June 06, 2005

• Reservoir Dogs? It's been so long since I've seen it that I don't recall perfectly.
• Duck and Cover
• Gangbang Girls Volume 53? (Off to hell)
• We'll assume you don't include documentaries in this query. Hmm, let's see. Glengarry Glenross. The Hurricane. Snatch. (Insert off-colour joke here.) Those are all I can think of before dashing off to school for one last week, hallelujah.
• 2001
• If you look at war films and possibly some Westerns, there should be some in these genres which don't contain any romantic sub-plots. Did the "Magnificent Seven" (both versions) or "The Thin Red Line" have any romantic interests? I can't recall any, but I might be wrong. If you allow for married couples who don't really have any romantic moments, how about "Air Force One"? Glenn Close and Harrison Ford are Prez and First Lady, but are separated throughout the movie.
• Topsy Turvey, about Gilbert and Sullivan -- -- not what I'd call a romantic partnership.
• More Kubrick: A Clockwork Orange /props to dng for cueing my memory
• Boondock Saints
• Did the "Magnificent Seven" (both versions) or "The Thin Red Line" have any romantic interests? M7: Horst Buchholz's character ends up with the girl he meets in the village. Ben Chaplin's character in The Thin Red Line is motivated by his romantic feelings for his wife back home. We don't find out what happens to him after she leaves him. Glenn Close is the Vice President in Air Force One, not First Lady. The First Lady is on the plane and there are romantic moments between her and Ford, indeed much of his character's motivation is to rescue her and his daughter. Now I feel like I'm picking on Alnedra. I'll have to have a think to come up with some that satisfy the question though.
• "master and commander: the far side of the world" hell, i'm not even sure there was a woman IN that movie.
• That doesn't mean it's not chock full of romantic interest, this being the British Navy and all, SideDish. :D
• Alien. 2001. And probably lots from the (good) sci-fi genre. Who wants to see yucky kissing when there's glorious science to fictionalise? Depending upon your definition of romance, some of the following probably don't cut it: To kill a mockingbird, 21 hours in munich, Memento (?), Iron Giant, Finding Nemo (lots of animated stuff), Meaning of Life, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Withnail and I, Grave of the Fireflies, Shawshank Redemption, Lord of the Flies, One Flew over the cuckoo's nest, Usual suspects, Saving private ryan, das boot, T2, unforgiven, deer hunter, lock stock and two smoking barrels (was there even a woman in the film besides the card dealer?) I'm prepared to be corrected on any of those.
• Lawrence of Arabia? (I'm not sure, it's been so long since I've seen it, but I do remember that it's one of the few films with no speaking roles for women). Then there's Labyrinth, which despite all its metaphors doesn't really have any true romance. If that doesn't count there's Clue, which isn't that well-known but worth watching for the excellent Tim Curry performance alone and is romance free. Then there's the obscure stuff like I woke up early the day I died, but that's cheating because not having any plot to speak of makes not having romance easy.
• Also, am I the only one who read that as Aromatic george?
• Schindler's List, The Great Escape, The Passion of the Christ, Mary Poppins, Zulu, Home Alone, The Cannonball Run, Man Bites Dog, Fantasia The Usual Suspects has a romantic plot - Keaton is trying to save his girlfriend's life (and their relationship.) And the Deer Hunter starts with a wedding, doesn't it?
• /dittoes fvw
• Yeah, me too.
• Couple of films about Lewis Carroll's Alice -- Alice -- as an older Alice recalls a young Alice, dark visioned, not a love story, offbeat. And a more recent Alice one -- can't recall the title, maybe someone else does. Kundun... Little Buddha. Return to Oz, nother kid's tale-- Franl Baum's Dorothy as a mental patient hallucinating Oz. A Christmas Story center's on boy 's passionate desire for a BB gun, but no romanc thread.
• In Alien Weaver's character is in love with one of the early victims. The guy with the beard, I think. So that might count as a romantic interest. The romance angle was one of the most frustrating aspects of Fight Club for me. We have all this great anarchy stuff and it all turns out to be a love story??? lame...
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three comes to mind.
• Dr Strangelove The Shining Jaws Empire Strikes Back
• Toy Story A Fistful of Dollars/Yojimbo A Bridge on the River Kwai Hell in the Pacific (Pretty much any WWII movie) My Neighbor Totoro will think of more ...
• Night of the Living Dead Gremlins E.T. Stand By Me Jaws The Sand Lot this is too easy... I'm going back to work!
• Sling Blade The Big Lebowski (there's coitus, but no romance)
• You know, communism was just a red herring.
• hmm... a big part of Topsy Turvy is the romantic relationship between Gilbert and his wife. Or lack thereof, but I think that may qualify as a romantic subplot. Sorry to spoil that one!
