Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

A must see period drama ... BBC 2004 NORTH & SOUTH.  It’s my absolute favorite now (even better than my other favorites Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion).  If you don’t believe me, just check out the reviews on imdb.com (9.3/10 rating), amazon, and bn.com.

It’s impossible to watch it just one time.  In fact ... it’s really addictive!

Moonstruck - YES !
Monsoon Wedding - YES YES !
The Last Mohican - YES YES YES !  Oh man - the scene where the younger sister calmly steps off the mountain to follow in death the hero’s younger brother who unhesitatingly sacrificed himself for her !

Staying with the theme of self-sacrifice - how about GLADIATOR ?  He almost kills himself rushing back to Spain to save wife and child (too late), then actually does get killed while making sure the child of his former love stays safe.  What a man.

A very cute, funny little movie that got no publicity and deserves some:
I’M WITH LUCY - Monica Potter goes on five very different dates after being humiliatingly dumped.  If that isn’t enough to tempt you, it has GAEL GARCIA BERNAL as one of the dates. Yum.

I’ll out myself as terminally unhip by saying I love FIRST KNIGHT.  Julia Ormond trying so hard to resist the overpowering lure of Richard Gere…

The tragedy sublimated into enduring beautiful music in IMMORTAL BELOVED, about Beethoven.

And finally (or until I can think of some more) - not a romance movie in any sense, but the loving, trusting relationship that builds between adult assassin Jean Reno and young girl crime victim Natalie Portman in THE PROFESSIONAL packs a truly unique and powerful emotional punch. 

I have to go watch some of these over again now…..

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
The Perez Family
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Fiddler on the Roof
The Sound of Music
My Fair Lady

The romantic movie I love to hate: Legends of the Fall.  I was so amazed watching this movie unfold because it was just a romance novel set to film.  But everyone in the audience was practically “swooning and sobbing” by the end…and this after I’d gotten so much crap for reading romance in my life.  It was just weird.

Without hesitation, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, a 1945 b&w British film, screenplay by Noel Coward.  Subtle, believable, and heart-wrenching.  And THE GO-BETWEEN (from the 1960s or ‘70s), with Alan Bates and Julie Christie, directed by the great Joseph Losey.

Creeping closer to the present, THE PIANO (almost too wrenching for me to watch) and, continuing with my angsty preferences, PRIEST.  This last one is another fairly obscure but superb British film with *gasp* a gay not-quite-a-couple struggling to be a couple.

I have butted out of the Moonstruck tennis match as long as I could, but no one has mentioned:

Johnny:  ‘Someday you’ll thank me.’

Loretta: ‘Yeah, and someday you’ll drop dead and I’ll come to your funeral in a red dress !’

While You Were Sleeping is probably my favourite romantic comedy: the main characters are so sweet, and it’s just one of those rare films where everything seems to come together perfectly.

A Room With A View for the Best. Screen Kiss. Ever. Also because I heart Forster ever so much (love to Maurice too!)

Ever After and Dirty Dancing are two more ... funny, sweet and the heroines are the ones who lead the way!

Finally ... the BBC’s Pride & Prejudice with the definitive Lizzy & Darcy (Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth)!

Nodding along, agreeing with movies already mentioned…
Last of the Mohicans
Princess Bride
Terminator (Oh, that battered photograph. Wow.)
Sommersby (The Man of the House hates me for this one. He likes his HEA.)

I cannot believe that no one has mentioned Ladyhawke.
Ignore the cheesy spots. Ignore the music.
“Did you know that wolves and hawks mate for life? He didn’t even leave us that.”

How about Chasing Amy?
Or Lady Jane with the very hawt and very young Cary Elwes.

Ooooh…First Knight. Yum.

I’m seconding The Crow, too. Deliciously dark and angst-y.

Legends of the Fall - I like to watch the Brad-Pitt-riding-across-the-rolling-hills-on-horseback scene in sloooow motion. Gads, but he was young and FINE. *drool*

Hope Floats

OH! OH! How about The Thomas Crowne Affair? Fricking hawt.

Ghost

Out of Africa

Always (Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Richard Dreyfuss) - *le sob*

For the most part, I like the tearjerkers, I guess.

Amelie - le sigh, le swoon, le laugh until I choke

Pride and Prejudice (def not Keira Knightley. She’s wafer thin and just looked spacey and her eyes were fine butglazed. Jennifer Ehle’s SHINE.)

Wings of Desire (City of Angels? Meh remake of this totally intense German flick. Get it now!)

Room with a View? Ages since I saw it, but had intense flashbacks as soon as someone mentioned it.

(and THANK YOU spinsterwitch, for dissing Legends of the Fall. You and I are the only women in the world, apparently, who didn’t like it. The best thing about it was the flowing hair. I named my son Tristan without even remembering that was Brad Pitt’s name in this movie and have to strenuously deny the link on a regular basis)

Oldie goldies: Zorba the Greek (tragedy) and Far from the Madding Crowd. Alan Bates was terrific in these.

I almost forgot a couple of my fav foreign films:

Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast; the German films Mostly Martha and The Princess and the Warrior; the Israeli film I Love You Rosa!; The Horseman on the Roof from France, and a little known but very funny Brit film from 2001, St. Ives.

And my husband insists Dave is one of the best romantic comedies he’s ever seen.

True Lies—even though the Governator’s in it.  Jamie Lee is hilarious enough to make up for him.

I second the 50 First Dates recommendation—the first movie to prove to me that Adam Sandler really can act.  It made me cry.  Really.

Sabrina—the remake with Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford.  “I need her… and I don’t need anything.”  Best. Line. Evah.

Shining Through—Muh. God.  If you haven’t seen this, SEE IT.  It’s got romance, drama, spies, betrayal, war… It.  Rocks.

