movies and subtitles

i download foreign films, often there is a subtitle file attached if it is a dvdrip, this is separate to the video file so i cant watch the film with the subtitles. is there some way of merging the files or something to get at the subtitles??
someone help!

I will assume you download your movies in .avi format, and that the subs are either .sub or .srt format... If this is the case, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get the subtitles to work by just playing the video file using VLC. It's free and you can download with a simple google search. Note that you HAVE TO NAME the .sub/.srt FILE THE SAME you name the video file, just keep the extensions of the file.
(Example: video_1.avi/video_1.sub) It seems dumb to even write an example, but it might be confusing for some people...

(You can give it a try with quicktime, though I'm not sure it is compatible with both subtitle formats... If quicktime doesn't do the trick, VLC will do. Again, NAME THE VIDEO AND THE SUB FILE THE SAME)
Let us know if this works.
Cheers.

Yes VLC is my prefered player.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

it can handle quite a few different file names. I usually deal with .srt and .***. If the movie and subs are in the same folder, vlc usually combines them together automatically. If not, there is a search feature that allows you to locate the movie and subs, and then combine them together. There is even an advance interface that allows you the change the size, timing, and font of your subtitle to fit to your likings.