Annie Hall (1977)

'Get It Over With' Tension-Reducing Kiss To Digest Food Better

Woody Allen's witty Best Picture-winning comedy was a story of angst-ridden urbanites in New York. It told about a remembered on-and-off again relationship between:

• Alvy Singer (Woody Allen), a neurotic writer
• Annie Hall (Diane Keaton), a quirky, enchanting and aspiring singer

During a weekend date, he ended up accompanying her to a Saturday nightclub audition for their first date - an awful debut experience as she timidly sang: "It Had To Be You."

Walking along on the sidewalk afterwards to a deli (in a single, completely unbroken long shot), Alvy attempted to make her feel better about her performance, encouraging her as an older mentor ("You have a wonderful voice...You have a great voice"). However, she was distraught about her singing: "I was awful. I'm so ashamed I can't sing...Oh my God, I mean, they hated me."

Suddenly, he stopped and asked her for a kiss so they wouldn't have to be tense all evening:

"Hey, listen, listen. Give me a kiss....Yeah, why not? Because we're just gonna go home later, right, and uhm, there's gonna be all that tension, you know. We've never kissed before. And I'll never know when to make the right move or anything. So we'll kiss now and get it over with, and then we'll go eat. Okay? We'll digest our food better."

They kissed, and then Alvy perfunctorily stated: "Okay, so now we can digest our food. OK?"

Manhattan (1979)

"What Are You Doing?" - A "Real Cool and Casual" Kiss

In another bittersweet Woody Allen comedic tale about NY neurotics and a quest for romance, with a Gershwin musical score, 42 year-old comedy writer Isaac Davis (Woody Allen) was involved with three females:

• Jill (Meryl Streep), Isaac's lesbian ex-wife who was writing a tell-all book about their marriage
• Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), a 17 year-old high-school student
• Mary Wilke (Diane Keaton), a neurotic, intellectual - the sexy mistress of Yale (Michael Murphy), Isaac's married best friend

After seeing a double feature of foreign films, Isaac and Mary went back to her place, where he laughingly complained about the lack of food in her refrigerator: "So what do you got to eat here? Nothing, right?...What is this? You got a corned beef sandwich here from 1951, I think... Corned beef should not be blue!" He then briefly asked her to come over to him ("Hey, come here") - and gave her a long, passionate kiss. She then asked:

Mary: (quizzically) "What are you doing?"
Isaac: "What am I doing? You have to ask what I'm doing?! I was kissing you flush on the mouth."

She complained: "I cannot get my life in any kind of order." He then admitted that their first kiss was something he had wanted to do for the longest time since meeting her, and he was trying to be "real cool and casual."

She guessed that he had wanted to kiss her during their time at the Hayden Planetarium on an earlier date:

Isaac: "Yeah, I did."
Mary: "I thought so."
Isaac: "But you were going out with Yale then and I would never in a million years, you know, interfere...Did you want me to kiss you then?"
Mary: "I don't know what I wanted. I was so angry at Yale that day."
Isaac: "But you were so sexy, you know. You were all soaking wet from the rain, and I had a mad impulse to throw you down on the lunar surface and commit interstellar perversion with you."
Mary: "I can't go from relationship to relationship. It's senseless. I can't do it...I've got too many problems. I'm just really not the person to get involved with. I'm trouble."
Isaac: "Hey, honey, trouble is my middle name. Actually, my middle name is Mortimer. I'm kidding." (They kissed again)

Nosferatu the Vampyre (aka Phantom der Nacht) (1979, W.Germ.)

Bloody Neck Feeding-Kiss

Werner Herzog's version of the classic Bram Stoker tale and F.W. Murnau's silent Nosferatu (1922) told about a tortured, bald, rat-fanged and pointy-eared Count Dracula/Nosferatu (Klaus Kinski).

The vampire first attempted to take Lucy Harker (Isabelle Adjani), and he announced to her his entrance as his distorted shadow preceded him into the room behind wide-eyed Lucy's reflection in the mirror:

Count Dracula: "You must excuse my rude entrance. I am Count Dracula."
Lucy: "I know of you. I have read Jonathan's diary. Since he has been with you, he's ruined."
Count Dracula: "He will not die."
Lucy: "Yes, he will."
Count Dracula: "Dying is cruelty for the unsuspecting, but death is not everything. It is more cruel not to be able to die. I wish I could partake of the love that's between you and Jonathan."
Lucy: "Nothing in this world, not even God, can touch that. It will not change, even if Jonathan never recognizes me again."
Count Dracula: "I could change everything. Come to me and be my ally. There'd be salvation for your husband and for me. The absence of love is the most abject pain."
Lucy: "Salvation comes from ourselves alone and you may rest assured that even the unthinkable will not deter me."

But she refused him.

Later, however, the pure and virginal Lucy offered herself up sacrificially to the vampire. With a pale face and wearing a white gown, she was lying perfectly still and awaiting his 'kiss.' As he groped her breast with his long fingered-hand, he slowly descended to bite her neck and feed upon her.

Her ploy to keep him there paid off - the rising sun's light from her window sealed the Count's fate.