Ever After—I’m such a sucker for the fairy tale.

A Knight’s Tale—Heath Ledger.  In armor.  HOT.

Argh!  I have more on the tip of my tongue and they keep floating away… I’ll catch ‘em soon and post more.  This is making me want to have a movie marathon!

Darlene, Dave was one of those I was struggling to remember.  I agree with your hubby!

I can’t believe I didn’t see these above!

Practical Magic
The American President
Disney’s Sleeping Beauty

I forgot 2 great Mandy Moore movies!

Chasing Liberty
A Walk to Remember (terrible ending, but doing all those things on her list was too good)

Another classic Cary Grant—Father Goose.  “Goody-Two-Shoes and the Filthy Beast?”

Also, Roi de Coeur—King of Hearts with Alan Bates and a baby Genevieve Bujold.  I know the HEA is everybody winds up in a loony bin, but Alan Bates in a kilt, what’s not to like.

I know,I know, Colin Firth was the definitive Darcy but there’s a lot to be said for Matthew Macfadyen.

So far I didn’t see mention of “A Walk in the Clouds.” It is so beautifully filmed. There are several generations; it’s about family; it ends HEA. I loved the music. The scene in the vineyard when they were wafting the butterfly wings to keep the plants from freezing is amazing. It is worth watching just for Anthony Quinn’s performance as the grandfather.
Kay

I hear ya on that Emdee, but when I thought about buying it I just couldn’t get past the Keira Knightley thing, its not like shes playing a minor character or anything, she is freaking Elizabeth Bennet! Really I require Johnny Depp in pirate regalia for that to happen. 

Thanks for the input folks on A Very Long Engagement, I will watch it, but I think not save it for the VBD (very bad day).  I’m about to watch Murphy’s Romance on my mother’s recommendation, after discussing this thread with her.  She has a lifelong James Garner crush.

Most of my favorite romantic movies are kind of fucked-up. Most of them don’t have traditionally happy endings. They’re more good movies with central love stories than anything else—“central” defined as “if the love story element hadn’t been there, the movie would’ve been fundamentally damaged.”

So, here are the three I’ve already mentioned:

Harold and Maude

The Royal Tannenbaums

Say Anything

And in addition to those, I enjoyed:

When Harry Met Sally (about the only Nora Ephron movie that hasn’t made me gag)

But I’m a Cheerleader
Cyrano de Bergerac
Casablanca
Sabrina (the original version with Bogart and Hepburn)
Some Like it Hot (I suspect I love this largely because Jack Lemmon in drag is so totally wrong and so totally awesome)
While You Were Sleeping (I typically hate movies this cutesy…but Sandra Bullock’s Immense Powers of Cute + Bill Pullman’s acerbity overpowered me)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Rushmore
Buffalo 66
A Nightmare Before Christmas
Donnie Darko
Benny and Joon
Better off Dead (it’s not what you’d call a great movie, but I loveses it anyway)
Remains of the Day
A Room with a View (Julian Sands = RROWR)
Ladyhawke
The Princess Bride
Punch Drunk Love
Reality Bites (I am SUCH a sucker for Ethan Hawke, greasy hair and all)

A movie with a fantastic, skewed look at love is Being John Malkovich, though it’s by no means romantic in the traditional sense.

Does Memento count in this category? Not really, does it? Bah.

And for the extra special bonus round, here’s a list of movies I liked DESPITE the romance not quite working for me:

Breafkast at Tiffany’s
V for Vendetta
Old School (Luke Wilson! <3

<3)

Bottle Rocket
The Breakfast Club

On reading some of the comments up above more closely: Shit, if The Crow counts as a romance, then I’m totally adding Memento to my list of “favorite romantic movies.”

Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Peter Pan (the live action version with Jason Issacs that came out a few years ago.  Peter and Wendy have that whole first love/first heartbreak thing going on)
Sleeping Beauty
Shakespeare in Love
Romeo et Juliette (the DVD of the French stage musical.  The music and singing are great, and Romeo is channeling Daniel Day-Lewis in Last of the Mohicans, complete with hair. Plus everyone in the cast sneers and struts like rock stars, and the sets and costumes are straight out of a vampire movie)

And of course, I second everyone who mentioned Last of the Mohicans, the BBC Pride and Prejudice, Roman Holiday, and the Princess Bride.

Shit, if The Crow counts as a romance, then I’m totally adding Memento to my list of “favorite romantic movies.”

They’d be on my list.  Dark City would fall into that category, too.  But it had a happier ending.  I think.  At least it did in the version of reality the aliens gave me that day.

Oh, man, sorry I’m spamming the comments, but I forgot to add Delicatessen and Amélie to the list (Mathieu Kassovitz is one of the hottest people, EVER). And Brazil, which is REALLY fucking dark if you see Gilliam’s original ending. And Ninja Scroll (anime) is pretty romantic as well.

The Shop Around the Corner (closely followed by the rest of Ernst Lubitsch’s - Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife, Trouble in Paradise- glad it’s already been mentioned)
The Apartment by Billy Wilder
A Matter of Life and Death and I Know Where I’m Going by Powell/Pressburger
Conte d’hiver by Eric Rohmer
Les Enfants du Paradis by Marcel Carne
Comrades: Almost a Love Story (Tian Mi Mi) by Peter Chan

and forgetting many more…

Late to the party but have to say anything with Irene Dunne, Jean Arthur, Rosalind Russell, Doris Day..and the list goes on. Oh, Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray in The Egg and I. 30’s and 40’s romances were great. Loved BBC’s North and South, Mae. Firth P&P okay, much preferred 80’s version. The recent BBC version of The Taming of the Shrew with Shirley Henderson and Rupert somebody (him out of Charles 11). Loved, loved, loved this.

