Tuesday, February 14, 2012

100 Greatest Movie Love Stories

In honor of Valentine's Day, The Essential Films counts down the 100 greatest cinematic love stories.  Many of society's conventions and notions of romance come from pop culture's, specifically the movies', depiction of love and relationships... so what better way to pay tribute than to count down the 100 most romantic films of all time?

The criteria are as follows:

  • Narrative film, at least 60 minutes in length (no documentaries or short films)
  • Films with a release date up to 2010 are eligible.  Films released in 2011 or 2012 are not eligible.
  • The love story does not have to be the main focus of the film, however the love story must be one of the main narrative threads for at least one character.  While the film itself doesn't have to be a "romance"to be eligible, a character simply can't just be in a relationship. Love or the relationship must be the main focus of at least one protagonist.
  • The film does NOT have to have a happy ending.  In fact, most films on this list do not.
  • Films involving dysfunctional couples or characters in unrequited love ARE eligible.
That's about it.  Enjoy the countdown!

100 - Moulin Rouge (2001)

Director: Baz Luhrmann
Writers:  Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce
Principal Cast:  Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.

99 - There's Something About Mary (1998)

Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Writers:  Ed Decter, John J. Strauss, Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly
Principal Cast:   Cameron Diaz, Ben Stiller, Matt Dillon, Lee Evans, Chris Elliot

His friends would say stop whining, they've had enough of that. / His friends would say stop pining, there's other girls to look at. / They've tried to set him up with Tiffany and Indigo, / But there's something about Mary that they don't know. / Mary, there's just something about Mary. 

98 - William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Director:  Baz Luhrmann
Writers:  Craig Pearce & Baz Luhrmann based on the play by William Shakespeare
Principal Cast:  Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Daines, John Leguizamo, Harold Perrineau, Pete Postlethwaite

Did my heart love 'til now? Forswear its sight. For I never saw true beauty 'til this night. 

97 - Cleopatra (1963)

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Writers:  Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Randall MacDougall, Sidney Buchman
Principal Cast:  Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison

My breasts are full of love and life. My hips are round and well apart. Such women, they say, have sons. 

96 - Last Tango in Paris (1972)

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Writers:  Bernardo Bertolucci, Franco Arcalli
Principal Cast: Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider

Beauty of mine, sit before me. Let me peruse you and remember you... always like this.


Director:  Henry Koster
Writers: Robert E. Sherwood, Leonardo Bercovici based on the novel by Robert Nathan
Principal Cast:  Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven, Monty Woolley, James Gleason

Oh, no. This difficulty was in me. When an Immortal finds himself envying the Mortal he is entrusted to his care, it's a danger signal. Take her in your arms and hold her tight. Kiss her for me, you lucky Henry!
94 - The English Patient (1996)

Director: Anthony Minghella
Writers:  Anthony Minghella based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje
Principal Cast:  Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Naveen Andrews, Colin Firth

- Promise me you'll come back for me. 
- I promise, I'll come back for you. I promise, I'll never leave you. 

93 - The American President (1995)

Director: Rob Reiner
Writer:  Aaron Sorkin
Principal Cast:  Michael Douglas, Annette Benning, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox
- That's not what I mean. Two hundred pairs of eyes are focused on you with two questions on their minds - who's this girl, and why is the President dancing with her? 
- Well, first of all, the two hundred pairs of eyes aren't focused on me. They're focused on you. And the answers are Sydney Ellen Wade, and because she said yes.
92 - Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Director:  Nicholas Stoller
Writer: Jason Segel
Principal Cast:  Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader

- Why Dracula? 
- Because he's just a man, he wants to be loved but every woman he gets near he ends up smothering and killing, and I've had similar experiences. 


91 - Titanic (1997)

Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
Principal Cast:  Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher

I'll never let go, Jack. I promise. 

