Hollywood's Hottest Kisses

What can be more romantic than a kiss? As a romance writer, that is one of my favorite scenes to write, especially the first kiss. This started me wondering what makes for a memorable kiss? Is it a full-on, face-grabbing, lip-smashing passionate kiss? Or is it the sweet, lip-brushing kiss that turns startlingly hot? Or maybe it’s the anticipatory kiss, the kind where the hero and heroine stop a half-inch away, hesitating, before diving in?

Hollywood certainly has its fair share of memorable kisses, so I’ve listed just a few of Hollywood’s hottest kisses, in no particular order, along with some videos to whet your appetite:

From Here to Eternity (1953) boasts one of the most famous Hollywood kiss scenes. Often imitated, never duplicated, it’s often a favorite for parody. You can refresh your memory by checking out the video.

Ah, Casablanca, the American Film Institute’s (AFI) number one most romantic movie of all time. Ill-fated Rick and Ilsa, played by Bogart and Bergman, share a kiss of passion and longing and desperation, when Ilsa tells Rick she still loves him.

Number two on AFI’s list of the most romantic movies of all time, Gone with the Wind, has many memorable kiss scenes, but the one on the bridge just before Rhett leaves to enlist in the defeated Confederate Army, earns him a stinging slap at the end.

Here’s a soldier of the South who loves you, Scarlett. Wants to feel your arms around him, wants to carry the memory of your kisses into battle with him. Never mind about loving me, you’re a woman sending a soldier to his death with a beautiful memory. Scarlett! Kiss me! Kiss me … once … [he kisses her]. Sigh.

One of my favorite movies is the Thomas Crown Affair (1999) with Rene Russo and Pierce Brosnan. You could cut the sexual tension between the two with a putty knife. At the Black and White Ball, Russo, in a sheer (and I mean sheer) black sheath, and sexy Brosnan, heat up the dance floor with a super-sizzling tango. The kiss at the end could combust the polar ice cap. And the following scene … holy hot flash … need I say more?

Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief wins the prize for the two-most-beautiful-people-who-share-a-kiss scene. Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Could it get any more beautiful than that? I love this scene. It’s rife with innuendo, without sinking to campy, as only Hitchcock could achieve.

You can’t talk about romantic kiss scenes without talking about the famous kiss in the rain from The Notebook. Noah tells Allie that he wrote her every day for a year.

It isn’t over. It still isn’t over.

Then he grabs her and pulls her to him, the rain pouring over them. Sigh. And what happens next could steam the wrinkles out of a shar pei.

Bogie and Bacall — the classic Hollywood couple — give a memorable performance in To Have and Have Not.  They met and fell in love on this film, which also gave us the unforgettable lines:

You know how to whistle don’t you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.

Another Hitchcock film, Notorious, with the suave, sexy Cary Grant (again) and breathtaking Ingrid Bergman (again), has one long two-and-a-half minute kiss, filled with tasty nibbles and tender caresses. It was the longest kiss scenes of its time. Leave it to Hitchcock to push the envelope.

When talking about Hollywood’s hottest kisses, I can’t leave out Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, winners of MTV’s 2009 Award for Best Kiss in Twilight. Their first kiss in Bella’s bedroom starts out hesitant, Pattinson stopping just an inch shy of her lips, heightening the anticipation of the kiss, before it flares to an all-out passion-fest. That scene melted many a woman’s heart, young and old. It deserved to win.

While not a lip-lock, the final scene in Twilight, where Edward presses his vampire lips to the pulse in Bella’s throat, ranks right up there with other wickedly delicious kisses.

Other memorable kiss scenes include:

Titanic (1997), when Jack and Rose kiss on the bow of the doomed ocean-liner. Of course most people remember the steamier scene in the backseat of the car, when in the throes of passion, Kate Winslet’s hand slides down the fogged-up window.

The Proposal, with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds (cutie-pie), when they kiss at the very end. He drops his jacket, cradles her face, and they kiss in front of the entire office. Now that’s a happy ending.

In Witness, when John Book and Rachel Lapp (played by Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis) finally give in to their passion. You know when Rachel removes her bonnet what’s going to happen next.

The rain-soaked, lightning-storm kiss on the beach from Sweet Home Alabama with Josh Lucas and Reese Witherspoon.

Who can forget the gorgeous Hugh Jackman in Australia? Yum. Oh, I guess there was a gorgeous Nicole Kidman in that scene as well. Lady Sarah and Drover kiss in the rain surrounded by a crowd of people who may as well not exist.

Finally, how about when Demi Moore and the late Patrick Swayze make out over the potter’s wheel in Ghost with the Righteous Brothers’ "Unchained Melody" for background music? Be still my heart.

So many memorable Hollywood kisses, so little time. What’s your favorite Hollywood kiss?