Dude, am I the only one who really, really doesn’t like Last of the Mohicans? It bothers me in all sorts of ways, but especially in the way it moved the primary romantic focus from Uncas to Hawkeye/Natty Bumppo (which, by the way, has my vote for Least Romantic Hero Name In the History of Ever). It bothered me immensely. It’s an OK movie if I evaluate it separately from the book it’s supposedly based on, but in light of the book, the fact that they shifted the primary romance from white girl-brown dude and all the repercussions thereof to white girl-white dude pissed me off no end.

Oh, if only the Smart Bitches had a chatroom - we could all start the DVDs at the same time, and then watch them together virtually. Sunday Night Smart Bitch Theater, anyone?

Moonstruck! The Sure Thing! Casablanca! How could I have forgotten???

And has anyone mentioned Grosse Pointe Blank? I’m sorry, but even bloody and killing people, John Cusack is major hotness.

Can’t believe no one’s mentioned any of the Rogers-Astaire musicals. In “Swing Time” the “Never Gonna Dance” number nearly breaks my heart, when Ginger leaves Fred (temporarily) to run off with slimy George Metaxas. And “Carefree” when Fred falls for Ginger though she’s his best friend’s girl? I thought it was kind of romantic Fred couldn’t bring himself to punch her in the face even if it was for her own good.

I’ve got to mention “Gigi” too. Leslie Caron holds out for love and marriage. It’s got some great snarky lines too.

Anything with Colin Firth. Heck, I watched “Nanny McPhee” for that man.

(going16) yeah right

Anything with Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers.
I think all my others have been mentioned:
American President
While you were sleeping
Sliding Doors (and I agree, it’s not for Gwyneth)
Pride & Prejudice (the Firth version for preference)
Bridget Jones Diary. (I but not II)
Notting Hill for the scene at the press conference.
Love Actually for Colin Firth & Liam Neeson. (And Emma Thompson, though in a rather different way.)
And Sense & Sensibility for Alan Rickman acting all tortured outside Marianne’s bedroom. (Mind you, we’re then into any Harry Potter, just for the pleasure of watching Alan Rickman looking severe, and that’s probably wandering into the realms of erotica.)

Candy wrote:
OH MY GOD. It’d be the Smart Bitch version of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Hmmmmm.

OMG, that would so totally ROCK. Although, you can’t do it on Sunday, Monday or Thursday nights, because then I can’t make it, and the world does revolve around me. I tell you, it’s so much more convenient that way!

Some Like it Hot

“Nobody’s perfect.”

<-- Best final line EVER.

Better off Dead

“It’s a shame when people be throwin’ away a perfectly good white boy like that.”

Old School

Yes, that’s definitely a movie where I love everything *except* the romance. Especially every scene with Will Ferrell.

Speaking of which, will y’all kill me if I add Anchorman to my list? Because chauvinistic Ron Burgundy learning to respect female anchor Veronica Corningstone is *awesome*, and their animated love scene is hilarious (“Do me on that rainbow!”).

How about “Death Takes a Holiday,” the 30s version with Frederick March, who was unbelievably hot? Black and white, fluttery-looking filming, loved it.

“North By Northwest”? As a kid, I didn’t know what bad girls were but SO wanted to be one if Cary Grant would look at me the way he did Eva Marie Saint.

“The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” with Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney.

Must second:
Casablanca
LOTM
Jane Eyre (pick one)

OH MY GOD. It’d be the Smart Bitch version of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

We could all sync up using the atomic clock at the Naval Observatory and start our DVD players simultaneously, for proper timing of snarkage. 

I’d like to add 2 Coen Bros. films: Raising Arizona and O Brother, Where Art Thou? 

Oh! and Monster’s Ball (not Coens, but thinking of The Man Who Wasn’t There (not romantic) made me think of Billy Bob Thornton). 

A lot of people hate it, but I found Lost in Translation romantic.

I did forget all about Moonstruck.  Oh, I could watch that over and over. 

My favorite quote is:

Johnny - “In time you will see that this is the best thing. “

Loretta - “In time you’ll drop dead and I’ll come to your funeral in a red dress!”

One of my all time favorites that I watch whenever I catch it is The Cutting Edge. Its so campy and lovely all at the same time. The rest…

Love Actually
Notting Hill (I actually like the line of “I’m just a girl standing in front of a boy…”. My DH thinks its almost as corny as in 4 Weddings, “Is it still raining? I hadn’t noticed.”
When Harry Met Sally (I love the Carrie Fisher/ Bruno Kirby story the most)
and of course The Princess Bride

I sense a movie night coming soon.

verification: little21 I was little when I was 21. How’d you know?

The Scarlet Pimpernel: Leslie Howard/Merle Oberon for the best Percy/Marguerite, Anthony Andrews/Jane Seymore/Ian McKellen for starting the tradition of the love triangle, and for Ian McKellen being part of it.

Cyrano de Bergerac with Jose Ferrer.  The definitive English translation, and a hot balding dude.

When Harry Met Sally, because for somebody who can’t imagine falling in love with somebody who *isn’t* a friend, it’s nice to see people in a movie not spontaneously fall in love when they bump into each other on the subway or something.

The Princess Bride

Chasing Amy, but my favorite part is really the “bromance.”

And Jeffrey, but I have to admitt I’m really more interested in Patrick Stewart/Bryan Batt than the two lead guys.  Because Bryan Batt just generally rocks my world; I think he’s the only actor I’ve seen in enough plays that he has recognized me at the stage door (I think I’m his only fangirl), and Patrick Stewart is Patrick Stewart.