90 - Forrest Gump (1994)

Director:  Robert Zemeckis
Writers:  Eric Roth based on the novel by Winston Groom
Principal Cast:  Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Sally Field, Gary Sinise

I'm not a smart man... but I know what love is.

89 - The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)

Director: Judd Apatow
Writers:  Judd Apatow
Principal Cast:  Steve Carrell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Seth Rogen

- Here's what you do. You tell her you're a virgin. You test her with this shit, okay? Here, tell me. Tell me. This is how it's gonna go. Tell me. 
- I'm a virgin. 
- Sweet! I like that because I know you don't have... chlamydia. I *know* that. I mean, that shit is everywhere.

88 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Director: Stanley Kramer
Writer: William Rose
Principal Cast:  Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton

It never occurred to me that I would fall in love with a Negro, but I have, and nothing's going to change that. 

87 - Lady and the Tramp (1955)

Directors:  Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske
Writers:  Ward Greene, Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Ralph Wright, Don DaGradi
Voice Cast:  Peggy Lee, Barbara Luddy, Larry Roberts, Bill Thompson, Bill Baucom

- Look again, Pige. Look, there's a great big hunk of world down there, with no fence around it. Where two dogs can find adventure and excitement. And beyond those distant hills, who knows what wonderful experiences? And it's all ours for the taking, Pige. It's all ours. 
- It sounds wonderful. 

86 - Splendor in the Grass (1961)

Director: Elia Kazan
Writer: William Inge
Principal Cast:  Warren Beatty, Natalie Wood, Pat Hingle, Audrey Christie, Barbara Loden

Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower, we will grieve not; rather find strength in what remains behind. 



85 - A Place in the Sun (1951)

Director: George Stevens
Writers: Michael Wilson, Harry Brown from the novel by Theodore Dreiser and the play by Patrick Kearney
Principal Cast:  Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Ann Revere, Raymond Burr

I love you. I've loved you since the first moment I saw you. I guess maybe I've even loved you before I saw you. 


84 - The Bridges of Madison County (1995)

Director:  Clint Eastwood
Writers:  Richard LaGravenese based on a novel by Robert James Waller
Principal Cast:  Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep

And in that moment, everything I knew to be true about myself up until then was gone. I was acting like another woman, yet I was more myself than ever before.



83 - The Sound of Music (1965)

Director: Robert Wise
Writer:  Ernest Lehman based on the musical by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse
Principal Cast:  Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood

You brought music back into the house. I had forgotten. 



82 - Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Director: Joe Wright
Writers:  Deborah Moggach based on the novel by Jane Austen
Principal Cast:  Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone

- From the first moment I met you, your arrogance and conceit, your selfish disdain for the feelings of others made me realize that you were the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry. 
- Forgive me, madam, for taking up so much of your time. 

81 - Penny Serenade (1941)

Director: George Stevens
Writer: Morrie Ryskind
Principal Cast: Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Beulah Bondi

We don't need each other anymore. When that happens to two people, there's nothing left. 





80 - 7th Heaven (1927)

Director: Frank Borzage
Writers:  Benjamin Glazer based on the play by Austin Strong
Principal Cast:  Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, David Butler

79 - Chasing Amy (1997)

Director: Kevin Smith
Writer:  Kevin Smith
Principal Cast:  Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes

 I love you. And not, not in a friendly way, although I think we're great friends. And not in a misplaced affection, puppy-dog way, although I'm sure that's what you'll call it. I love you. Very, very simple, very truly. You are the-the epitome of everything I have ever looked for in another human being.

78 - As Good As It Gets (1997)

Director: James L. Brooks
Writers:  Mark Andrus & James L. Brooks
Principal Cast:  Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr.

You make me want to be a better man.

77 - Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Director: Ang Lee
Writer:  Larry McMurty & Diana Ossana based on the short story by Annie Proulx
Principal Cast: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway

I wish I knew how to quit you.

76 - Gigi (1958)

Director:  Vincente Minneli
Writer:  Alan Jay Lerner based on a novel by Colette
Principal Cast:  Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan

I would rather be miserable with you than without you.

