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Labor Day weekend is almost upon us, but before it comes, we’re being treated with a few unique post-summer entries at the box office. Though I could easily write a bit about Machete, the trailer-cum-movie from Robert Rodriguez that apparently deals a bit with illegal immigration—living in the state of Arizona would lend such an article a political tenor that isn’t usually seen at this site - it may be a bit easier and safer to talk a bit about offscreen couples. Why this topic for the A-List? Well, one of the other new releases is Going the Distance, a raunchy romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, as a long-distance couple. Barrymore and Long, in real life, are an on-again, off-again couple. How will their real-life chemistry translate to the big screen? Will it translate at all? Let me know, won’t you?

Yeah, I can’t admit to having much interest in Going the Distance, partly because real-life emotions don’t often emanate from Barrymore, an actress who has, wisely or not, capitalized on seeming like a flighty, flaky young girl over the past decade or so. Either way, the film brings up the topic of some famous real-life romantic couples who met onscreen to varying results. Two of the couples on this week’s list are among the most iconic couples to ever grace Hollywood. One is wildly popular and unavoidable, and the others are responsible for two of the biggest box-office bombs ever. Whatever the case, they are among the most notable on- and off-screen couples in movie memory. I highly doubt that Barrymore and Long will ever reach these heights, positive or negative. Still, any excuse to reflect on some classic pairings is good enough for me. On with the list.

Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn

In some ways, the best Hollywood couples came and went years before you or I were born. My pick for the best offscreen couple that brought their chemistry to the big screen is Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Tracy and Hepburn starred in nine films together over nearly 30 years. They were best known for their romantic roles in comedies during the 1940s. These films include Woman of the Year, Without Love, and Keeper of the Flame, but their best known collaboration was in Adam’s Rib, a romantic comedy in the world of law. Tracy and Hepburn worked best because they managed to bicker like an old married couple while having the sexual chemistry of honeymooners. Offscreen, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn managed to do something few big-name couples can do: never, ever talk about their relationship.

We see this all the time, right? The actor or actress who just doesn’t want to talk about his or her personal life. Some actors, of course, are able to guard their privacy seriously; all deserve to have their privacy respected, even if some don’t care. Tracy and Hepburn were both fiercely protective of having some semblance of a real life outside of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood and were able to succeed. Most people in the industry knew what was going on, but they didn’t spoil the surprise to people. Of course, no one needed to know; watch their movies and you can see for yourself what real chemistry is like, on or off the set. In some ways, they’re the iconic bickering married couple, but able to stoke more intimate fires after they end their bickering. Tracy and Hepburn are the ideal, the bar no one’s topped yet.

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