I just had to delurk for this:

Two for the road
(warning: a bit of adultery.)
Check it out.

Plee-ee-ee-ease.

Oh, yes, Grosse Pointe Blank PLEASE.

And Practical Magic. Can’t believe I forgot that one.

Oh Saaaraaaah….

“Loretta: You ruined my life!
Ronny: No, I didn’t.
Loretta: Oh, yes, you did! Oh, yes, you did! Y’know, you got them bad eyes, like a gypsy, and I don’t know why I didn’t see it yesterday. Bad luck! That’s what it is. Is that all I’m ever gonna have? I should have taken a rock and killed myself years ago!”

Sorry, long list. 

1. Jane Eyre (Timothy Dalton verison, my favorite romance of all time)

2.  Robin of Sherwood (british tv series with my life long crush Michael Praed, love the Robin/Marion romance)

3. Period Pieces: Pride & Prejudice (both Colin Firth & Greer Garson versions) Sense & Sensibility (Emma Thompson), Persuasion (Ciaran Hinds), BBC North & South, , Scarlet Pimpernel (Anthony Anderews)

5. Paranormal: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (surprisingly profound), Ladyhawke, Truly, Madly, Deeply

6. Popular: Romancing the Stone, Pretty Woman, Bed of Roses, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle

7. Miscellaneous: Undercover Blues (you gotta love a happy movie), Speed(actually a dang good romance), 1776 (I adore John & Abagail Adams), Regarding Henry (a really wonderful film), Titanic (even though I’ve hated Leo in everything he’s done after), Regarding Henry (a really wonderful film), Shining Through (agree with Amy)

8. Older movies: The Black Swan (Maureen O’Hara & Tyrone Power), The Valley of Decision (Gregory Peck & Greer Garson), Oklahoma (I never get tired of hearing Gordon MacRae sing, sigh), Mclintock (does anybody have better chemistry than John Wayne & Maureen O’Hara, I totally buy them as a couple), and The Long Hot Summer (Paul Newman sizzles in this movie)

9.  TV:  La Femme Nikita (talk about sexual tension and Roy Dupuis, another sigh), Gilmore Girls (Luke & Lorelai seasons 1-5) & General Hospital’s Luke & Laura (god, I love Tony Geary and I don’t care about the whole rape issue, it’s a soap opera not real life)

So many movies I totally forgot and so many I’ve never saw as romantic! :)

I Love Some Like it Hot for the comedy part much more than the romance part, but whichever way to look it is a great movie.

Another movie I love is an old French comedy Fanfan la Tulipe - it is romantic, funny, sparkly and altogether delightful. I checked - and there is an DVD with English track. Too good to be for gotten.

Oh god, how could I forget Murphy’s Romance and I have to add The Wedding Singer and second The Outsider & Night of the Comet with Timothy Dalton.

Oops, Timothy Daly not Dalton and that’s Year of the Comet (not night of)

I shouldn’t be allowed to make lists.  Okay, one more post.  Any other American Dreamer fans out there?  I love that movie and Tom Conti is absolutely adorable in it.  I also have to add Sex and City to the tv list.  I’m decidedly in the Big with Carrie camp, but Adain did have his good points.

Phantom of the Opera, if it had been done as it ought and not completely raped by the man who put nipples on the Batsuit.
Dear Frankie is sweet.
The Fountain is just plain pretty.
C’era una volta has Loren and Sharif, mmmkay?
People keep telling me to see Dirty Dancing, but I can’t bring myself to due to having seen ten minutes of it once while in the company of a loathsome and gropy boy in high school. But I hear good things.

I am so glad to see that a lot of you mentioned Ladyhawke.  That is my abso-fricking-lute favorite movie.  I think it has everything, humor, beautiful scenery, good fighting scenes and a very hawt Rutger Hauer.  What about that scene for a moment at sunrise where they can almost touch, but then can’t and Navarre lets out the howl.  I even have the soundtrack-sigh.

I just thought of an awesome one, Crossing Delancey.  The theme music just runs through my head for hours sometimes.

OMG SB Sarah. Jeffrey! I LOVE that movie. It’s Amelie. But with boys. Gay boys. In America. Other than that, totally Amelie.

And yes, yes, YES to the miniseries North & South. Pride & Prejudice in the Industrial Revolution. 99% of the people I’ve talked to about have said the hero’s better than Colin Firth as Darcy. BETTER THAN DARCY, FOLKS. Check for clips on Youtube - the actor’s name is Richard Armitage. I’m getting flushed just thinking about it.

Some new, some dittos:

Cinema Paradiso
- the original version, not the longer director’s cut, which filled out to no good purpose the adult love story

84 Charing Cross Road. 
Loved the book, and the movie did it justice.

Truly Madly Deeply
with Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman, the ghost who needs a hot water bottle?  Can’t believe it’s not been mentioned yet!

Last of the Mohicans
- that “I will find you” quote?  Aaaaah.

Love Actually,
except it annoyed me that the nice girl with the ill brother got nuffin much apart from a speedy moment or two with a sweet boy, and others less deserving got a bunch more.

When Harry Met Sally - just wonderful dialogue, done well.

I’d agree about Shadowlands - that’s a hanky romance for sure

Some Kind of Wonderful,
which I first saw as a teenager and haven’t really shaken off since, cheese or no cheese, because Eric Stolz and Mary Stuart Masterson make it work (and the smartmouth little sister’s great comic relief).

Down With Love
- park preconceptions at the door and chuckle at the fun.  It knew it was silly, and we knew it was silly, and that was part of the fun.