75 - Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Director:  David Lean
Writers:  Robert Bolt from the novel by Boris Pasternak
Principal Cast:  Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness


- Wouldn't it have been lovely if we'd met before? 
- Before we did? Yes. 
- We'd have got married, had a house and children. If we'd had children, Yuri, would you like a boy or girl? 
- I think we may go mad if we think about all that. 
- I shall always think about it.

74 - Harold and Maude (1971)

Director:  Hal Ashby
Writer:  Colin Higgins
Principal Cast:  Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort

- I like you, Maude
- I like you, Harold

73 - Ghost (1990)

Director:  Jerry Zucker
Writer:  Bruce Joel Rubin
Principal Cast:  Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn

- I love you. I really do.
- Ditto.

72 - Cinderella (1950)

Directors:  Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske
Writers:  Bill Peet, Erdman Penner, Ted Sears, Winston Hibler, Hober Brightman, Harry Reeves, Ken Anderson, Joe Rinaldi from the story by Charles Perrault
Voice Cast:  Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton, Rhoda Williams, James MacDonald

- He's been hunting all night. 
- Hunting? 
- For that girl. The one who lost her slipper at the ball last night. They say he's madly in love with her.

71 - Shakespeare in Love (1998)

Director: John Madden
Writers:  Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard
Principal Cast:  Geoffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Judi Dench, Colin Firth

- I loved a writer and gave up the prize for a sonnet. 
- I was the more deceived. 
- Yes, you were deceived, for I did not know how much I loved you. 


70 - 500 Days of Summer (2009)

Director: Marc Webb
Writers:  Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
Principal Cast:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel

- What happens if you fall in love? 
- Well, you don't believe that, do you? 
- It's love. It's not Santa Claus. 

69 - Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

Director: Mike Newell
Writer:  Richard Curtis
Principal Cast:  Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, James Fleet


- I just, ehm, well, this is a very stupid question and... , particularly in view of our recent shopping excursion, but I just wondered, by any chance, ehm, eh, I mean obviously not because I guess I've only slept with 9 people, but-but I-I just wondered... ehh. I really feel, ehh, in short, to recap it slightly in a clearer version, eh, the words of David Cassidy in fact, eh, while he was still with the Partridge family, eh, "I think I love you," and eh, I-I just wondered by any chance you wouldn't like to... Eh... Eh... No, no, no of course not... I'm an idiot, he's not... Excellent, excellent, fantastic, eh, I was gonna say lovely to see you, sorry to disturb... Better get on... 
- That was very romantic. 
- Well, I thought it over a lot, you know, I wanted to get it just right.

68 - In America (2002)

Director: Jim Sheridan
Writers:  Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan, Kirsten Sheridan
Principal Cast:  Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, Djimon Hounsou

I asked him a favour once. I asked him to take me instead of him. He took us both. And look what he left in my place. 

67 - Shrek (2001)

Director:  Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
Writers:  Ted Elliot, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, Roger S.H. Schulman based on the book by William Steig
Principal Cast: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow


- No, it's destiny! You must know how it goes! The Knight rescues the Princess, and then they share true love's first kiss... 
- With Shrek? Whoa, whoa, whoa... you think, you think that Shrek is your true love?
66 - Dodsworth (1936)

Director:  William Wyler
Writers:  Sidney Howard based on the novel by Sinclair Lewis
Principal Cast:  Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor, Kathryn Marlowe

Love has got to stop some place short of suicide. 

65 - Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Director:  Arthur Penn
Writers:  David Newman, Robert Benton
Principal Cast:  Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons


- I don't have no mama. No family either. 
- Hey, I'm your family. 
- You know what, when we started out, I thought we was really goin' somewhere. This is it. We're just goin', huh? 
- I love you. 

