My vote is for Pippin’s song (Edge of Night) in Return of the King when he’s commanded by repulsive, hateful Denethor to sing him a song during dinner while his only living (but dejected and heroic) son Faramir charges into battle to face certain death in an almost hopeless attempt to stave off the enemy and save the city. It is beautiful, haunting, and grievous.
So many options. I've been looking at clips all day.
I narrowed it down to two. The first waa the climatic rendition of Try A Little Tenderness in The Commitments. It was a bold version of a favorite song and just a powerful scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKfHC5eY5CI
But the other has a greater significance for the overall movie and that is Ralph Machios performance at the end of Crossroads.
If you haven't seen the movie it's a Devil went down to Georgia scenario with a young blues guitarist, Eugene, dueling with the devil in the form of Steve Vai. Vai seemingly has him beat but then Eugene breaks out Caprice #5 by Paganini and blows everyone away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqdL36VKbMQ
Guitarist Steve Vai actually recorded all the guitar parts but Machio learned the fingering to pull it off.
Final answer: Crossroads, Caprice #5. Because classical always trumps rock.
Best performance by a character singing a song in a nonmusical?
There are different ways to play this. You can go with the song done with the best craft and artistry, the best sounding song.
Or with a song that contributes best to the story of the film and I'm going with that direction. In "Casablanca" when Victor Lazlo (Paul Henreid) leads the band in a stirring rendition of La Marseillaise in defiance of the Nazis present. My official answer.
(There was a time and place where one couldn't refer openly to Casablanca. I am talking, of course, about Nazi Germany.)
Aretha Franklin performing "Think" in The Blues Brothers (NB: I assume this movie does not count as a musical. Vince, send me to the box if I'm wrong, but just a minor.) Not just the song, but the entire scene works. Check it out:
This was SO hard to choose, as far as “best” performance, so I went with a musical moment that impacted me the deepest and that would be the scene in Joyeux Noel where one of the main characters sings, “Silent Night” (and then onto “O Come, All Ye Faithful”) and ushers in an unprecedented and miraculous moment of truce between the German, French and Scottish forces on Christmas Eve 1914 during the First World War. The contrast between the evil and brutal mass murdering of men with the beauty of the spirit of Christ aka, The Prince of Peace, is the very essence of the battle that takes place within all of us. I wept as I watched that scene because it resonates with the deepest truth of who we are and who He is and then ultimately who we are meant to be.
[blows whistle] Time out, Ref. Please clarify- we all know what a musical is, but does this also include movies about music/musicians? ie: Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen), Walk The Line (Johnny Cash) etc. etc.
Are we going with movies that are strictly non-music related?
Biopics of bands and musicians will count but you must pick the specific scene. For instance if you say, "Bohemian Rhapsody," you'll need to say, "Rami Malik singing _____ in Bohemian Rhapsody." And others can choose different performances from the same movie.
My vote is for Pippin’s song (Edge of Night) in Return of the King when he’s commanded by repulsive, hateful Denethor to sing him a song during dinner while his only living (but dejected and heroic) son Faramir charges into battle to face certain death in an almost hopeless attempt to stave off the enemy and save the city. It is beautiful, haunting, and grievous.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WskRAEggqkQ
So many options. I've been looking at clips all day.
I narrowed it down to two. The first waa the climatic rendition of Try A Little Tenderness in The Commitments. It was a bold version of a favorite song and just a powerful scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKfHC5eY5CI
But the other has a greater significance for the overall movie and that is Ralph Machios performance at the end of Crossroads.
If you haven't seen the movie it's a Devil went down to Georgia scenario with a young blues guitarist, Eugene, dueling with the devil in the form of Steve Vai. Vai seemingly has him beat but then Eugene breaks out Caprice #5 by Paganini and blows everyone away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqdL36VKbMQ
Guitarist Steve Vai actually recorded all the guitar parts but Machio learned the fingering to pull it off.
Final answer: Crossroads, Caprice #5. Because classical always trumps rock.
Best performance by a character singing a song in a nonmusical?
There are different ways to play this. You can go with the song done with the best craft and artistry, the best sounding song.
Or with a song that contributes best to the story of the film and I'm going with that direction. In "Casablanca" when Victor Lazlo (Paul Henreid) leads the band in a stirring rendition of La Marseillaise in defiance of the Nazis present. My official answer.
(There was a time and place where one couldn't refer openly to Casablanca. I am talking, of course, about Nazi Germany.)
This is, of course, the correct answer.
Great answer!
Aretha Franklin performing "Think" in The Blues Brothers (NB: I assume this movie does not count as a musical. Vince, send me to the box if I'm wrong, but just a minor.) Not just the song, but the entire scene works. Check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTXszRHc0qs
And with back to back wins Shannon takes the prize. Congratulations, Shannon, you get to choose tomorrow's question.
This was SO hard to choose, as far as “best” performance, so I went with a musical moment that impacted me the deepest and that would be the scene in Joyeux Noel where one of the main characters sings, “Silent Night” (and then onto “O Come, All Ye Faithful”) and ushers in an unprecedented and miraculous moment of truce between the German, French and Scottish forces on Christmas Eve 1914 during the First World War. The contrast between the evil and brutal mass murdering of men with the beauty of the spirit of Christ aka, The Prince of Peace, is the very essence of the battle that takes place within all of us. I wept as I watched that scene because it resonates with the deepest truth of who we are and who He is and then ultimately who we are meant to be.
[blows whistle] Time out, Ref. Please clarify- we all know what a musical is, but does this also include movies about music/musicians? ie: Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen), Walk The Line (Johnny Cash) etc. etc.
Are we going with movies that are strictly non-music related?
Biopics of bands and musicians will count but you must pick the specific scene. For instance if you say, "Bohemian Rhapsody," you'll need to say, "Rami Malik singing _____ in Bohemian Rhapsody." And others can choose different performances from the same movie.
Sounds like a fun movie! I’ve never heard of it before.