SeaChange
- TV series screened on the ABC in Australia, with Sigrid Thornton as a magistrate in a (quirky) beach town, who gets to enjoy episode after episode getting closer and closer to David Wenham’s Diver Dan, and THEN gets to do the same with William McInnes’ Max - romantic tension, great secondary characters.  Not sure if it screened in the US or UK, but it won the ratings hands down in Oz primetime.

Gattaca
Life as a House
The English Patient
Chocolat
Save the Last Dance
Coming Home (Jon Voigt and Jane Fonda)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
The Sound of Music
Oklahoma (Hugh Jackman version - lovely stuff!)
Kate and Leopold
First Daughter
Ladyhawke
You’ve Got Mail
The Princess Bride
It’s a Wonderful Life
Wimbledon
P&P with Colin Firth
Sense and Sensibility (Emma/Kate version) (read somewhere that the BBC is doing this as a long TV version as per the Firth P&P, with the same scriptwriter).
Gladiator
The Horse Whisperer
Bull Durham
Field of Dreams
The Natural
Green Card
Dave
Cold Mountain
The Bridges of Madison County (film so much better than the book)
While you were sleeping
Speed

Thanks for everyone else’s lists - some good reminders there.

I was reading the list and there are so many good ones. Smart Bitches have good taste.
But there is a glaring omission, and finally, finally! Someone mentions The Nightmare Before Christmas! *sigh*

The Mummy has the hottest men in existence.
Four Weddings and a Funeral John Hannah is so great in this!
Some Like it Hot is a classic and my sisters and I can quote it word for word, sometimes we text each other for days at a time.

My campy favorite is Romancing the Stone

If only there was a complete list! I’d forgotten about all these wonderful films. And Sea Change - talk about extended sexual tension. And then she had another go with an equaly gorgeous bloke!

Speaking of John Cusack movies, my husband is telling me I must add Serendipity to this list.  (I didn’t like it as much as he did, but I do agree it’s romantic.)

And Chicklet, that’s my favorite quote from Better Off Dead...I’m laughing right now just thinking about it.

Well, slap my ass and call me blonde, but it sure seems we get a whole lot more lathered up over movies than we do over books.  Hmmm.

Any Last of the Mohicans redone (see Twain’s essay) is better than Cooper’s book—especially if it features Daniel Day-Lewis in his wild-eyed, long-haired prime.  Frankly, I don’t give a shit about the rest of the movie.

I feel bad about forgetting 84 Charing Cross Road, though.  So lovely and poignant…and so frustrating.  (Hell, I wanted some little zing of thwarted passion.)

Much as I love Fred Astaire, I could never quite see him as a romantic hero.  Kind of a classy Peewee Herman with happy feet.

Moonstruck is delightful but doesn’t carry me away.

And let’s not stretch too far.  Karloff’s agony over Elsa Lanchester’s hissing “Fuck off” response to him in Bride of Frankenstein tugged at the old heartstrings for a moment…but I wouldn’t call that movie a romance.

sarahbot,

yes, yes, YES ... Richard Armitage as JOHN THORNTON in NORTH & SOUTH is BETTER THAN DARCY (any version)!!!  I’m definitely in that group of 99% ...

Hmm

I would like to add to the recommendations:

As previously mentioned Love, Actually and Strictly Ballroom are romantic and wonderful.

There are also:

Ever After
Serendipity
Say Anything
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Romeo Must Die
50 First Dates
Nottinghill
Love Story
Somewhere in Time -  Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour
Two Weeks Notice
Sleepless in Seattle
Only You - Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr.
10 Things I Hate About You
The Holiday
Music and Lyrics
The Lakehouse
The Notebook
A Walk to Remember
The Princess Bride
Bridget Jones 1 and 2
4 Weddings and a Funeral

The list could go on and on ...

My straightup choices are Children of Paradise and The Red Shoes.

But going further afield, I think
The Terminator is a great choice…

...emboldening me to confess that I’ve always found the love story in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown delicately, tremulously romantic —and was anybody else besides me wiped out by David Carradine in Kill Bill II?

Such good lists—I’m making notes for my next trip to the video store. 

A couple of my faves:

The Empire Strikes Back.  Okay, so I was nine, and Han Solo was my movie romance awakening.  “I’m nice men.”  *swoons* 

Brief Encounter.  Makes me sob every time I see it.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  God, they touch hands and I MELT.

Moonstruck! Oh yes. And now thanks to Sela and Sarah I’ll be pulling it out of my collection for a rewatch soon.

Ladyhawke, you bet. And Casablanca, and . . . agree on so many.

Would add ConAir. Not only for the slurp-appeal of Cage and Cusack, but for the last scene with Cage, his wife and kid. And the bunny.

And now for something completely different ... the previous entry on Barbara Cartland has reminded me that there were several movies made of her books.  They definitely qualify as romantic movies, and I would certainly recommend them ... though perhaps more for giggles than because they’ll melt your heart.  Three that spring to mind are The Lady and the Highwayman, starring Hugh Grant in ringlets, A Ghost in Monte Carlo and the utterly fabulous The Flame is Love which has Timothy Dalton playing a satanist and - no lie - my very own aunt as a can can dancer. 

Sarah, Candy, if you felt like turning movie-reviewer for a brief period, I feel these movies would be full of rich pickings for gifted snarkers like yourselves ...

~You and I are the only women in the world, apparently, who didn’t like it.~ (Legends Of The Fall).

Add me. And also to the short list of women in the world who didn’t like Last Of The Mohigans.

But Chocolat—mmmmm. And Benny and Joon. And oh yes, Truly, Madly, Deeply. It kills me every time.

I love Notorious.

Tons mentioned here are in my bulging DVD collection. Must have a marathon movie weekend soon.

Chocolat was wonderful - Depp at his best.