64 - An American in Paris (1951)

Director: Vincente Minnelli
Writer:  Alan Jay Lerner
Principal Cast:  Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Georges Guétary, Nina Foch


- Maybe Paris has a way of making people forget. 
- Paris? No. Not this city. It's too real and too beautiful to ever let you forget anything.
63 - True Romance (1993)

Director: Tony Scott
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Principal Cast:  Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken

You just said you love me, now if I say I love you and just throw caution to the wind and let the chips fall where they may and you're lying to me I'm gonna fuckin' die. 

62 - The Awful Truth (1937)

Director: Leo McCarey
Writers:  Viña Delmar, Arthur Richman
Principal Cast:  Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy


- You're all confused, aren't you? 
- Aren't you? 
- No. 
- Well you should be, because you're wrong about things being different because they're not the same. Things are different except in a different way. You're still the same, only I've been a fool... but I'm not now. 
- Oh. 
- So long as I'm different don't you thing that... well maybe things could be the same again... only a little different, huh? 

61 - Charade (1963)

Director:  Stanley Donen
Writers:  Peter Stone based on the story by Peter Stone and Marc Behm
Principal Cast:  Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy

Oh, I love you, Adam, Alex, Peter, Brian, whatever your name is, I love you! I hope we have a lot of boys and we can name them all after you!

60 - Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Director:  Woody Allen
Writer:  Woody Allen
Principal Cast:  Barbara Hershey, Carrie Fisher, Michael Caine, Mia Farrow, Dianne Weist, Woody Allen, Max Von Sydow


God, she's beautiful. She's got the prettiest eyes. She looks so sexy in that sweater. I just want to be alone with her and hold her and kiss her and tell her how much I love her and take care of her. Stop it you idiot, she's your wife's sister.
59 - Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Director:  Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Writer:  Linda Wolverton
Voice Cast:  Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury

If I didn't know better, I'd think you had *feelings* for this monster.

58 - Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Director:  Tim Burton
Writer: Caroline Thompson
Principal Cast:  Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall, Kathy Baker

- Hold me.
- I can't.

57 - Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writers:  James V. Hart based on the novel by Bram Stoker
Principal Cast:  Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, Anthony Hopkins, Richard E. Grant

I have crossed oceans of time to find you.

56 - Say Anything... (1989)

Director:  Cameron Crowe
Writer:  Cameron Crowe
Principal Cast:  John Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney, Lili Taylor, Amy Brooks

She's gone. She gave me a pen. I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen.
55 - My Fair Lady (1964)

Director:  George Cukor
Writers:  Alan Jay Lerner from the musical by Alan Jay Lerner from a play by George Bernard Shaw
Principal Cast:  Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wildred Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper

I've grown accustomed to her face! She almost makes the day begin! I've grown accustomed to the tune that she whistles night and noon. Her smiles, her frowns, her ups, her downs, are second nature to me now, like breathing out and breathing in... I was serenely independent and content before we met! Surely I could always be that way again... And yet... I've grown accustomed to her looks, accustomed to her voice, accustomed... to her... face.

54 - The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

Director:  Juan José Campanella
Writers: Eduardo Sacheri , Juan José Campanella
Principal Cast:  Soledad Villamil, Ricardo Darín, Carla Quevedo, Pablo Rago, Javier Godino

A guy can change anything. His face, his home, his family, his girlfriend, his religion,his God. But there's one thing he can't change. He can't change his passion...
53 - Rocky (1976)

Director:  John G. Avildsen
Writer: Sylvester Stallone
Principal Cast:  Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young

Will you do me a favor? Take off these glasses. Now take off this hat. I always knew you was pretty... 

52 - Romeo and Juliet (1968)

Director:  Franco Zeffirelli
Writers:  Franco Brusati, Masolino D'Amico, Franco Zeffirelli based on the play by William Shakespeare
Principal Cast:  Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery, Milo O'Shea, Pat Heywood

Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
51 - The Apartment (1960)

Director: Billy Wilder
Writers:  Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond
Principal Cast:  Jack Lemmon, Shirley McLaine, Fred MacMurray

- You hear what I said, Miss Kubelik? I absolutely adore you. 
- Shut up and deal... 

