Mishima.
The only movie soundtrack that I’ve purchased and greatly enjoyed has been for All Over Me. The movie was, at best, mediocre… but damn, the music made up for it.
As for scores… what you all said.
My favourite soundtracks are: any of the Cowboy Bebop soundtracks (though they’re really scores with some songs), Trainspotting and Shine.
Cowboy Bebop is so eclectic, with every piece wonderful, and just such a great collection. Some great jazz on there.
Trainspotting is just one of those soundtracks. So many different songs, and the piece as a whole adds to the movie and completely brings me back to it.
Shine is another soundtrack/score that completely reminds me of the movie. I can listen to the wonderful piano pieces on it over and over again.
I second Magnolia and Trainspotting.
Would add
Wings of Desire (Der Himmel Ueber Berlin), a great spooky angular score by Juergen Kneiper (sp?) with songs by Nick Cave and Laurie Andersen thrown in;
and
One from the Heart, a Francis Ford Coppola film that stank up the box office and bankrupted Zoetrope Studios. The soundtrack is a great unknown Tom Waits album (with Crystal Gayle singing along).
Not a movie, but the soundtrack from “Cosmos” is great. (Anyone remember Carl Sagan or am I aging myself here?)
And I’m sure the soundtrack to “Rent” would be awesome, were I to fork over the $40.
As far as actual movies,
“City of Angels” is an awesome soundtrack, too. “Forrest Gump” is good. “Flashdance” is great for working out. And “Top Gun” isn’t bad.
For kids, I love the Disney collections.
Carl Sagan. My hero. Great soundtrack.
Where did you see it for $40?!? Chiesu, I bought mine for $24.99 (and probably overpaid on that)! Once you get past the ripoff of, er, homage to La Boheme, and some of the singing is belted and strained, but it’s still a good soundtrack.
I had a cassette of this soundtrack for years, loved it. Could never find a CD, so I wound up putting together one from it’s components. I bought “Heaven and Hell” by Vangelis on CD (the Cosmos theme lasts approximately 45 seconds) and then “Albedo 0.39” also by Vangelis.
And as long as we’re not limited to movies, I thought Trent Reznor’s Quake soundtrack was pretty cool.
The soundtrack from The Hunt for Red October, by Basil Poledouris, is easily my favorite. Too bad the CD’s so short, though.
As my personal favorites, I’ll also agree with…
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Amadeus
Repo Man
Clockwork Orange
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but I’ll add one that I don’t think was mentioned yet…
Last Temptation of Christ
Peter Gabriel’s album Passion is amazing.
On NPR last night, they were praising the soundtrack of Wizard of Oz which I can kind of agree with considering that it was a nearly wall-to-wall musical that is still very popular.
Carl is da’ Man! I remember seeing Cosmos on TV when it first came out. I’ve watched the tapes many times since then.
I think PBS recently offered the soundtrack to Cosmos as a gift for new members.
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What Rob said. Yoko Kanno is a great! There’s not only some great jazz on Cowboy Bebop but also some country, blues, and even a bit of psychadelia. I’ve been trying to hunt down the sdtrk CDs (3 or 4?) but apparently they’re not available on the domestic North American market. Does anybody know of a reliable online store I can import these from?
Cheers,
Hodge
Two nobody has yet mentioned:
Dead Again by Patrick Doyle – A great pastiche/tribute to Bernard Herrmann’s Hitchcock scores. Plus Doyle’s sense of melody and texture makes it a great listen even for people not familiar with the source of inspiration.
The rap collection from Bulworth – Yeah, I know, a lot of people hated this movie. But if you liked it, you have to admit that the well-chosen rap soundtrack goes a long way toward infusing the film with energy and propelling it along.
I want to support Magnolia and throw in The Matrix and Fight Club. I don’t have too much movie experience, so pardon me.
Absolutely. Made me appreciate hard-core rap for the first time: I still play the CD.
Movies with cool Soundtracks:
The Lion King
The Matrix
The Faculty
X-Files: Fight the Future
Scream 3
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Interview with the Vampire
Tokyo 7, a store where I live & where I rent all of my anime, is where I bought all of the soundtracks. They have an on-line store, too, so I would think that’s one of your best bets. I just checked, though, and they’re currently updating their site. So, you might have to wait a little while. Though, they’re almost every day, so you could call & order directly. Oh, it’s in Canadian dollars to (I’m a Canuck) so they’re actually pretty cheap.
Clockwork Orange
Lady Sings the Blues (from the Diana Ross flick)
Nightmare Before Christmas
any Fred Astaire (I love that they include the tapdancing)
Tokyo 7, a store where I live & where I rent all of my anime, is where I bought all of the soundtracks. They have an on-line store, too, so I would think that’s one of your best bets. I just checked, though, and they’re currently updating their site. So, you might have to wait a little while. Though, they’re almost every day, so you could call & order directly. Oh, it’s in Canadian dollars to (I’m a Canuck) so they’re actually pretty cheap.**
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Cool. Thanks for the recommendation. The site still appears to be mostly offline, but i’ll keep checking.
Cheers (from a fellow Canuck),
Hodge
Good stuff…
Oh my. I am a serious soundtrack geek!
I am glad to see someone else mention the 1979 (Frank Langella) version of “Dracula”. That John Williams score is excellent. A lot of Williams’ pre-“Star Wars” soundtracks are under-appreciated. Like “The Eiger Sanction” (Clint Eastwood film), “The Missouri Breaks” (that is a bizarre one - you’d never guess it was Williams if all you know are his “Star Wars” scores!) and “The Cowboys”.
As a big Jerry Goldsmith fan, I’ll second “Under Fire”, “Planet of the Apes”, which have been mentioned before. Also want to add “The Mummy”, “The Shadow”, “The Ghost and the Darkness”, “The Flim-Flam Man”, “The Wind and the Lion”, “Freud”, Patton", “Alien”, “L.A. Confidential”, “Papillion”, and oh so many more. (Like I said, I’m a BIG fan.)
Ennio Morricone’s “Rampage” is complete genius. Also, “Frantic” and “Marco Polo”. (“Marco Polo” is a TV score, but what the hell.) Does anyone know where I can get a CD of “Frantic” or “Marco Polo”? I only have LPs. Also, “Days of Heaven”, by Morricone. Beautiful. (I only have the LP for that score, too.)
Anything by Bernard Herrmann. I NEED to get the CD for “Taxi Driver”! Shame on me for not having that already.
Well, this is my short list! 
Superman.
(The 1978 one starring Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve.)
This is perhaps the finest score John Williams has ever done – better, even, than any of the scores to any of the Star Wars movies. Pay attention to the trombones during the loudest parts of the opening fanfare. I was studying music composition and orchestration at the time, and those passages made me crap my pants with envy.