During the couple of hours of pre-game, prior to Super Bowl XLII, I started jotting things down on a napkin. Those around me thought I was jotting down "things to do" or football stats. And I was happy to let them think that. Truth was I was jotting down every movie theme I recognized during endless hours of Super Bowl coverage today.
If there was a need to find one more reason to love football, well, this might be it. It uses popular film music more and better than any other sport. (Or maybe I'm just looking for a silver-lining after the Giants robbed me of seeing history. It's highly likely that you and I will never see any team get this close to 19-0 again).
So here is a list that I wouldn't call exhaustive by any means, of the film music I was able to recognize during the Super Bowl coverage today:
- Road to Perdition by Thomas Newman - tribute to those in the NFL who passed away in the last year.
- Lawrence of Arabia by Maurice Jarre - a NASCAR spot, if you can believe that.
- The Island - "My Name is Lincoln" - Video spot narrated by Russell Crowe about the Patriots pursuit of perfection. *Update! Thanks to melman, this piece has finally been nailed down!
- Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot by John Williams - The reading The Declaration of Independence.
- The Last Samurai by Hans Zimmer - Introduction of the New York Giants (Booooo!)
- Unidentified music from Hans Zimmer or one of his Zimmerites - Introduction of the Patriots
- Autobots Theme from Transformers by Steve Jablonsky - Troy Aikman piece for Fox
- Rocky Theme by Bill Conti - Budweiser Clysdale and dalmation commercial.
...and with that the saddest day in my years of watching the Super Bowl comes to a close. The Patriots' historic run was ended by a team that had no business being there. But yet there they were and there they won. So I offer the best "congratulations" I can to the team that ruined history. Congrats Giants. Can't wait for my Cowboys to pound you down next year.
Ok...back to some music.
