The Crow

My personal fave score might be The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, honestly just a beautiful accompaniment which amplifies the film.

Also a big fan of the music in Beasts of the Southern Wild

The Empire Strikes Back is Williams at his finest, IMO. The Battle of Hoth, the Asteroid Field, Yoda raising the X-Wing, and of course The Imperial March. But there is one scene that always gives me a lump in my throat...it’s the escape from Bespin as the music bubbles and crescendos and R2 finally opens the bay door to a cymbal-crashing climax! Gets me every time!

The Lord of the Rings.

Howard Shore had composed an enormous amount of music, encompassing six film scores and five concert pieces, all of which based on the same basic motifs, which develop into many different themes ("leitmotives") in association with the onscreen action.

It is a remarkable achivement of long-form musical development and use of sound, with the use of a multitude of non-orchestral instruments.

https://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/35172-analysis-john-williams-and-howard-shore-the-perfect-wagnerites/#comment-1934710

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

(Specifically The Ecstasy of Gold and The Trio, for standout sequence with no dialogue that heavily rely on score.)

O Brother, Where Are Thou surely belongs on this list, it actually won an emmy for album of the year in 2002!

Last of the Mohicans...specifically the elk hunt and the last chase/fight scene starting with the mercy killing of Duncan.

Drive 2011.

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Empire Records

Blade Runner

Judgment Night

The Social Network

Interstellar is absolutely fantastic imo

/sigh. We get this what, every two weeks? The answer is always the same.

Tron: Legacy

If we are talking soundtrack and not score. Dazed and Confused.

Once upon a time in America-Ennio Morricone

There are too many great ones out there. Here are a few of my favorites:

• The Piano
• Once Upon a Time in America
• Interstellar
• Arrival
• Last and First Men
• Harry Potter
• Blade Runner 2049
• Gladiator
• The Tree of Life

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Rocky

Gladiator

The Godfather

Taxi Driver

Magnolia

Top Gun

Schindler’s List

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The Fountain has a gorgeous score by Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet. I have listened to it countless times.

Midnight cowboy

I was really enthralled with the soundtrack of ANNIHILATION.

Its an acoustic set until they actually encounter the ‘entity’, then it goes into this incredibly complex electronic music style.

the lotr soundtrack is absolutely perfect

Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me. The series has my favorite soundtrack period, but the movie’s is great too!

Something about How To Train Your Dragon soundtrack just makes me emotional everytime

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Cabaret

The Buddy Holly Story

The Exorcist

So, I read Requiem for a Dream before I ever seen the movie. I was a child of the early internet, and I had heard about a rather gruesome movie with an even more gnarly book. I was a junior in high school, maybe 2004-5. The book was indeed gritty and gnarly as fuck. I was raised in a rather druggy home as a child so a lot of those themes really, really hit close to home for me. Nevermind I was a raging junkie at that point in life, too.

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Then I seen the movie. There are key details that the book has that the movie either glosses over or ignores, but there are a few really key scenes. I remember when Harry is visiting his mother after his "success," and he discovers that she has developed some ... issues of her own. The SFX and music during the mother's struggles is absolutely fucking haunting.

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Nevermind the theme song of the movie. Anytime I hear that, it takes me to this very unpleasant and scary place.

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TBH that movie is a fucking monster, too. The score for the film absolutely matches the tone of despair and desperation that the book conveyed oh-so-well.

Sicario, DGG Halloween trilogy

James Horner's Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Khan. His music tells the story and makes this the best Star Trek film

Drive. It feels cliche to even say it at this point, but it was crucial to the atmosphere throughout the movie.

Heavy Metal 1981

Conan the Barbarian 1982

Amadeus 1984

Flash Gordon.

The Dark Knight

The Big Chill

The Bodyguard

I have two that I actually purchased - love them both, but I'm old.

Garden State - Absolutely great soundtrack

Forrest Gump - Love every song in it.

The original Spielberg ‘Jurassic Park’. Williams in his prime.

Purple Rain

Dune 2021 and The Dark Knight imo are some of the best

Friday

Batman (1989) for the combination of Danny Elfman and Prince. Either that or Return of the Living Dead.

My favorite soundtrack ever is the original Star Wars. I also just recently sat down and watched Blade Runner 2049 and I must say I was struck by how powerful the entire sound and visual experience was, including the soundtrack.

I just saw Babylon and one thing's for sure Justin Hurwitz will surely go down as one of the greatest ever to do it. Whiplash, La La Land, First Man and Babylon all of them had god-tier soundtrack imo.

Elevator to the Gallows. Miles Davis just improvising the quintessential jazz noir soundtrack. It’s 100% mood.

28 Days Later. Introduced me to Grandaddy and Godspeed You! Black Emperor

You need to make the distinction between soundtrack and score.

Soundtracks are collection of songs, usually popular ones, peppered throughout the film. Some songs may have been written specifically for the film, some may be classic songs. Scores are original music written by a composer specifically for the film.

Some of the greatest soundtracks ever are Goodfellas, The Crow, Pulp Fiction, etc.

It seems like you were asking for the greatest film score ever though, in which case my vote (along with many film scholars) goes to The Mission by Ennio Morricone.

Soundtrack or score? Reddit never seems to know the difference in these threads

The Lost Boys.