I ditto the recommendations of North and South, and A Room with a View. I took my mother to see A Room with a View when it first came out, and tried afterwards to convince her that I needed a ‘finishing’ tour to Europe - I even had a middle-aged spinster cousin who could have been my chaperone! - but alas, none of my arguments worked on her.

Just putting away the last of the Christmas decorations (no comment needed) and thought of:

Miracle on 34th Street—the original, of course.  Every year I swoon over John Payne and wish he’d done more than one decent film in his career.  He has a certain John Cusack-like quality.

Speaking of Cusack, people always look at me weird when I say I loved Con Air.  But now I can say, “Ha!  Nora loves it, too!”

“Put…the bunny…back…in the…box.”

Con Air: About a year, it came on again—and I can never resist it. Had my granddaughter who was three at the time. So I said, let me teach you a little lesson. Hot guy—and I showed her Cage. Cute guy, then Cusack.

Both are very good, but it pays to know the subtle differences.

I told you to put the bunny back.

This is much more my kind of movie than say, The Piano, where I sat the entire time irritated with Holly Hunter’s character and thinking: Oh, just open your mouth and SAY something, goddamn it. (Even though I knew that was the point.)

For those of you who’ve been wanting to watch “Harold and Maude” and have access to Turner Classic Movies, it’s the featured presentation tonight.  Check your local listings for time and channel.

Someone finally mentioned Truly, Madly, Deeply!!! This was not my first introduction to Alan Rickman, but it’s what made me fall in love with him.

Disney’s Mulan: she saves China and gets the guy - what’s not to like about that movie?

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: he gives her the library!!!!!!

Center Stage: a ballet movie with some romance in it - plus a kick ass soundtrack (Jamiroquai, ‘nuff said).

Though 300 doesn’t really count since it was about battle, but Leonidas and Gorgo were smoking hot together.

I echo:
Persuasion
Say Anthing
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (or basically anything that has Howard Keel in it. The man is gorgeous and can sing!)
Possession (especially the Victorian Era couple)
30 Going on 13
Desk Set (best librarian ever)
Ever After (I rewind the scene where the shoe gets pulled out over and over)

Stage Beauty
Lady Chatterly with Sean Bean and Joely Richardson

Hot guy—and I showed her Cage. Cute guy, then Cusack. Both are very good, but it pays to know the subtle differences.

And I love that they are both the heroes of the story (along with, one could argue, Colm Meaney).  It had multiple villains, too (Ving Rhames, John Malkovich, and Steve Buscemi).  The protags occasionally acted as antagonists to each other, and the villains did their own dance as well.  I thought it was a bonanza of male goodness and badness, but lots of people think the proliferation of characters was its biggest fault.  That and too many explosions.

Nothing to do with romance, but it’s an interesting example of complex character dynamics and storytelling, wrapped up in a kickass popcorn film.

SBSarah/Selah: “I don’t wanna talk about it!”

Adding to the list:
The Goodbye Girl
The Love Letter (the made for tv version)
Meet Joe Black (then again, there’s Anthony Hopkins there, so…)
Como Agua Para Chocolate—best book adaptation ever, as far as I’m concerned
Time After Time (Malcolm McDowell as HGWells… and he gets Mary Steenburgen to go back in time with him)
The Abyss (Ed Harris’ character text messaging “I love you… WIFE”)

I second the majority of the titles mentioned before, by the way.

Interesting to see the movies that have made such an impression on people that others can’t tolerate.  For me, I found Serendipity, Last of the Mohicans, Legends of the Fall very blah and not enjoyable.  I found the Notebook, Two Weeks Notice, The Lakehouse, to be just lowest common denominator crapola.  That is not to say I am disgusted that anyone would enjoy these movies, just that we all have such different buttons that get pushed in the romance world.  Two Weeks was just incredibly boring to me, and Serendipity was a study in frustration, but I know some people really get off on that just missing each other stuff - to me there is no tension if all they are doing is missing each other, not building up any kind of relationship.  Meet Joe Black I actually fell asleep in the theatre - endless pauses in that movie, in my memory there is more pause than dialogue, worse than a BC book.  At least in those I can edit them out in my head.  My husband liked it though.  I think he thinks Claire Forlani is hot. 

Oh and Star Wars, I was laying in bed last night thinking of Han Solo, ‘you like me because I’m a scoundrel!’  Oh so true and so swoonworthy.  God that cocky look.  Someone earlier mentioned Regarding Henry, what a wonderful movie that is.  I can’t wait to see North & South after all the glowing recs for it. I watched Murphy’s Romance for the first time last night and it was very sweet, just one of those quiet movies that ends happily with everyone doing the right thing, with the main characters not being perfect or even trying to be, just being themselves.  BTW, if you hate horror movies, as I do, look away for the scene where they go to the movies, I got blindsided by that.

Thanks for all these recommendations, I am going to have to rejoin netflix I think. :P

I shouldn’t have said LCD crap in my description, that is too harsh, I just didn’t dig them.

How about Valley Girl?  The reference to Nicholas Cage reminded me of that one.

Raising Arizona, too—has that been mentioned?

I wonder if Daniel Day Lewis hadn’t been in Last of the Mohicans what its popularity index would be?  When I saw that movie the fist time (and only time all the way through), it struck me as a conservative paean to Bush Sr.‘s “family values” and as even more reactionary than the book—if that’s possible.  Reminded me of Dances with Wolves, too, another film that relied on strategic distortions of American history and Native American cultural issues.  Kind of killed the romance for me in both cases. 

And if we’re going to include Arnold Schwarzenegger movies (which is probably easier for those who aren’t California democrats), I’d pick Total Recall.

That is not to say I am disgusted that anyone would enjoy these movies, just that we all have such different buttons that get pushed in the romance world.

