6 Classic Movie Couples From the ’50s & ’60s to Get You in the Mood for Love
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, here are 6 movies to get you in the mood for love with a bit of an unconventional spin.
Humphrey Bogart & Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen (1951)
Everett Collection
The 2021 film Jungle Cruise owed an obvious debt to John Huston’s 1951 romantic adventure classic The African Queen in its World War I-era setting and bickering leads who trade barbs and eventually find romance as they head down a jungle river in a steam launch. While Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt had a fun interplay, it didn’t touch the influential dynamic that Best Actor Oscar winner Humphrey Bogart and Best Actress Oscar nominee Katharine Hepburn brought to the familiar “opposites attract” trope in The African Queen.
Bogie’s Charlie Allnut, the grizzled, hard-drinking skipper of the titular boat, and Hepburn’s prim and strong-willed missionary Rose Sayer reset the standard for the unlikely, initially conflicting cinematic couples brought together under extreme circumstances to come over the ensuing decades. You can see their character types referenced in not only Jungle Cruise, but also other films like Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Romancing the Stone (1984).
Gregory Peck & Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (1953)
Everett Collection
Royals disguising themselves to move among the commoners is a popular element in romantic tales. The 1953 Best Picture Oscar-nominated romantic comedy Roman Holiday tweaked that concept. After a princess named Ann (Best Actress Oscar winner Audrey Hepburn) sneaks away to experience Rome on her own terms, she meets a reporter, Joe (Gregory Peck). Eventually realizing Ann’s identity, and a potential scoop, Joe plays along while not revealing who he is, but begins falling for her.
Roman Holiday not only played with a love story trope, but also upended Hollywood a bit when it introduced Hepburn’s screen presence and unique physical look for that era to American audiences. While no real-life romance blossomed between established star Peck and newcomer Hepburn, 13 years his junior, he was clearly so impressed with her that halfway through filming he suggested she share equal billing with him.
Richard Beymer & Natalie Wood in West Side Story (1961)
Everett Collection
Tales of doomed, youthful romances like the one William Shakespeare portrayed in Romeo and Juliet were already ancient when the Bard published his play in 1597. His take on these sad but popular stories has remained a touchstone onstage and onscreen, yet it took the musical West Side Story — first on Broadway in 1957, then especially in its 1961 film adaptation — to truly give the tragic tale a modern spin.
West Side Story brought Romeo and Juliet to mid 20th century New York City where, instead of rival families, allegiances to warring street gangs kept the film’s star-crossed lovers Maria (Natalie Wood) and Tony (Richard Beymer) apart. The production’s urban setting, and its jazz and ballet musical backdrop to the romance, showed Shakespeare’s concept could be transplanted into various environments. It helped pave the way for reimaginings that have had wildly different scenarios, but all with couples coming from different worlds, in movies ranging from Valley Girl (1983) to William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996).
Audrey Hepburn & George Peppard, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Everett Collection
Intense offscreen love did not apply to Breakfast at Tiffany’s stars Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. Onscreen, the duo was a hit. Critics and audiences responded well to the film and the relationship between Hepburn’s Holly Golightly and Peppard’s Paul Varjak. At the end of the film, Holly and Paul share a kiss in the rain that has become iconic. The viewer has no trouble buying that the two are in love and destined to live happily ever after. In reality, however, Hepburn was not fond of Peppard. He referred to her disdainfully as “the Happy Nun,” and she thought he was pompous. It’s a stark reminder that, at least in some instances, onscreen chemistry doesn’t translate to the real world.
Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton, Cleopatra (1963)
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection
The public’s longing for details about the private lives of famous couples was never more apparent than with the tumultuous and notorious relationship between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The stars met on the set of Cleopatra. Each was married to someone else at the time: Taylor to singer Eddie Fisher, with whom she’d had a scandalous affair as he was married to actress Debbie Reynolds when their romance began, and Burton to actress Sybil Williams, his wife of nearly 15 years. There is serious heat between Taylor and Burton in the film. This is perfectly clear in the scene where Taylor’s Cleopatra and Burton’s Mark Antony share their first kiss, in her private chambers, before spending the night together. The chemistry between them is electric. Rumor has it they didn’t stop smooching after the director called “Cut!” (and allegedly they fell in love right then and there). The fireworks were on the screen for all to see. It was the beginning of one of Hollywood’s most famous romances, one the media and the public were consumed with. Audiences ate it up, as the infamously expensive film grossed nearly $58 million — or over $500 million in today’s dollars.
Faye Dunaway & Warren Beatty, Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Everett Collection
Onscreen chemistry not translating to the real world also applied to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Though Beatty was well known for being romantically involved with several of his costars, he did not have an offscreen relationship with his Bonnie and Clyde costar Dunaway. While the film might be most remembered for its ultraviolence, which caused quite a stir at the time, there’s no denying that, amongst all the bullets, sparks fly between Beatty and Dunaway. The glamorous stars look fantastic as they rob banks, and there is real passion onscreen. So much so that some critics worried the film romanticized violence because of the undeniable appeal of Beatty, Dunaway and their characters’ relationship. The onscreen heat is best exemplified at the end, right before a hail of bullets rains down on the criminal couple. They exchange a look, fully aware of what’s coming, silently acknowledging their love for one another.
Hollywoods Golden Couples
February 2022
Gaze back at the classic romances of old Hollywood, both onscreen and off.
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