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

Part 20

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 20
(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 Specialist (1994)

Steamy Hotel and Shower Kisses

Two of the sexiest box-office superstars of the decade were featured in this body-conscious, 'guilty pleasure' thriller-tale of murder and revenge against the underworld set against the neon backdrop of Miami; the two ultra-buffed stars were Sharon Stone as femme fatale May Munro/Adrian Hastings and Sylvester Stallone as former CIA explosives expert Ray Quick who both got to know each other better in a hotel, and then experienced a lengthy, exhibitionist shower scene that featured their taut and toned bodies

Casino (1995)

Repulsive Kissing!

In 2003, readers of the American magazine Film voted the love scene on a sofa between sexy prostitute/hustler Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone) and violent mob hit-man/enforcer Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) as the 'worst' ever; in the scene, Nicky promised to take care of Ginger, and she whimpered that she would like that - and then he pushed her head down to his crotch; the second 'worst' in the poll was the love scenes between Sean Connery and 40 years-younger Catherine Zeta-Jones in Entrapment (1999), followed by the love dalliances between Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider in Last Tango In Paris (1972)

GoldenEye (1995)

Rough, Thigh-Squeezing Kisses

Nymphomaniacal assassinatrix Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), with black eye shadow and red lips, was competitive, sexy and deadly at the same time, known for crushing men to death with her thighs during sex; during one memorable scene in a Turkish sauna-bath with James Bond (Pierce Brosnan), while draped in only a robe, she told him: "You don't need the gun" to which he responded: "Well, that depends on your definition of safe sex"; she first roughly kissed him and then used her muscle-bound thighs as a body scissors-vice during their very physical sex bout; she ended up crushing and squeezing Bond's ribs between her bare thighs, while enjoying the sexual sensations, and then passionately kissed him more as they slammed each other up against the wall



Higher Learning (1995)

Sexual "Learning" and Awakening

In this film about racial tension, there was a subplot about naive Orange County Columbus University freshman and date-rape victim Kristen Connor (Kristy Swanson) who found sexual attraction, awakening and discovery within her women's support group Students for a Non-Sexist Society from lesbian student activist Taryn (Jennifer Connelly); they kissed and then went to a dorm room where she flirted further with lesbianism



Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)

A Kiss Between Outcasts and Nerds

Bespectacled, geeky 11 year-old girl outcast Dawn Weiner (Heather Matarazzo) in a middle-class New Jersey family faced cruel, miserable, and isolated treatment through puberty; in a potential rape scene, Heather was forcibly told by crass 7th grade bully Brandon (Brendan Sexton, Jr.) at her locker that he was going to rape her at 3 pm, but then didn't follow through (because he didn't actually know what rape was and only wanted to show his interest in her); in the scene, however, they both exchanged a very awkward kiss together

Bound (1996)

Tattoo-Touching and Lesbian Kissing

The Wachowski brothers' debut film was this clever thriller and stylishly sexy neo-noir crime film; it starred Gina Gershon as a butch lesbian and ex-con plumber named Corky who experienced a titillating, Sapphic sexual liaison with a breathy Chicago mobster's bisexual girlfriend named Violet (Jennifer Tilly), while renovating the next-door apartment - they both plotted to abscond $2 million from Violet's boyfriend Caesar (Joe Pantoliano) while engaging in steamy girl-on-girl scenes; in a sofa seduction scene with her bulging cleavage showing, black lingerie-wearing Violet asked: "Do I make you nervous, Corky?" and then admitted boldly: "I'm trying to seduce you" as she had Corky touch the tattoo on her breast; she then moistened Corky's finger with her mouth and placed it tantalizingly between her legs, as she confessed and proved her true feelings: "You can't believe what you'd see, but you can believe what you feel. I've been thinking about you all day"; she then begged for a kiss ("Please, kiss me") with their mouths close to each other in full close-up





Crash (1996)

Auto-Erotic Crash Kiss

David Cronenberg's coldly-erotic drama was deliberately controversial and repulsive with slightly depraved, raw scenes involving fetishistic individuals who had survived gruesome automobile crashes and felt compelled to rewatch and also re-enact the auto accidents; in the film's exploration of obsession with crashes - in its startling conclusion, TV commercial producer/director James Ballard (James Spader) deliberately rear-ended his icy-blonde wife Catherine's (Deborah Kara Unger) vehicle - when she was thrown from the car onto the ground next to the wreck, he made love to her, after learning that she was all right (and promised her a more deadly crash the next time): "Maybe the next time, darling. Maybe the next time."