• Roger and Me
• Mary Poppins? There was a distinct undercurrent of attraction between Bert and Mary. Heck, he pulled down his pants and did the penguin dance for her. Heh.
• "Empire Strikes Back" has a huge romantic subplot (the romance between Han and Leia).
• fvw -- I was going to say Lawrence of Arabia as well. Strictly speaking, there's no romantic interest, but it's possible to argue that it's partly the story of Lawrence's love affair with the desert itself. Personally, I'd be inclined to say that there IS a romantic interest, namely Lawrence's love affair with himself.
• Fail Safe Hamburger Hill
• Baraka Microcosmos (well. . there is that snail scene) 1 Giant Leap
• I see "Labyrinth" as a romance, simply b/c it's the movie in which I first fell in love with Jennifer Connelly, a passion that has continued to this day.
• Baraka YAY!
• Koyaanisqatsi Powaqqatsi Naqoyqatsi Mishima
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three Anyone mentioning that film in my presence gets a free beer. Just for the record. Class.
• Fail Safe!!! *shivers* what a scary movie.
• Labrynth has a romantic edge to the plot - the whole "become my queen" thing. It's not very explicit, but it's definitely there. So does Laputa aka Castle in the Sky, though very subtly and very early teens. But Spirited Away doesn't - the main character is too kiddish, and the feelings she has for the other main character are those of a child for a friend (which you find out they were, though not how you might expect). Grave of the Fireflies - no romantic subplot. Nor Empire of the Sun or Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence or Bridge over the River Kwai. I'm running out of depressing WW2 Pacific War movies. What about Mr Rogers? It's been forever, I don't remember if there is any romance. ------------------ I realise some of my favorite movies are romance comedies/dramas, but what is annoying is the explicit romance sub-plot. Where there is a character introduced to be nothing but a romantic foil in a movie where it doesn't otherwise make sense. It's not always a woman - though Contact is the only one I'm thinking of where it's flipped. That character needed a religious foil, but not a romantic - it would have been so much stronger if he had been simply an old friend or a priest she really respected. Romance should come naturally out of the characters - it does that wonderfully in Howl's Moving Castle, soon to open in North America - the romance develops better in the film than in the book.
• Erm.. Treasure of the Sierra Madre? Watched it again a bit back and can't recall any romance. It didn't need any steenkin' romance. groan
• "The Sons of Katie Elder" needs to be seen by everyone at least once in their life, if only for the bizarre casting of Dino as the Duke's brother. (Did "the Searchers" have a romantic subplot? I forget.)
• jb-- I agree. It's so annoying when the story is going along well, then all of the sudden the plot screeches to a halt so the film can demonstrate the main character's hetero nature. Boring boring boring!
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, iirc. Dead Man...unless you count the girl in the beginning... Smoke Signals...well...on second thought, there's a bit of implied possible subplot romance, but it doesn't get very far. I think Dogma, unless you count Jay and Silent Bob continually trying and failing to get laid. And I also parsed that as "aromatic george".
• Anyone mentioning that film in my presence gets a free beer. sure, the beer is free, but how much is shipping going to cost me? and wouldn't the woman hitting on Matthau in Fail Safe qualify? how broad is our definition?
• Gettysburg,if you ignore the homoerotic subtext. I don't believe there is a single woman in the entire four hour film. Gettysburg Plot Summary: Speech Speech Battle Speech Battle Battle Speech Speech Speech Battle Speech Battle Battle Speech Speech Battle Battle Battle Speech Battle
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three Anyone mentioning that film in my presence gets a free beer. Then you owe the Beastie Boys a beer (for "Sure Shot"). And since I am right now mentioning the film, do I also qualify?
• Not unless that's you giving me a backrub, no. if it is you, higher, please
• biffa, pick on me all you like. My memory sucks, I know (^_^) What about "Transformers The Movie"? It's got only one female transformer. Heh. Wizard of Oz. Toy Story (do you count Mr Spud and his wife?). Ghost in the Shell. Babe. Charlotte's Web (much better pig movie). Not-too-sure list: Some of the Star Trek movies? Alien Resurrection? Prison movies, like "Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile". Did "Schindler's List" have any romance? I always want to cry when I think of this film.
• Most of the Transformers are gay, though
• Nooo! *cries, hides shattered crush on Optimus Prime in bushes*
• I'm glad smellovision never caught on. oh! um, Martin's Day and Kes come to mind. there's a bit at the dance hall in Kes, but it's not romantic.
• Searching for Bobby Fischer. And hey, the first Harry Potter movie seemed romance-free...
• Star Wars, Episodes I - III (my first comment here, and I spend it on this...)
• socratic, I'd been thinking about making a prequels joke. thanks for doing the work for me!
• patita, my pleasure. Did the first Cube movie have a romantic subplot? I forget.
