Tiny Dancer - Best use of song ever?
I think everybody who loves Almost Famous would agree that the "Tiny Dancer" scene was breathtaking.
It's a rare example of an already popular song - not written for the movie - being used extraordinarily well to advance the story line. It wasn't just some random song used in the movie merely to set a mood or to fill in the gap in a timline. It wasn't akin to a glorified music video.
The "Tiny Dancer" scene played a pivotal role in the movie. The movie would be much less without it.
It makes me wonder what other movies use a pre-existing popular song as well as Tiny Dancer was used in Almost Famous.
One I can think of is "Tunnel of Love" in "An Officer and a Gentleman".
It's more subtle than Tiny Dancer in that the scene is set in a bar and the song is portrayed as background music playing on the jukebox as Richard Gere and Debra Winger play out a pivotal scene in the story line. I've always thought that Tunnel of Love was the perfect choice for that scene, so full of lament and nostalgia for a happier time. To me, it set the mood perfectly.
As much as I hate to say it, "Unchained Melody" was also used very well in "Ghost".
The scene - involving Demi Moore with the clay spinning wheel - has been parodied so many times it's now a little hard to take it seriously. However, when Ghost was first released, the scene was very moving, particularly given that the tune was used throughout the movie to denote the love between Moore and Patrick Swayze.
There must be other examples.
What do you think?