I love a good romantic movie, but those Hallmark Movies my teenage daughter loves to watch are just too much. They remind me of the taste of a sugary sweet drink that you drank too much of. There are some all-time classics that I love and can watch again and again. Here is my list of top ten all-time favorite Romantic Movies:
#10 Ghost (1990) – This is a story of a love so intense that it is felt long after death. A man dies and stays in the physical world to warn his lover. Romantic Comedy starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg
#9 Phantom of the Opera (2004) – When I first saw the Broadway version Phantom of the Opera in the 1990s, I wasn’t very impressed in the first half of the musical. I thought it was rather boring and drawn out. Then came Intermission and the second half of the musical. All the groundwork that was laid in the first half came together in an emotional and dramatic climax and I left the theater thinking it was one of the best shows I had ever seen. This movie version of the musical doesn’t disappoint. Gerard Butler is a handsome, sexy, and tortured version of the Phantom and you can’t help but fall in love with him. Emma Rossum plays Christine Daaé his obsession and love interest. The cast did their own singing in the movie and it will impress and delight you.
#8 An Officer and A Gentleman (1982) – There is nothing more handsome than a man in uniform. This movie stars Richard Gere and Debra Winger. Richard Gere is in fine form in this movie where he plays a United States Navy Aviation Officer Candidate who is beginning his training at Aviation Officer Candidate School and falls in love with a small-town girl. Lou Gossett, Jr. almost steals the show as a hard-hitting Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant who is training the candidates.
#5 The Way We Were (1973) – Barbara Streisand and Robert Redford play lovers in this story who are vastly different. When they meet in college, Streisand’s character is a very outspoken activist and Redford’s character is a handsome athlete who always seems to get whatever he wants. She falls in love with his good looks and charm and he falls in love with her conviction and determination to persuade others with her social causes. The love story follows the couple as they move to Hollywood as Redford’s character becomes a screenwriter and troubles follow.
#4 Dirty Dancing (1987) – The first time I saw Dirty Dancing, I was in my early 20’s. I watched the movie at home and when it was finished, I watched it all over again. It is the only movie I have ever done this with. It is a movie that I can watch over and over again. Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey are lovers who meet at a summer resort. Grey’s teenage character Baby Houseman falls in love with the camp’s dance instructor, Johnny Castle played by Swayze. This movie will make you want to get up and dance.
#3 Forrest Gump (1994) – If you have never seen this movie, you have been missing out. It is one of the most creative movies I have ever seen and Tom Hanks transformed into his character Forest Gump. The story depicts several decades in the life of Forrest Gump who is a slow-witted but kind-hearted man from Alabama. He witnesses and unwittingly influences several defining historical events in the 20th century United States all while staying loyally in love with his childhood sweetheart, Jenny, who is played by Robin Wright.
#2 – The Notebook (2004) – You better bring a box of Kleenex to the couch when you watch this tearjerker. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are lovers in this movie about two people from different social classes who fall in love and try to overcome all the obstacles to keep their love. The movie has two stories running at the same time. One part follows their love story from when they first met and how their love grew and endured over time and the other part follows the couple in the present time as an old couple and the challenges they are faced with.
#1 – Titanic (1997) – Don’t move that box of Kleenex anywhere. Keep it close by. A very young Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star in this romance set on the ill-fated Titanic. Winslet’s character is a seventeen-year-old aristocrat who falls in love with DiCaprio’s character who is a poor artist that wins a poker game that lands him aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic. James Cameron the director was so serious about making the portrayal of the Titanic as authentic as possible that he took a submarine ship down to the site of the shipwreck and used actual footage in the movie. The movie won 11 Oscars and has grossed more than $2 billion worldwide.
I hope you find the pick of my Top Ten Romantic Movies of all time enjoyable. Hopefully, they will make it onto your all-time favorites list, too.
