The 20 Greatest Uses of Creedence Clearwater Revival in Movies (2024)

Creedence Clearwater Revival was a band originally formed as early as 1959. While their swampy sounds and lyrics about the bayou have long led band's fans to think they were Southern, they were actually schoolmates from El Cerrito, California — a Bay Area suburb. Such was the vision of lead man John Fogerty. WHen they changed their name to Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1967, they began to see their greatest period of success, including five top-10 albums in the U.S., two of which reached number one on the Billboard charts.

Legal infighting between the bandmates and record label led to the disbandment of CCR in 1972, leading to years of contempt between the members, including John Fogerty and his brother Tom. The fact was, Fogerty had written most of the music himself, so rather than negotiate with the band, he began a solo career, often playing Creedence songs as part of his act. While the band would never re-form, their five-year-run together produced some of the most revered and oft-covered rock music of the 20th Century, and have been used in films ever since.

While John Fogerty was locked in legal-battles over his original record deal for years, the label was licensing the heck out of their music, which Fogerty never got his fair share of, but enabled the band to be played for generation after generation in movies.

The following are the 20 greatest uses of Creedence Clearwater Revival in films.

20 "Long As I Can See the Light" in State of Play

From their number one record, Cosmo's Factory, came CCR's memorable track "Long As I Can See the Light", a ballad with some religious themes in the lyrics and a church-like feeling. While John Fogerty wasn't making a religious statement, per se, the track depicted a world-weary man, the perfect backing for journalist Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) in State of Play, when the investigative journalist is pouring over records and interviews to get to the bottom of some politically-motivated murders. Creedence has often appeared in political films thanks to its immediate connotation with protests and political strife, on of the band's greatest legacies.

Related: Deadpool 3 Latest Rumor Says Ben Affleck Will Return as Daredevil

19 "Fortunate Son" in War Dogs

Maybe Creedence's most-licensed song, "Fortunate Son" was used a bit ironically in War Dogs, given that it became an anti-war anthem during the Vietnam War. The protest song was employed for a chase scene in Fallujah, when Efraim (Jonah Hill) and David (Miles Teller) are escaping an armed gang with a cache of weapons in a ramshackle truck. As they make their getaway, an Army platoon comes to the rescue with a helicopter and armored humvees, chasing off the would-be opportunists. Efraim proclaims "God bless Dick Cheney's America!" to the sound of CCR — sort of a pro and anti-war statement at the same time.

18 "Midnight Special" from In the Tall Grass

In the Tall Grass was a Canadian horror film based on a Stephen King novel. While the song may not seem like a fit for a film about supernatural events, "Midnight Special" is somewhat haunting thanks to it being originally written by Leadbelly, a blues man of questionable character who spent his life in and out of prison. Creedence made the song famous when they recorded their version in 1969. Somehow, the song fit perfectly over the film's credits, capping a scary film with a sort of irony. Stephen King is the most succesfully-adapted author in American history, and Creedence has appeared in many of those films.

17 "Fortunate Son" in Logan Lucky

Another famous use of "Fortunate Son" came in Logan Lucky, after Jimmy (Channing Tatum) and Clyde (Adam Driver) spring Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) from prison for the sake of a heist. The song was directly a critique of Vietnam, but the nature of war, with John Fogerty saying for The Voice that "[it's] the old saying about rich men making war and poor men having to fight them." Given the nature of the haves and have-nots in this film, the song helped to mimic the underdog ethos of the would-be criminals, desperate for cash thanks to personal hardships in the American South.

16 "Don't Look Now" in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

"Don't Look Now" was a CCR song off their 1969 album Willy and the Poor Boys, during a frenetic, incredibly prolific time for John Fogerty's songwriting, which saw the savant musician writing many of his most famous songs during only a two-year span. In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the song is used for a bar scene, where Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) tries to convince Owen (Chris Pratt) to help her locate Blue, a brief side of Americana that provides a break from the high-tech atmosphere of the film.

