The most romantic movies ever!

By Hank Phillippi Ryan

I knw we're talking about marketing this month, and the juxtaposition of the impending Valentine's Day and marketing is almost irresistible. However! Let's talk about romance, okay? Because that's what we're supposed to think about on Valentine's Day.

Instead of  the crass "What's a good way to market a romance on Valentine's Day"--let's pretend to talk about writing. In a way.  How about: what's your favorite romantic movie? And why? And  because we're a value-added blog: what can we learn from this?  

I know what my husband would say. In fact, last weekend while I was writing a synopsis ( trying to, because there’s no way to write a synopsis, and I don’t even want to talk about it) anyway, last weekend while I was, um, writing, he was watching his most romantic movie of all time.

For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Later, I said—how was the movie, sweetheart?

And he—remember, hes a tough smart criminal defense attorney—could barely talk. It’s so sad, he said. You know they’re fighting the fascists?

Hank: Yeah.

Jonathan: And they almost all make it across the field on horseback to escape, even Ingrid Bergman?

Hank: Yeah.

Jonathan: And then..a horse falls on Gary Cooper and his leg is broken, and he can’t make it?

Hank: Yeah (I’m, thinking, war movies, I hate war movies.)

Jonathan: And so he tells Ingrid Bergman to go ahead, escape with the others. He tells her to leave him, but she won’t leave him?

Hank: Yeah (Getting interested, because I know what happens, and I can picture this, and whoa, it is..sad).

Jonathan: And then Gary Cooper says something like—You have to go, so I can be with you. Only if you go, will I be with you.  Meaning like, if she dies, her memory of him will die too. 

Okay, that’s romantic. It is. And that’s what we go for, isn’t it, when we write romance? In this particular case—okay its Hemingway, or Hollywood-ized Hemingway—but there’s no throbbing anything or pulsing anything or ripping off of clothing. It’s just pure emotion.

Remember Love, Actually? (I hope you’re saying: Awww, I LOVE that movie! Me, too.) Anyway, Jamie and Aurelia have fallen in love, and they can’t say a word about it, because (among other reasons) he only speaks English and she only speaks Portuguese, and then they have to go their separate ways. And then! He learns Portuguese, kind of, and he comes back and tells her, kind of, as we read in the closed captions:

Jamie: “Beautiful Aurelia, I've come here with a view of asking you to marriage me. I know I seems an insane person - because I hardly knows you - but sometimes things are so transparency, they don't need evidential proof. And I will inhabit here, or you can inhabit with me in England.”

And it turns out, Awwwww…she’s learned English! Kind of.

Jamie: “You learned English?”“

                                                           Aurelia: “Just in cases.”

Awww. “Just in cases.” How wonderful is that?  So, again, there’s no sweaty lust or body parts here, but only honest emotion. A whole crowd of people is watching. But it’s about—conflict, and desire, and devotion. And it’s so romantic! And we can watch it, over and over.

I Googled “most romantic movies of all time” and I must say, though the lists were similar, some of the one included were not my faves. The Notebook? Bridges of Madison County? Er..no.(Not for me, at least.) We could argue over The English Patient. But West Side Story? Dirty Dancing? When Harry Met Sally? Ghost? Casablanca? (Number one on so many lists…)

And You’ve Got Mail? So wonderful. And in the end they meet—with their real identities--and

Joe Fox: “Don't cry, Shopgirl. Don't cry. “

Kathleen Kelly: “I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so badly. “

Okay, what’s the point of this? Well, it’s fun to remember favorite movies, whatever the occasion. But for writers, and readers this pre-Valentine’s Day, it’s also educational to remember when and why romance works. And that often it’s more in your head, than in your…wherever else.

Happy Valentine’s Day! And what’s the most romantic movie you’ve ever seen? Why? A copy of the Agatha and Mary Higgins Clark–nominated THE OTHER WOMAN to a lucky commenter!

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