Films which were only any good due to the music

[Cartman]

Some films which weren't that great did have superb soundtracks and this compensates for the fact that the film wasn't that good.

I can think, off the top of my head, of three

The Graduate. The music, by Simon and Garfunkel, is just fantastic, but I don't find the film very interesting, the California rich set of the late 60s don't appeal.

Dirty Dancing. As a film I think it's a bit crap, (my wife likes it) but some good music, both original 60s stuff plus some written for it in the 80s

Grease. Same comments as Dirty Dancing really, some of the songs in it though were excellent. Bits of the film I do like, the bit at the drive in where Travolta gets stood up and he sings Sandy, the drag race with the cars in the concrete storm drain and the last bit where Olivia looks ridiculously sexy in that black outfit😊

[Nightfly]

Great idea for a topic, Cartman .  I can think of three straight off from 1978-9, though the first two aren't too bad if not a bit corny, as they are still a good time capsule of the era. They were all films adapted from Jackie Collins novels and had probably nothing to do with the producer being married to her sister Joan.

The Stud -  I quite liked the plot of the working class guy who progresses to night club boss rubbing shoulders with the elite, who ends up getting dropped by them just as fast when Joan Collins gets bored of him, however the soundtrack is superb. The Sweet, Roxy Music, Baccarra, Heatwave and The Real Thing appearing as the house band make the film worth checking out.

The B*tch - The sequel from 1979 which follows Joan's character after she loses some of the perks of being married to a millionaire after her divorce, but still managing to own her night club, a posh house and a chauffeur. The storyline is worse than The Stud, despite good supporting roles from George Sweeney, Ian Hendry, Doug Fisher and Peter Wight.  The night club plot is a nice excuse for packing in some great hits from the peak of the late 70s disco era - The Player's Association, Herbie Hancock, The Real Thing (again), The Three Degrees, Gibson Brothers, plus some little known but welcome tracks from Inner Circle and The Olympic Runners.

The World is Full Of Married Men - This one was so bad that I can't even remember anything about the plot, apart from Paul Nicholas playing a pop star called Gem Gemini. Again, saved by the soundtrack - Shalamar, Third World, A Taste of Honey, Gene Chandler, Evelyn Champagne King. However, the theme song from Bonnie Tyler was a bit of a disappointment.

[Cartman]

I've seen all three of those, Night, all at the cinema in 79, and, yes, they're all rubbish, but the music in them was good. 

[Vienna]

I love the music used in Midnight Cowboy (1969), particularly John Barry's score and the theme song 'Everybody's Talkin' by Harry Nilsson, written by Fred Neil. However, the movie itself never seemed very good to me. Others will disagree. 

Vi 

[Nightfly]

Sept 26, 2021 18:57:08 GMT Cartman said:

I've seen all three of those, Night, all at the cinema in 79, and, yes, they're all rubbish, but the music in them was good. 

Myself and a couple of schoolmates tried to get in to see The Stud back in 78 at the local cinema and were told to come back when we start shaving ! It didn't help that one of us turned up in a grey shirt from the local school.

Sept 26, 2021 19:01:25 GMT Vienna said:

I love the music used in Midnight Cowboy (1969), particularly John Barry's score and the theme song 'Everybody's Talkin' by Harry Nilsson, written by Fred Neil. However, the movie itself never seemed very good to me. Others will disagree. 

Vi 

I'm a bit the same with Easy Rider from that era. Brilliant soundtrack with Steppenwolf, Hendrix, The Band etc. Despite the great locations and scenery, it did seem to be just an ego boosting project for Dennis Hopper with not much of a storyline.

[Arthur Pringle]

I've always thought Sergio Leone's 'dollars trilogy' would not be celebrated as much were it not for Ennio Morricone's music. Not that they were bad films, but without Morricone's scores you wonder whether they'd be remembered quite so well, particularly 'A Fistful Of Dollars'. Hundreds of Italian westerns were made, very few are well known.

[Cartman]

Good shout on the Dollars trilogy, although I do like those three. The music does greatly add to the atmosphere of the films, sgreed. 

They are probably the only 60s spaghetti western films which are now still widely known and popular.

[Cartman]

Sept 26, 2021 19:28:50 GMT Nightfly said:

Sept 26, 2021 18:57:08 GMT Cartman said:

I've seen all three of those, Night, all at the cinema in 79, and, yes, they're all rubbish, but the music in them was good. 

Myself and a couple of schoolmates tried to get in to see The Stud back in 78 at the local cinema and were told to come back when we start shaving ! It didn't help that one of us turned up in a grey shirt from the local school.

Another, similar, film from 79 was The Golden Lady, the theme song was by the Three Degrees and it also had some good late 70s disco in the soundtrack. Once again, it was a crap film, which I wasted an evening on at the cinema in the summer of 79!

[Nightfly]

Sept 26, 2021 19:46:50 GMT Cartman said:

Another, similar, film from 79 was The Golden Lady, the theme song was by the Three Degrees and it also had some good late 70s disco in the soundtrack. Once again, it was a crap film, which I wasted an evening on at the cinema in the summer of 79!

I hadn't heard of that one. However, I'm a bit of a sucker for trashy 70s films with a good soundtrack and a quick search reveals a few good reasons to check it out for research purposes - ie: Suzanne Danielle and Jilly Johnson who will no doubt provide some erm... artistic input into the production.

[Cartman]

Jilly Johnson did a bit of singing with another model, Nina Carter, under the name of Blonde on Blonde in 78/9.