Ten soundtracks worth owning (and one bonus one), in no particular order:

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Pulp Fiction

The Graduate

Trainspotting

Harold and Maude

Natural Born Killers

Sexy Beast

Spanking the Monkey

The Squid and the Whale

Rushmore

bonus I'm Not there, a 2-disc set featuring covers of Bob Dylan by Stephen Malkmus, Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, Mason Jennings, Eddie Vedder Willie Nelson, Richie Havens and more.

I just got this one this past weekend ($17.99 at Luna Music -- a bargain), so I can't say it rates the ones up here. It's a bit of a different bird since it's all new recordings. But so far, so good.

I'll second Natural Born Killers (featuring one of my favorite Nine Inch Nails songs: Burn). Also have fond high school memories of the soundtrack to The Crow.

In an instrumental vein, Fight Club (Dust Brothers) and π/Requiem for a Dream (Pop Will Eat Itself's Clint Mansell mostly) are both excellent.

As '80s obsessed as it sounds, every October I have to drag out my dusty CD of the Lost Boys soundtrack -- you know, the flick with Kiefer Sutherland as a vampire? A couple of INXS tunes here, plus Roger Daltrey does a nice cover of Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me. I also like the People are Strange cover by Echo and the Bunnymen. Nothing ground-breaking, sure, but a fun little soundtrack for Halloween...

I own these, plus some:

Almost Famous, American Beauty, Beautiful Girls, The Big Lebowski, The Brothers McMullen,The Crow, The Darjeeling Limited (just got it!), Elizabethtown (crappy movie, good soundtrack), Garden State, Good Will Hunting, Grosse Pointe Blank, Vol 1 & 2, High Fidelity, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Office Space, Pulp Fiction, Rushmore, She's the One, Singles, The Slaughter Rule, Smoke Signals, Stranger Than Fiction, Vanilla Sky, Wicker Park (bad movie, good soundtrack), Songs in the Key of X

Boogie Nights has a fantastic soundtrack.

Pulp Fiction

Wonder Boys, Good Will Hunting, Beautiful Girls and Garden State are 4 of my faves.

Anything Danny Elfman touches is gold (Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissor Hands, Nightmare Before Christmas, Big Fish). I love Jon Brion's score for "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". It's very quirky, yet very beautiful. I really love the soundtrack to the movie "Everything is Illuminated", which is mostly a collection of gypsy-esque songs from Russia and the Ukraine. I must also tip my hat to the "Little Miss Sunshine" soundtrack for including Sufjan Stevens and Devotchka. And last, but not least, I recently saw a little indie film called "Old Joy". The soundtrack was done by "Yo La Tengo" and was very enjoyable.

I would have to give a nod to the 90's and the rocking flannel of "Singles". Perfect for the moment in time. I would have to agree "Almost Famous" is up there. Everytime I hear Tiny Dancer I just want to be on the bus signing with the band.

How about Jackie Brown? "Across 110th St." (which was repeated in American Gangster, which I am reviewing for this week), and the Delfonics. That's some smooth stuff.

My congratulatory "music in film award" goes to Wes Anderson. He breathes new life into old and forgotten classics. Even if his movie isn't great, the soundtrack is brilliantly selected. For example ...

The Royal Tenenbaums = Velvet Underground

Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou = Acustic David Bowie performed in Porteguese

The Darjeeling Limited = The Kinks' forgotten hits like "This Time Tomorrow" and "Strangers." Also, the very beautiful songs "Where Do You Go My Lovely" by Peter Sarstedt and the French classic "Les Champs Elysees" by Joe Dassin.

Problem is those hits aren't forgotten to everbody. In fact, "Strangers" is one of my favorite songs. I already associate with tons of feelings and memories not related to the movie, which made it more distracting than anything else when watching Darjeeling Limited -- especially considering the scene it was used in.

Nice topic. One choice that isn't mentioned in this thread is the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack. The film is directed by Todd Haynes who, incidentally directed the new Dylan film, I'm Not There. The soundtrack for Velvet Goldmine is similar, at least in the sense that it contracts other bands to cover songs that relate to the film. It's an early 70's glam-inspired film, so the music compliments the theme: T. Rex, Lou Reed, Brian Eno and couple of excellent glam-inspired tracks by Shudder to Think. The highlight of the record, though, are the covers. An all-star band, The Venus in Furs, consists of Thom Yorke (Radiohead), Bernard Butler (Suede), Ron Asheton (The Stooges), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) and more, covering Roxy Music tracks.

Matt, what you are saying kind of reminds me of the Pixies song in the end of Fight Club. I already liked that song before the film. It was the perfect song for that movie though.

I dig some Twin Peaks. Speaking of...

doug.hineline wrote: Matt, what you are saying kind of reminds me of the Pixies song in the ...

You're right. In that case, it was perfect. Mostly I'm kind of tired of Wes Anderson's Kinks obsession. The Kinks are great. One of my three favorite bands ever. But there are other great anglo-pop bands from the '60s and '70s to cop from. Branch out.

It has a sort of timeless appeal. I also love that it is a love story that is super violent. Can't go wrong there.

I can't believe I would forget the "Easyrider" soundtrack. I could go home from work almost everyday and pull out that LP and listen to the "Pusher Man".

I know a few of these were already covered, but anyways... Dazed and Confused, Singles, Batman Forever (horrible movie, but great songs from U2, Seal and The Offspring covering The Damned), Can't Hardly Wait, Nowhere, Purple Rain, Trainspotting, Pulp Fiction

I really liked Garden State, Pulp Fiction of course...and tons more

I know it's not the best movie but the sound track is good,Forrest Gump.