02.10.10 | Jon Morgereth | Movie PollsPrint this Post
Tags: Casablanca
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Movie Poll – What’s the Best Romantic Film of all Time
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49 Responses to “Movie Poll – What’s the Best Romantic Film of all Time”
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Love story? He walks away at the end with a guy, I'm sorry that isn't my idea of a good love story. Now Ghost, there was real love, you could feel it in your bones.
No "Shop Around the Corner," no "Earrings of Madame de...," but "The Way We Were" and "Love Story"??? The mind boggles.
I suggest renaming the poll "What's the Best (American) Romantic Film Since 1957 With Two Very Obvious Exceptions, "GWTW" and "Casablanca."
Frank, why so serious? Casablanca was a great movie.
You neglected a very early movie called Seventh Heaven with Gary Cooper. You also neglected one of the top tear jerker love stories ever made - Brief Encounter. But then I guess you had to narrow it down to a manageable number...
Casablanca ends with the hero spurning his girlfriend and running off with another man and that's the most romantic movie of all time. Seems kind of gay to me.
Good movies on the list but I vote for 'Return To Me' with David Duchovny, Minnie Driver & Bonnie Hunt (who also directed the movie). Great story & excellent supporting cast including Carrol O'Connor in his last movie.
There are some excellent on the list. But, one of my favorites is Barefoot in the Park,1967 with Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Charles Boyer, Mildred Natwick to name a few of the actors.
The best romantic film of all time was "Random Harvest".
I cannot believe DR. ZHIVAGO is not one of the choices!
There's a special spot in my psyche for "The Way We Were", maybe wins for sad Romantic Film; also loved "Barefoot in the Park". BUT How can anyone beat "An Affair to Remember" and Deborah Kerr's "Oh, Nickie...if you can paint, I can walk"? Sappy but priceless, it makes you cry every time!
GWTW is the best movie ever, and I can't argue with CASABLANCA and AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER being on the list, but how can the poll omit WATERLOO BRIDGE, THE PRINCESS BRIDE, SAYONARA, and Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST?
No list of this type would be complete without the inclusion of "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" with William Holden and Jennifer Jones.
Dido Mark Dryer...by all means "Random Harvest"
Casablanca? You're kidding right? And who are these people that voted for it? None of those pictures delivered the impact, the tugging of the heart, the arousal of real feelings like Ghost.
Yes, it's The Way We Were for me!
Well, I totally lost it when she calls up Hubbell and tells him he's her best friend and she needs to talk to her best friend.
What? No HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON!
My opinion,A Walk IN THE CLOUDS with Keanu Reaves and Aitana Sanchez Gijon. Wonderfully sensual, sexy,[ without all that jumping in and out of bed] and a beautiful love story.
I forgot about Return to Me a great movie, but Casablanca has it above all
When it comes to romantic movies" Letter From an Unknown Woman" starring Joan Fontaine and Louis Jourdan is absolutely the very best in taste and class .
If you watch a lot of romantic movies the "Note Book" is one of those movies that makes you feel like it was part of your life or wish that maybe someday it could be,the way he loved her and she loved him enough to go back to him after all those years.Love is what matters in the movies or real life,and this movies brings you there,you can feel it and if you don't you never will.He never gave up.
GONE WITH THE WIND - TODAY, TOM'W, FOREVER. NOTHING WILL EVER SURPASS THIS CLASSIC; NOTHING ROMANTIC WILL EVER HAVE SUCH PERFECTION+ CASTING AS CLARK GABLE'S RHETT AND VIVIEN LEIGH'S SCARLETT!!
p.s. Of course there are films of the 20's, 30's, 40's, etc. you didn't even mention!
I liked CHANCES ARE better than any of your selections.
My favorite romantic movie was Captain Blood with Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland...one look and they're both hooked.
Please, Now Voyger tops them all
Of those mentioned, Casablanca is the most romantic. The lovers had to sacrifice their own wishes for the greater good. But who left out Dr Zhivago?
Casablanca all the way. Yes there were a lot of great romantic movies but Casablanca has to win out. Typical of a lot of his movies, Boggie the anti-hero delivers with a story of redemption. Locked in his self-pity over a break-up of a childhood romance, he finds the strength to get over it and do the right thing. Paul Henreid's love for Ilsa is often over looked asd he is willing to let her go so she could live, while he fears his own time is up. And Ingred Bergman, having to choose between the two; at first looking to play Boggie for her own ends, but then also willing to die to her own selfishness. Casablanca is a love triangle looking at the complexities of the emotion no other movie has or may ever do. And it doesn't stoop to gratuitous scenes to maintain the attention of the AD HD movie goers today.
There really are so many and what comes to mind is Somewhere in Time, Back Street, Mayerling, I'm
a true romantic and could go on all day with romantic movies, even Pillow Talk. Fun Romance.
I just remembered another one, Same Time Next Year. With Alan ALda.