50 - Before Sunset (2004)

Director:  Richard Linklater
Writers:  Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
Principal Cast:  Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke


- In the months leading up to my wedding, I was thinking about you all the time. I mean, even on my way there; I'm in the car, a buddy of mine is driving me downtown and I'm staring out the window, and I think I see you, not far from the church, right? Folding up an umbrella and walking into a deli on the corner of 13th and Broadway. And I thought I was going crazy, but now I think it probably was you. 
- I lived on 11th and Broadway. 
- You see?

49 - Adam's Rib (1949)

Director:  George Cukor
Writers:  Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin
Principal Cast:  Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn

Lawyers should never marry other lawyers. This is called in-breeding; from this comes idiot children... and other lawyers. 

48 - La belle et la bête (1946)

Director:  Jean Cocteau
Writer:  Jean Cocteau
Principal Cast:  Jean Marais, Josette Day

Belle, you mustn't look into my eyes. You needn't fear. You will never see me, except each evening at 7:00, when you will dine, and I will come to the great hall. And never look into my eyes. 
47 - Jules et Jim (1962)

Director:  François Truffaut
Writers:  François Truffaut, Jean Gruault based on the novel by Henri-Pierre Roché
Principal Cast:  Jeanne Moreau, Oskar Werner, Henri Serre

You said, "I love you," I said, "Wait." I was going to say, "Take me," you said, "Go away." 
46 - Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Director: Howard Hawks
Writers:  Dudley Nichols, Hagar Wilde
Principal Cast:  Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn

Now it isn't that I don't like you, Susan, because, after all, in moments of quiet, I'm strangely drawn toward you, but - well, there haven't been any quiet moments. 
45 - Notorious (1946)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writer:  Ben Hecht
Principal Cast:  Carey Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains


- This is a very strange love affair. 
- Why? 
- Maybe the fact that you don't love me. 

44 - Marty (1955)

Director: Delbert Mann
Writer:  Paddy Chayefsky
Principal Cast:  Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair

Ma, sooner or later, there comes a point in a man's life when he's gotta face some facts. And one fact I gotta face is that, whatever it is that women like, I ain't got it.
43 - Badlands (1973)

Director:  Terrence Malick
Writer:  Terrence Malick
Principal Cast:  Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek

My girl Holly and I decided to kill ourselves. The same way I did her Daddy. Big decision, you know. Uh, the reasons are obvious. I don't have time to go into right now. But, one thing though, he was provoking me when I popped him. Well that's what it was like. Pop. I'm sorry. I mean, nobody's coming out of this thing happy. Especially not us. I can't deny we've had fun though. 

42 - The Remains of the Day (1993)

Director:  James Ivory
Writers:  Ruth Prawer Jhabvala based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro
Principal Cast:  Christopher Reeve, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson

- What's in that book? Come on, let me see! 
- This is my private time. You're invading it. 
- Oh, is that so? 
- Yes. 
- I'm invading your private time, am I? 
- Yes. 

41 - Once (2006)

Director:  John Carney
Writer:  John Carney
Principal Cast:  Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová

- How come you don't play during daytime? I see you here everyday. 
- During the daytime people would want to hear songs that they know, just songs that they recognize. I play these song at night or I wouldn't make any money. People wouldn't listen. 
- I listen. 

40 - Scenes from a Marriage (1973)

Director:  Ingmar Bergman
Writer:  Ingmar Bergman
Principal Cast:  Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson

Sometimes it's like husband and wife are talking on telephones that are out of order. 

