Bodyguard Video Songs 720p Movies
Breanna Mangels
Note: Today\u2019s issue contains a few spoilers for The Bodyguard, which is almost 30 years old now, but even so, I had never seen it as of three days ago. So, if you care about preserving any unknown plot details of this film, you have been warned!
I miss the days of \u201Csoundtrack movies.\u201D Where the soundtrack reached beyond the orbit of people who saw the movie and became cultural icons on their own. Nobody buys soundtracks anymore*, and nobody makes movies like this anymore, so I think they\u2019re all but extinct.
The Bodyguard is one such example of a soundtrack movie\u2014the most prominent example, in fact. It\u2019s the best-selling movie soundtrack of all time, and \u201CI Will Always Love You\u201D is not only Whitney Houston\u2019s best-selling single ever, it\u2019s the best selling single of any female artist. Ever! Needless to say, it\u2019s a very good song, no matter which version you prefer.
But the fact that The Bodyguard\u2019s pivotal moment hinges on a cover and not an original song is really interesting to me. And I think it adds an extra layer to this (notably quite messy) film that allows it to ultimately succeed.
We first hear the song in the second act, when Whitney Houston\u2019s character (Rachel) convinces Kevin Costner\u2019s character (Frank) to take her out on a date since he won\u2019t let her leave her property without him anyway. And he, being the easygoing West Virginia football player turned presidential bodyguard** that he is, he takes her to a honky tonk bar with a jukebox full of golden-age country music. When a slow song comes on\u2014the aforementioned \u201CI Will Always Love You\u201D\u2014comes on, Rachel asks Frank to dance, and so they do.
\u201CThis is kind of a cowboy song, huh?\u201D she says. \u201CI mean, it\u2019s so depressing. Have you listened to the words?\u201D After thinking about it for a moment, Frank concedes. \u201CIt is kind of depressing,\u201D he says. \u201COne of those \u2018somebody\u2019s always leaving somebody\u2019 songs.\u201D
But they aren\u2019t dancing to Dolly Parton\u2019s original, which was indeed written as a goodbye to her mentor Porter Wagoner when she pursued a solo career. They\u2019re listening to a cover by John Doe, one of the cofounders of X. We don\u2019t actually hear Dolly\u2019s version in this film.***
If you\u2019ve seen The Bodyguard, you know that Whitney Houston\u2019s version doesn\u2019t come until the very end of the film, solidifying the (almost) final moment before continuing into the credits. (I bet a lot of people over the past 30 years have watched The Bodyguard and wondered to themselves \u201CWhen\u2019s she gonna sing the damn song?\u201D I admit I was curious about it myself on this first watch.)
That final moment is more than just a way to shoehorn the film\u2019s signature song into the script\u2019s climactic scene, though. For one, we have a gender reversal in the vocalist. When Rachel hears the John Doe version as she\u2019s dancing with Frank, I think she\u2019s hearing it from his voice. Just minutes before, she asks him about his previous relationships, which Frank mostly dismisses while also admitting that, whoever she was, she just didn\u2019t love him anymore. She understands that Frank has loved and lost, and that part of him might hang on to his former flame forever.
With that in mind, it\u2019s even more impactful to hear Whitney\u2019s version at the very end. Rachel isn\u2019t just sad that she\u2019s parting ways with the man she loves\u2014she now understands the sadness that he\u2019s been carrying with him for all these years, and will continue to carry from that day forward. There\u2019s even a bit of a Dolly and Porter dynamic between them, I think.****
But there\u2019s another way to view this final note, I think. One that I like even better. You see, the song begins playing as Rachel runs off her plane for one last embrace with Frank, and it continues into the next shot as we see Rachel performing the song, which then transitions to the final shot of Frank playing bodyguard to someone different. I think it\u2019s reasonable, then, to assume this is all in Frank\u2019s head and Rachel never performs it at all. It\u2019s a song that he already loves, but now, instead of \u201Chis own\u201D (John Doe\u2019s) voice, he\u2019ll always hear Rachel singing it, because she\u2019ll always be the one that got away.
If you\u2019ve seen The Bodyguard, and you\u2019re someone that overthinks this stuff the way I do, you probably came to one of those two conclusions already. And while I knew the song was coming, in all its power and glory, I wasn\u2019t prepared for how much it would move me. But maybe it\u2019s just because the Oscar nominations dropped this week and I\u2019ve been thinking about how Best Original Song nominees should be required to appear in the actual film.*****
*My editor John tells me that the Encanto soundtrack is the #1 album in the country right now. I did not know this because I\u2019m not a dork.
