A Tribute To Tom Petty’s Best Film and TV Moments

Perhaps the best remembered moment of Tom Petty’s music in a film, Tom Cruise as the title character belting out “Free Fallin'” while high on a deal is a perfect moment to encapsulate just what vibe the film is going for. Cameron Crowe has always been an open-hearted believer in the power of rock music, and he’s used Petty’s music a lot in his film and television work (Elizabethtown and Roadies come to mind), but it’s never better utilized than it is here. Everything you need to know about Jerry, from his unabashed earnestness to the relief he feels that he didn’t just blow it to his million-dollar smile are all communicated in this one scene. The best part of this scene is how Jerry flips through the radio dial for a while, past songs that are okay (justice for “Angel of the Morning”!) but don’t quite allow him to truly belt out what he’s feeling, until he finds Tom Petty, and suddenly, he can let it all out. It makes it utterly impossible not to root for Jerry after this moment.

Where to stream Jerry Maguire

The thing about trying to compile a list of the best Tom Petty moments on film and TV is the logjam you run into with “American Girl.” The song is so popular and so ICONIC that directors, producers, and music supervisors have been utterly unable to resist its down-home siren song. “American Girl” is listed EIGHTEEN times on Petty’s IMDb page, on works ranging from The Sopranos to Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and those are just the credited instances. So rather than tie one hand behind our back when trying to properly appreciate Petty’s contributions to pop culture, we’re including a handful of our favorite “American Girls”s.

That said, The Silence of the Lambs did it best, and we’ll hear no arguments on this. After setting the audience up with the creeping villainy of Hannibal Lecter and the grim news reports of Buffalo Bill, Jonathan Demme’s film cuts to a character we haven’t seen before, driving her car down a dark road, jamming out to “American Girl.” Like Jerry Maguire, she’s belting her heart out to one of the great songs in rock history, and communicating so much about not only who she is but why we’re about to feel very afraid for her. Demme doesn’t want Catherine Martin to be just another skin on Buffalo Bill’s wall, and Petty provides exactly the right human connection between character and audience.

Where to stream The Silence of the Lambs

Like Cameron Crowe, TV creator Bill Lawrence has always worn his love for Tom Petty on his sleeve. His 2009 TV series Cougar Town featured episodes that were all titled after Tom Petty songs (the series finale? “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”). Lawrence’s series before Cougar Town was Scrubs, which featured its own tribute to Petty in the third season premiere “My American Girl.” In the episode, Elliott (Sarah Chalke) finally decides to stand up for herself, and in the process makes herself over as “American Girl” gives her the perfect slow-mo strut music.

Where to stream Scrubs

When no less a screen luminary as Meryl Streep is covering your song for her big rock-star movie, you know your song is iconic. It’s also worth noting the man behind the camera here: Jonathan Demme, helming his final narrative feature film, once again showing his allegiance to Petty’s anthem, earning him a place alongside Crowe and Lawrence as Tom Petty superfan creators.

Where to stream Ricki and the Flash

One last “American Girl,” this one back to the Silence of the Lambs vibe of using the song’s baked-in Americana to underscore something far darker. After a season’s worth of dystopian episodes capped off by incongruous pop songs, the season finale of the Emmy-winning best drama ends with Offred (Elisabeth Moss) tossed into the back of a paddywagon as Petty’s song creeps up on the soundtrack. At first, it’s a dark irony, but by the steely look in Offred’s eye, it becomes a promise of defiance.

Stream The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu

In the series finale of The Larry Sanders Show, Tom Petty is one of two competing musicians —the other being the “cowpoke” Clint Black— booked to sing a farewell song to Larry Sanders (the late Garry Shandling). “I thought I was your Bette Midler,” Petty laments to the show’s producer, Artie (the late Rip Torn), when he figures out that he has lost the gig to Black. All-around nice guy Greg Kinnear tries to console Petty, which goes hilariously astray and finds him on the receiving end of one of the best burns in showbiz history:

—Mark Graham

Watch the "Flip" episode of The Larry Sanders Show on HBO Go.

Petty voiced the character of Lucky for 28 episodes of King of the Hill, from 2004-2009. Lucky was Luanne’s husband in the later seasons of the show, describes as a “snaggle-toothed layabout who lives on the settlements he earns from frivolous lawsuits.”

Where to stream American Girl

One of the more underrated songs of Petty’s late career we can probably chalk up to the fact that it was attached to a movie that burned semi-bright in the culture and then disappeared almost immediately. People forget that the heyday of Edward Burns’s directorial career used to be where we’d find Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, and the new Tom Petty joint. She’s the One isn’t a great movie, but “Walls” is a sneaky-great song, with an irresistable singalong chorus.

Where to stream She's the One

A TV show as unabashedly sentimental as Parks and Recreation needed the perfect song to close out its seven-season run on. Bless them for turning to Petty’s all-star side-project, The Traveling Wilburys, for their closing song, “End of the Line.”. Formed in 1988, the supergroup included Petty, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison, and they sported a few big hits before Orbison’s death and general attrition ended things. The group was a lark more than anything, but it was also a gathering of like-minded music lovers to put something they believed in out into the world, making them the perfect send-off for Parks and Rec.

Stream the Parks and Recreation series finale on Netflix.

Remember The Postman?? Few people do. And maybe Kevin Costner would rather it stay that way. The 1997 movie was a major bomb, the second in a row for Costner after Waterworld. And since this movie was directed by Costner — his seven-years-waiting follow-up to the Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves — it was an even bigger blow to his career. HOWEVER, silver lining? It features the rare Tom Petty acting performance, playing the Bridge City Mayor. Costner has some fun with the character, having his title character ask the Mayor if he’s someone famous. “I was once,” Petty’s character replies.

Where to stream The Postman

America: A Tribute To Heroes aired live across all four major broadcast networks on September 21, 2001, just ten days after the horrific attacks of 9/11. The event featured a mix of musical acts, some iconic (Bruce Springsteen, U2, Paul Simon, Billy Joel) and some that were more, um, shall we say “flavor of the month” (Fred Durst, Enrique Iglesias, Dave Matthews). Most of the performances that evening, understandably, fell into the realm of mournful elegies, but not Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” No, his took on quite the opposite tenor; he stared defiantly into the camera, promising on behalf of a wounded nation that he would do all he could to “keep this world from dragging me down” and, instead, “stand my ground.” It was exactly the sentiment that we needed to hear then, and remains so today.—MDG