# Movies That Would Have Been Better With No Love Interests **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628 "2019-11-18T21:27:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/1 "2019-11-18T21:27:04Z")
Rather than risk a hijack to [Movies With No Love Interests](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=885475), I’ve elected to start a companion thread. 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). ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/2 "2019-11-18T21:33:51Z")
The Twilight Saga. Charlie Swan is a small-town sheriff fighting a war on werewolves, aided by his friend, Dr. Cullen, who turns out to be a vampire, but in a good way. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/3 "2019-11-18T21:41:09Z")
Casino comes to mind. I thought Sharon Stone was horrible in the film. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/4 "2019-11-18T22:12:46Z")
\*Major League. \* It’s a fun movie about baseball. The fact that there’s any scenes with Roger Dorn’s wife drives me up the wall. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/5 "2019-11-18T22:21:11Z")
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. > [@](#): > > You’re living in a sewer, Frank. Day after day. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/6 "2019-11-18T22:27:34Z")
Ben Affleck’s ‘Pearl Harbor’ came immediately to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/7 "2019-11-18T22:35:12Z")
The Hobbit. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/8 "2019-11-18T22:48:35Z")
_Star Wars_ would have been a lot less awkward in retrospect if there hadn’t been a romantic subplot in it. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/9 "2019-11-18T23:41:38Z")
The Caine Mutiny. I know the love story is in the book too, but it never worked for me in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/10 "2019-11-18T23:45:13Z")
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”). ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/11 "2019-11-19T00:39:28Z")
_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. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/12 "2019-11-19T00:57:26Z")
Jaws is a good example of a movie that improved on the book by losing the sex. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/13 "2019-11-19T01:32:06Z")
\*\*A Journey to the Center of the Earth From the Earth to the Moon The Mysterious Island Three Weeks in a Balloon Master of the World Fall of the House of Usher The Dunwich Horror\*\* … 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. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/14 "2019-11-19T03:23:04Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > … and all those other adaptations of the works of Poe, Verne, Wells, and Lovecraft where they threw in a spurious “Love Interest”. 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… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/15 "2019-11-19T03:40:50Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Ben Affleck’s ‘Pearl Harbor’ came immediately to mind. 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_. ---
**Author:** ![steepone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@steepone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steepone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/16 "2019-11-19T04:10:57Z")
Flyboys, the romance between Rawlings and the french girl was totally superfluous to the story and didn’t add anything worthwhile to the movie ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/17 "2019-11-19T06:03:45Z")
I’ll go with the movie “Magnum Force”, where Dirty Harry has gratuitous sex with a young Japanese woman. I guess to show that he’s not a pansy. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/18 "2019-11-19T06:10:56Z")
All of the Marx Brothers movies that have them, which IIRC is all of them except _Duck Soup_. (Am I right, **Exapno**?) ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/19 "2019-11-19T07:47:33Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > \*Major League. \* > > It’s a fun movie about baseball. The fact that there’s any scenes with Roger Dorn’s wife drives me up the wall. 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. Poor Cary Elwes. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2019, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/20 "2019-11-19T08:14:42Z")
_ **Ice Cold in Alex** _ (John Mills and Sylvia Sims) and _ **The Mercenaries** _ (Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimeux). Grab some hot sex while on the run from Nazis and Simba rebels … after spending a week in the desert and the jungle? :eek: Yeccch! No, thanks! (Though I guess there was some making out in both novels on which the movies were based.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628.md?page=2)