Movies That Feature Deliberately Anachronistic Music, Inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby’

Inglourious Basterds

Year – 2009

Quentin Tarantino is famous for his soundtracks.  Ok, he’s famous for being one of the greatest living film directors.  But part of what makes his films so good is his ingenious use of music.  Whether it’s the ironic juxtaposition of “Stuck in the Middle with You” or repurposing an Ennio Morricone piece (famous for his “Spaghetti Western” scores) for the coffin escape in Kill Bill: Vol. 2.

But in Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino threw caution to the wind (which is saying something considering he really wasn’t all that closely linked with “caution” in the first place).  He not only boldly refashions history (in a way I won’t reveal in case you haven’t seen the film) but he also uses a David Bowie song to set the stage for the film’s revenge-laden climax.  Never mind that Bowie wasn’t even alive during WWII let alone recording music.  He, once again, repurposes a piece of music intended for another film.  This time it’s “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” from the film of the same name.

Tarantino, a fan of the song, was always frustrated that the song went unused in the original film; relegated to only playing over the closing credits.  So he set his penultimate scene to the song in a way so masterful that’s it’s difficult to belief it was ever intended to be used otherwise.  Historical accuracy can suck it.