There’s something magical about an on-screen kiss you know has real-world oomph behind it. Any great actor worth their salt can generate chemistry with the right partner, but there’s an extra level of excitement when we, the viewer, know that there’s a bleed between the romantic fantasy and reality. Sometimes, that potent on-screen heat finds its way into classic films. (Sometimes, that’s what makes them classic.) And sometimes you’ll just find it lurking on your DVR. But whether old-school Hollywood or new favorite TV shows, there’s no denying the power of the sizzle. Not all of these pairings last. Not all of them needed to. But when they were good, they were very good.
The Amazing Spider-Man—Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield: As far as we know, Garfield and Stone are still together. (We think?) Maybe. But even if they’re not, their breathless pairing was maybe the best thing about this doomed cycle of Spider-Man films. Don’t let this self-deprecating couple fool you—they know how to execute the perfect on-screen kiss.
The Notebook—Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams: Truth be told, Ryan Gosling could probably have potent on-screen chemistry with anyone or anything. (See, for example, Lars and the Real Girl.) And while this couple may not have lasted forever (Gosling is currently partnered up with another on-screen love, Eva Mendes), their real-life romance oozed into The Notebook to make it, without exception, the very best of the sappy Nicholas Sparks adaptations and, incidentally, produced the best MTV Movie Award–acceptance moment of all time.
To Have and Have Not—Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart: It would be a little too boring for Bogie and Bacall’s big on-screen moment to be a kiss. There is a nice kiss in this scene from To Have and Have Not but it’s followed by that playful Bacall slap. (She objects to his stubble.) To paraphrase a line from another Bogie film, this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Mad Men—Alexis Bledel and Vincent Kartheiser: As teenagers, these two actors cut their teeth on WB shows. Bledel was the sweetheart next door on Gilmore Girls while Kartheiser was the teen from hell (literally) on Angel. But the scenes they shared together on Mad Men (including this racy Pete Campbell fantasy) were all grown-up. The couple married in secret last summer. Sure, we’re happy Pete and Trudy made it work on Mad Men (if only for this hat moment), but for a short time even a slimeball like Pete Campbell had an affair to rival Don Draper’s.
Step Up—Channing and Jenna Dewan Tatum: This is one of the few on-screen moments on this list that isn’t an actual kiss. While the future Mr. and Mrs. Tatum did lock lips in this 2006 film, the dance sequences are where the real magic happens. The couple married in 2009 and, wouldn’t you know it, nine years after Step Up, they’re still turning heads while busting moves.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith—Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt: Probably the most famous on-set romance of the modern era. Whether fighting or kissing, Jolie and Pitt are all over each other for the entirety of Doug Liman’s spy comedy thriller. Tango or torture? It’s all the same to these two. We’ll have a chance to revisit that famous duo when they appear together in Jolie’s next directorial effort By the Sea. Though they likely won’t have quite as much fun as they clearly had in Mr. and Mrs. Smith—Jolie says the new film is about a “deeply unhappy couple”—they have promised we’ll see plenty of their real-life marital dynamic on-screen.
Once Upon a Time—Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas: Much of the energy behind Season 1 of Once Upon a Time depended on the will they, won’t they romance of Snow White and her Prince Charming. (Why are they dressed in modern clothing? It’s a long story, you’ll have to start from the beginning.) When the two did finally come together it was a lot hotter than most Disney fairytales, on-screen and off—they’ve been married since 2014.
Woman of the Year—Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy: You can’t see it in this image, but right after Hepburn and Tracy shared their first on-screen kiss, Hepburn walked right into a door while exiting the scene. Sure, it was probably planned, but there’s no faking the dazzle in her eyes. The couple would become a Hollywood legend, making nine movies together and sticking by each other (though from a distance) for 25 years.
The Vampire Diaries—Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev: Sadly, both this fictional and real-world couple are done. (For now. Never say never when it comes to The Vampire Diaries.) And while it’s hard to pin down exactly when the two started dating in the first place—they kept their relationship quiet for three years—it was impossible to deny the power of their on-screen romance. The pull between the two was so strong it made the alleged love triangle a little ridiculous. Come on, we all knew who Elena was going to pick.
Bull Durham—Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins: The chemistry between Robbins and Sarandon in this movie isn’t supposed to be that good. He’s the goof she’s wasting time with while waiting to connect with Kevin Costner. But while Costner and Sarandon made for a very convincingly steamy couple, it’s not so easy to write off Robbins. Between the garter belt (his), the rope play (hers), and the poetry, they have their own very special thing going on—and they did in real life, too, staying together for more than 20 years.
Cruel Intentions—Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe: Witherspoon and Phillippe were quite young when they made this modern twist on Les Liaisons Dangereuses, but the real spark they shared on-screen helped the pair break out among the pack of young, 90s-era stars. While the couple didn’t wind up staying together, their kids (including Witherspoon’s doppelgänger daughter, Ava) will always be a reminder of their on-screen sizzle.
Cleopatra—Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor: The Jolie and Pitt of their time, these two burned hot in the overblown 1963 costume drama. Everything in Cleopatra is big and loud and bright and phony but the heat pouring off of Burton and Taylor is very, very real.
True Blood—Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer: Seven seasons, one wedding, and a pair of twins later, these two on-screen lovebirds are still going strong. Paquin’s character had a number of romantic partners during the long run of this HBO guilty pleasure, including Joe Manganiello and Alexander Skarsgård. But no matter how heated the later seasons got (and they got pretty heated), nothing matched the pure allure of Bill and Sookie falling in love and lust in Season 1.
The Long, Hot Summer—Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward: The granddaddy of all Hollywood romances, Woodward and Newman first met in an office on a sweltering day. In 2002, Woodward described the meeting: “What looked like an ad for an ice-cream soda, there was Paul. In a seersucker suit, which looked so pristine and a shirt, no sweat, big blue eyes, lots of curly hair, and everything, and I thought, Ugh, oh that’s disgusting.” Woodward apparently got over her disgust and the two smoldered their way through The Long, Hot Summer and kept that flame burning for over 50 years of marriage. Newman once famously said of staying faithful to her: “I have steak at home. Why go out for hamburgers?”
