7 Movies Changed by Sound

Try to imagine some of your favorite movies without sounds. Many of them may never have been the successful movies they were without their inventive sound effects and powerful musical scores. Let’s take a look at 7 movies that were transformed by their soundtracks.

The Godfather

As the unexpected mournful trumpet theme builds the tension in the opening credits, the stage was set for a pop culture revolution. Just look at how many movies nowadays attempt to create this kind of atmosphere in a similar way.

Star Wars

The original Star Wars movie was made completely without any sound effects or music at first. To watch this raw draft, it looked like a bad school play. But when John Williams added his astounding musical score, the movie was transformed into the legend we know today. Add to this the never-before-heard futuristic sounds of light-sabers created using a slinky, and a new standard in science fiction had been set.

Let’s also not forget one of the best uses of theme music to accompany characters. Not only did Darth Vader have his now famous booming sounds, but there were certain theme songs that accompanied the characters’ various actions, such as making decisions.

Jaws

Probably the most well known musical score in history, the slow, deep, ominous sounds of this notorious fish still echo from children's swimming baths all around the world.

Psycho

At first, Hitchcock didn't even want any music for that famous shower scene. But Bernard Herrmann wrote some anyway, and Hitchcock decided it was too good not to use. The fast, high pitched screeches add suspense and build fear.

Terminator 2

Creating the sound effects for explosions and gunfire was pretty standard stuff compared to what was needed to illustrate a believable liquid metal robot. Who knew that pulling dog food out of a can sounded like a T1000 walking through bars?

Exciting chase scenes are accompanied by fast, suspense filled music, and when he catches you, it’s all slowed down to that deep and quite frankly terrifying moan.

Saturday Night Fever

Stars were born when the beats of the Bee Gees combined with a boogying Travolta in this perfect homage to the disco era.

2001 A Space Odyssey

Few movies can pull off such a prominent musical score. Yet, combining booming classical compositions with futuristic imagery, this movie shows us the true meaning of timelessness.