Each generation has its own favorite stars, its own music, its own movies, which they treasure for the rest of their lives. Nobody forgets that movie that made such an impression on them or that song they used to dance to with their first love. And, of course, each generation has its favorite romance movie, a love story they identify with. Cinema is over 100 years old - just imagine how many couples went to the movies on their first dates, hands gripping each other tighter in the darkness when the on-screen couple share their first kiss. ‘That’s us’, the timid hand squeeze says. Emboldened by the events on screen, the boy in the audience dares to steal a kiss from his sweetheart,too. Ask anybody and they’ll surely remember a romantic movie that they associate with their own youth and their first love.
Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in 'Dirty Dancing'
source
This post is not meant to show rankings, you cannot say the kiss in that movie was way better than the kiss in this movie, it’s just a matter of perspective. Love is too much of an intimate feeling and we cannot compare experiences. Just as every kiss is different.
Those who read this series constantly will not be surprised that the first movie to be on this list is the 1939 classic ’Gone with the Wind’. "You should be kissed, and often. And by someone who knows how", Rhett Butler tells Scarlett O’Hara. He is the only one who can understand the twice-widowed Scarlett. Unfortunately, he understands her only too well and leaves her in the end.
Roughly from the same era, but using a different war as background - ’Casablanca’ (1942), an ill-fated love. Humphrey Bogart, playing as Rick, sacrifices his own feelings for Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) as she is more important for another man now. Not without stealing a kiss from her, for old times sake, for what they had in Paris, before the Nazi invasion. As the viewers had witnessed his torment, they cannot help siding with Rick in their hearts - that is what true love looks like.
You might find the next entry a bit surprising, but one of the best remembered kisses in cinema history comes from the animated movie ‘The Lady and the Tramp’(1955). An innocent kiss between the two dogs sharing a plate of spaghetti, totally adequate for a kids’ movie, but also appealing to an adult audience. If a homeless mutt can conquer the love of a pampered spaniel, everybody can hope their dream will come true. The scene is so moving that the image of the two pups smooching has been replicated in countless movies and videos.
One of the most iconic love scenes of the 1960s is unquestionably the kiss in ’Breakfast at Tiffany’s’. Audrey Hepburn playing Holly Golightly is one of the most recognizable movie images of the 20th century. The girl who believes all she needs in life is wealth, the girl who believes no one belongs to her, just as she doesn’t belong to anyone, finds an unexpected love when she meets a man as lonely as herself. She only understands this at the end of the movie as she kisses Paul (George Peppard)in the pouring rain, holding the girl’s drenched cat between them.
’Romeo and Juliet’ (1968) needs no explanation, I guess. Hundreds of years old, Shakespeare’s play is probably the most famous love stories of all times. The screen-adaptation featuring Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting was the go-to romantic movie for many of the 1960s decade.
Just two years later, in 1970 the world was swept by the ’Love Story’ mania. It’s a tragic love story, where the young female protagonist Jenny (Ali MacGraw) dies from cancer, leaving behind a devastated Oliver (Ryan O’Neal) and an audience in tears. ‘Love means never having to say I’m sorry’, the movie’s most memorable line, is today a pop culture reference. Oddly enough, Ali MacGraw once said in an interview she never understood this line. However, she did mention O’Neal was ‘a great kisser’.
For the 1980s generation, ’Dirty Dancing’(1987) was the most memorable love story. No one can ever forget Patrick Swayze dancing with Jennifer Grey to ‘(I’ve had) Time of My life), celebrating their triumphant love. It’s quite a simple story, two characters belonging to different social classes, falling in love and having to overcome prejudice and misunderstanding.
Three years later, Patrick Swayze again conquers the hearts of female moviegoers all over the world with his part in ’Ghost’. What can be more romantic than a love that defies even death. Demi Moore is in danger and her dead boyfriend cannot leave her unprotected. It is only at the end of the movie, when the danger has been eliminated, that Demi Moore can hear the voice of her beloved. He’s done his duty and he can now go to Heaven, not before sharing one last kiss with her.
There is no way one could forget ’Titanic’(1997), another love story that influenced a generation and for good reason - the young Leonardo Di Caprio, how can anyone not love him? Yet another tragic story, but then the most famous love stories never end well. The viewers know the Titanic will sink and their love is doomed, but you’d give everything for one such moment of pure happiness to make you feel ‘the king of the world’.
Superhero movies are not exactly the sort of films where you expect to find great love, but for the younger audiences the kiss in ’Spiderman’ is certainly more memorable than any of those mentioned before. The nerdy boy turned Spiderman (Tobey Maguire) is desperately in love with Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and after his heroic actions he definitely deserves a bit of happiness. Incidentally, the kiss was not all that romantic as it appears on screen. Tobey Maguire explained he could hardly breathe during the filming of the scene as he was standing upside down and there was rainwater running up his nose.
Finally, there is the famous vampire saga ’Twilight’ (2008). Today’s 20-somethings grew up with the story of Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) and a whole generation of teenagers sighed when they exchanged their first kiss on screen.
As I was saying in the beginning, our experiences are subjective and we all have that one movie that’s forever in our hearts, so I’m going to share with you my own favorite.
’Bobby Deerfield’, a 1977 romantic movie starring Al Pacino and Marthe Keller, which follows the same plot as ‘Love Story’, as she is ill, and she’s already dying when they meet which makes it even more tragic. One of the reasons I love this movie, besides the young Al Pacino, is the fact that it is less melodramatic as the original ‘Love Story’.
I would like to hear which is the ultimate romantic movie for you and your most memorable kiss scene? Please share in the comments below!
Post authored by: @ladyrebecca.
References: 1, 2.
Click on the coin to join our Discord Chat
Witness proposal is here:
Go To Steem Witness Page
In the bottom of the page type: adsactly-witness and press vote.
Use small letters and no "@" sign. Or, click here to vote directly!
Thank you!