The Departed Soundtrack

The new Martin Scorsese film The Departed has a crackerjack cast. It even features one of its stars being dropped off a building, proving, for me at least, that slow motion can make unintentionally hilarious a scene that otherwise would be all gravity.

The Departed also features a beefy soundtrack of obscure 70’s rock numbers that you won’t be hearing on the radio anytime soon, unless you’re tuned to the deep cuts channel on Sirius. The film’s leitmotif, which plays ominously at moments when craggy old Jack Nicholson is cocking a hirsute eyebrow skyward, is the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter. The wrath of the Irish mob is “just a shot away”, as is, rather unfortunately, full frontal nudity from the pride of Neptune, New Jersey.

Scorsese likes his classic rock. Who could ever hear the song Layla by Derek and the Dominos, also known as Eric Clapton and Some Other Guys, without thinking of the movie Goodfellas? Melodramatic filmmaking, it seems, is a dish best served with liberal amounts of moody electric guitar, especially for a film set in Boston, where classic rock can be found very much alive on local radio, rumors of its demise having been exaggerated. Wishful thinking from the new new wave 80’s crowd, no doubt.

When was the last time you heard Comfortably Numb, the Van Morrison version? It’s on The Departed soundtrack, as are selections from Roy Buchanan, Joe Cuba, Plastic Ono Band, and The Allman Brothers. It’s not quite thrilling, but it sure as hell beats the Forest Gump soundtrack, and people bought that by the bucketload in the days before lickety-split downloads and Sweet Home Alabama on TV commercials for KFC (by the way, don’t bother trying iTunes for Baby Blue: it ain’t there, to the credit of whoever owns the Badfinger publishing.)

The moral of this story is that come December 24^th when desperation has set in, The Departed soundtrack may be just the ticket for that thirty something rocker living in your basement who may or may not be your brother. And after all, there is a piece of that basement-dwelling brother in all of us.