Top 20 Greatest Romance Movies of All Time (The Ultimate List)
by ChrisWalczyk55 | created - 23 Jan 2013 | updated - 06 Oct 2013 | PublicThe movies on this list are ranked according to their success (awards & nominations), their popularity, and their true greatness from a directing/writing standpoint. To me, accuracy when making a Top 10/Top 100 all time list is extremely important. My lists are not based on my own personal favorites; they are based on the true greatness and/or success of the person, place, or thing being ranked. My lists are also based on the opinions of experienced professionals who are involved in whatever I am ranking. For example, many professional and/or famous actors, directors, writers, and producers believe that "Casablanca" is the #1 romance movie of all time. Their opinions, along with the film's success (awards), and its true greatness from a directing/writing standpoint, is why I ranked "Casablanca" at #1. If you guys would like to view my other Top 10/Top 100 lists, feel free to check out my YouTube page and/or my IMDb page at "ChrisWalczyk55."
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1. Casablanca (1942)
PG | 102 min | Drama, Romance, War
A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains
Votes: 605,403 | Gross: $1.02M
Oscars: 3 Oscar Nominations: 8 BAFTA Awards: N/A BAFTA Nominations: N/A Golden Globes: N/A Golden Globe Nominations: N/A
2. Gone with the Wind (1939)
Passed | 238 min | Drama, Romance, War
A sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.
Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood | Stars: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil
Votes: 333,966 | Gross: $198.68M
***** Oscars: 8 Oscar Nominations: 13 BAFTA Awards: N/A BAFTA Nominations: N/A Golden Globes: N/A Golden Globe Nominations: N/A
3. West Side Story (1961)
Approved | 153 min | Crime, Drama, Musical
Two youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.
Directors: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise | Stars: Natalie Wood, George Chakiris, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn
Votes: 121,087 | Gross: $43.66M
***** Oscars: 10 Oscar Nominations: 11 BAFTA Awards: 0 BAFTA Nominations: 1 Golden Globes: 3 Golden Globe Nominations: 5
4. Titanic (1997)
PG-13 | 194 min | Drama, Romance
A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates
Votes: 1,278,567 | Gross: $659.33M
Oscars: 11 Oscar Nominations: 14 BAFTA Awards: 0 BAFTA Nominations: 8 Golden Globes: 4 Golden Globe Nominations: 8
5. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
R | 123 min | Comedy, Drama, History
The world's greatest ever playwright, William Shakespeare, is young, out of ideas and short of cash, but meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.
Director: John Madden | Stars: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 234,190 | Gross: $100.32M
Oscars: 7 Oscar Nominations: 13 BAFTA Awards: 3 BAFTA Nominations: 13 Golden Globes: 3 Golden Globe Nominations: 6
6. An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
R | 124 min | Drama, Romance
A young man must complete his work at a Navy Officer Candidate School to become an aviator, with the help of a tough Gunnery Sergeant and his new girlfriend.
Director: Taylor Hackford | Stars: Richard Gere, Debra Winger, David Keith, Robert Loggia
Votes: 62,498 | Gross: $129.80M
Oscars: 2 Oscar Nominations: 6 BAFTA Awards: 1 BAFTA Nominations: 2 Golden Globes: 2 Golden Globe Nominations: 8
7. An Affair to Remember (1957)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, Romance
A couple falls in love and agrees to meet in six months at the Empire State Building - but will it happen?
Director: Leo McCarey | Stars: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning, Neva Patterson
Votes: 33,034
***** Oscars: 0 Oscar Nominations: 4 BAFTA Awards: 0 BAFTA Nominations: 0 Golden Globes: 0 Golden Globe Nominations: 0
8. City Lights (1931)
G | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
With the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee, Harry Myers
Votes: 195,861 | Gross: $0.02M
*****
Oscars: 0
Oscar Nominations: 0
BAFTA Awards: N/A
BAFTA Nominations: N/A
Golden Globes: N/A
Golden Globe Nominations: N/A
9. My Fair Lady (1964)
G | 170 min | Drama, Family, Musical
In 1910s London, snobbish phonetics professor Henry Higgins agrees to a wager that he can make crude flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, presentable in high society.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White
Votes: 101,738 | Gross: $72.00M
Oscars: 8 Oscar Nominations: 12 BAFTA Awards: 1 BAFTA Nominations: 2 Golden Globes: 3 Golden Globe Nominations: 5
10. Out of Africa (1985)
PG | 161 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
In 20th-century colonial Kenya, a Danish baroness/plantation owner has a passionate love affair with a free-spirited big-game hunter.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michael Kitchen
Votes: 86,239 | Gross: $87.10M
Oscars: 7 Oscar Nominations: 11 BAFTA Awards: 3 BAFTA Nominations: 7 Golden Globes: 3 Golden Globe Nominations: 6
11. The African Queen (1951)
PG | 105 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In WWI East Africa, a gin-swilling Canadian riverboat captain is persuaded by a strait-laced English missionary to undertake a trip up a treacherous river and use his boat to attack a German gunship.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull
Votes: 84,241 | Gross: $0.54M
Oscars: 1 Oscar Nominations: 4 BAFTA Awards: 0 BAFTA Nominations: 3 Golden Globes: 0 Golden Globe Nominations: 0
12. Moulin Rouge! (2001)
PG-13 | 127 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A poor Bohemian poet in 1890s Paris falls for a beautiful courtesan and nightclub star coveted by a jealous duke.
