In A Crossfire Hurricane

Martin Scorsese has not just made some of the best movies ever, he has also integrated music into these movies as an inseperable part of the process. It isn't an afterthought, it's an essential element of his all his movies, with some scenes designed around the music itself. Music soundtracked Scorsese's early life, so in many ways it was inevitable that it would play a large part in his movies as he started directing. Growing up in the Lower East side of New York in the 50's, there would have been music playing all around him. He listens to music while writing his screenplays, coming up with ideas based upon what he is listening to at that time. His love of 60's girl groups is evident at the beginning of Mean Streets when you hear those distinctive drum pounds of Be My Baby as Harvey Keitel wakes from a nightmare. It's impossible to imagine Scorses's movies without the music that accompanies them. Think Johnny Boy's swaggering entrance into the basement dive bar in Mean Steets as Jumpin' Jack Flash blasts out the screen. It almost feels as if The Stones track was written specifically for that scene, so well do they complement each other. That 60 second scene not only introduces the world to the acting talents of Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, it also introduces us to the perfect marriage of song and film that Scorsese does better than any other director. There are so many examples of Scorsese's deft use of music in his movies, and how he creates a mood with specific music, and his work over the years wouldn't be the same without it.