By way of introducing a new Flickgrrl feature, Movie Matchmaker, an anecdote:
Some 15 years ago, I gave a talk at a Penn conference. Afterwards, a very attractive couple in their fifties came up and asked an off-topic question. Could I save their marriage? "Every weekend we fight about what to rent," said the husband. "I like adventures like Guns of Navarone and she likes romantic Roman Holiday type of stuff."
"Apparently you both like Gregory Peck, that's a good place to start," I replied, brain riffling through the Peck filmography, drawing a mental Venn diagram of titles where romance and adventure overlapped. I prescribed Spellbound (1945), Capt. Horatio Hornblower (1951), Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), Designing Woman (1957) -- not really an adventure, but he plays a sportswriter -- On the Beach (1959), Cape Fear (1962), Mirage (1965) and Arabesque (1966). Within a year, I got a thank-you note from the husband, sheepishly admitting that he was beginning to enjoy Peck's straight romances, too.
It's probably the way we are hard-wired, but men tend to like movies about men having manly adventures outside in unforgiving landscapes and women tend to like movies about the adventure of human connection, which often take place indoors. Can a marriage between these two tastes succeed? You bet.
Here are some titles bridging the taste gap: The Age of Innocence (1993), Alien (1979), Bull Durham (1988), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Dodsworth (1936), Garden State (2004), Gladiator (2000), I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), Jerry Maguire (1996), Kiss Me, Deadly (1955), The Lady Eve (1941), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), Local Hero (1983), Mississippi Masala (1992), Notorious (1946), The Quiet Man (1952), Red River (1948), Something New (2006), To Have and Have Not (1944), Two for the Road (1967), Year of Living Dangerously (1983) and Under Fire (1983).
Your additions to this list? Do you have any problems the Movie Matchmaker can solve?
Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It's not only fun for both partners to watch, it's the perfect metaphor for marriage.— LizzieB- Excellent addition.— carrierickey
- I think it's best to select films by directors who work in multiple genres. Anything by Hitchcock or Fritz Lang are great for classic film lovers. If couples prefer contemporary films, I'd recommend almost anything by Neil Jordan MONA LISA, END OF THE AFFAIR, CRYING GAME, ONDINE, IN DREAMS, THE MIRACLE--even if they are a new twists on the same theme--or Stephan Frears (DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, DANGEROUS LIAISONS, HIGH FIDELITY, MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE, THE GRIFTERS). John Sayles films are great too, LONE STAR especially, but also MATEWAN, BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET, EIGHT MEN OUT and the underrated films MEN WITH GUNS and LIMBO will satisfy the action fans. BABY IT'S YOU is pure romance in my book.— garyk
- You write, "Within a year, I got a thank-you note from the husband, sheepishly admitting that he was beginning to enjoy Peck's straight romances, too." May I be the first wiseacre to ask whether you're telling me I missed Peck's groundbreaking romances?:)
A romantic comedy/adventure that suits your characterization that my wife and I can watch almost every Saturday night is It Happened One Night. Another old movie we love that has nothing to do with romance but does seem to hit on both the internal and external emotional themes that interest us is Bridge Over the River Kwai.— frankenslade - Charade--the classic w/ Cary and Audrey or the update with Mark and Thandie. Another guilty pleasure in the action w/ a rom-com slant: True Lies.— socialgrace
- Mogambo (and/or Red Dust), The African Queen, and Hearts of the West.— wwolfe
- You get paid for this?— sam_i_am
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