I’ll lead off with Charge of the Light Brigade (1968).
Not only did we have the bloodthirsty, adulterous Misses Duberly, but also a completely unnecessary (and ahistorical) affair between Captain Nolan and the wife of Captain Morris. The movie certainly didn’t need the padded runtime, the love interests did nothing to advance the plot, and the inclusion of these two somewhat prominent female roles was hardly an example of positive representation of women in cinema.
So, neither true, nor useful, nor kind. A distraction from what otherwise might have been a passable anti-war film.
As an honorable mention (as others are free to do as well), I’ll tip my hat to 1983’s Lords of Discipline which, while flawed, did manage to excise a completely useless love interest sub plot that was included in the novel on which it was based, but added nothing to the plot (okay, okay: there was a very contrived explanation incorporating the love interest into the plot, but it was unconvincing and unnecessary).
Bullitt is a film where lots of people moan about the McQueen/Bisset relationship but I think that it was a vital tool to humanize Bullitt.
pretty much explains the existential difference between the two of then in a sentence. And its rare for a male-centric action film to try to be self-aware.
Though still flawed, I think “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” would have been much improved with just Indy and ShortRound.
Except for incessant screaming, I don’t think Capshaw added anything to the movie/story (unlike Karen Allen who played a much bigger part of “Raiders”).
Three Days of the Condor is a pretty good thriller that somehow manages to squander the mid-70s Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway in a needless romantic subplot. Not only was their sex scene out of the blue (“We both nearly died at the hands of spies! Let’s fuck!”) but it made two of the most beautiful humans ever look boring.
On the flip side, I was glad A Few Good Men didn’t succumb to the temptation, great as it must have been, to put Tom Cruise and Demi Moore in bed together.
… and all those other adaptations of the works of Poe, Verne, Wells, and Lovecraft where they threw in a spurious “Love Interest”.
The works where the original had a love interest – *Around the World in 80 Days. The Time Machine, * Poe’s “Haunted Lady” stories don’t count, of course.
Even Masque of the Red Death? There wouldn’t have been enough for a feature length film without the Christian martyr/lover sub-plot. Although a dwarf burning alive a guy in a gorilla costume sure was something…
For me, too. Also, I was somewhat aghast at the interaction between Martin Freeman and Zooey Deschanel (as well as between Deschanel and Sam Rockwell) in 2005’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Dorn’s wife is fine…Its Berengers ex-wife getting back with him that’s a cop out. Like in “Liar Liar”. But in the latters case, I guess they couldn’t think of an ending.