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Sometime around 27 years ago, in November, Pat Young spotted a ranking that “got a laugh” out of him. 

Romance appeared dead in Brownsville as the city ranked dead last in a category ranking its romantic atmosphere as part of an extensive survey conducted by national woman’s magazine.

Ladies’ Home Journal put 200 major cities across the U.S. to the test based on various factors that women valued most at the time for themselves and their children. The magazine covered the main points such as low crime rate, well-paying jobs, quality of life, good health care and public schools.

LHJ expanded their research in quality of life by factoring in “a few more earthly concerns” like complexion-kindness index, odds on finding affordable fashion and without ignoring matters of the heart: “how conductive a city’s atmosphere is to romance.”

Remember Blockbusters? To help rank the cities in this aspect, the magazine used the iconic video rental chain’s rental rates for films in the romance genre as a factor, in addition to the availability of fresh flowers, scenery, and wining and dining. 

Young thinks the Blockbuster rental rates sealed Brownsville’s last place ranking since “most Valley men’s idea of a romantic male lead is a Jean-Claude Van Damme.”

The results of the survey eventually appeared in his mother’s November 1998 magazine (at least according to Young that’s how he came across it): Brownsville landed at the end of the “flops” list for romance capitals, right behind the city of Brotherly Love.

“The silver lining here is that Brownsville has nowhere to go but up,” Young quipped in his listicle. “So it’s with a sense of civic-mindedness and tongue firmly in cheek that I share with the Valley’s largest city 10 movies available on video that could qualify as the best love stories ever put on film.” 

He’ll give his own arguments for choosing the following 10 films, but in short, here’s what that sense of civic-mindedness inspired Young to share with Brownsville what he thinks are “the best love stories ever put on film”: 

As a whole, Young claims the common denominator for selecting these 10 films is that both men and women enjoy them equally, though he admits for different reasons at times. I’ll let you be the judge of that.

When LHJ conducted their third annual survey, romantic atmosphere wasn’t a category but Brownsville did jump a few spots in the overall ranking. Whereas it ranked 145 in the 1998 survey, the city improved to 127 in the 2000 survey. 

Unfortunately, we’ll never know if Young’s attempt to spread love throughout the Valley worked, but we can look into it ourselves. 

While the video rental days are long gone, and the streaming wave has essentially developed into a cable 2.0, there are some services that have free movies with ads such as my personal favorite: Tubi. 

Right now, you can watch some of the films in this list for free on Tubi such as “It Happened One Night,” “Annie Hall” and “Titanic.” Meanwhile, “Brief Encounter” is also available for free through the Roku Channel. 

All of these are also available to rent digitally; if you have Paramount+, “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “When Harry Met Sally” are streaming there as well as “Titanic” if you don’t want to sit through ads. Additionally, “Gone With The Wind” and “Casablanca” are both streaming on HBO Max.

Or, if you really want to get that video rental feeling, then you can also consider checking your local library’s movies collection. The Brownsville Public Library has every movie available in its catalog with the exception of “Brief Encounter,” “The Way We Were” and “Annie Hall.”

Over at the McAllen Public Library, everything is available except for “It Happened One Night,” “Brief Encounter,” “Annie Hall” and “An Officer and a Gentleman.” Lastly, the Harlingen Public Library has every single film minus “Brief Encounter,” though a few are only available digitally through Hoopla. 

The digital age, am I right? Nevertheless, here’s our entertainment writer’s response to Brownsville ranking last on romance from The Monitor’s Nov. 12, 1998 edition:

Brownsville’s last chance for romance

By Pat Young | The Monitor (Nov. 12, 1998)

I got a laugh out of a recent article in Ladies’ Home Journal that ranked Brownsville dead last of 200 major American cities as an environment for romance. (Before you ask, it was my mother’s magazine.)

Factors considered included “wining and dining, and scenery.” Having lived there for almost two years, I can attest to the fact that the best place to go on the weekend in Brownsville is South Padre Island. LHJ also factored in a city’s “availability of fresh flowers” (Huh?) and “rentals of romantic videos.” The last one probably sewed up Brownsville’s bottom status since most Valley men’s idea of a romantic male lead is a Jean-Claude Van Damme. 