**Frank says at one point in the film that he served both Carter and Reagan. Which is interesting to me, even though the studio probably tacked on a couple Carter years to make Costner\u2019s character less polarizing. (Am I overthinking it? Surely not.)
The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard includes an eclectic soundtrack, so which songs are featured? Starring Ryan Reynolds, the 2021 sequel takes place across Europe, specifically Italy, but the selected tunes are mostly from American artists. Overall, the mix of mainstream music allows for a sense of familiarity and global appeal.
Like the original film, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard follows the collective shenanigans of bodyguard Michael Bryce (Reynolds), assassin Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson), and the titular female character, Sonia (Salma Hayek). While trying to resolve their personal differences, the trio attempts to prevent a Greek business mogul, Aristotle Papadopoulos (Antonio Banderas), from unleashing a deadly virus across Europe. The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard sets up a third movie, and uses the featured music to capture the inner thoughts of the main characters.
Icelandic composer Atli rvarsson scored The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard after previously creating film scores for The Hitman's Bodyguard, The Edge of Seventeen, and Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. As for the sequel's official soundtrack, music supervisor Ryan Svendsen assembled a variety of retro-themed tracks that complement the tragicomic narrative tone. Here's a breakdown for every song in The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard.
"Uh, Uh, What Did I Do" by The Jaedes: Michael's father gives him keys to his Jaguar (which thematically aligns wit the song title). Michael drives the vehicle in the countryside with Sonia and Darius.
Film argues that it's important to protect the ones you love. But it portrays a toxic work relationship -- the client pressures their hired contractor into a relationship, then punishes them when they try to end it -- as romantic.
Frank and Rachel excel at their jobs as bodyguard and performer, respectively. Rachel's son, Fletcher, is a sweet, mature, intuitive boy. Tony is caring and protective. But a main character solicits a sexual relationship with someone who works for them, taking advantage of power dynamics. When the employee tries to break off the sexual relationship, the employer retaliates in manipulative ways.
Black characters occupy a variety of roles across different socioeconomic tiers. Rachel is given the opportunity to be soft, beloved, and protected -- something that Black women are seldom afforded in media. On the other hand, a Black chauffeur is treated like free labor by Frank, who feels entitled to make him his assistant (the chauffeur eagerly follows Frank around for the rest of the film). And the only character who dies on screen is a Black woman. A sexist joke based on how a woman looks is told by the host of the Oscars. Minor roles such as backup dancers and crowds are fairly diverse, including Black, White, Asian, and Latino people. Rachel and Frank watch Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo on their date (fun fact: the word translates to "bodyguard"). But one brief scene involving Latino characters is stereotypical: Frank is agitated when he finds crates blocking a back route and shouts for "Louis Gomez," presumably the man in charge of keeping the space clear. Frank then runs into a character named "Cuban husband" in the credits -- they argue, and Frank beats him up as his wife, a cleaning lady, rushes to stop him and says, "he no do nothing."
Multiple characters are shot; one is killed (blood visible). A bloody knife fight. A dismembered arm is seen during a couple's viewing of a black-and-white samurai movie. Someone plays with a katana. A bomb explodes, almost killing a child. A child who can't swim flails in a lake but is never in danger; an adult carries them to shore. A mob carries off the main character; she's visibly in distress. Sexual violence includes a woman who changes her mind during a make-out session, saying "no," but the aggressor doesn't stop until she gets up to call for an employee who's nearby. Sexual harassment includes an intruder who masturbates in a woman's bed while she's away (nothing depicted), stalking, and threatening letters that call the main character a "whore." A main character solicits a sexual relationship with someone who works for them; when the employee tries to break off the sexual relationship, the employer retaliates in manipulative ways.
A couple appear naked in bed; it's implied they had sex. (Blankets cover breasts, lower bodies.) Couples kiss several times. In one scene, passionate kissing on the neck turns overly aggressive; the woman has to repeat "no" and call for someone to intervene before the aggressor stops. A glimpse of a child's drawing shows breasts. Innuendo (e.g., "Is this a full service date?").
Main character wears Ray-Ban sunglasses, drives a Chevrolet and Ford. Villain drives a Toyota. Scenes take place at a Hilton (mentioned by name), and the third act takes place at an Academy Awards ceremony -- the Oscars are referenced throughout the film.
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