39 - A Star is Born (1954)

Director:  George Cukor
Writers:  Moss Hart from the 1937 screenplay by Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, Robert Carson
Principal Cast:  Judy Garland, James Mason, Jack Carson, Charles Bickford, Tommy Noonan


- You know as much about me as I do myself. But...you see how long it's taken me to get this far. Now, all I need is just a little luck. 
- What kind of luck? 
- Oh, the kind of luck that every girl singer with a band dreams of--one night a big talent scout from a big record company might come in and he'll let me make a record. 
- Yes, and then? 
- Well, the record will become number one on the Hit Parade, it'll be played on the jukeboxes all over the country...and I'll be made. End of dream. 
- There's only one thing wrong with that. 
- I know--it won't happen! 
- No, it might happen pretty easily--but the dream isn't big enough. 

38 - The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

Director:  Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Writers:  Philip Dunne based on the novel by R.A. Dick
Principal Cast:  Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders

You must make your own life amongst the living and, whether you meet fair winds or foul, find your own way to harbor in the end. 

37 - His Girl Friday (1940)

Director:  Howard Hawks
Writers:  Charles Lederer based on the play "The Front Page" by Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur
Principal Cast:  Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy

Walter, you're wonderful, in a loathsome sort of way.

36 - Ball of Fire (1941)

Director: Howard Hawks
Writers:  Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder
Principal Cast:  Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Oskar Homolka, Henry Travers, S.Z. Sakall

Yes, I love him. I love those hick shirts he wears with the boiled cuffs and the way he always has his vest buttoned wrong. Looks like a giraffe, and I love him. I love him because he's the kind of a guy that gets drunk on a glass of buttermilk, and I love the way he blushes right up over his ears. Love him because he doesn't know how to kiss, the jerk! 

35 - Ninotchka (1939)

Director:  Ernst Lubitsch
Writers:  Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Walter Reisch
Principal Cast:  Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Ina Claire, Bela Lugosi, Sig Ruman

It's midnight. Look at the clock, one hand has met the other hand, they kiss. Isn't that wonderful? 
34 - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Director:  Mike Nichols
Writers:  Ernest Lehman based on the play by Edward Albee
Principal Cast:  Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis

George, my husband... George, who is out somewhere there in the dark, who is good to me - whom I revile, who can keep learning the games we play as quickly as I can change them. Who can make me happy and I do not wish to be happy. Yes, I do wish to be happy. George and Martha: Sad, sad, sad. Whom I will not forgive for having come to rest; for having seen me and having said: yes, this will do.

33 - A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Director:  Elia Kazan
Writer:  Oscar Saul based on the play by Tennessee Williams
Principal Cast:  Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden

- He smashed all the lightbulbs with the heel of my slipper.
- And you let him? Didn't run, didn't scream?
- Actually, I was sorta thrilled by it.

32 - Manhattan (1979)

Director:  Woody Allen
Writer:  Woody Allen
Principal Cast:  Woody Allen, Mariel Hemingway, Diane Keaton, Michael Murphy Meryl Streep

You know what you are? You're God's answer to Job, y'know? You would have ended all argument between them. I mean, He would have pointed to you and said, y'know, "I do a lot of terrible things, but I can still make one of these." You know? And then Job would have said, "Eh. Yeah, well, you win."
31 - The Princess Bride (1987)

Director:  Rob Reiner
Writer:  William Goldman
Principal Cast:  Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Robin Wright


- You can die too for all I care. 
- AS... YOU... WISH. 

30 - The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Director:  William Wyler
Writers:  Robert E. Sherwood from a novel by MacKinlay Kantor
Principal Cast:  Myrna Loy, Frederic March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo

"We never had any trouble." How many times have I told you I hated you and believed it in my heart? How many times have you said you were sick and tired of me; that we were all washed up? How many times have we had to fall in love all over again?
29 - Up (2009)

Director:  Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Writers:  Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Voice Cast:  Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai, Bob Peterson, Delroy Lindo

Thanks for the adventure. Now go have a new one.
28 - The Lady Eve (1941)