The Shining (1980)

Shocking Corpse Kiss

Director Stanley Kubrick's 'haunted house' horror film occurred during the off-season at a remote Colorado resort hotel, the Overlook Hotel, where aspiring writer and half-crazed Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) had been hired as the caretaker with his family.

When investigating Room 237, Jack pushed open the half-closed bathroom door of the mysterious, green and orange room, where he saw a young, totally-nude female figure (Lia Beldam) bathing.

She rose, and slowly stepped from the tub and approached. Jack lustfully leered back at her and was sexually seduced by the apparition.

When she stopped in the middle of the room, he started toward her - she seductively moved her hands up over his chest and around his neck.

Jack embraced and kissed the illusory, beautiful bather.

But when he looked at their embrace over her shoulder at the reflection in the mirror behind her, he saw that her age had accelerated and her body was covered with lesions.

Kissing a Corpse

She was transformed into a demonic, necrophiliac lover - a pulsating, partially-decomposed corpse - a wrinkled, thick-skinned old hag (Billie Gibson) that was pursuing him!

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

"I'd Just As Soon Kiss a Wookie"

The second film in the epic Star Wars trilogy was another sci-fi fantasy adventure, documenting the continuing struggle of the evil Dark Lord Darth Vader (David Prowse/voice of James Earl Jones) against the Rebel Alliance, supported by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), feisty Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), and cynical mercenary captain of the Millennium Falcon Han Solo (Harrison Ford).

Earlier in the film on the bleak and frigid planet of Hoth where the hidden Rebel base was located in a large ice cave, Han Solo reported on his mission, and then explained that he was now forced to leave - to pay off a debt from a previous smuggling operation, with bounty hunters on his trail. Solo then said goodbye to the Princess ("Your Highness" or "Your Highnesness"), who was frosty about his sudden departure.

However, she followed after him in an icy, south passage corridor and told him with a mixture of emotional and professional sentiment that he was a "natural leader." He imagined that she also had personal feelings for him, and challenged her to give him a good-bye kiss:

Leia: "I thought you had decided to stay... Han, we need you!"
Han: "We need you."
Leia: "Yes."
Han: "Well, what about you need?"
Leia: "I need? I don't know what you're talking about."
Han: "You probably don't."
Leia: "And what precisely am I supposed to know?"
Han: "You want me to stay because of the way you feel about me."
Leia: "Yes. You're a great help to us. You're a natural leader."
Han: "No, that's not it. Come on. (He gestured for her to kiss him) A-ha. Come on."
Leia: "You're imagining things."
Han: "Am I? Then why are you following me? Afraid I was gonna leave without giving you a good-bye kiss?"
Princess (retorting): "I'd just as soon kiss a Wookiee."
Han: "I can arrange that! You could use a good kiss!"

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Unlikely Kiss for a Scoundrel - Interrupted

Solo passionately kissed Princess Leia for the first time, while she helped him to repair his ship while hiding from the evil Empire in an asteroid tunnel-cave. He aggravated her when he spitefully called her "Your Worship," although he said she also could be a littler nicer. She admitted that he occasionally was all right when "not acting like a scoundrel."

When he got close to her and was rubbing her dirty hands, he told her that he liked her epithet for him - 'scoundrel' and then asked:

Han: "What are you afraid of?"
Leia: "Afraid?"
Han: "You're trembling."
Leia: "I'm not trembling."
Han: "You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life."
Leia: "I happen to like nice men."
Han: "I'm a nice man."
Leia: "No, you're not. You're ---"

After she quipped back, he coaxed a kiss from her as she mildly protested but reciprocated. He almost made her faint, after a long-running spitefulness that they showed to each other. Although indignant, she couldn't find the words to express herself.

The kissing scene ended quickly and humorously when they were suddenly interrupted by C-3PO's cheerful joy about the repairs he had made to the ship and his happiness over isolating the reverse power flux coupling.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Confirmation of Love Kiss

The couple also briefly kissed later in the film when Solo was about to be dipped into a carbonite-freezing chamber, as a test by the Dark Lord Darth Vader. Vader's intention was to first test the freezing chamber on Han Solo.

Chewie vainly fought off some of the stormtroopers until Solo calmed him and told him to "save his strength - there will be another time. The princess - you have to take care of her."

Leia turned to Han and kissed him, but they were separated by one of the stormtroopers.

Then, she confessed to him as he was pulled away: "I love you," to which he replied: "I know."

Superman II (1980)

Magic, Amnesia-Inducing Kiss

The entire Superman series was based on the late 1930s comic book tale regarding the "Man of Steel" (alias Clark Kent) and his continuing romance with fellow reporter Lois Lane.

At the conclusion of this Superman sequel in a scene set in Lois Lane's (Margot Kidder) Daily Planet office in Metropolis, mild-mannered Clark Kent/Superman (Christopher Reeve) gave Lois an "amnesia kiss" - an ingenious plot device - when she was anguished at knowing his secret identity. She began by telling him about her upset and sleepless night:

"I sat up all night listening to the voices of reason. Do you know how vile it is to hear the first bird of the morning singing, when you've been sitting up all night, crying?...I guess I'm just too selfish...Yes, I am selfish when it comes to you. I am selfish. And I'm jealous of the whole world...Clark, look. Don't tell me that I'll meet somebody. You're kinda...tough act to follow, you know? Now, I'm gonna be fine. You don't have to worry about me."