15 "Porterville" in Into the Wild

Nothing shouts America like a Creedence song, so "Porterville" provided the perfect backing for Into the Wild, a film based on Jon Krakauer's best-selling book about Christopher McCandless' (Emile Hirsch) tragic story of attempting to live off the grid after disgust with the status quo. Director Sean Penn has always featured great classic rock songs in his films, and chose a lesser-knows CCR track off their eponymous album. The songs "I Don't Care" lyric is a perfect fit for this film about transcendentalism.

14 "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" in The Longest Yard

For The Longest Yard Adam Sandler needed a soundtrack that featured music from the era of the original Burt Reynolds film, and Creedence Clearwater Revival was the perfect fit, using "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" for a scene when the prison football players bond during a rainstorm, sliding through a muddy field together in a slow-motion montage. The scene was a brief, dramatic aside for a mostly slapstick comedy. The song peaked at number eight on the Billboard charts after its release in 1971, but has become one of Creedence's most-licensed tracks since.

13 "Fortunate Son" in Suicide Squad

Yet another great usage of "Fortunate Son" came in Suicide Squad, soundtracking Killer Croc's (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) origin story, examining his conversion to a cannibalistic metahuman thanks to a condition that gives him reptilian features. The song provided an odd contrast for the scene, but it's so perfect for montage that it seamlessly slotted into the Arkham epic. Despite some great tracks on the soundtrack, the film couldn't make back its enormous budget, showing a rare lapse of financial dominance from a DC film.

12 "Run Through the Jungle" in Rudy

Better known for its appearance in The Big Lebowski, "Run Through the Jungle" was actually earlier featured in Rudy, a college football underdog story that gave Sean Astin his first big role as an adult. Given the All-American Indiana story, CCR again proved to be a perfect match, though the somewhat spooky song is certainly different from the rest of the triumphant soundtrack.

11 "Suzie Q" in Elvis and Nixon

Largely forgotten thanks to proximity to Kevin Spacey's scandals, and being eclipsed by Baz Luhrmann's Elvis a few years after, Elvis and Nixon was still an interesting look at the relationship between the two men. Michael Shannon wasn't quite a dead ringer for The King, but still gave a compelling performance, that largely mocked the swollen ego and delusions of these larger-than-life icons. Again, Creedence provides a tinge of Americana when Elvis goes to meet the President to discuss his personal agenda (and Kung-Fu). With "Suzie Q", you get a highly swung blues track that gives an instant image of the American South, from which Elvis sets off from his Tennessee mansion at Graceland.

10 "Down on the Corner" in The King of Staten Island

An homage to his hometown, King of Staten Island was a slice of Pete Davidson's life, told in Judd Apatow fashion. The roman-a-clef style of the film creates an authenticity amidst the typical Apatovian themes of heartache, loss and the fabric of New York City's landfill island. "Down on the Corner" provides a neighborhood-y feel in examining Davidson's home borough, and the patriotism underlined by the loss of his father, a firefighter who died during the September 11th attacks. Even in the context of New York City, CCR still has application because of its undeniable connection to all things patriotic (and anti-patriotic).

Related: Pete Davidson's Bupkis Renewed for Season Two at Peacock

9 "Proud Mary" in Rocks

The 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating of Rocks should tell you this is a film worth watching, even more so for its use of "Proud Mary", one of CCR's most-covered tracks, including a memorable version by the recently-passed Tina Turner. The 1969 track came off Bayou Country, an album that saw the Southern-influenced band at their swampiest. While subsequent versions have pushed the tempo of the song, the original is a slow, swingin' track that tells the story of a man who sets off from a good job with a dictatorial boss that sets off on the road, a blue-collar sentimentality typical to many of Creedence's track lyrics.

8 "Bad Moon Rising" in The Big Chill

Arguably the most famous soundtrack of the 1980s, The Big Chill used many '60s and '70s classic rock tracks as the setting for a reunion of that musical generation. In the film, Sam (Tom Berenger) and Harold (Kevin Kline) play the track "Bad Moon Rising" while driving in a Jeep, reliving days of yore to the soundtrack of their youth. The 1983 soundtrack reached multi-Platinum status and spent years charting, another feather in the cap of John Fogerty, whose influence has permeated American culture ever since CCR's heyday. While this is a film that definitely wouldn't be made in this format today, it struck a chord among the newly formed yuppie generation, who despite their new ambitions longed for the simpler days of the 1960s.

