Thursday Movie Picks - Romance Tropes: Forced Proximity
1) It Happened One Night - Both characters are stuck on a bus, then stuck traveling together when said bus leaves them behind. I had this as a Blind Spot pick at one point and it was sweet! It's also literally the blue print for almost every rom com to follow.
2) Tonight You're Mine/ You Instead- (This movie has two different names depending on where you live in the world) Two musicians are randomly handcuffed together at a music festival and must fine a way to both perform, and break free of each other. They catch feelings instead. This film is very chaotic, but the two leads together were wonderful. It had more heart that I expected it to.
3) God's Own Country - Two men work together on an isolated farm in rural Yorkshire. This might be stretching it with "forced proximity" but I felt like it fit because there wasn't really many places for these two guys to go. I love this movie, it's been on my mind lately and I think I'm do for a rewatch. Incredible chemistry between the leads.
I love It Happened One Night. I would have picked it but I chose it before. I don't know the other 2 but I almost went with Broke back mountai which is a very sad love story and they, too, were out in the open range but no where to go.
ReplyDeleteBrokeback Mountain would've been a good choice! I didn't even think of that, and that's one of my favorite movies.
DeleteI've only seen the first of these, which is a true classic. It's surprising how much pop culture still remains from that movie--Bugs Bunny is based in large part on the Clark Gable character.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised too honestly. When I watched that, I didn't know much about it and was not expecting it to feel so familiar. So many films have lifted from it.
DeleteI'm sitting out on this subject as I couldn't come up with anything. I haven't seen Tonight You're Mine and God's Own Country as they're both on my watchlist but I have seen It Happened One Night and... GODDAMN!!!! what straight man wouldn't stop for Claudette Colbert's legs? It's one of those films that still holds up as I need to get the Criterion Blu-Ray for that film.
ReplyDeleteGod's Own Country is so good! Tonight You're Mine is a bit messy but I still found a lot to like about it.
DeleteI haven’t seen your second pick but the other two are terrific films.
ReplyDeleteGod’s Own Country is lovely if rather sad. The two leads give sensational performances.
It Happened One Night is such a breezy delight with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert so simpatico with buckets of chemistry. It’s seems so crazy that they were far from the first choices. Fredric March & Robert Montgomery both rejected the male lead and seven leading actresses said no to Ellie! with Colbert only accepting for double her usual fee and Gable being forced to do it as a punishment by MGM for complaining about the quality of the movies he was doing for them. Apparently Capra reworked the script as they went along and it all ended up meshing beautifully with everybody winning Oscars.
My first thought and impulse was the everyone more or less trapped on a yacht “The Last of Sheila” from 1973 as a tribute to the just departed Raquel Welch but there is no real love story involved. Great movie however, very much worth seeking out!! As far as Raquel…. I am SO bereft! This one hit home and hit hard, it’s not just that she always seemed so healthy but when I was a kid she was a young woman and such an enormous star and it just feels weird and sad that she’s gone.
So, I moved on. Birgit picked the 80’s The Blue Lagoon but it’s a dog and I’ve seen the original one from 1949 with the fabulous Jean Simmons so I went with that. It’s better than the Brooke Shields version but it’s far from one of Jean’s best. It’s very pretty to look at though!
The next is one starring my favorite all-time actress Linda Darnell, 1952’s “Island of Desire” that served as Tab Hunter’s screen bow. Linda’s a nurse on a hospital ship sunk during WWII and only she and sailor Tab survive ending up marooned on a South Seas island. They grow closer until a single engine plane crashes on the isle and the pilot proves to be a fly in the ointment of their romance.
Off the desert island kick and into the jungle my next would be “Five Came Back” from 1939. A small group of 12 people are flying from L.A. to Panama City when their flight runs into bad weather and crash lands in the Amazon. As they struggle to repair the engines and survive in the hostile environment several of the passenger’s relationships change and the pilot (Chester Morris) finds himself falling for the “shady lady” (Lucille Ball!!) among them. Trim little suspenser that is considered one of the first disaster movies.
Raquel Welch was so beautiful! I can't say I'm well versed in her filmography, but I always knew who she was. I haven't seen any of your picks this week.
DeleteI haven’t seen any of these, but I have heard of the first and last.
ReplyDeleteAnyway this was a challenging theme for me too. I’m sure that Lifetime and Hallmark makes a lot of these type of movies, but I do not watch them.
I'm in the same boat. I expected to see a lot of picks from those companies, but I don't watch them either. Lifetime scarred me for life as a kid.
DeleteI will definitely need to watch God's Own Country!
ReplyDeleteIt's so good!
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