When Clark replied: "I like worrying about you," she muttered back while sobbing:

"Would you stop? Don't you know that this is killing me? Do you know what it's like to have you come in here, every morning, and not be able to talk to you? Not be able to… show I have any feelings for you? Not be able to tell anyone that I know who you are? I don't even know what to call you!...I dunno, just... say that you love me."

To end her pain, he gave her a prolonged kiss that somehow erased her memory of his identity as Superman in the past few days, allowing her to function without that painful knowledge, and to keep his identity secret and safe so that he could continue to dutifully protect Earth.

[Note: See also entry for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987).]

Body Heat (1981)

Heated Body Kisses

Director/writer Lawrence Kasdan's steamy neo-film noir had a classic plot line - a lawyer smitten with a woman who convinced him to commit the murder of her loathed husband, in the hot climate of Florida.

• Ned Racine (William Hurt), a naive and horny Florida attorney
• Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner in her film debut), a sultry, alluring, cheating, husky-voiced femme fatale

The not-very-bright, corruptible lawyer was ensnared by Matty during a highly-charged nocturnal meeting at her house after they had met at a bar, where he became enthralled by her mode of dress (a braless, open blouse and bright red skirt). He had told her:

"Maybe you shouldn't dress like that...Then you shouldn't wear that body."

He followed her home to see (or listen) to her balcony's wind chimes -- but then she asked him to leave almost immediately:

"So I think you should go now... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let you come... I'm weak."

Although he began to leave, he returned and broke into her locked house through the porch bay window with a garden chair (to the sound of wind chimes). He approached the awaiting, horny and receptive Matty at the foot of the stairs - where he kissed her.

After feeling her breasts and crotch through her clothing, she accommodated him by laying back on the floor. He removed her panties to make love to her, exclaiming: "It's so right!" She begged:

"Please, Ned. Do it!"

On Golden Pond (1981)

'Suck Face' Kiss

Director Mark Rydell's heartwarming dramatic film told about an aging couple at their summer place - a lakefront cabin in Maine:

• Norman Thayer, Jr. (Henry Fonda), an 80 year-old retired college professor and avid fisherman, very cantankerous
• Ethel (Katharine Hepburn), Norman's devoted and wise wife

In one of the later scenes, Norman had suffered a mild heart attack on their cabin's front porch, something which for the first time made Ethel realize their approaching mortality: ("This is the first time that I've really felt that we were gonna die....When I looked at you here on the floor, I could actually see you dead. I could see you, I could see you in your blue suit and white, starched shirt in Thomas's funeral parlor on Bradshaw Street....You've been talking about death ever since we met, but this is the first time I really felt it...Oh, it feels odd. Cold, I guess. Not that bad, really. Not so frightening. Almost comforting. Not such a bad place to go. I don't know!").

When he recovered, he stood up and asked Ethel, while holding her in his arms on the porch:

"Want to dance? Or would you rather just suck face?"

[Note: He was using slang he had learned from 13 year-old Billy (Doug McKeon) earlier when he questioned: "What does one do for recreation when one is 13 and not in school?"; Billy answered: "We cruise chicks...You know, meet 'em. Girls, try to pick 'em up"; Norman asked a follow-up question ("What do you do with 'em when you have 'em?"), Billy responded: "Suck face!...You know, kiss. Suck face. You kiss."]

And then, Norman reminded Ethel of the sound of the loons on the lake: "They've come round to say goodbye." Together, they walked down to the water's edge, where Norman spoke:

"Just the two of 'em now. Babies all grown up and moved to Los Angeles, or somewhere."

The camera panned to the left as they leaned into each other - presumably to kiss.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Kissing Everywhere It Doesn't Hurt - Left Elbow, Forehead, Right Eye, and on the Lips

Director Steven Spielbeg's first film in the popular Indiana Jones franchise starred Harrison Ford as globe-trotting adventurer/archaeology professor Indiana Jones, who teamed up with Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), the daughter of a celebrated archaeologist, to locate the lost biblical Ark of the Covenant, while in contention with a group of Nazis.

As passengers on Mr. Katanga's (George Harris) steamboat with the Ark of the Covenant in its cargo hold, Marion nursed a badly wounded Indiana, who complained of pain when she tried to apply ointment.

She reminded him: "You're not the man I knew ten years ago" to which he replied, famously about his prowess:

"It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage."

When he kept complaining about pain everywhere, she retorted: "Well, G-ddamnit, Indy, where doesn't it hurt?" Indy pointed to the only place it didn't hurt on his body - his left elbow.

She kissed it for him and then he prompted her to continue kissing him - on his forehead (after she removed his hat), his right eye and finally, a long passionate kiss on his lips.

But he passed out as Marion pondered:

"Jones, Jones. We never seem to get a break, do we?"