If there’s one thing most romantics love, it’s a perfect kiss at the perfect time. The kiss is something that romance filmmakers spend a great deal of time on in order to get just right, evoking the right emotions to make sure the audience really feels what the characters are feeling. While many films are full of kisses from simple pecks to full-blown make-out sessions, not every kiss is note-worthy.
A good movie kiss can give the audience butterflies and send adrenaline coursing through their veins. Now while the kiss on film has a history dating back to 1896, it’s taken a while for filmmakers to get the formula right for the perfect kiss on the silver screen. Doing their best to balance what’s appropriate to show and what’s not, the movie kiss has evolved over time. Here are the most iconic movie kisses of all time.
10 Lady & The Tramp
First off is Lady & The Tramp. When Lady with loving owners meets a stray Tramp who has no home and no name, Lady’s outlook on life changes in more than one way. The Lady & The Tramp kiss is iconic for its innocence and the spaghetti that pulls the two who seem too different together. While it is two dogs and they aren’t exactly kissing in the human sense, the Lady & The Tramp kiss is iconic enough to have been parodied and referenced in film and television, including The Simpsons version of Shady and the Vamp.
9 Sixteen Candles
Samantha is stunned when she wakes up on her birthday and realizes her entire family has forgotten. In a mere 24 hours, she’s met with her exhausting grandparents who take over her room, her sister hogging the attention for her upcoming wedding, and her crush just out of reach being smothered by his perfect girlfriend. Samantha gets her birthday wish at the end of the John Hughes classic Sixteen Candles. This kiss is slow and stops when the credits begin to roll, but it’s the perfect way to end a film that is jam-packed with suffering for Samantha and turn it around into a fairy-tale ending.
8 Gone with the Wind
Probably one of the first passionate kisses ever seen on the silver screen, Rhett takes Scarlett in his arms and, if only for a moment, takes all her troubles away with a kiss. There are many kisses between Rhett and Scarlett throughout Gone with the Wind, but the best is by far the goodbye kiss. A kiss they share when Scarlett is travelling with Melanie and her new baby to return to Tara, her home plantation where she believes she will be safe. Rhett helps her part of the way but leaves her to go and join the war effort. This kiss is a final goodbye in case Rhett doesn’t return from the war and he never sees her again, he wants her to know how he feels.
7 Ghost
Ghost is by far one of the greatest romance films of all time so it’s a given that the kiss would make this list. A scene in which Maggie sits at her potter’s wheel and her husband Sam decides to lend a hand, wrapping his arms around her and romantically guiding her hands before the two share a kiss. This is probably one of the most iconic scenes of all time showing the love they shared which was cut short when his life was taken. A scene like this only makes Sam’s death more tragic.
6 Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Struggling author Paul moves into a new apartment with the help of his Sugar Momma and is quickly finding himself entranced by his neighbour Holly Golightly. Probably the most underrated kiss on the list but all the more iconic is the Breakfast at Tiffany’s kiss between Holly and her neighbour Paul. After months of fighting their feelings for each other, the two finally unite in a search for Cat and when they finally find him, they unite in a passionate kiss, which Cat is partly involved in. This wholesome kiss in the rain is a beautiful display of the couple’s reciprocated feelings after a long struggle.
5 Brokeback Mountain
Brokeback Mountain tells the story of Ennis and Jack who fall in love and struggle to function in a homophobic world. While both Jack and Ennis are married with one or multiple children, that doesn’t stop them from being with whom they really love. One of the strongest displays of love is Ennis and Jack’s kiss after months of not seeing each other and having to hide their love which is taboo, a kiss which Ennis’ wife spots, though she says nothing when Ennis and Jack leave for their trip. This kiss is not only one of the best LGBTQ+ kisses, but it’s one of the best movie kisses of all time.
4 Spider-Man (2002)
From the original Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, this iconic upside-down rain-soaked kiss between Mary Jane and Peter Parker is steamy, to say the least. After another save from Spider-Man, Mary Jane is determined to pay him back somehow. She wants to know who he is and while he doesn’t tell her, she kisses him anyway. The rain covering them both adds to the passion in the kiss and the hidden identity of Spiderman only makes it more exciting for the audience. This kiss is so iconic that the newest Spider-Man, Tom Holland, wants to recreate the iconic kiss, but not with Zendaya.
3 The Notebook
The Notebook is considered one of the greatest romance films of all time and for good reason. Played out as a series of flashbacks, Noah and Ally’s love story is one for the books as what began as a summer romance evolves into a passionate love affair. After years of not knowing why their love fizzled out, Ally and Noah can’t stop the passion from seeping out in this iconic kiss in the rain. Some would say that Noah and Ally’s relationship was only enhanced by the tumultuous relationship between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, which began as a strong hatred but grew into a friendship.
2 Romeo + Juliet
Bazmark Productions
In this unique adaptation of Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet brings out the star-crossed lovers in a modern fashion while still carrying the charm of the original screenplay. Their iconic kiss takes place behind closed doors, expressing their feelings for one another without knowing that their families are feuding. Part of what makes this kiss so memorable is the privileged information that the audience is given, knowing that they come from feuding families and that what they’re doing is forbidden. Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio bring out the passion and immediate attraction between the lovers in their first kiss which will go down in history as one of the best movie kisses of all time.
1 Titanic
What would this list be without Jack and Rose’s kiss at the front of the Titanic? Considered one of the most romantic films of all time, Titanic is full of romantic moments. That said, there is nothing more iconic than Jack and Rose’s first kiss at the front of the ship. This kiss kickstarts their affair and makes them realize their love for one another. What makes this kiss more romantic and emotional than others is the audience’s privileged information for already knowing the fate of the ship as the real Titanic went down in infamy.
