This idea kind of just popped in there (think Dan Aykroyd at the end of Ghostbusters) and it was: off the top of my head, who are my favorite movie couples.... this is by no means a complete list, but I just rattled these off and I will the briefly give me thoughts about all of them.
Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant in North By Northwest - This may be the most sensuous of all Alfred Hitchcock's parings. Like many of his icy blondes, Eva Marie Saint is a very sexually aware woman, and her chemistry is white hot opposite a handsome, aging Grant. Their train make-out is as hot as anything I've seen in a movie.
Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase in Foul Play - These two are at the peak of the 1970s cuteness, and they have a loopy, lovable vibe as a couple in this comedic Hitchcock homage (which fares much better than Mel Brooks' High Anxiety if you ask me). He's all deadpan one liners and pratfalls and she has just about the cutest grin in movie history. What's not to love?
Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally - The quintessential couple in one may be the benchmark for all romantic comedies since its release 30 years ago! They are an odd match physically, but when you watch him make her laugh or when he's aghast at her famous fake orgasm, it and they make perfect sense on-screen.
Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly in Bound - In the Wachowskis' Bound, these two rose about the inherent salacious nature of the material, to deliver utterly convincing performances of two women desperately in love with each other with a particularly toxic man in their way.
Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep in The Bridges of Madison County - I am sure fans of the book and movie fans in general thought it was bizarre when tough guy Clint adapted and cast himself in a best-selling weepie about a brief but heartbreakingly romantic affair. But it turned out to be one of his loveliest movies and one his most touching performances. Despite its hokey, old-fashioned narrative wrapper, this is still one of my favorite romances.
Burt Reynolds and Sally Field in Smokey and the Bandit - These two were a couple in real life and it really shows. There's real love in their eyes amid the goofy chaos of this movie, in which she's a barefoot, runaway bride and he's an ace bootlegger ... or something. This is the height of '70s throwaway joy, totally inconsequential but wonderfully charming at the same time.
Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher in the Star Wars trilogy - This was probably the first on-screen romance I was consistently exposed to and as I came of age, and understood that their grumpy banter was in actuality 'flirting' I became much more impressed with their doomed love affair over the course of the original trilogy. I say doomed because by the time of The Force Awakens they're estranged. I like that their relationship is left always unresolved since everything about their lives is fleeting.
Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in Adam's Rib - When people namecheck legendary on-screen couples Tracy and Hepburn always runs off the tongue, even with people who've never seen their movies. This one is a great place to start when it comes to their on-screen work together. The premise is absurd -- they play a married couple representing opposite sides in a contentious divorce case. Tracy, as in all their films, ends up getting put in his place by Hepburn, and you will swoon.
Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudury in Mississippi Masala - I dare you find a sexier on-screen couple than these two in this criminally under-seen culture clash romance that should earn a lot of points for being woke to some compelling racial dynamics and themes well before there was anything resembling a national conversation about these issues.
Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude - I was a late convert to this one, but after a few viewings I understand the hype. It's a great tribute to misfits and iconoclasts. Ruth Gordon's Maude is the kind of person we all aspire to be -- self assured, irrepressible and honest -- whereas But Cort is the sad sack we all kind of. Somehow they meet in the middle and change each others lives. A hugely influential pairing.
Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis in Witness - My man is on this list twice because he's just that good. A wonderful film about a big city cop who must embed himself in the amish community in order protect a child witness to a murder and his mother, also provides space for a beautifully observed romance between Ford and McGillis as the cop and Amish woman. This is a classic, old-fashioned story that never manages to feel too dated because of the richness of the emotion.
George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight - Their career paths couldn't have been more different -- but back in 1998, George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez were budding, hungry stars looking to make their mark as movie stars and this cult classic Steven Soderbergh film was the perfect vehicle for both of them to strut their stuff. Clooney would go on to have great chemistry with several future leading ladies (think Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air), but this may been his best on-screen romance.
Woody Allen and Diane Keaton in Annie Hall - Before Woody Allen had the ick factor all over him, he was genuinely likable and even a little cute in this iconic Best Picture winner. He and Diane Keaton make beautiful neurotic music together and their relationship still resonates as realistic after several decades of social upheaval. Woody Allen's legacy will likely forever be tarnished, but this pairing's power is undeniable.
Adam Sandler and Emily Watson in Punch-Drunk Love - No film has brought more of Adam Sandler's talents and charisma to bear than this P.T. Anderson romance. And although Watson is almost angelically serene and patient with Sandler's manic depressive bruiser, her disposition lends the whole movie an even more whimsical, fable-like flair. No one saw this movie coming and unfortunately Sandler never made another one quite like it.
Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Speaking of failing to live up one's early promise -- Jim Carrey, much? -- this film cast an against type Jim Carrey as an emotionally stunted recluse who discovers his inner romantic when he links up with manic pixie dreamgirl Kate Winslet. This film may not hold up as well for some people as it does for me, but I still think it's one of the best films about breaking up I've ever seen, and Winslet and Carrey are something to behold on-screen together.
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