Director: Baz Luhrmann | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent
Votes: 299,123 | Gross: $57.39M
Oscars: 2 Oscar Nominations: 8 BAFTA Awards: 2 BAFTA Nominations: 10 Golden Globes: 3 Golden Globe Nominations: 6
13. Wuthering Heights (1939)
Passed | 104 min | Drama, Romance
A servant in the house of Wuthering Heights tells a traveler the unfortunate tale of lovers Cathy and Heathcliff.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Flora Robson
Votes: 19,747 | Gross: $0.76M
***** Oscars: 1 Oscar Nominations: 8 BAFTA Awards: 0 BAFTA Nominations: 0 Golden Globes: 0 Golden Globe Nominations: 0
14. Ghost (1990)
PG-13 | 127 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
After a young man is murdered, his spirit stays behind to warn his lover of impending danger, with the help of a reluctant psychic.
Director: Jerry Zucker | Stars: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn
Votes: 235,676 | Gross: $217.63M
Oscars: 2 Oscar Nominations: 5 BAFTA Awards: 1 BAFTA Nominations: 4 Golden Globes: 1 Golden Globe Nominations: 4
15. Romeo + Juliet (1996)
PG-13 | 120 min | Drama, Romance
Shakespeare's famous play is updated to the hip modern suburb of Verona still retaining its original dialogue.
Director: Baz Luhrmann | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo, Harold Perrineau
Votes: 244,555 | Gross: $46.35M
Oscars: 0 Oscar Nominations: 1 BAFTA Awards: 2 BAFTA Nominations: 5 Golden Globes: 0 Golden Globe Nominations: 0
16. The Notebook (2004)
PG-13 | 123 min | Drama, Romance
An elderly man reads to a woman with dementia the story of two young lovers whose romance is threatened by the difference in their respective social classes.
Director: Nick Cassavetes | Stars: Gena Rowlands, James Garner, Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling
Votes: 619,320 | Gross: $81.00M
Oscars: 0 Oscar Nominations: 0 BAFTA Awards: 0 BAFTA Nominations: 0 Golden Globes: 0 Golden Globe Nominations: 0
17. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Approved | 115 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building, but her past threatens to get in the way.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen
Votes: 191,956
***** Oscars: 2 Oscar Nominations: 5 BAFTA Awards: 0 BAFTA Nominations: 0 Golden Globes: 0 Golden Globe Nominations: 2
18. Pretty Woman (1990)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Romance
A man in a legal but hurtful business needs an escort for some social events, and hires a beautiful prostitute he meets... only to fall in love.
Director: Garry Marshall | Stars: Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Jason Alexander, Laura San Giacomo
Votes: 361,489 | Gross: $178.41M
Oscars: 0 Oscar Nominations: 1 BAFTA Awards: 0 BAFTA Nominations: 4 Golden Globes: 1 Golden Globe Nominations: 4
19. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby
Votes: 242,388 | Gross: $92.82M
Oscars: 0 Oscar Nominations: 1 BAFTA Awards: 1 BAFTA Nominations: 2 Golden Globes: 0 Golden Globe Nominations: 5
20. Dirty Dancing (I) (1987)
PG-13 | 100 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, Frances "Baby" Houseman falls in love with the camp's dance instructor, Johnny Castle.
Director: Emile Ardolino | Stars: Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes
Votes: 256,034 | Gross: $0.62M
Oscars: 0 Oscar Nominations: 1 BAFTA Awards: 0 BAFTA Nominations: 0 Golden Globes: 1 Golden Globe Nominations: 4
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