• socratic - yes, I think there was some sexual tension and possible romance there. Not really very romantic, what with all the blood and guts. But definitely a sexual tension triangle by the end. (Does it could as a romantic subplot when it fits into the plot like that?)
• Das Boot
• The Blizzard of Ahhs.
• The Hills Have Eyes. Troll and Troll 2. House. There was no romance in Cube, nor was there a romantic plot in Cube.
• Ah, completely needless movie trivia. My specialty! Treasure of the Sierra Madre has romance alluded to. One of the prospectors (the fourth one, who comes from Texas) mentions his wife as motivation for his efforts. One of the others plans to visit her at the end of the film. The Thin Red Line has one romantic subplot for one of the soldiers it follows. She sends him a "Dear John" letter about 3/4s of the way through the film. (Most people probably forgot this part, because, damn, it was depressing). Bridge on the River Kwai does have a brief romantic bit when William Holden's character escapes. It is incidental to the movie, but does provide an excellent quotation, to paraphrase: "I have an appointment at 8 and she's beautiful, so let's get on with it." Lieutenant Joyce also makes eyes with one of the female Burmese porters--and the potential for hanky-panky is inferred. In Das Boot, one of the crewman shows his love letters, and a photo of "his girl" to the reporter--but that doesn't really need to count. Same thing with Battleground, which briefly acknowledges soldiers occasionally seek companionship. Saving Private Ryan likewise affirms the existence of mothers and wives, but keeps romance pretty solidly out. Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World opts to use the Battleground tactic, with a respite off the coast of Brazil with shots of women and Russel Crowe's Capt. Aubrey remembering, "oh yeah, that." I think they included it to not compete with Ice Station Zebra. Ice Station Zebra not only has no romantic plots or bits at all, it features an all male cast! (Though I think you might briefly see a woman in a very long shot just before they put out to sea). Silent Running also counts as a a-romatic film, unless you count Bruce Dern's love affair with Mother Earth.
• Apocalypse Now.
• Toy Story does have a romantic subplot. One of the drivers for Woody's jealousy of Buzz Lightyear is that he might steal his girlfriend Bo Peep off him. And I suppose you could say that Woody's love for his owner is also - although not in the usual Hollywood way - romantic? Um, now I just sound sad, don't I?
• Apocalpyse Now? What about the dinner scene with the French family? What about all those Playboy bunnies onstage and in the chopper? What about all those sweaty girls clamouring over Marlon in the jungle? Perhaps not a PLOT, and perhaps not even ROMANTIC, but the hanky-panky quotient is pushing the scale's limits.
• Those are in Apocalpyse Now Redux, not the original release, and should have been left out, IMO.
• What about Andromeda Strain?
• Hunt for Red October. Stand and Deliver. Akira Pi (he pays no attention to the neighbour) Existenz? Naked Lunch (really, any Cronenburg movie? well, I guess Crash...) but Shawshank Redemption? I recall some lovin in that laundry room...
• Looking for Hollywood movies without romantic (sub)plots is like looking for Bollywood movies without costumed song-and-dance numbers. It's an impoverished search-space. Some possibilities for non-Hollywood titles, OTTOMH: Les Vacances de M. Hulot (Jacques Tati) Höstsonaten, Des Sjunde Inseglet, and Jungfrukällan (Ingmar Bergman) Maria, Full of Grace (Joshua Marston) Rashoumon, Madadayo, possibly others (KUROSAWA Akira) Nuovo Cinema Paradiso and L'Uomo Delle Stelle (Ginseppe Tomatore) Kaze no Tani no Naushika, Majo no Takyuubin, Kurenai no Buta, Tonari no Totoro, surely others (MIYAZAKI Hayao) Hotaru no Haka (TAKAHATA Isao) La Grande Illusion (Jean Renoir) Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo (Sergio Leone) (OK, kidding about that last one.)
• How about movies that include very weird romantic storylines? I nominate Cronenberg's Dead Ringers.
• my dinner with andre ... come to think of it, it's void of any kind of interest ...
• Nausicaa does have a somewhat romantic subplot - between Nausicaa and the prince who falls into the forest with her. It's very subtle, but there is a bit of tension - as much as other examples of romantic subplot in the thread.
• Rorscharch, in "Akira", Tetsuo had a girlfriend, Kaori. She was possessed by one of the telepathic children for a part of the movie, and in the end got squashed to death when Tetsuo lost control of his body and started bloating outwards.
• Sorry, my bad. Kaori wasn't the one who got possessed, but she was Tetsuo's girlfriend.
• Hmm, that's true. She also gets beaten by the clowns but... I've never particularly felt that it motivated Tetsuo in any way. I'm not sure how these movies with married people in them (like Jack Ryan in Hunt for Red October) can be aromantic while other movies, with girlfriend-and-boyfriend are automatically considered to have romantic plots or subplots. Not being defensive, just not sure on this one. Been awhile since I've seen it, though.