Can Music Make a Movie?
... or Break It?
As you may know, I have an alternative site with a section called Inspired by the Score, where I talk briefly about the movie a soundtrack was written for and then dive much more deeply into the music itself. I find music inspiring for my creative processes, and the right piece can help me dig just a bit deeper into my Zen.
While I was ruminating on Legend (1985) and its dual soundtrack, I found myself wondering:
Can music make a movie better? Can music make a movie worse?
At first glance, the answer feels obvious.
Good music helps make a good movie better — music can make a movie. Bad music breaks the verisimilitude — music can break a movie.
Straightforward, right? But if you dig even a little deeper, the answer isn’t as simple as it seems.
The Early Days — When Movies Had No Sound
In the early days of film, there were no microphones. There wasn’t even such a thing as a soundtrack. People went to see a silent movie, or a movie accompanied by live musicians in the theater.
So did the music “make” the movie back then? Was a film more popular because of the talent of the musicians and the pieces they chose? Or was something else at work?
It’s interesting to think that two audiences could watch the same film on the same day, but have completely different emotional experiences simply because one theater had a gifted pianist and the other didn’t.
The Modern Past — When Music Became Part of the Experience
Stepping into our present era, I’ll propose this: if you took the music away from Star Wars and replaced it with something else, would Star Wars have achieved the same success? You can probably think of other movies that fit into that category as well.
Actually, just for fun: imagine removing the Star Wars soundtrack and replacing it with folk music. In my opinion, that would break the movie entirely — but even as you picture it, you’re asking yourself the same question.
And then we are back to the start with Legend. The film actually has two soundtracks. The original Jerry Goldsmith score (which I find rather dull) was used for the UK and international release, while the North American theatrical release featured a score by the German band Tangerine Dream, a heavy synth‑pop group. Both versions of Legend exist — but would the film have fared better with one soundtrack over the other? Or would it have performed the same regardless?
It’s difficult to find reliable data for that, since the North American population is so much larger and any comparison would need to account for that. Still, I can’t help wondering: which version performed better, and was it because of the movie… or the music?
The Present — When Music Stops Breathing
These days, there are fewer soundtracks I would consider truly incredible. Many are short snippets tied to action beats, rather than the longer orchestral movements that once supported deeper, more human moments in film. Movies today tend to lean toward more action and less time for character development — and the soundtracks follow suit, leaving less room to breathe.
Most people probably don’t think about soundtracks the way I do. But if you stop and listen, you start to notice how much the music shapes the way a film lands — not just emotionally, but in how memorable it becomes, how it lingers, how it’s talked about afterward. Maybe that matters more than we realize. Maybe it doesn’t.
So this brings us back to the question:
Can music make a movie?
Whether music truly makes or breaks a movie’s success is hard to pin down. But it’s a question worth asking, especially when a soundtrack stays with you long after the film ends.
Austin Worxをもっと見る
購読すると最新の投稿がメールで送信されます。