Love Story (1970)

"Love means shutting the fuck up" [paraphrased]

Oliver and Jenny are young attractive people who, despite being complete opposites (he's a Harvard preppie jock, she's a blue collar musician), fall madly in love. Although you wouldn't know it, since they never stop bickering. Due to their different backgrounds, they have to make concessions with each other, including going against the wishes of those around them. Unfortunately, their idyllic romance doesn't last for long before tragedy strikes. It's a corny movie (even at the time of its release), but I admire it because it's sincere and I'm a sentimentalist at heart. It may be weepy and saccharine, but there's a reason why it's endured for over 50 years. Being cynical all the time is exhausting.

The theme by Francis Lai is a classic. It's on the pantheon of great romantic scores next to Romeo & Juliet (1968), Summer of '42 and Somewhere in Time.

4 undisclosed conditions out of 5

Convoy (1978)

A film based on a song doesn't exactly fill a viewer with confidence, but Convoy is a real gem; and thankfully it's the kind of sharp-edged diamond that cuts, not the kind that buys you a wife.

Rubber Duck and his cohorts spend life on the open road, under blue skies, answerable to no one except the law. Unfortunately, sometimes the law is crooked and action needs to be taken to defend personal freedoms.
Replace the trucks with wagons and the diner with a saloon and you have the kind of Western situation where men are men and anyone not part of the clique is considered suspicious. Logic says the thin plot and recycled motivations shouldn't work, but somehow they do.

3½ mad brother truckers out of 5