Director:  Preston Sturges
Writers:  Monckton Hoffe based on a story by Preston Sturges
Principal Cast:  Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, William Demarest


- I'm married. 
- But so am I, darling. So am I.
27 - My Man Godfrey (1936)

Director:  Gregory La Cava
Writers:  Morrie Ryskind, Eric Hatch
Principal Cast:  William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick, Eugene Pallette


- Why can't you let me alone? 
- Because you're my responsibility and someone has to take care of you. 
- I can take care of myself. 
- You can't look me in the eye and say that. You love me and you know it. You know, there's no sense in struggling against a thing when it's got you. It's got you and that's all there is to it - it's got you! 

26 - The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Director:  George Cukor
Writers:  Donald Ogden Stewart based on the play by Philip Barry
Principal Cast:  Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard


- It can't be anything like love, can it? 
- No, no, it can't be. 
- Would it be inconvenient? 
- Terribly.

25 - WALL•E (2008)

Director:  Andrew Stanton
Writers:  Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon
Voice Cast:  Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, MacInTalk


- Name? 
- WALL-E. 
- WALL-E? 
- EVE. 
- Eeee... 
- EVE. 
- Eeeee... aah. 
- "EVE"! "EVE"! 
- Eeeee... va?

24 - The Heiress (1949)

Director:  William Wyler
Writers: Ruth Goetz, Augustus Goetz suggested by the novel "Washington Square" by Henry James
Principal Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown

He's grown greedier over the years. Before he only wanted my money; now he wants my love as well. Well, he came to the wrong house - and he came twice. I shall see that he does not come a third time.
23 - Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

Director: F.W. Murnau
Writers:  Carl Mayer
Principal Cast:  George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston, Bodil Rosing, J. Farrell MacDonald


This song of the Man and his Wife is of no place and every place; you might hear it anywhere, at any time. For wherever the sun rises and sets, in the city's turmoil or under the open sky on the farm, life is much the same; sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet.

22 - Life is Beautiful (1997)

Director: Roberto Benigni
Writers:  Vincenzo Cerami, Roberto Benigni
Principal Cast:  Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano, Sergio Bini Bustric

Buon giorno, Principessa!
21 - Before Sunrise (1995)

Director: Richard Linklater
Writers:  Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan
Principal Cast:  Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy

But then the morning comes, and we turn back into pumpkins, right? 

20 - It Happened One Night (1934)

Director:  Frank Capra
Writers:  Robert Riskin based on the short story by Samuel Hopkins Adams
Principal Cast:  Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns, Jameson Thomas

I want to see what love looks like when it's triumphant. I haven't had a good laugh in a week.
19 - An Affair to Remember (1957)

Director:  Leo McCarey
Writers:  Delmer Daves, Donald Ogden Stewart, Leo McCarey
Principal Cast:  Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning, Neva Patterson, Cathleen Nesbit

Oh, it's nobody's fault but my own! I was looking up... it was the nearest thing to heaven! You were there...
18 - Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Director:  Blake Edwards
Writers:  George Axelrod based on the novel by Truman Capote
Principal Cast:  Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam


- I'll tell you one thing, Fred, darling... I'd marry you for your money in a minute. Would you marry me for my money? 
- In a minute. 
- I guess it's pretty lucky neither of us is rich, huh? 
- Yeah.

17 - From Here to Eternity (1953)

Director:  Fred Zinnemann
Writers:  Daniel Taradash from the novel by James Jones
Principal Cast:  Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Montgomery Clift, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra

Nobody ever lies about being lonely.
16 - When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Director:  Rob Reiner
Writer:  Nora Ephron
Principal Cast:  Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby, Steven Ford

I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

15 - Now, Voyager (1942)

Director:  Irving Rapper
Writers:  Casey Robinson from the novel by Olive Higgins Prouty
Principal Cast:  Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Gladys Cooper, Bonita Granville

Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.
14 - West Side Story (1961)

Directors:  Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
Writers:  Ernest Lehman based on the book by Arthur Laurents and the play conceived by Jerome Robbins
Principal Cast:  Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakris

Hold my hand and we are halfway there, hold my hand and I'll take you there. Somehow! Someday!
13 - The African Queen (1951)

Director:  John Huston
Writers: James Agee, John Huston from the novel by C.S. Forester
Principal Cast:  Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn

Dear Lord, We've come to the end of our journey, and in a little while we'll stand before you. I pray for you to be merciful. Judge us not for our weaknesses, but for our love and open the doors of heaven for Charlie and me. 