Jerry Maguire (1996)

Prolonged and Sensual Goodnight Kiss

High-powered, mid-30s Sports Management International agent Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) finished his date with 26 year-old single mother Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger) on her house porch - aggressively and impulsively, she grabbed him behind the neck, pulled him close and kissed him on the lips; he accidentally pulled her thin black dress straps loose and when re-tying them, kissed her on the side of her neck and on her shoulder; as he continued to kiss her, she told him: "I think you should not come in -- or -- come in, depending on how you feel...I have to go in. I live here....Are you sure we want to do this? -- and she agreed when he said: "Oh, hell, yes"; the scene followed them inside to the bedroom where they mutually undressed each other and had sex

In another of the film's most famous scenes, Jerry admitted his love for stunned wife Dorothy in front of her friends during a divorced womens' support group meeting in her own living room, stressing: "I'm looking for my wife...If this is where it has to happen, then this is where it has to happen. I'm not letting you get rid of me. How about that?...Our company had a very good night. A very, very big night, but it wasn't complete. It wasn't nearly close to being in the same vicinity as complete, because I couldn't share it with you. I couldn't hear your voice, or laugh about it with you. I missed my wife. We live in a cynical world, a cynical world, and we work in a business of tough competitors. I love you. You complete me"; Dorothy interrupted: "Aw, shut up. Just shut up. You had me at hello. You had me at hello" - they embraced (viewed from outside the window)





Kissed (1996)

Corpse Kissing

Lynne Stopkewich's debut film was a controversial and provocative limited-release independent film about the taboo subject of necrophilia; sympathetically-portrayed Sandra Larson (Molly Parker) - an assistant at the Wallis Funeral Home, exercised her obsession with finding spiritual calm and erotic attraction to the dead, by kissing a corpse in a coffin; in the film's most talked-about scene, she had sex with the corpse of an accident victim under harsh and glaring flourescent lighting in the embalming room - she circled the table with the corpse, stripped her clothes off, and then moved onto the end of it and straddled the pallid body

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Kisses in Life and Death

Australian writer/director Baz Luhrmann's hip, retro-futuristic version of Shakespeare's tragic play about star-crossed lovers starred 17 year-old Claire Danes as the lovely Juliet, and 21 year-old Leonardo di Caprio as Romeo; the film featured a flamboyant modernizing with gang warfare between the Montague and Capulet Boys, guns, and MTV-style filming; the young couple from opposing families first met at a costume ball, where "bright angel" Juliet was wearing angel wings, while he was dressed in knight's armor; they first saw each other on opposite sides of an aquarium tank (with colorful fish), and soon kissed each other after love at first sight; following the crucial balcony scene, they plunged into a swimming pool where they kissed below and above water; in the climactic double-suicide scene at film's end, Romeo kissed his beloved Juliet on a flower-strewn altar lit by 2,000 candles; believing she was dead, he poisoned himself with a lethal drug (from a drug dealer) just as she regained consciousness; she then kissed him and held a semi-automatic gun to her head and pulled the trigger to join him




Chasing Amy (1997)

"A Shared Moment" of Lesbian Kissing

This low-budget comedy-drama was an honest and appealing story of love between two New Jersey comic-book artists Holden McNeil and Alyssa Jones (Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams), one of whom was a lesbian-identified bi-sexual; in the film's double-take scene in a dyke bar, Alyssa was brought onstage ("Get up here and sing, bitch") to perform the song "Alive" ("I want to feel passion, I want to feel pain") dedicated "for that someone special out there" - who, shockingly, turned out to be Kim (Carmen Llywelyn) - a platinum-blonde dyke wearing a tight white T-shirt who was watching in the audience; after the song finished, Alyssa pointed to the admiring woman, beckoning with one finger for her to come forward; the lesbian couple then kissed while Holden looked on in disbelief and his buddy Banky (Jason Lee) applauded and then said about the pairing ("Hot! Now that, my friend, is a shared moment"); the lesbian couple continued to get "mushy" and kiss, as the two guys shared their table in the club, when Banky confessed: "When are we ever gonna get a chance to see this kind of s--t live without paying for it?"




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