Easy Rider, hands down. The soundtrack is half the film, easy.
I’m not much into soundtracks, but I also enjoy O Brother, Civil War, Ansel Adams, Twin Peaks, Donner Party (many of these from PBS programs). Yeah, I’m a real upbeat kinda guy!! Paaaar-ty!!
“Ya know what I think? I think thats a crackpot idea, man!” – Billy
The A Beautiful Mind Soundtrack
Sleepless in Seattle is pretty solid. Forrest Gump has some good songs, but to me a lot of them are clunkers so I’ll go middle of the road there.
And, Animal House is pretty darn good.
The Big Chill. This movie came out when I was in the middle of my 60’s retro period.
Conan the Barbarian. Basil Poledouris. The pseudo-Wagnerian stuff just goes with all the battle scenes, and that orchestral piece for the orgy scene in Thulsa Doom’s fortress…fantastic.
World Eater, I thought the pi soundtrack was done by Massive Attack?
Bladerunner
Times Square - Includes: Talking Heads, Lou Reed, XTC,
The Ramones, The Ruts, The Cure, The Pretenders, Patti Smith Group.
Sexy Beast has a great soundtrack. And I’m not just saying that b/c I’m a Stranglers fan.
“Walkin’ on the beaches, lookin’ at the peaches…”
And what about The Bodygaurd?? And IIIIIIIIIIIIIIeeeeIIIIIIII…will always…
kidding. 
Singles had a better soundtrack than movie. Lots of great mid 90’s Seattle sounds. Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Screaming Trees.
Elmer Bernstein’s score for The Ten Commandments is classic old Hollywood.
Anything by Bernard Hermann, especially The Day the Earth Stood Still (love that Theremin).
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure by Danny Elfman. Perfect for Pee Wee, like one of Nino Rota’s Fellini scores on acid.
I have a couple of favorite movie soundtracks:
~Divine Secrets of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood - this is mostly Cajun type Louisiana music
~O Brother Where Art Thou - folk and country kinda stuff
~10 Things I Hate About You - pop/rock, but not the usual stuff
~Walk To Remember - Christian pop/rock, it’s good stuff!
Grosse Pointe Blank
How could the South Park: Bigger, Longer Uncut soundtrack not have been mentioned here yet?
And, although I know I’m going to get slammed for this, Titanic. That music is haunting. I left the theater saying I NEED this soundtrack CD.
Since it wasn’t mentioned, one of my favorite all-time soundtracks comes from Harold & Maude. Cat Stevens, man–gotta love it.
The Crow.
I simply cant stand other soundtracks. I think they are just a couple of good songs with 40-60 minutes of crap. The Crow however, has a cohesive theme and great music.
I tend to make a distinction between movie soundtracks and movie scores. It seems to me that most soundtracks consist of separate and distinct songs selected from a variety of sources whereas most movie scores tend to be original, if often derivative, orchestral works intended to form a coherent whole. I don’t know how valid these categories are and I’m sure there are plenty of exceptions but, for the moment, I’m going to go with it and see if anybody else agrees:
Movie Soundtracks:[ul][li]Magnolia. Aimee Mann is one of the best singer/songwriters in pop music right now. And she has a new CD coming out next week. Woohooo![/li][li]O Brother Where Art Thou?. Wonderful country, bluegrass and gospel music. Very evocative of the time period.[/li][li]The Virgin Suicides. Air’s music is ethereal and mysterious. Perfectly suited for the subject matter.[/li][li]Fight Club. Already my categories break down. I can’t decide where this belongs. The Dust Brothers’ twitchy techno and ironic sampling built a real sense of tension and disconnect.[/li][li]The Royal Tennenbaums. Fred, I too loved this soundtrack. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out Wes Anderson’s previous film Rushmore. You’ll love that soundtrack (and movie), too.[/ul]Movie Scores:[ul]Bernard Herrmann is God. Psycho, North by Northwest and especially Vertigo are all masterpieces. Also great are Citizen Kane and Taxi Driver[/li][li]Nino Rota’s Godfather is also magnificent. Grand themes that recall the old country.[/li][li]Vangelis’ Blade Runner. The music has a beautiful melancholy quality. A lament for something lost.[/li][li]Carter Burwell’s Fargo is another favourite. I particularly love the way he contrasts quiet harmonies with a thunderous orchestra as a means of keeping the audience unsettled.[/li][li]Michael Danna’s the sweet hereafter. The score is painfully sad and Danna’s music has a medieval sound, complete with flute, which perfectly complements the Pied Piper theme running through the movie[/li][li]Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings. I wasn’t immediately struck by his score when I first saw the movie but after successive viewings I find the pieces sticking in my mind. Did anyone else detect a theme stolen from Shore’s previous work for Silence of the Lambs during the opening prologue?[/ul]And, because nobody ever seems to think of it in these lists, I’m going nominate John Barry’s James Bond Theme as one of the all time great pieces of movie music. Yes, even better than Star Wars.[/li]
Hmmm, I seem to have rambled on a bit, haven’t I?
**Pump up the Volume
Romy and Michelle’s HS Reunion, for '80’s pop
Reality Bites
O’Brother**
I’ve heard the Mothman Prophecies soundtrack is amazing. Any more opinions there?
You beat me to it. It sounds silly, given the content of the movie, but the actual score is excellent - a great combination of head stomping music, and more calm stuff.
Anyway, I don’t know anything about movie soundtracks (that is, 15 random songs thrown together and associated with a movie), but I’m becoming an expert on movie scores.
My personal favorites would have to be…
Aforementioned Conan the Barbarian, for action stuff. Also, Predator by Alan Silvestri is very good. Arnold gets the cool action scores.
“Silence of the lambs” by Howard Shore is the best ‘atmospheric’ score I’ve ever heard.
The parts Trevor Jones did for ‘Last of the Mohicans’ is very good - but that score was done half and half by two different composers, the other I can’t think of at the moment.
“Unbreakable” had a very cool blend of classical elements with modern electronics.
“Fight club” has a very cool score, one of the best electronic/modern scores I can think of. Fit the movie perfectly.
Graeme Revell is an excellent composers, but I can’t think of his ‘master work’ that’s specifically worth mentioning. Perhaps it’ll come to me later.
Car Wash
It’s also one of my favorite movies.
American Graffitti which I lent out once and never got back. Very much worth getting a second copy- someday…
Pretty Woman - hate the movie, love the soundtrack, same with Leap of Faith.
I’d love a copy of Joe vs. the Volcano but I’m not sure if it was ever made (despite what it says in the closing credits.)
When Harry Met Sally - Harry Connick Jr.
Others that appear above include Oh Brother, Sleepless in Seattle, & Snatch
(this of course does not include movie musicals, which is another thing entirely)