Photo: Paramount Pictures
An Officer and a Gentleman
Imagine, for a second, you're Debra Winger. It's just another tedious day at the lunch bag factory when a young Richard Gere (in a Navy dress uniform, no less) suddenly appears. He kisses you without a word, sweeps you up in his arms and takes you away from it all. Did we mention "Up Where We Belong" is playing in the background? Swoon.
Photo: Universal Pictures
Love Actually
Sometimes, forlorn lovers say it best when they say nothing at all. For years, Mark (Andrew Lincoln) has unknowingly been in love with his best friend's wife. Once he discovers the truth, he does the only thing he can. He shows up on their doorstep with a boom box posing as Christmas carolers and a stack of cue cards. With her husband just inside, Mark pours his heart out. "Just because it's Christmas (and at Christmas you tell the truth)," the cards read. "To me you are perfect, and my wasted heart will love you until you look like this [shows a picture of a shriveled mummy.]"
As he walks away, Juliet gives him one small kiss. "Enough," he says as she leaves. "Enough now."
In any other movie, this scene could have been an explosion of creepiness. Thankfully, its flawless execution leaves us with one of the most heartbreakingly sweet declarations of love in recent film history.
Photo: Castle Rock Entertainment
When Harry Met Sally
It takes a certain kind of man to love a woman who takes half an hour to order a sandwich.
Despite Harry's (Billy Crystal) warnings that men and women can't be friends, he finds himself palling around with Sally (Meg Ryan) for years . When their friendship goes too far one night, Harry panics and pushes Sally away—until New Year's Eve, that is. As the stroke of midnight approaches, Harry runs frantically through the streets of New York City to find his true love. In this classic scene, the hapless Harry steals our hearts as he leaves his checkered past with Sally behind and embraces the future of their deliciously neurotic New York kind of love.
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
Say Anything
In real life, grand gestures often raise suspicion. In the world of writer/director Cameron Crowe, they melt our hearts.
When his relationship with valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye) is threatened, underachiever Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) throws on his best trench coat, grabs a boom box and makes what can only be described as one of the most memorable declarations of love in the '80s: He blasts Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" below her bedroom window. It's a risky move, but Diane is completely won over.
Jerry Maguire
It takes a real romantic hero to wade into a den of divorced women to win back his wife, but it takes a strong woman to upstage Tom Cruise's heart-wrenching declaration, "You complete me."
When Renée Zellweger's character orders him to "shut up," you can't help but gasp. Her brilliantly delivered follow-up— a tearful "You had me at hello"—is the true takeaway in this simply perfect scene, which left the divorced women's support group (and everyone in the theater) with feelings of hope.
Photo: Touchstone Pictures
Pretty Woman
In this modern-day fairy tale, Prince Charming is Richard Gere, his chariot is a white stretch limo and his princess is a prostitute seeking a fresh start. After scaling a fire escape with roses clenched in his teeth, Richard Gere asks, "So what happened after he climbed up the tower and rescued her?" Julia Roberts answers, "She rescues him right back." Now this is a happily-ever-after we can believe in.
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
Moulin Rouge!
Nothing says love like a big-screen musical number.Moulin Rouge's "Elephant Love Medley" has forbidden lovers Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman shouting their undying devotion from the rooftop of an elephant-shaped building. You can't help but sing along to this medley of songs from every genre—including KISS's "I Was Made for Lovin' You" and Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You."
The Wedding Singer
Too many times, a movie's "nice guy" gets his second-choice girl in the very last seconds of the film. In Adam Sandler's The Wedding Singer, we get to see nice guy Robbie Gould finish first. To stop his love, Julia (Drew Barrymore), from a quickie Vegas wedding with Glenn, Robbie books a first-class seat on the same flight. While on the plane, he hatches a plan with '80s rocker Billy Idol to get rid of Glenn once and for all.
In the ultimate get-the-girl scene, Billy Idol announces some in-flight entertainment. Just then, Robbie emerges from first class strumming a guitar and singing the quirky and romantic "Grow Old with You." ("I wanna make you smile whenever you're sad / Carry you around when your arthritis is bad /
Oh, all I wanna do is grow old with you.")
In the end, Robbie gets the girl and "Grow Old with You" lives on as a popular song selection at real-life weddings all over the country.
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives
The Graduate
Benjamin Braddock is a recent college grad with no direction when he's seduced by the much older, Mrs. Robinson.
While
The Graduate is best known for its seduction scene, the real showstopper comes when Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) realizes he's in love with Mrs. Robinson's daughter, Elaine, and rushes to break up her wedding. When his car breaks down, Benjamin is forced to sprint into the church and literally scream for Elaine from the rafters. After fending off an angry mob with a giant cross, Benjamin hops a bus with his true love in tow. As Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" plays on, the young lovers head off into the sunset as the realization of what they've done sinks in.
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