12 - Double Indemnity (1944)

Director:  Billy Wilder
Writers:  Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler from the novel by James M. Cain
Principal Cast:  Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Jean Heather


- You'll be here too? 
- I guess so, I usually am. 
- Same chair, same perfume, same anklet? 
- I wonder if I know what you mean. 
- I wonder if you wonder. 

11 - Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Director:  Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
Writers:  Adolph Green, Betty Comden
Principal Cast:  Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell


- I said some awful things that night, didn't I? 
- No. I deserved them. But I must admit I was hurt by them. So hurt in fact that I haven't been able to think about anything but you ever since.
10 Annie Hall (1977)

Director:  Woody Allen
Writer:  Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman
Principal Cast:  Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon

 The... the other important joke, for me, is one that's usually attributed to Groucho Marx; but, I think it appears originally in Freud's "Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious," and it goes like this - I'm paraphrasing - um, "I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member." That's the key joke of my adult life, in terms of my relationships with women.

9 - Gone With the Wind (1939)

Director:  Victor Fleming
Writers:  Sidney Howard based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell
Principal Cast:  Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Olivia de Haviland, Leslie Howard


- Rhett, Rhett... Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do? 
- Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
8 - Some Like It Hot (1959)

Director:  Billy Wilder
Writers:  Billy Wilder, IAL Diamond
Principal Cast:  Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, George Raft, Joe E. Brown


- I'm afraid it may take a little longer. 
- It's not how long it takes, it's who's taking you.
7 - City Lights (1931)

Director:  Charles Chaplin
Writer: Charles Chaplin
Principal Cast:  Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers, Al Ernest Garcia


- Can you see now? 
- Yes, I can see now.
6 - It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Director:  Frank Capra
Writers:  Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra based on a story by Philip Van Doren Stern
Principal Cast:  James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers

What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary.
5 - Brief Encounter (1945)

Director:  David Lean
Writer:  Noel Coward
Principal Cast:  Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond

- You've come a long way.
- Yes.
- Thank you for coming back to me.
4 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Director: Michel Gondry
Writer:  Charlie Kaufmann
Principal Cast:  Jim Carey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst


- This is it, Joel. It's going to be gone soon. 
- I know. 
- What do we do? 
- Enjoy it.
3 - Roman Holiday (1953)

Director: William Wyler
Writers:  Dalton Trumbo, Ian McEllan Hunter, John Dighton
Principal Cast:  Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert, Hartley Power, Harcourt Williams

I've never been alone with a man before, even with my dress on. With my dress off, it's MOST unusual.
2 - The Shop Around The Corner (1940)

Director:  Ernst Lubitsch
Writers:  Samson Raphaelson based on the play by Miklós László
Principal Cast:  Margaret Sullivan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut, Felix Bressart


- There might be a lot we don't know about each other. You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth. 
- Well I really wouldn't care to scratch your surface, Mr. Kralik, because I know exactly what I'd find. Instead of a heart, a hand-bag. Instead of a soul, a suitcase. And instead of an intellect, a cigarette lighter... which doesn't work. 


Director: Michael Curtiz
Writers:  Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch based on a play by Murray Burnett, Joan Allison
Principal Cast:  Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt

- I'm saying it because it's true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You're part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life. 
- But what about us? 
- We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night. 
- When I said I would never leave you. 
- And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. 
- Now, now... Here's looking at you kid.