Not yet mentioned is Pleasantville; good music, and an excellent job of using it to help tell the story.
It took ages for them to release a soundtrack, such as it was. The movie came out in 1983, the only soundtrack I ever saw for it was combined with music from the miniseries North and South, also done by Bill Conti. I don’t think I ever saw that until about 1990. It was one of the last things I ever bought on vinyl.
Buffalo '66
The Lost Boys
I am loving all of the replies, thank you! I am bookmarking this one 
I didn’t read the thread, because I wanted these to be the movies that came to me off the top of my head. I also selected movies that I either have a copy of the soundtrack or once did. This leaves out movies like Jaws, which wouldn’t have been such a great movie without the soundtrack at all. The sound of the shark is epic, but I wouldn’t listen to it in my car on the way to work.
In no particular order:
2). The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. I know it’s probably not on many (if any) lists in thus thread, but I loved the music created for this music. Ennui Morricone produced one of the finest instrumental musical scores for this picture. I have the album!
3). The Sting - hit the movie perfectly. Ironically, the song that won the Oscar, “raindrops keep falling on my head”, is the only song I don’t like. I like the song in general, but not in the movie.
4). American Psycho - a great sampling of 80’s hits that will always be carved into my brain because of the scene they were used in. “Try getting a reservation at Dorsia now, you stupid fucking bastard!”
5). Reservoir Dogs - largely for the same reason as American Psycho, however I don’t like the music as much in Reservior Dogs. They are just aligned with some great scenes, like the cop maiming scene tied with “Stuck In The Middle With You.”
7). Purple Rain - not a huge Prince fan, but he’s a talented guy who put together some great music for this movie.
8). M&M - 8 Mile. I am not a rap fan, nor did I think I’d like this movie, but I have to say that I enjoyed this soundtrack. I still do.
9).The Jazz Singer - not one of my favorite movies, but a great soundtrack.
I have more, but that’s enough. Assuming anyone read through the list first place. Now, I’m going back to see what others have written.
Did you mean Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Marvin Hamlish’s score for The Sting was quite a trick though - using Scott Joplin rags for a film set in the 1930s. It worked very well.
Any film with a score by Elmer Bernstein (Magnificent Seven, Great Escape) or Ennio Morricone (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly).
I love the classic Hollywood scores by composers like Erich Korngold (Adventures of Robin Hood, Sea Hawk), Alfred Newman (Captain from Castille), and Miklos Rozsa (El Cid).
Jerry Goldsmith (Patton, ST: TMP) is another favorite.
I can still listen to the soundtrack of American Graffiti and get lost in the music just like I did when I first saw the movie over 30 years ago.
The Harry Potter music is very good. My daughter and I listen to it together sometimes.
The music from the first two Star Wars movies I can still listen to with great fondness. Nothing about the other four films strikes me as memorable.
Pretty much any movie with a John Williams score will have good, memorable music.
I watch The Firm first for Dave Grusin’s score, and second for Wilford Brimley’s portrayal of a bad guy.
Many of the ones listed before me, but I have to add the soundtrack to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Awesome covers of Beatles songs by many talented people and groups. I particularly love Aerosmith’s version of Come Together and Alice Cooper’s rendition of Because.
:smack: of course. I liked the music of The Sting. I guess Redford.and Newman bled over into my brain from Butch Cassidy when I typed that. I guess there isn’t anything I object to inn the Sting, and I still hate “Raindrops”.
I have to stop posting in the wee hours. Like now, for instance.
Gettysburg.
How can you tell? The man never smiles. He’s in a permanent frown-state. Maybe it’s because of his die-a-be-tuss.
removal of text (…) my idea.
I just like the contrast of the old Quaker Oatmeal ads (“It’s the right thing to do, and a tasty way to do it!”) and Firm Security (“What do you think I am around here, a fuckin night watchman?”)…
But still, I think the score is the best thing about that movie.
Wim Wenders’ “Paris Texas”.
Great, atmospheric, Ry Cooder slide guitar soundtrack.Apparently Cooder based this soundtrack and title song “Paris, Texas” on Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)”, which he described as “The most soulful, transcendent piece in all American music”.
I’m a big fan of Joe Jackson’s score from Tucker: The Man and his Dream. The tympani solo from the speedway scene is phenomenal.
Tron Legacy
I enjoyed the film, but the score played a very substantial part of the film. That’s the only one I can think of.
Wait, Ghost In The Shell.
If you get a chance to see these guys, take it. They put on a really good Morricone show. I saw them a couple of years ago.
Doesn’t really count , but Tim Robbins got a bunch of great musicians to create songs “inspired” by his film “Dead Man Walking”, and the result is a terrific CD’s worth of songs – Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and much more.
Moonstruck
Room With a View
The Big Chill
…and no one has mentioned The Magnificent Seven? WTH?!
+1 on
[ul]
[li]Ray[/li][li]Streets of Fire[/li][li]Eddie and the Cruisers[/li][/ul]
I also liked Eddie and the Cruisers 2 (Filmed at the same time but never really made it as a sequel?) and the original Footloose (which came out around the same time but didn’t have Michael Pare; I never bothered with the remake).
More +1s for
[ul]
[li]Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon[/li][li]Amadeus[/li][/ul]
And, since I haven’t seen them mentioned…
[ul]
[li]Braveheart[/li][li]Danny the Dog (some parts)[/li][li]Fearless (Oh! Jet Li again!)[/li][li]Enter the Dragon (that other Lee…)[/li][li]Unforgiven (didn’t it get an Oscar nomination for its use of music?)[/li][li]Anchors Aweigh (Gene Kelly and a very young Frank Sinatra)[/li][li]The Music Man (but that was a tale to carry the music, not music supporting a tale).[/li][li]Oh, yeah…and the original Battlestar Gallactica (or was that only a TV show?)[/li][/ul]
And my friend and I used to sing all the songs from the animated (Rankin/Bass) version of The Hobbit when we were young – but I don’t know if they were really all that great…
–Ab 
Music holds the secret
To know it can make you whole
It’s not just a game of notes
It’s the song inside your soul
. Rik Emmet (Triumph)
. Hold On
. Just a Game
Thanks for this tip. I’ve never heard of them, and would love to hear some of my favorite Morricone songs in a live orchestra setting.
It’s nice to see that Morricone is getting quite a bit of support out here. His music was such an integral part to his films. And yet, for each film, he was able to give it its own personality, even if the films were related.