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Today is, of course, Valentine’s Day. A recent news article stated that every year Americans purchase over 36 million boxes of chocolates to give to their sweethearts on the 14th of February…but there’s no precise statistic as to how many of those gifts started arguments over which is better, chocolates with nuts or without. When it comes to film fans, there’s another major dichotomy: What type of romance movie do you prefer, the ones with happy endings or unhappy endings?
If we’re to go by the American Film Institute’s 100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time, the roster seems to favor the latter. Of the top 10 classic cinematic couplings, only three of them–An Affair to Remember, It’s a Wonderful Life, and City Lights–end on positive or seemingly hopeful notes. The remaining seven–Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, West Side Story, Roman Holiday, The Way We Were, Doctor Zhivago, and Love Story–conclude with the duos separated either by distance, differences, duty, or death.
Let’s face it, some movie romances have to leave their audiences wiping away the tears. Would Titanic have been as effective if both Rose and Jack were rescued floating on that door? Could “Scottie” Ferguson ever be happy with his remodeled Judy Barton once he learned her secret in Vertigo? Could those crazy kids King Kong and Ann Darrow have made a go of it living together in New York City?
On the other hand, some couples seem destined to be together despite everything Fate and the screenwriters throw at them. Charlie and Rose manage to survive the sinking of not one but two boats in The African Queen. No amount of OSHA safety standards can keep newly-commissioned Navy officer Zack from walking into a factory and literally sweeping Paula off her feet in An Officer and a Gentleman. And a lost backpack leads to a one-in-a-million meeting atop the Empire State Building in Sleepless in Seattle. As Wesley says to Buttercup in The Princess Bride, “This is true love. You think this happens every day?”
Now we’d like to hear from you, MovieFanFare readers. Do your favorite cinematic love stories tend towards the sad or the upbeat (I’m evenly split on my Top Four list: Casablanca and 1939’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame in the former, Marty and The Adventures of Robin Hood in the latter)? Write in the comments below and tell us which sort of romance films you prefer…and be sure to give examples.