Counter-Point: The 50 “Best” Rom-Coms (Pre-’90s)
Thursday, April 21, 2022 at 1:00PM by Mark Brinkerhoff
That sound you heard this week? It likely was #FilmTwitter collectively reeling from reading The Ringer staff’s list of the 50 “best” romantic comedies of all time. What prompted such a breathless response, however, was that only one of the films on the instantly infamous list pre-dated the 1980s, and it *wasn’t* Annie Hall. No, that Best Picture-winning, genre-redefining classic didn’t make the top *50*, Harold and Maude did.
Now far be it for me to quibble about anything the late, great Hal Ashby made (namely Harold and Maude) but the otherwise ignorance of literally more than half a century of not only the very best rom-coms, but some of the finest films of all time—period—can’t go unnoticed. So with that, here’s a non-exhaustive, chronological list of the “best” rom-coms from the genre’s Golden Age in the ’30s through its modernization in the ’70s/’80s with links to where you can watch them...
- Trouble in Paradise (1932)
- She Done Him Wrong (1933)
- It Happened One Night (1934)
- Modern Times (1936)
- My Man Godfrey (1936)
- The Awful Truth (1937)
- Bringing Up Baby (1938)
- You Can’t Take It With You (1938)
- Ninotchka (1939)
- His Girl Friday (1940)
- The Philadelphia Story (1940)
- The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
- The Lady Eve (1941)
- The Palm Beach Story (1942)
- The More the Merrier (1943)
- Adam’s Rib (1949)
- Born Yesterday (1950)
- Singing in the Rain (1952)
- Roman Holiday (1953)
- Sabrina (1954)
- The Seven Year Itch (1955)
- Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
- Pillow Talk (1959)
- Some Like It Hot (1959)
- The Apartment (1960)
- The Parent Trap (1961)
- Marriage Italian Style (1964)
- Barefoot in the Park (1967)
- Cactus Flower (1969)
- Harold and Maude (1971)
- What’s Up, Doc? (1972)
- Annie Hall (1977)
- The Goodbye Girl (1977)
- Grease (1978)
- 10 (1979)
- Arthur (1981)
- Tootsie (1982)
- Romancing the Stone (1984)
- Sixteen Candles (1984)
- The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
- Crocodile Dundee (1986)
- Something Wild (1986)
- Broadcast News (1987)
- Moonstruck (1987)
- Overboard (1987)
- Roxanne (1987)
- Bull Durham (1988)
- Married to the Mob (1988)
- Working Girl (1988)
- When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
With apologies to I’m No Angel (1933), Ball of Fire (1941), Woman of the Year (1942), Desk Set (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Lover Come Back (1961), Bye Bye Birdie and Irma La Douce (1963), The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), A Touch of Class (1973), Splash (1984), Can’t Buy Me Love (1987) and Coming to America (1988), a few takeaways:
- The ’30s/early ’40s and the late ’70s/’80s truly were the heydays of classic rom-coms.
- No one defined the genre more—or better—than Cary Grant & Katherine Hepburn (except possibly James Stewart & Jean Arthur, or Rock Hudson & Doris Day…).
- Anyone who overvalues rom-coms of the past 30 years really ought to experience the joys and utter delights of urtext rom-coms, which actually set the template for what they enjoy today.
- Reinvest in the rom-com, Hollywood!
Reader Comments (15)
I'm not sure why I should care that both this list and The Ringer's are missing my favorite romantic comedy of all time, Crossing Delancey (1988, directed by Joan Micklin Silver), but I do.
Oh, my, I was bound to forget an underrated classic or two (hence the “non-exhaustive” disclaimer) in a 50-wide list.
Given Hester Street, Bernice Bobs Her Hair, Crossing Delancey, etc., the late, great Joan Micklin Silver is due for a cultural reappraisal.
Love this list and the final takeaways. However, I must speak out in defense of silent cinema, which is ignored in almost every "best ever" list. Hollywood did such great comedies before sound, many of them romantic. However, since you mention multiple Lubitsch talkies, I recommend his silent gems like 1919's THE OYSTER PRINCESS.
Jesus at Boomerang on The Ringer's list. Crazy Stupid Love & The Big Sick are good choices from the 2010s and that shows the genre is still somewhat alive.
