movies without mentioning Say Anything’s In Your Eyes from the boom box?
Classic!
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oooh! Love the ringwald holy trinity.
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The entire soundtrack to “Sleepless in Seattle” is just so perfect.
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the part in donnie darko with mad world playing depressing but good
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What a hard decision! I, too, am a teen of the 80’s. I will go with The Smiths’ “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” from Pretty in Pink. (let me get the prize!)
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I love the music throughout The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – obviously all of the Seu Jorge/David Bowie stuff – but my favorite is when Sigor Ros’ Staralfur fades up as we’re suddenly face to face with the jaguar shark. Love it!
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Who ISN’T a huge Duckie fan? Seriously.
Also the Twist & Shout scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off… priceless. Lip-syncing like that is a SERIOUS talent. 🙂
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There are too many to choose from. One of the funniest music related scenes I’ve seen recently is when Hilary Swank’s character in PS I Love you is at the Karaoke bar with her hubby and gets tangled in the cords and breaks her nose.
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I didn’t see most of John Hughes’ films until I was in my early twenties. But I quickly fell in love. They are just as good twenty years after they were made.
I grew up watching a whole lot of Disney. Perhaps I wouldn’t bet my life on it, but I could probably sing most of the songs from most of the movies by heart. I used to dance around my room singing Ariel’s song in “The Little Mermaid” on a daily basis.
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There are so many scenes I can think of and all my favorites seem to be from the 80s. Ferris Buehler, Top Gun, and so on but my favorite is the ending scene of Dirty Dancing.
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One of my most favorite movies of all time is Empire Records. The soundtrack is amazing, and I couldn’t even pick one favorite song if I tried. Love it.
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Since it’s my favorite musical on Broadway as well as when it came to film, I’ll have to say Rent’s “Seasons of Love” scene.
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My favorite by far is the soundtrack to Dirty Dancing. Although I have to say that I still want to get up and dance during Ferris Bueller’s twist and shout.
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I LOVE the scenes in Elizabethtown when Orlando Bloom listens to the mix tape made for him by Kirsten Dunst for his road trip home with his father’s remains. Great pop and blues classics, and I cry every time it gets to the part where he spreads part of his father’s ashes in front of the hotel balcony where MLK Jr. was assasinated.
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I love the Empire Records soundtrack, as well as the Donnie Darko Soundtrack. My fav scene/music combo comes from the latter, when Tears for Fears takes the viewer on a quick romp through that bizarre town and to the highschool.
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(Not John Hughes, but…) without a doubt, Heath Ledger lip-synching “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” while dancing on the unrealistically beautiful stadium bleaches at Padua High in 10 Things I Hate About You. What girl wouldn’t relent after that??
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I still love that classic movie moment when John Cusak holds up the radio playing “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel in “Say Anything”……so romantic!
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Ok I see Empire Records has been mentioned several times, but I’m sorry, it’s my favorite!
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Reality Bites – my sharona!
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I love all those films. My sister was a huge fan of the 80’s movies and since I worshiped everything she did I loved them too!
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A friend pointed me to this blog post the day after John Hughes died http://wellknowwhenwegetthere.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-john-hughes.html it makes me love him even more. He was a rarity in the entertainment business!
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So hard to choose just one but I’ll go with a DAZED AND CONFUSED moment. Matthew McConaughey, as Wooderson, walking into the Emporium (in slow motion) to Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane” is the ultimate flash of cool.
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Not John Hughes, but the scene in “Empire of the Sun” with Jamie singing his choir song as the kamikaze pilots prepare to take off is one of my favorite movie moments.
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The Ducky scene is my favorite by far. That was the most entertaining part of the movie for me. I love him!
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well i’m a fan of The Big Chill soundtrack but my favorite music/movie moment has to be the volleyball scene from Top Gun. at least it was my favorite back when i was young, single and skinny. LOL
thanks!
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So hard to pick…probably the Penis Son during The Sweetest Thing. It is so ridiculous it cracks me up.
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Oh, I was so sorry to hear about John Hughes. Pretty in Pink was so great! I remember being in the theatre sitting between my boy crush and my girl crush, barely watching it at the time because my heart was leaping about so. And now, through the magic of Facebook, they’ve become a couple, twentymumble years later! I was at their house recently, and revealed I had just had the revelation that I used to be Andie and now I’m Iona. I even work in a funky vintage store, and the little Andies and Duckies walk in all the time (but never any Blaines). But I came around to the idea that my dear husband and I are actually more like what would happen if Andie and Duckie grew up and found each other. That was comforting. And my favourite musical moment? When Duckie’s demise is foreshadowed – he says he hates OMD’s If You Leave when he hears it on a tape (a tape!), foreshadowing his later disappointment when Andie and Blaine finally get together at the end of the movie. John Huges was a genius.
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Best music related scene, simply for the “cheese” factor, is Renee Zellweger singing in Empire Records. I heart that movie.
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Anytime I hear Dreamsome by Shelby Lynne I swoon and can vividly picture Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy cooking her birthday dinner in her tiny little kitchen…lovely.
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Without a doubt, the scene in Sixteen Candles after the wedding where the cars pull away and Jake Ryan is standing there. The first bars of If You Were Here by the Thompson Twins give me goosebumps.
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Hey, thanks for the chance to enter!
I know I have some favorites but I’m currently drawing a blank on movie musical scenes.
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