I think this goes back to Candy’s point about not necessarily liking what’s technically “good.” For example, there are a ton of movies on this list I love that I *know* aren’t going to win any awards.  Like Valley Girl—oh so cheesy and dated, but I’ll watch it any time it’s on, and it always puts me in the mood for some Plimsouls.  Then there are other films, like Truly, Madly, Deeply, that I can appreciate but that just don’t warm me in all those important cockles.  The ‘movies I love’ list is definitely much different than the ‘movies I appreciate as skilled’ list.

I have a deep fondness for Mrs. Winterbourne. I haven’t seen it mentioned yet. It’s got mistaken identities and a rather sweet comic romance.

Of course, it’s been years since I saw it last, and I’m fairly sure that I was in *exactly* the right mood for it when I did.

I’m going to scavenge this list for things to put in my Netflix queue and to suggest to my female friends when we have a movie night.

Yes Robin, that is true.  I am sure there are plenty of movies on my list that other people weren’t into at all.  Being in the right mood at the right time, with all the baggage we bring to the experience, makes all the difference. 

Oh and yes yes on Valley Girl, I adore that movie.  Nick Cage is like 18 or something in that!  So cute, so intense. Love her parents too.  I am right there with you on Truly, Madly, Deeply.  Good movie, didn’t really ‘do it’ for me.  Love Alan Rickman though, give me Die Hard any day.  Truly an inspired choice to keep all the ladies coming back to Harry Potter.

I looove me some Total Recall. When I was in HS we had a taped copy my dad attempted a little home editing on.  He was trying to get rid of the 3 boobed lady but instead he screwed it up so badly that she just kept showing up and flashing us at assorted times.  I think she showed up like 5 times.

OMG The Abyss!

The extended sequence with Ed Harris having to watch MEM drown in front of him in order to hopefully save both their lives is jaw-dropping for me, every time. As a Sci-Fi, it’s ok, but the relationship between those two makes it a must-watch for me.

It’s funny, because this also falls in with The Terminator for me—Fantasy or Sci-Fi movies with a super-strong romantic subplot that elevates the movie from OMG Cool! to OMG Have to See This Again and Again. Might explain why I write what I do….

I didn’t read all of these, but I’m going to list my favorites, so forgive me if I share somebody else’s taste:

Moonstruck
Return to Me
Clueless
While You Were Sleeping
When Harry Met Sally
Groundhog Day
10 Things I Hate About You
Say Anything
Casablanca
Grosse Point Blank

Coming out of lurkage here for this, but I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Kissing Jessica Stein  That’s one of my all-time favorties.

Wow. Quite a list. I enthusiastically agree with a lot of those named, and just as strongly disagree with about the same number. But then, as Jane Bennett tells Lizzie, “...not everyone is the SAME.”

I’ll just add a few not yet mentioned that have struck a romantic chord with me:

The More the Merrier
Dogfight
Yanks
An Officer & a Gentleman
The Mirror Has Two Faces
On the Waterfront

The hero of the BBC North & South miniseries is definitely a romantic icon. If only he had a heroine worthy of him.

It was killing me how long it took before Ladyhawke showed up on the list. Love, love, love that movie.

To whomever listed Conan the Barbarian—I agree 100%!!

I would also add Labyrinth, which is so not a kids’ movie… Bowie’s turn as the goblin king is so affecting when Jennifer Connelly refuses him in the end. “You have no power over me” and the world disintegrates. Oh!

My ultimate romantic tear-jerker moment in a movie is at the end of Braveheart when he’s dying and he looks up and sees Murren in the crowd. BAWL CITY. Every. Single. Time.

THE PAINTED VEIL

It has one of the best-realized love stories I’ve ever seen.

I’m bouncing between this window and my Netflix queue.  I’m set for like, the next twenty-five years.

And I second/third/trillionth Jeffrey.

Reds (epic!)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being
(hot hot hot)

Roxanne (Steve Martin as Cyrano)

And I echo:

Notorious
Say Anything
My Favorite Wife
The Sure Thing
The English Patient
A Room with a View
Jeffrey
Kissing Jessica Stein
Bull Durham
Sommersby
Like Water for Chocolate
The Last of the Mohicans

OMG…Some Kind of Wonderful. How did I forget that??? When he tells her at the end, after she puts the diamond earrings on that she helped pick out, “my future looks good on you” I just melt. I love that movie.

And Han Solo will always be my first true love.

Just had another one pop into my brain: Speechless with Michael Keaton, Geena Davis and Christopher Reeve. 

It’s one of the few romantic comedies where I liked both the romance and the comedy which is harder to find than you would imagine given the sheer number of the things.

Gotta say, Michael York makes the ugliest woman in existence. Saw a picture of that once, eyeballs never really recovered.

I cast my vote for:

Brazil
Strictly Ballroom
Moonstruck
The Philadelphia Story
Pleasantville
French Kiss

I nominate…

Blade Runner:
why hasn’t this come up yet? Robot love… what is not hot about that?

Tom Jones:
both the Albert Finney and BBC versions

Quills:
disturbing, but I love it when love completely unhinges the hero

State of Grace
romantic, tragic, almost difficult to watch but so gooood. Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Ed Harris.

Russian Doll:
obscure but totally worth finding Australian RomCom starring a surprisingly adorable Hugo Weaving (a.k.a. Agent Smith in the Matrix, that not very nice elf dad in LOTR, and V in V for Vendetta)

Last Night:
obscure, Canadian, about the end of the world and how everyone is desperately looking for love. One of the most heart-stopping kisses ever. Stars Sandrah Oh.

Some of my favorites:

Age of Innocence, with Daniel Day-Lewis and Michell Pfeiffer. Oh, the excruciating longing.

