OT: Greatest Movies With the Greatest Songs

Crocodile Dundee with music by Peter Best. Always at the top of my list.

tom petty's runnin' down a dream in 'larry crowne':

For me, I guess it all comes down to how well certain songs are used in a movie, and sadly too many times Hollywood just like to throw in some "random" 20-30 far too overplayed/overused monster hits from the 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s, that probably still is going strong on the radio, 24/7 everyday, instead of trying to maybe pick a number that rarerly is given much attention and then have it work like magic in a important or touching film scene.
While some movies do have a fantastic portion of great music numbers in them, it is not that often they end up making any great impact/use of them, instead they are just there for less than 10-15 seconds, then onto the next one and next one after that.

This song might not be "worthy" to be mentioned along as some of the greatest of them all, but I think it ended up working very well and the film is really good, one of Bob Hoskins finest roles for sure.
 
Mona Lisa (1986)
This 80s pop classic managed to get a whole new fanbase, as it was to be included in the now cult movie classic, American Psycho (2000) and also served as being one of the favorite songs of the sadistic, yuppie-predator, Patrick Bateman, who seemed to have a soft spot for 80s ballads.
The song was written by Phil Collins, and who were asked if he wanted to contribute with a song or two for the film, and as a result he came up with In Too Deep.
I think that it ended up working very well, as we see a obviously confused and very disgusted George (Bob Hoskins) wander around the sleazy, neon dominated meat market of downtown London, while beginning to realize for himself that he has gotten himself in too deep.

Not a big fan of Wes Anderson but Rushmore is one of the few of his that I like and I gotta give him some credit that he do have a talent of not just having actors I really like, but also making great use of songs in his films.

A song that has been used in many, many movies and TV-shows, but most of them very randomly, like within less than 5-10 seconds and that's it.
In the romantic black comedy/crime movie Mad Dog and Glory (1993) we see Bobby D portray a shy loner Wayne, who has not fired his "gun" for 15 years or more, and suddenly he is "gifted" with having the company of a young, beautiful girl Glory (Uma Thurman) at his place, shortly after saving the life of a local mobster (Bill Murray), and well, after things go pretty damn well between the two, the unlikely duo hit it off, and as a result, Wayne suddenly gets a impulsive need of having a dance and sing to his favorite artist at a bloody Police crime scene:
"Louis Prima, the best!"

It is both weird/quirky, but also somehow funny/sweet as we see this former shell of a man suddenly come back to life after spending a night with Uma Thurman by his side, and I really enjoyed both the film and the soundtrack/score used in it.

Agree on Awakenings, great movie and not one that is brought up too often among his better 90s work, either. 

I think you'll enjoy it, as it was actually De Niro who was gonna take on the part as the mobster Frank Milo but instead he wanted a change from the stereotypical alpha-male figure, so he did his best Dustin Hoffman impression here as a bit of a "pathetic" and shy loner, and I thought it worked very well, and I had no problem seeing how Bill Murray did the bad guy part, as he really towered above De Niro in most of the scenes, and made Bobby D look like a litte scared child in some of the parts, and I guess this did not sit too well with the audience who was by now used to seeing De Niro as the macho guy, and not a "whimpy" loser.

I wrote a mini-review in the comedy section some while ago and I am just too lazy to re-write it right now, so I just copied the whole thing:

"It's the first time I pulled out my gun in 15 years. I pissed on myself."
Wayne Dobie (Robert De Niro) is a shy spoken and lonely police detective who's been nicknamed Mad Dog by his colleagues, which in turn is a joke on him, as he haven't used his "gun" in a very long time. But when Wayne suddenly becomes the unlikely hero of the day, as he comes to the rescue of a local mobster named Frank "The Money Store" Milo (Bill Murray) he is soon to be visited by the beautiful Glory (Uma Thurman) who appears as some bizarre "thank you" gift, and is supposed to stay with Wayne for a whole week. As time goes by the two of them seems to get well acquainted with each other, but when Frank wants Glory back, Wayne must find a way to live up to his nickname or else, "No Guts, No Glory".

Produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by John McNaughton (Henry: Portait of a Serial Killer) this little well written, romantic, crime-comedy has always been one of my favorite Robert De Niro films as it really stands out, in a good way that is, amongst his more usual mafioso/tought guy roles.
Here he comes off as a bit of a loner, that I guess reminds me more of Dustin Hoffman, than the ordinary alpha male De Niro that we so often have seen, and I guess it did not sit too well at the time with his fans nor the audience.
Seeing him getting dominated by funny man Bill Murray, must have been a hard watch for his die hard fans, but I think it deserved a far better fate than being treated as one of De Niro's "lesser" films made during the 1990s.

It comes with a stellar cast, that includes David Caruso (remember back then, when he actually was a believeable bad ass, before he become larger than life and throw his career down the drain), Mike Starr, Kathy Baker, Tom Towles and of course a young and stunning Uma Thurman as Glory.
Mad Dog and Glory might not be your typical "laugh out every other second" kind of comedy, but it is one of those rare films that do come with a certain rewarding gift for those who pay it some attention, and of course really like this kind of humor, which at times is rather dark.
The film contains one of the best and funniest love scenes that I have ever seen, and instead of going all erotic-thriller, Hollywood early 90s style with over-the-top hot'n'steamy sex scenes along with overblown sax solos lurking in the background as the two lovers screams out after having both reached orgasm at the exact same time.
This one however, is rather sweet and tender/quirky, and I have no trouble believing that Wayne found it a bit hard, trying to catch up with a 23 year old, Uma Thurman lying naked on his coach. "Watch out for the next time."

Bill Murray might not be that great or believable as the bad guy for some viewers.
Yeah he is probably "too much" Bill Murray (for some) in this one, and I do think that the plans before shooting was that the role of Frank Milo was supposed to be handed out to De Niro, who I guess by then wanted to do other roles than just the ordinary gangster/tough guy parts, and I kind of liked how it ended up in the end.
In several scenes, Murray really do towers above De Niro, making him seem like a little frighten kid and in one scene he grabs Wayne by the throat and lay into him something like: "You love her?, I OWN HER!" which showed that he was certainly not a guy you want to get on the bad side with, or as Glory puts it "Going to Frank is like taking heroin to cure an alcohol problem, ya know?"

Uma plays the "hooker" with a heart of gold, but she was obviously a very broken down character, just trying to get on by, and even though the ending seemed a bit to feel-good "Hollywood" like, I found it to work well.
Turned out that some of the test audience did not approve or like the idea of having Raging Bull getting beaten to a bloody pulp by Dr. Peter Venkman, so there was probably some last minute changes before releasing the final product, and I would love to see a director's cut or one that comes with the original scenes, which also were rumored to show that Glory come off as a far more manipulative figure, and De Niro being even more of a pathetic loser.

"Different strokes, for different folks!"

Here are one of my favorite scenes from the film, where David Caruso proves that he was once a real bad ass (not the parody that is Horatio Caine) and you don't have to beat someone half to death, to get your message out.
Love Wayne's reaction later on (not in this clip) seeing how his best friend so easily handled that big violent bully, without even touching the guy, while himself earlier on was brushed aside like dog shit when trying to interfere when hearing that his nexdoor lady got beaten up by the same guy.
Wayne then has a little mental "breakdown" in a fully packed park later on, going all Travis Bickle when approached by a random mugger and screams out "You wanna go dodge city Motherfucker!" before realizing that he is just not that kind of a tough guy.