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Then there are timeless romances like 1947’s An Affair to Remember, which gave us the now-somewhat trite gimmick of two star-crossed (married) lovers that have a brief affair and agree to meet at a predetermined time at the top of the Empire State Building. And who could forget the Best Picture-winning From Here to Eternity and its classic Donna Reed love scene as the waves wash up on the lovers on the beach? The movie touched on subjects as wide as World War II and feminism, and is perhaps one of the most critically revered of any movie I could list today. It also reminds me of another Best Picture winner, Casablanca. Really, if I had any sense, that movie would top this list. Casablanca has the largest number of oft-quoted movie lines of perhaps any film in history (“Here’s looking at you, Kid,” “Of all the Gin Joints In the World…”, etc.) and on that basis alone is an all-time classic.

Then there are movies that focus on the tragic, lonely, and beautiful reality of love. Tennessee Williams’ companion pieces, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire, are in their essence romantic movies about the horrors of unrequited love or about the loneliness of love. In that vein of helpless, tragic, and perhaps realistic love, one must list contemporary classics from Ghost to Blue Valentine to the absolutely heart-breaking Amour, which deals more seriously and hauntingly with love and aging than The Age of Adeline. One could also look to Nicholas Sparks’ beautiful The Notebook, a worthy top five finisher were it not for an already crowded field.

The seventh place finisher is Moulin Rouge!, which, like other musicals, focuses on other topics and thus lowers it a tad on the crowded list, but nevertheless stars a beautiful cast in a beautiful analysis and appreciation of the ultimate human emotion.

Finally, before the main event, Ang Lee’s revolutionary Brokeback Mountain is likely the sixth best romance of all time. Daring and brave to be made at a time when the topic of gay love was not as embraced as it is today, the cowboy love story was touching and impeccably prepared with its sweeping landscape and scores, and exacting if surprising performances by the quarter of young actors that headlined the story. Ang Lee is in a subtle way, the master of romance. From The Ice Storm to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the heart of his movies is breathtaking. But it is the tragic love poem in the Wyoming plains that will be remembered as one of the best love stories of all time.

After these seemingly perfect movies, how could others compare? Again, the idea was to make somewhat unconventional picks this time around…

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