7 "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" in Evan Almighty

What better movie for "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" than the biblical flood in Evan Almighty? The track is another road trip use of Creedence, as it plays when Evan (Steve Carrell) and his family leave Buffalo to begin a new life. CCR has always been great car listening, explaining it soundtracking countless road scenes in film history. The track is more of a country ballad than Creedence was known for upon its 1971 release, creating another dimension for the band, which had already swept up countless influences from earlier American music.

6 "Run Through the Jungle" in Tropic Thunder

In Tropic Thunder, a group of wannabe-Marines "Run Through the Jungle" quite literally, as they get swept up in an armed conflict while attempting to make a guerilla-style film in Vietnam. Yep, you guessed it, the track is used as the team of actors treks through the jungle together, with Creedence providing the perfect sense of foreboding and swampy funk to soundtrack the scene. Given the Vietnam theme, CCR were a fit, having been a favorite of troops in Vietnam for years during the war, and even more so for members of the college protest movements back in the U.S.

5 "Up Around the Bend" in Remember the Titans

Creedence was period-perfect for Remember the Titans, a 1971 real-life story about Herman Boone (Denzel Washington), a black football coach tasked to integrate the T. C. Williams High School football team. "Up Around the Bend" gives all the 1971 flavor necessary to ramp up a montage of the players first bonding in practice together, showing how Rock 'n' Roll and sports can cross racial barriers in the Disney film. The inspirational tenor of many of Creedence's songs are tailor-made for movie montages, and that has proven to be the format in which they are most used.

4 "Born on the Bayou" in The Waterboy

Given Bobby Boucher's (Adam Sandler's) Cajun heritage, it's only fitting they slapped "Born on the Bayou" over a scene where Bobby bursts onto the football scene with his vicious tackling prowess in The Waterboy. Many fans were led to believe that Creedence were Southern thanks to tracks like this, and the band's name, which was really just a portmanteau of some the band's inside jokes. Add the flannel shirts and it's no wonder they were assumed to be good ol' Southern boys. In fact, they couldn't have come from a more different American culture, the hippie-laden world of late-'60s San Francisco.

3 "Run Through the Jungle" in The Big Lebowski

When The Dude (Jeff Bridges) and Walter (John Goodman) go to drop off the ringer, aka Walter's dirty undies, in The Big Lebowski, the plan goes a little bit South. What more fitting soundtrack for the dude than Creedence's "Run through the Jungle", as he takes over the wheel of a vehicle with some "brown rust coloration" as Walter attempts to tumble from the car to attack the Autobahn boys. The result leaves the car shot up in a ditch, with Walter creating yet another of his infamous disasters. There is no film more closely associated with CCR than The Big Lebowski, thanks to a scene where The Dude reports his missing Creedence collection to some mystified cops.

2 "Fortunate Son" in Forrest Gump

Always smacking of an oddly-placed patriotism, "Fortunate Son" is again, and most-famously, used for a scene when Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) and Bubba (Mykelti Williams) first arrive in Vietnam. The scene shows their fearful first days meeting the uber-intimidating Lieutenant Dan (Gary Sinise), and the party-like atmosphere of a platoon awaiting battle. Robert Zemeckis was trying to encapsulate every aspect of American culture he could in the film, which meant the soundtrack couldn't be complete without at least one CCR song, especially with the Vietnam scenes that trace another fateful chapter in U.S. history.

1 "Looking Out My Back Door" in The Big Lebowski

"Looking Out My Back Door" is another CCR track with a serious country twang, and a thumpin' drum beat that The Dude slaps along to on the ceiling of his Dude Mobile in The Big Lebowski. Unfortunately, this leads to the misplacemanent of a doobie roach, which lands in a particularly painful area of El Duderino's body. This makes for some of the greatest slapstick from His Royal Dudeness, and shows his deep emotional connection with Creedence Clearwater Revival. Back when The Dude was participating in sit-ins and protests, he surely had the anti-war band humming in the background, and listening to this song transports him right back to that time through the love of a band called CCR...if you're into the whole brevity thing.