Having pored over the 120 entries in this thread, I’ll have to concur with
Princess Bride and add a few that some others reminded me about:
Dead Again
Ridiculous story/plot but I happened to be chasing a lady when we saw this together. Years later, we met and I gave her an ankle bracelet that brought back a ton of memories for both of us.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
I once heard it described as “Ang Lee combines Sense & Sensibility and Princess Bride in China.” and I remember it going from being billed as another martial arts flick in the artsy/foreign cinema to being billed as an artsy romance in the artsy/foreign cinemas to being billed as a major high-brow Awards-level contender in mainstream theaters.
The Three Musketeers (The Queens Diamonds - Alexander Salkind’s version)
I seem to have a predilection for adventurous romances. Fight your way to hell and back, all for the love of the girl!
Speaking of which…
What Dreams May Come
Robin Williams in a very serious role. I can no longer remember who his wife was, but she was gorgeous, too.
Anchors Aweigh
I first saw it on TV as a kid when my mother roused me out of bed to watch the animated scene in the middle. I watched it again years later and just loved the overall story/musical: Gene Kelly is a sailor helping his buddy get a date while they’re on shore-leave, and is winds up falling in love with the same girl.
And, speaking of Musical romantic stories…
The Sound of Music
Don’t tell me you don’t know the tale.
–G!
Even if I were to go back to working at Renaissance festivals or doing Living History, I wouldn’t want to have sex with someone who hasn’t bathed all week! **Tfu! **
On the topic of unnecessary romances, the novel Archangel scared the hell out of me while I was reading it alone in my apartment at 2:00 am. I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out to be a buddy story between a historian and a newsman, and that the woman had an independent and very powerful role in the book.
Of course, when HBO made a miniseries out of it, they turned it around so that the woman hooked up with the academic. I switched it off when I saw where they were going with it. :smack:
But it was about love. Admittedly love of Dietrichson’s insurance payout…but it was doubled so there’s that too!
If we can stray to less traditional romances how about Witness then? I think it is one of the sneakiest scripts of all time; a typical chase movie where the guy being chased doesn’t run he just hides, all the thriller action for the first part takes place where he isn’t, his “love” story involves a partner he will never have, his rival is a nice guy…everything is done in a way that is contrary to a normal thriller, romance, crime drama but it all hangs together.
“Thank you for a memorable afternoon, usually one must go to a bowling alley to meet a woman of your stature.”
As long as we’re analyzing characters, what’s the handy-dandy phrase for this?:
It’s always bugged me that the second the Beast returns to human form, Belle says not one word for the rest of the movie. She attends the party, but she ceases to be in the movie. WTH, Dr. T, WTH?
Barfi! reminded me of* Barfly*, a little seen Mickey Rourke, Faye Dunaway romance based on the life of Charles Bukowski, who wrote the screenplay. I have recommended it to quite a few people over the years and most have never heard of it but really enjoyed it. Not for the faint hearted but some really snappy down and out dialogue amidst the drunkenness and fighting. Great movie to have so few votes on IMDB.