For me, the background music sets the mood for the film and Max Steiner's score for GWTW had me crying from the very beginning. The music along with perfect casting, great directing and a storyline that can never be matched (in my opinion) makes GWTW the greatest romantic movie of all time.
There are certainly a number of great romantic movies, some on the list (An Affair to Remember, Ghost), some not (Dr. Zhivago); however, Casablanca is the greatest. Sometimes you have to love enough to say goodbye. I would suggest that Carl actually watch the movie.
I vote for O. Henry's "The gift of the Magi".
It gets to me everytime.
Mark Dryer has a point. Random Harvest has to be the most romantic, most touching love story made, and Now Voyager is a close second. I agree with Casablanca and An Affair to Remember bing included on the list. Although it is considered a comedy, Penny Serenade should also be included on this list.
My vote goes to Sound Of Music.
I think The Quiet Man with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara should have been in this list. What a great love story! I think better than any you have on your list.
The African Queen(1951) is one of my all time fav's. I can't believe none have mentioned it. Staring Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. The two can't stand one another yet somewhere down the river they come around to accept one another for who they are and to honor each others wishes. Great movie, a must see. Now this is what true love is all about.
My favorite didn't make the list...I think Frank mentioned it "Shop around the Corner".This film is just perfect as far as I'm concerned.
Some that should of made the list but didn't:Camille(w/Greta Garbo,Now Voyager(w/Bette Davis,Sunrise the song of two humans(silent film w/Janet Gaynor),Somewhere in Time(w/Jane Seymour) and of course my very favorite,The Shop around the Corner(w/Margaret Sullavan)
To reply to Sandra: I certainly agree about "Casablanca," surely one of the great romantic films.
My quarrel is with the name of the list, which contains no foreign films (not even a single French film and this is a 'romantic' list?) and only two films made before 1957, hardly 'all time.' "The Shop Around the Corner" can bring one (me) to tears; I'd hate to say what "Love Story" can bring one to. 'Shop," I guess, has the misfortune of having been released in 1940.
My hat is off to Mary, who appreciates this marvelous film, who knows "Sunrise," and who speaks to the absence of any film with Garbo.
Some others: "Flesh and the Devil," anyone? "Letter From an Unknown Woman," mentioned by Garry Stewart? Or, just maybe, a squeak-in, "Portrait of Jenny"?
I loved "Picnic" with William Holden and Kim Novak, especially the dance scene. Also, "The Apartment" with Jack Lemmon and Shirley McClaine.
These are my three: 1. The Eddy Duchin Story 2. Somewhere In Time and 3. The Notebook.
I agree that "Return To Me" should be on the list. I also think think that "Notting Hill" with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts should be on the list. Two terrific movies!!
The best romantic film of all time came completely out of the blue.......BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN! The romantic connection established in that film is unforgettable!
A few more forgotten films that to me have that "lost love" romance are : WEST SIDE STORY, MAYTIME (with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy) and the 1931 James Whale version of WATERLOO BRIDGE.
How about "Roman Holiday" or "Sabrina"? Another favorite of mine is the 1933 version of "State Fair" with Janet Gaynor.
What? No Brokeback mountain???
Anyone remember The Sandpebbles , Hanover Street, Splendor in the Grass?????
I thought Carl's response to Casablanca was hilarious. The alternative (that he was serious) is a dismal one. There are several other titles not yet mentioned that I would nominate for a best-of list, some old, some more recent, and some that use humor instead of pathos to tell the story. You Can't Take it With You, It Happened one Night and Trouble in Paradise all lent to the template that made The Shop around the Corner possible, and they are surely as good. Pygmallion (or My Fair Lady if you like the identical George Bernard Shaw screenplay set to music) is another template creator with its silk purse from a sow's ear plot device. Immortal Beloved if you prefer classical music and can suspend disbelief at the fanciful though compelling story. Two of my favorite, more recent films in the genre are Ever After and As Good as it Gets. That I watch them repeatedly without losing interest causes me to rank them well above several of the movies in the poll that I have not been interested in seeing since I first viewed them. Not that it matters, but one of the movies in the poll is my favorite, but I might disappoint Carl if I say more.
I liked Forest Gump but I will rent Casablanca since everyone seems to like it.
I suggest Ernest Borgnine's Academy Award winning performance in "Marty," which proves even fat ugly guys can find romance. You see something of the same thing in "Daddy's Dying, Who's Got the Will?" when a skinny guy and the fat girl arrive with different partners but discover love and run off together. That film touches several areas of love and the abuse of love within families. And romance doesn't get any better than in "Love With the Proper Stranger." Best film either McQueen or Wood ever made. Another great film about all aspects of love, including heterosexual, homosexual, the love of a little person for her normal size husband and baby, and the twisted love of a serial killer in "Unconditional Love." I like the love of older couples expressed in "Calendar Girls." But the best overall feel-good love movie I think is "Love Actually." It just wallows proudly in all sorts of love of all ages and conditions.