My 6 Favorite Romantic Moments in Film

And other pointless ramblings about romance.

So I thought I’d take a stab at remembering the romance from films in the bygone days. See if I could lift the rusty hinges of my memory and bring back some of what once was. If I’m gonna love someone, I gotta try to be whole….hold on for her (though I did a terrible job of holding on for myself).

Number 6 Much Ado About Nothing Benedick is tricked into realizing he loves Beatrice Be Ye Blithe and Bonny

When it comes to romantic comedy, Shakespeare is still the king (hail to the king baby) and if you don’t believe it, rent or watch this gem from Thor director Kenneth Branagh and you will know the wit of true genius (as opposed to reading this blog, where you will get the half wit of true gembus). The fact that both have broken each the other’s heart, but still they both love each other, and basically everybody knows it but they themselves.

Number 5: Smoke Get’s in Your Eyes, when Richard Dreyfuss Showed us All How Patrick Swayze Shoulda Done it….(meaning, without Whoopi Goldberg’s Help)

Until I got married, this was very nearly my favorite romantic movie. For reason’s I don’t have the heart to share, I haven’t watched it in well over a decade, and possibly I will never watch it again. There is so much in this movie, I actually prefer it to Ghost for a lot of reasons, but it is a similar idea. A man passes away, and essentially gets to haunt the woman he loved. It sounds creepy, likely is creepy, but an eighteen year old Curtis who felt that love would never be his….the whole thing resonated from start to finish. I still think it is one of Spielberg’s most underrated films.

Number 4: corny as it sounds, the scene where Baron von Trapp and Maria dance a waltz in The Sound of Music

I know the movie seems trite to a lot of folks, and sure, it has some moments where the syrupy sweetness get to be too much. But then there are moments when you get just a glimpse of the real people who inspired this musical. The Baron von Trapp’s grief for his wife who passed away, his unconscious punishment of his children as he fails to process his grief, the love that brought music back into his life, and his incredible patriotism in the face of tyranny…..there is a whole hell of a lot of manliness in this movie if you just know what you are looking for. You women don’t know how deeply you move us sometimes, but Christopher Plummer nailed it in this one. I can’t speak for how a woman feels about a man. I hope what Julia Andrews sings is true though. I hope we inspire you even just a tenth part as much as you inspire us.

I’ve done a lot of dumbass things in my life. But I must have done something good to have gotten on the road that led to you.

Number 3: Heather and Conner’s Romance in Highlander

When I was young, I foolishly loved a girl quite a bit longer than there was any point. But to me there seemed something beautiful about it. The whole idea that love could live forever, that it was a force more powerful than time itself. I found out, to my grief, that time really is the more powerful force, but there is something romantic in the idea that love can last forever. I suppose that is why people still think of marriage as a beautiful thing (at least till they tie the knot). When I was twenty I first heard about Highlander, and thought “What an idiotic movie! People running around cutting off each other’s heads?” Then Heather, who was Conner’s love back in the medieval times, starts to age, and Queen sings the mournful notes of Who Wants to Live Forever. It was love at first song. I fell for that movie hard, and that was the moment that defined its beauty to me.

2. Highlander the Series. Dust in the Wind

So I fell in love with the movie, but I was a purist. For a couple of years I refused to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation, because I felt like it was a betrayal of the original series to love it. Well, twenty one year old Curtis was the same way. Who was this long haired dude? Why a different character altogether? Duncan is such a stupid name. But then his love dies on the show. Her name is Tess, and there is a scene where Duncan is remembering her, grieving her loss, and the Kansas song Dust in the Wind is playing. This scene did the same thing for the series as the other scene had done with the movie. I fell in love with the series, and while Duncan does move on and finds love again….Tess is always a part of him.

Number one: Up

If you’ve seen this movie you need no description. If you have not seen it, no description can prepare you. If you think this is just another Disney cartoon….well…..watch it….your toughern me if you can watch with a dry eye.