Palm Springs is terrible and my recent viewing was About Time and that's also quite lame and from the same director Love, Actually is one of the most beloved pictures of this genre in Europe, unfortunately.
Your list is much better and I've seen most of it except the majority of the early 1930s and the 1940s. I would add Bus Stop to highlight the 1950s more and while 10 from 1979 is an inspired choice, Starting Over would be a nice addition as well.
My immediate reaction to important omissions would be Twentieth Century (1934), Midnight (1939), Miracle at Morgan's Creek (1944), Cluny Brown (1946) and Pat and Mike (1952). Also I think North by Northwest has a strong romantic comedy element to it, and I think it should make the list. Then there are all those Astaire-Rogers films ...
By including Marriage - Italian Style you seem to be opening up the discussion to international films, and then the possibilities become endless. How about The White Sheik (1952) (Fellini), Stolen Kisses (1968) (Truffaut) and on and on and on ...?
Not even going to read the terrible Ringer article LMAO just embarassing for everyone involved.
At least half of WOODY ALLEN’s filmography belongs on the list. I still love him as a filmmaker.
I just saw Bringing Up Baby earlier this year. What a film!
Some of my favorites = alternate choices, in not english language (almost all spanish)
A Canção de Lisboa (A Song of Lisbon) dir. José Cottinelli Telmo (1933)
Romeo y Julieta dir. Miguel M. Delgado (1943)
Calabacitas Tiernas dir. Gilberto Martínez Solares (1949)
Los Pájaros Tirándole a la Escopeta dir. Rolando Díaz (1984)
Se Permuta (House for Swap) dir. Juan Carlos Tabío (1984)
La Vida Alegre dir. Fernando Colomo (1987)
¡Plaff! (Demasiado Miedo a la Vida) dir. Juan Carlos Tabío (1988)
Edgar Neville:
"O Crime da Rua dos Bordadores" (1946)
"Domingo de carnaval (1945)
"La vida en un hilo" (1945)
Fernando Fernán Gómez:
"El extraño viaje" (1964)
The Ringer list, with its exclusions, seems like it was designed to get rage clicks?
This one is far better, and so glad one of my favorites - My Man Godfrey - is here. Truly a film firing on all cylinders with every single cast member delivering.
One of the things I love about the older rom-com format, compared to what we have now, is that the plots felt more complicated. Maybe not quite, but I can't help but think of something like The Apartment or The Philadelphia Story. I think the format sort of thrives in those situations vs. the typical "they meet, something doesn't work out, they make it work" type of situations.
I saw the twitter reaction and decided to spare myself the disappointment of reading The Ringer's latest list. I'm with @Joe G. - the point of that list is just to drive clicks.
Anyone with an ounce of love for the genre of romantic comedy would have included what you have. I felt instant pleasure reading down the list.
I have seen most of these, I think it was either "His Girl Friday" or "It Happened One Night" that were responsible for turning me on to the fast talking, and delightful black and white comedies of the 30's and 40's.
2 last points, again I agree with Joe G. that complicated plots are often the better driving force of comedy. Also, the fast pace is essential to a really successful screwball comedy. That feeling of barely catching the witty banter is the biggest pleasure for a viewer. That's why the comic timing of Rosalind Russell, Katharine Hepburn, Jean Arthur, Cary Grant, and others, stands up all these decades later.
Many thanks for this delightful trip down memory lane.
Mark--this list is heavenly. Our movie club has watched many of these!
Mark--this list is heavenly. Our movie club has watched many of these!
Libeled Lady from 1936 should be on here.
Also is To Be Or Not To Be a romantic comedy? It's a combo of satire and screwball, but at the center is a bickering married couple. If that counts it should be on the list as well.
I’ve seen 44 out of your 50, and 11 out of your secondary list, so I share your enthusiasm, and appreciate your good sense and good taste!
A few that I loved not on the list:
“Father Goose” (1964) with Cary Grant and Leslie Caron. Co-writer Peter Stone won the screenplay Oscar for this. Stone also wrote Grant’s 1963 movie “Charade” directed by Stanley Donen. Is “Charade” too much of a rom-com thriller for the list?
“How To Steal A Million” (1966) with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole, directed by William Wyler. Set in Paris, with Audrey in Givenchy, Hugh Griffith as her art forger father, O’Toole at his most charming.