Best and Most Memorable
Film Kisses of All Time
in Cinematic History

Part 15


Introduction: What makes a memorable screen kiss? Is it the passion, the circumstances, the buildup, the dialogue, the unpredictability, the awkwardness, the sexiness or eroticism, the cinematography, the unique quality...? Although any list of the best, most romantic, and most indelible kisses through film history is difficult to create, there are a number of kissing scenes in movies that are unforgettable and deserve special mention.

Most of these scenes come from vintage, classic Hollywood films, rather than more recent films, and even stretch back to the scandalous The Kiss (1896)! Other discussions of notable romantic or sexual scenes (with more examples of great kissing scenes) may be found elsewhere in this site: Romance Films Genre, or Erotic/Sexual Films Genre, or the History of Sex in Cinema.

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that
"The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films


Best and Most Memorable Film Kisses - Part 15
(in chronological order by film title)
Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20
Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25

Film Title
Description of Kiss in Movie Scene
Example

The Hunger (1983)

Lesbian Vampire Kisses

Tony Scott's directorial debut film was this stylish, R-rated, erotic 80s vampire film; it included a controversial, soft-focus lesbian vampires scene (with kissing and nipple-sucking) in the sunlight of a late afternoon between seductively-elegant, centuries-old vampire queen Miriam Blaylock (Catherine Deneuve) and new healthy blood candidate/recruit, her latest courtship victim - the butchy longevity scientist Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon), the suspicious doctor asked: "Are you making a pass at me, Mrs. Blaylock?"; when she spilled a blood-red droplet of sherry on her white T-shirt, she was prompted to remove her clothing - leading to other Sapphic touches, love-bites, and the taking of the new lover by mingling with her blood; Miriam gave her a fatal bite with blood dripping from her lips, sending blood down the doctor's neck



Risky Business (1983)

Dreamy Kiss

An effective and well-received teen sex comedy, with affluent Chicagoan Joel Goodson (Tom Cruise in a star-making role) and heart-of-gold hooker Lana (Rebecca DeMornay) in their first steamy encounter as the patio doors flew open and she swept naked into his arms

Romancing the Stone (1984)

Romance Novel Kiss (That Comes True)

In the film's romantic finale, daredevil drifter-mercenary Jack Colton (Michael Douglas) returned to romance novelist Joan Wilder's (Kathleen Turner) Manhattan apartment after having fetched the "stone" (a giant emerald) of the title to buy a boat to sail around the world; wearing crocodile shoes, Jack told her: "Yeah, that poor old yellow-tailed guy... developed a fatal case of indigestion. He died right in my arms," to which Joan responded dreamily: "I can't blame him. If I were to die, there's nowhere on earth I'd rather be") followed by Jack's: "I even read one of your books" - Joan smiled: "Then you know how they all end" - culminating with their long, passionate kiss -- she had found her "Jesse" (the hero of her romance novels)


Sixteen Candles (1984)

Classic Birthday Kiss

In the conclusion of this writer/director John Hughes coming-of-age romantic teen comedy, 16 year old virginal high school sophomore Samantha "Sam" Baker (Molly Ringwald) finally kissed the object of her affectionate infatuations -- class-hunk senior Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling); the kiss occurred over a birthday cake with 16 burning candles after a disastrous birthday-day; their dialogue was short and sweet before the kiss: Samantha: "Thanks for getting my undies back." Jake: "Thanks for comin' over." Samantha: "Thanks for coming to get me." Jake: "Happy Birthday, Samantha. Make a wish." Samantha: "It already came true." (They both slowly leaned forward to each other and kissed)

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Against-Type Kisses

John Hughes' influential and classic, dialogue-rich coming-of-age teen film told about five teenagers who were forced to serve out a Saturday detention together at Shermer High School; each of the five individuals represented different stereotypical characters or cliques; by film's end as they left the detention session, letter-jacketed varsity wrestler/"jock" athlete Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez) was kissing troubled, self-proclaimed liar and kleptomaniac misfit and outcast Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy), and trouble-making and rebellious John Bender (Judd Nelson) was kissing popular, spoiled, pampered and virginal "princess" Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald)


Desert Hearts (1985)

Romantic Lesbian Kiss

This ground-breaking low-budget film was a seminal gay film from first-time director Donna Deitch - it was the first full-length lesbian-themed feature film written and directed by a woman; it told about a thirty-ish prim and meek literature professor from NYC named Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) in the late 50s seeking a divorce outside of Reno at a ranch; there, she slowly explored a romantic and intimate lesbian relationship with the ranch owner's beautiful step-daughter - a lusty, free-spirited casino worker named Cay (Patricia Charbonneau in her first film role); this led to their first kiss in a rainstorm, and later a non-exploitatively-filmed love scene in a hotel room that was shot in real-time; reportedly, it was the first mainstream lesbian movie to end positively; this film won a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1986

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985, UK)

A Champagne Male-to-Male Kiss to Celebrate Opening

In director Stephen Frears' subversive drama, two men engaged in a cross-racial, forbidden homosexual relationship in Thatcher's England -- South London laundry businessman Omar (Gordon Warnecke) from a Pakistani-immigrant family and his old Anglo-Saxon school friend Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis), an ex-National Front member and blonde street punk; in the film's most erotically passionate love scene, the two embraced each other in the back manager's room of the laundromat (Johnny slipped his hand beneath Omar's shirt and dribbled champagne from his mouth into Omar's mouth) to celebrate the laundromat's grand opening


The Sure Thing (1985)

Meaningful First Kiss Under the Stars

After college freshman Walter "Gib" Gibson (John Cusack) shared a cross-country journey experience with smart, seemingly-incompatible coed Alison Bradbury (Daphne Zuniga) while he was on his way to meet a "sure thing" dream date in Los Angeles -- a sexy "blonde in a string bikini" (Nicollette Sheridan), they both returned to the East Coast school after Christmas vacation, where an English essay he had written titled The Sure Thing was read outloud by his teacher; at that moment, Alison realized that he didn't sleep with his "sure thing" as he explained to her: "She wasn't my type" - and they shared a curtain-closing, feel-good ending kiss under the stars


Witness (1985)

Forbidden Passionate Kiss

City detective John Book (Harrison Ford), while investigating a murder in a Philadelphia train station witnessed by a young Amish boy named Samuel (Luke Haas), began to establish a romantic relationship with the boy's widowed mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis); there were a few erotically-charged scenes in the midst of their cultural differences, such as in the barn illuminated by a car's headlights when they danced together to the radio playing Sam Cooke's (What A) Wonderful World, Rachel's discovery that Book was watching her bare-breasted bathing, and their deeply passionate kiss in the twilight

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

An Impulsive and Uncontrollable Kiss

When Lee (Barbara Hershey) and her sister Hannah's (Mia Farrow) husband Elliot (Michael Caine) were left alone, he was overcome with desire and lusting over the beautiful young woman; although in voice-over, he had been pondering a plan to cautiously seduce her with a book of poetry, he suddenly grabbed Lee and kissed her wildly, unable to control his lustful passion, while babbling: "Lee! Lee! Lee, I'm in love with you!" - he kissed her again - ruining his plans for subtlety and leaving Lee shocked and flabbergasted at him


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Created in 1996-2008 © by Tim Dirks. All rights reserved.