I was in a bit of a noir mood yesterday, so I nosed around YouTube. Some people say jazz never really had a big impact on our society at large—that it was always a cult folk form. I beg to differ. Here are 10 movie trailers or openers with powerful jazz scores. I also threw in a noir-ish line that pops-up in each promo...
Young Man With a Horn (1950)—"Music! The kind you can't write. The kind ya just gotta feel."
Streetcar Named Desire (1951)—"A vivid, exciting, vibrant story, because every chapter was written by men."
Odds Against Tomorrow (1951)—"These aren't men. They're two sticks of dynamite!"
Man With the Golden Arm (1955)—"A subject that has never before been seen in a film."
Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)—"A nice loose fit, with no lines."
The Killing (1956)—"You like money. You got a great big dollar sign there where most women have a heart."
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)—"Alright fellas, here they come. Let's get with it."
I Want to Live (1958)—"The wildest of the jazzed-up generation."
Manchurian Candidate (1959)—"The chilling classic returns!"
Shadows (1959)—"For this is a real story about real people living in the shadows of the neon, crazy streets of Manhattan."