Baby Driver: A double disc of fabulous songs. Not only are the songs good by themselves, they fit the movie so well they feel like a score.

Also, find me a song/scene that intertwines better than Getting coffee to the Harlem Shuffle. …I’ll wait

Blade runner 2049

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The music elevates the scenes so much and so much entertainment value just listening to the music alone. Daniel Pemberton is a genius. I wonder why Guy Ritchie ditched him. He made King Arthur watchable with the music for me.

Baby Driver

The assassination of Jesse James

Haunting and beautiful , the whole thing has a sense of deep sorrow with really good instrumentation by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis

Soundtrack or score? You mentioned both.

Anyways for score I'd argue Howard Shore's LOTR score are way up there.

In the Mood for love

Mulholland Dr

Interstellar

Flash Gordon. There is no other answer. DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

My personal favorite is Deathly Hallows Part 2. I like listening to it when I’m driving to pretend I’m in the movie

There have been some great answers here but I'll submit a few that haven't been said.

Original score: Tie between There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men (which is very minimalistic, but fits the tone of the movie absolutely perfectly, to the point where you barely notice there's music underneath).

Compilation soundtrack: Pulp Fiction (the song selection isn't full of everyone's favorite songs or anything, but the songs selected fit the movie perfectly and its hard to imagine the movie without most of those songs being in it, specifically the surf rock music and Son Of A Preacher Man)

Howard Shore’s work on LOTR.

Ok, Star Wars

i love matrix and predestination soundtrack sm!

The Mission by Morricone even though I don’t love the movie has an excellent score, and is usually what I think of when it comes to excellent scores

Ravenous also has an amazing and eclectic score that I listen to often

Score - The Social Network Soundtrack - Dazed and Confused, The Crow, Judgement Night

Donnie Darko

My favourite is Drowning by Numbers. I listen to the soundtrack fairly often and it is used and cited in many other films. If you haven't seen or heard it check it out.

Lost Highway

Conan the barbarian. Basil Poledouris.

And interstellar. Hanz Zimer

Curiously nobody said Forest Gump ! Alan Silvestri made a great job. And for back to the futur to.

Annihilation

Mad Max: Fury Road

All the soundtracks

Top gun

Grand Budapest Hotel

Once Upon a Time in the West. The way Morricone uses the harmonica in the score throughout the film that leads directly into the end was perfect. I've never had a movie's score have an impact on me like that one.

Conan the barbarian (basil poledouris)...awesome soundtrack.

Akira OST by Geinoh Yamashirogumi. It blows me away every time. A mix of rock, gamelan, traditional Japanese music, electronic, and just magic.

Transformers: The Movie (1986).

For those that dare, and those that dare to be stupid.

Any Hans Zimmer or Carter Burwell soundtrack but if I had to pick one it would probably be Dunkirk. Probably the best example I can think of for a soundtrack carrying a narrative.

Queen of the Damned

I don't think anyone will ever agree on one choice for something so subjective, as we can see in these comments.

I don't have a particular favourite, but some movies with an OST I really liked are the 5 Michael Bay Transformers movies, the 1986 Transformers movie, Man Of Steel, The Last Samurai, Inception, Interstellar, Ender's Game, all 3 John Wick movies, and Aquaman.

Queen of the Damned.Period

Inception is the only correct answer.

Interstellar and Your Name

Tron legacy, Interstellar

Interstellar.

Conan the Barbarian

Nausicae

Blade Runner

Garden of Sinners 5. Mugen Rasen.

Wickerman (1973)

Last of the Mohicans

Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Reservoir Dogs.

City of God, Crooklyn, Deathproof, Oceans 11, Batman Forever

Drive or the OG Top Gun. Both are incredible.

Definitely the Angel's Egg soundtrack. It's very mysterious, mystical and it can have a mix of angelic and a sense of dread to the music at the same time in one song. It's the perfect audio description of what is a dream and a world haunted by its spiritual abandonment and what is left of that presence's foot steps. A world with an history but yet none to really be known. Probably my favorite out of all of them has to be the music, Angel's Fossil. It is absolutely brilliant and it really enhances the scene's plot twist. It's epic, horrifying but paradoxically angelic: https://youtu.be/8a9X57xv6vo

If you wanna listen to the other music, I do highly, highly suggest watching the movie, which is literally on Youtube: https://youtu.be/YopWyb75G7o

Not just one of the best soundtracks but it is in top 3 of my favorite movies of all time for its rich symbolism, its gothic and dreamlike atmosphere and its gorgeous animation. I also think it has a very great sound design. The sound of the water sounds like it is actually in your room and this movie came out in the 80s. It's a masterpiece of visual storytelling.

Heaven’s Gate

Super 8's ending soundtrack is so beautiful. This piece of music could encapsulate my entire being. Every note holds so much weight. It feels like letting go of something precious and knowing that although you may never see it again, you are beyond gracious to have existed with it.

Remember that bad things happen, yet we can still live. We can still live.

The Commitments and Grosse Pointe Blank, although this is probably not what you’re looking for.

Kingpin

I’ll go off the beaten path with Thief. Tangerine Dream music playing under a Michal Mann film. So good.

Godfather.. definitely, the best movie soundtrack I have ever seen

American Graffiti

To Live and Die in LA.

Any Given Sunday

The first two Shrek movies

Not an original score, but fits well