James–

I know you posted your comment awhile ago and you may never read this response, but I hope you do. It seems that you are completely missing the point Public Enemy is presenting with their lyrics about Elvis Presley.

First of all, let’s talk about the name–they say “Elvis was a hero to most, but he never meant shit to me. He was straight out racist…” They don’t say Elvis Presley, they just say Elvis. Maybe it’s nit-picking, but right off the bat, I am led to belive that it is not the man himself Public Enemy is attacking, but rather the idea of him, or, Elvis as a symbol. Obviously, they can’t really know for sure if the “real” Elvis was racist, as they claim in the song; but if you know anything about Elvis Presley’s career, I’m sure you will recall that much of his success was garnished from imitating the performance styles of black artists and (to take it a step further) performing their material as well. I take Chuck D’s lyric here as more of a comment on the irony of the fact that there are plenty of racist Elvis fans who either don’t realize this or try to forget it.

And as far as the stamp line goes, yeah, obviously there have been some great black heroes on stamps, but put yourself in the shoes of a black person for two seconds and you may realize how intimidating a few black heroes will look up against the thousands and thousands of white people that have been on stamps in our history. Sure, some great African Americans have been recognized in this way, but not nearly the amount that should and hopefully will be eventually.

I probably should have prefaced this top 10 with something like this:

Mike Nichols’ 1966 film “The Graduate”, starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, was the first motion picture in history to utilize music entirely of the pop varitey. In all honesty, it was the first movie with a soundtrack–not the first movie with a score, obviously, but the first movie that contained songs that we would normally hear on the radio, or at home from our record collection. In a way, this use of pop music brought audiences even more into the movie, made it a more personal experience–and it was the first film to do this. So, let’s not mince words here–the people who are constants here at Scene-Stealers.com are “movie lovers”, to say the very least. There’s a good chance we all not only know about or have seen “The Graduate”, but that we have all read something about someone saying that it has one of the most important soundtracks in film history. So, without saying that this is not true (because it most certainly is), let’s take a step back and honor some of the other great moments in film that were no doubt inspired by Mike Nchols’ pioneering “Graduate”.

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In other words, I was never attempting to say any of these moments were better or more important that what “The Graduate” introduced, I was simply saying, “Let’s step back and honor some things that all to often get overlooked.” Cheers!

I totally agree with both of those picks. That moment in “Children” was a defining one for the film. Actually, that movie is one of the best examples of recent kickass uses of prog-rock in motion pictures. Don’t forget the Pink Floyd “Animals” still outside the window of that factory in that one scene…pig and all!

And Zodiac…I should say that “Inner City Blues” and “Hurdy Gurdy Man” both went into consideration when making this list. It’s kind of surprising saying that now, because when I got the idea to make the list, I didn’t initially think “Zodiac” would be one of the main contenders; but soon I began to realize how many great moments it contains. Someone else called me out on “Inner CIty Blues” earlier in the comments…can’t remember who it was, but good show!

Martin Z–

Sadly, I am not familiar enough with either of those movies to have an opinion. I know, I probably seem like a charlatan for having never seen “Full Metal Jacket” all the way through, and maybe I am…I think I actually have seen the whole thing, but only in fragments, you know? I fucking love Kubrick, there’s no excuse…my girfriend, whom I live with, owns “Gross Pointe”, but I have yet to watch it either.

As for “Layla”, I don’t know enough to add to a Wikipedia page or anything, but it’s my understanding that the main melody for the second half of “Layla”, which that portion of the song is built around, was the brainchild of Duane Allman.

Thanks for all the comments! You guys rock…

Here’s two I would’ve had to find room for:

“Mirror in the Bathroom” during the fight sequence in Grosse Pointe Blank. I watch the movie just for that scene.

“These Boots Were Made for Walking” in Full Metal Jacket, when the action transitions from stateside to in-country. The song + the Vietnamese hooker’s ass swaying under that miniskirt is sheer movie-music perfection.

And now for a stupid question. I knew Duane Allman played a lot (not all) of the slide guitar on the Layla album. But who did write the second half of the song “Layla?” I thought Clapton wrote it.