The Nibbler's Top Ten Oddball Romantic Movies

Asked recently what I considered the most romantic films, I realized that highly flawed love, awkward or resigned, ruled my list:


1. Shampoo (1975, Ashby)
Love by refrigerator light



2. Crash (1996, Cronenberg)
Or, scenes from a marriage



4. Heaven Can Wait (1943, Lubitsch)
Or, Loyalty trumps Fidelity




5. Max Mon Amour (1986, Oshima)
Some of the greatest double takes in cinema: "I just find out you're the mistress of a monkey and you want me to go to bed?"



6. Bell Book and Candle (1958, Quine)
"A witch?... Shep, you just never learned to spell."



7. Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993, Allen)
"Take away his elevator shoes and his fake suntan and his capped teeth... and what do you have?"
"You"



8. Trouble in Paradise (1932, Lubitsch)
Only the reunion under the table at a formal event in Shampoo can top the romantic dinner scene in which Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall return each other's stolen baubles--though he holds on to the garter--and discover that they're two of a kind.



9. Love with the Proper Stranger (1963, Mulligan)
"Scotch? Water, Soda or Tonic?"
"Zelda, Gin and Tonic, yes. Vodka and Tonic, yes. Scotch and Tonic, no."
"...uh."
"water."



10. You and Me (1938, Lang)





Tragic or Pure Romance:


The Clock (1945, Minnelli)
Brief Encounter (1945, Lean)
Cluny Brown (1946, Lubitsch)
To Die Like a Man (2009, Rodrigues)
The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954, Robson)


And on the flip side:


Vertigo (1958, Hitchcock)
Contempt (1963, Godard)
Duel in the Sun (1946, Vidor)
The Night Porter (1974, Cavani)
Remember My Name (1978, Rudolph)