Most Recognizable Movie Themes?

[noisy_brut]

What movie theme when you hear makes you immediately think of the movie...

Raiders March
Imperial March
Star Wars Theme
Jaws Theme
Pink Panther Theme

[arto_j]

Besides Star Wars, there's the themes from:
Jurassic Park
The Terminator
Police Academy
Halloween
Jaws
Charlie's Angels
The Rock

I'm sure there's more, I just came up with these now.

[BakeTheMooCow]

Shaft
2001 : A Space Odyssey

and Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing makes me think of the movie The Full Monty

[A.J. Hakari]

The 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY theme always reminds me of that great film.

Whenever I hear "Paint It Black" on the radio, I always think back to either FULL METAL JACKET or STIR OF ECHOES.

[CriticalBill6966]

Mission:Impossiable
Austin Powers
Shaft

[Rich]

The theme from 2001:a space odyessy..
I had the time of my life from dirty dancing
Halloween theme

Rich

[MovieFreak15]

Don't forget the music from E.T. Extra-Terestrial and The Exorcist.

[EvilAsh]

Why didn't anyone mention THE GODFATHER?

[Deckard]

Some highly recognizable themes/scores:

John Williams- Superman, Star Wars, Raiders, Jaws etc

Elmer Bernstein's- Magnificent 7, Great Escape

Monty Norman's- Bond Theme

[Quebec-Joel]

I think 2001 A Space Odyssey along with James Bond theme are the most recognizable

[Romero&Juliet]

hmmmm......halloween,
An American In Paris**
Star Wars
Psycho....not a theme, but the score, well, you couldn'tr mistake it for anything else. EVER!
~The doors song "the End" in Apocolypse now.

that;s all i got for now.

[Romero&Juliet]

THE PINK PANTHER THEME! I nearly forgot...

~~how about Stand By Me, By Ben E King, as the theme to Stand by me?? Does that count?

[Ezikel]

Who ya gonna call?

- Ghostbuster!

[noisy_brut]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by EvilAsh:
Why didn't anyone mention THE GODFATHER?</font>

YES! YES! YES! How could I forget that one! Great Call!

[bankholdup]

Indiana Jones, anyone?

[ColinM]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by EvilAsh:
Why didn't anyone mention THE GODFATHER?</font>

I was just going to post this very question until I saw that you beat me to it. Good call.

Many many more come to mind, some of which already mentioned. In fact, the only movie theme song that doesn't make me think of the movie is "Live and Let Die". It makes me think about how great Paul, the Beatles, Wings, etc. are rather than how great the movie is.

(I'm gonna be seeing Paul in concert in two weeks! WOOHOO! http://www.joblo.com/ubb/smile.gif )

[Romero&Juliet]

ooo... I almost forgot.
One Trick Pony, By Paul Simon

[ToasT]

1)Star Wars

2)Back To The Future

3)Godfather

4)Jaws

5)Superman

6)Batman

7)Pink Panther

8)Indiana Jones

9)Shaft

10)The Great Escape

and also...

Halloween and The Lion King(Cirle of Life)

[movebum_20]

SCARIEST THEME

OMEN
PSYCHO

ROMANTIC THEME

TITANIC
LOVE STORY
GODFATHER
AND MANY ITALIAN FILMS LIKE IL POSTINO, CINEMA PARAISO, AND LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

SUPERHERO THEME

JAMES BOND
SUPERMAN
PINK PHANTER
BATMAN
AND, YES, ROCKY

AND OF COURSE ALL OF JOHN WILLIAMS THEME

JAWS
STARWARS/ EMPIRE
JURSSIC PARK
HOME ALONE
E.T.
eTC

[Cronos]

Godzilla (original)

[RandalGraves]

Terminator
Back to the Future
Star Wars
Men in Black
Matrix
Indiana Jones
Pyscho
Halloween
Friday the 13th
James Bond
Rocky
Batman
Superman
Jaws
Shaft
Mission Impossible
Toy Story

[Otis Driftwood]

Can't believe no one has said Star Trek yet.