Dangerous Liaisons, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer. Sizzlingly erotic. For example, when she finally succumbs to his advances and he lays her down and his mouth moves down to hers, oh so slowly, and then he moves back.  Ooooh!

And that scene in Reds with Diane Keaton and Warren Beatty embracing at the station.

Also, Brando in Streetcar Named Desire. Stella!!!!

Big yes to Tootsie (so much better than Soapdish on the satire, too!). 

I’d also add Holy Smoke with Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel. They make a twisted pair, and the whole thing is kind of twisted, actually but at least there’s no threat of apocalypse at the end, so I think it qualifies.  Plus is has one of my very favorite opening sequences—I dare anyone to watch that movie without hearing “Holly Holy” in your head for days afterward.  Oh, shit.

Stupid word verification :(

Fave movies

Chocolat (Johnny Depp is so hot in this movie)

P&P both Colin and 2005 version.  Matthew MacFadyen is hot, okay?  :)

The Quiet Man

Vertigo

The Philadelphia Story…I’m a huge Jimmy Stewart fan.  :)

13 Going on 30

Never Been Kissed

50 First Dates

The Wedding Singer (The only two Adam Sandler movies I like)

King Arthur (Not for the romance, but for the men.  Clive Owen…need I say more? :))

The Bourne Supremacy…girlfriend killed and he goes to get the one who killed him.  However, I just liked watching Karl Urban who was hot in the LotR as Eomer, but he was hot as the assassin.  Yum!

My Big Fat Greek Wedding:  Just because of John Corbett.  I love him.  :)

If I can list TV shows, it would be Alias, especially the kiss between Sydney & Vaughn just after they took down Section 1.  Oh yeah!  :)

I can’t believe there aren’t more mentions of Dangerous Liaisons - one of my three or so favoritist movies. So hot and so heartbreaking. Ahhhh.

But really, I MUST know how to get the season of Cupid with the unaired episodes. MUST. My husband I and STILL talk about that show. Sarah, help!! (Seriously, email me, please.)
Darcy
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I just figured out that when people were naming The Philadelphia Story, they didn’t mean Philadelphia.  I was wondering what the hell was so romantic about Tom Hanks dying of AIDS.

Whew.

Heres’ my list.  Mainly repeats.  Just want to say hate Legends of the Fall or really any movie or book where the writer is so unskilled he just has to kill the woman character to make the buddy story work.  I have an interest in teen movies.  Love Steve Martin as a leading man: All of Me, LA Story, Roxanne. 

Moonstruck
Say Anything
High Fidelity
Strictly Ballroom
Eat, Drink, Man, Woman
Like Water for Chocolate
The Sum of Us (young, gay, slightly chubby Russell Crowe)
Pretty in Pink
10 Things I Hate About You
Shakespeare in Love
Rushmore

Definitely late to this discussion, but wanted to echo a couple bitchery favorites

-Last of the Mohicans (yummy loin cloths) 
-Persuasion

and wanted to add

Fresa y chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate)—a great film set in Cuba.

Swept from the Sea—Ok, so the critics didn’t love it, but Vincent Perez is hot.  The love scene in the cave…

Fun topic!  I can’t wait to start netflicks up again

I love me the 1995 Pride and Prejudice. I watch the Lizzie and Darcy dance at Netherfield over and over again. :)

I also liked parts of the 2005 movie version.  Keira was ‘meh’, but Darcy’s second proposal scene is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo romantic.  I don’t care that it’s uncanon.  I also liked the American ending and tbbbbt at the test audiences that said it was too sticky sweet. 

I like Bridget Jones’s Diary, but not the sequel so much. Mark’s scene in the first one where he says “I like you. Just the way you are.” still makes me melt after umpteen viewings.

I liked “The Wedding Date” with Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney.  Nick is hot hot hot, especially without a shirt on.

And First Wives’ Club.  Yes, two of the three couples don’t get back together and they shouldn’t.  But one does—he learned that surface appearances don’t matter so much, and she’s willing to forgive him and try again.  I like the part where they dance together at the opening of the Center near the end of the movie.

NCIS is still awesome! Tony is so damn hot I could tear off his clothes. Gibbs has his moments, too. And I feel secure enough as a hetero woman to say that if I went that way, I would totally find Ziva hot.

Huge fan of Persuasion, 1995 film version of the Jane Austen book. A non sappy heroine who realizes her folly of giving up her life for a skanky self absorbed self serving family and a noble hero. There is little physical or even verbal interaction between our two lovers but the looks between them “burn” and the end scene where he holds out his gloved hand and she place hers into it - one of the most sensual images ever. There is no eyecandy amongst the actors but the performances are so pure you don’t notice.

One more: Walk the Line.  Great love story that happened to be true.  And Joaquin Phoenix looks amazing in black.

Hated “Legends of the Fall”.
Loved “American Dreamer”.
Thankfull somenoe remembered “Roxane”.  Steve Martin made a great romantic hero in that one.
“The Big Easy” is my all-time favorite romance movie.

I just can’t believe no one mentioned “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with Paul Newman (double yumm) and Elizabeth Taylor.  They generate enough heat to warm an Alaskan winter!

I have to say that one of my very favorite romantic movies of all time is The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It’s so sweet and sad and if nothing else the wallpaper is really cool. But Catherine Denouve is beautiful and the music is great and you acclimate to everything being sung rather quickly.
Tykwer’s Heaven is also worth looking at, because it’s really a great film and also because Cate Blanchett is divine.
Oh, and Howl’s Moving Castle, because I say so.

Love Actually is very sweet and funny.

I watched Vanity Fair on the weekend.  I loved me some men in tight breeches.  Yummy.  Well worth watching just to see James Purefoy.