[zeppelin]

Well, I can't even hum the theme to "Star Trek." But maybe that's just me.

The two most instantly recognizable themes ever are EASILY Jaws and the shower scene part of Psycho. The only thing that even comes close is Star Wars, but I've even at times heard people mistake that for some of Williams' other scores, like Superman or Raiders of the Lost Ark. I don't know why, but they have. NO ONE is ever going to mistake Jaws or Psycho for anything else. People who haven't even seen the movies know them.

[Le_Big_Mac]

Star Wars
The Magnificent Seven
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Superman
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Godfather
The Pink Panther
Psycho
Dr. No
Once Upon a Time in the West
Mission Impossible
Jaws
any theme in a Godzilla movie


There are also a few actual songs I'd want to mention that make me immediately think of a movie.


"Gimme Shelter" - The Departed
"Little Green Bag" - Reservoir Dogs
"Stuck in the Middle With You" - Reservoir Dogs
"Misirlou" - Pulp Fiction
"You Never Can Tell" - Pulp Fiction
"Put on the Ritz" - Young Frankenstein
"Three Blind Mice" - Dr. No
"My Pony, My Rifle and Me" - Rio Bravo
"Johnny B. Goode" - Back to the Future
"Also Sprach Zarathustra" - 2001: A Space Odyssey
"The Blue Danube" - 2001: A Space Odyssey
"The Thieving Magpie" - A Clockwork Orange
"Singin' In the Rain" - A Clockwork Orange

[AngelEyes]

why would anyone think of anything else than the movie when you hear its musical theme..?

[Le_Big_Mac]

Plenty of reasons. You could have listened to the soundtrack so much that it almost seems to become its own seperate piece. You could also hear the theme somewhere else. Music from The Killers (1946) was used in the theme for Dragnet. And commercials have used the themes from The Magnificent Seven and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly to death. The theme from The Great Escape was also used in a Simpsons episode in which Maggie and her fellow infants try to recover their pacifiers in a daycare center. And on one or two occasions, the Imperial March has been used as Mr. Burn's theme.

[Cronos]

Originally posted by AngelEyes
why would anyone think of anything else than the movie when you hear its musical theme..?
errrrr, because it might not be very recognisable

[zeppelin]

Originally posted by Le_Big_Mac
"Gimme Shelter" - The Departed

That was actually the third time Scorsese used that song in one of his movies. It is indeed the most memorable use he's made of the song, but to me, I don't think a song that powerful could ever be reduced to be associated with a movie.

"Stuck in the Middle With You" - Reservoir Dogs

That's probably one that's absolutely impossible to shake from your mind though. When any song plays such an integral part in such a disturbing scene as that, there's no going back. I'd also add Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" as used in Blue Velvet.

"Singin' In the Rain" - A Clockwork Orange

Funny, that's what I think of too when I hear the song, instead of Singin' in the Rain. Probably for the same reason as what I just talked about.

[sarah1980]

Superman
Star Wars
Star Trek
The Terminator
Halloween
E.T.
Psycho
Friday The 13th
Harry Potter
LOTR
A Nightmare On Elm Street
Jaws
007
Godzilla (old)
Dragonheart (could be)

[Hominid]

Jaws
Psycho
The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly (ah-ah-ah-ahhhhhhh....dun dun dun....)
Jurassic Park
Rocky
Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery
The Pink Panther
The Godfather

[powersauce]

Beverly Hills Cop
Top Gun
Friday the 13th
Halloween
Jaws
Chariots of Fire
Rocky
The Godfather
The Untouchables
Star Wars
Indiana Jones
Back to the Future
007
St. Elmo's Fire
Shaft
Batman
Beetlejuice
Princess Bride
Matrix
Austin Powers
The Naked Gun
Rain Man
Crocodile Dundee

[Frank the Tank]

Lots of people seem to recognize the Requiem For A Dream theme song from where I'm from. The Saw theme is starting to get some notice too.