The silver lining here is that Brownsville has nowhere to go but up. So it’s with a sense of civic-mindedness and tongue firmly in cheek that I share with the Valley’s largest city 10 movies available on video that could qualify as the best love stories ever put on film. Though they span a period of more than 60 years, the common denominator of these movies is that both men and women enjoy them equally … although, at times, for different reasons. Who knows? If enough of these movies listed below are rented, then Brownsville could pass Fargo, North Dakota, when the next survey is taken. (Now that’s a romantic city!)

It Happened One Night (1934): Almost all “screwball” comedies owe their origin to this Frank Capra film about a newspaper reporter (Clark Gable) trying to track down a spoiled heiress (Claudette Colbert). Their ensuing romantic mismatch manages to be touching and very funny at the same time. 

This was the first movie to win all five top Oscars: picture, actor, actress, director and screenplay (Robert Riskin). The construction by Colbert and Gable of the “Walls of Jericho” to separate their beds is a good example of how movies in the early 1930s depicted any hint of sexual attraction and behavior. 

Gone With the Wind (1939): You knew this one had to be in the list. The chemistry between Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) and Rhett Butler (Who else but Gable?) works because he’s a complete cad and she’s the consummate female of the canine species. Together, they provide the combustion that makes this Civil War melodrama one of the most popular movies ever. This adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s novel won eight Oscars, including best picture, actress (Leigh), director (Victor Fleming) and supporting actress (Hattie McDaniel as Mammy). 

Casablanca (1942): The real Casablanca never had any of the ambience and intrigue of this movie’s setting. Rick’s Cafe Americain is a haven for multi-dimensional, mysterious characters, including a memorable black singer/pianist named Sam, whose tunes lend a mood of wistful longing to the soundtrack. 

But it’s the relationship between former lovers Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman that’s the catalyst for this movie. The clever dialogue won Casablanca one of three Academy Awards, the other being for best picture and director (Michael Curtiz). 

Brief Encounter (1945) Of all the movies included here, this British import is probably the least known. But this rendition of two middle-class, married people who meet by chance and fall in love is one of the most beautifully written and directed romances ever screened. No surprise here since the screenplay was penned by Noel Coward and directed by David Lean (The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia). Beware of the 1974 remake. 

Doctor Zhivago (1965): Putting a film treatment of Boris Pasternak’s novel about a doctor-poet’s life that is torn apart by the Russian Revolution required director David Lean (him again) to marry romance with spectacle. The title character’s pursuit of the beautiful, elusive Lara epitomizes a love beyond reach. “Lara’s Theme” remains one of cinema’s most hauntingly beautiful scores. 

The Way We Were (1973): Are you starting to get the idea that music plays a major role in screen love stories? Marvin Hamlisch’s theme song was good enough to win an Oscar, and the casting of Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford as ideologically unsuited lovers was a stroke of genius. Women will probably enjoy this movie more than men since they get to ogle Redford while the guys are left with … well, you know. 

Annie Hall (1977): Before Mia and Soon-Yi, director-star Woody Allen cast his former paramour Diane Keaton as the on-screen love of his life in this intelligent, witty look at the nature of relationships. The movie is a landmark in romantic comedy because of its unique autobiographical narrative approach. Annie Hall won Oscars for best picture, actress (Keaton), director (Allen), and screenplay (Allen and Marshall Brickman). 

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982): The standard “boy meets girl, loses girl and gets girl back” story is modernized with occasional violence, frank dialogue and a steamy sex scene. But it’s the excellent performances and characterizations that make this movie one of the best of its kind.

Louis Gossett Jr. won a well-deserved Oscar for best supporting actor as a hard-nosed drill instructor who turns an opportunistic young hustler (Richard Gere) into a naval officer. As the vulnerable factor worker whose love makes Gere a gentleman, Debra Winger manages to be both affectingly sweet and sensual. The oft-imitated and satirized ending is an exercise in pure “Corn” … but somehow it works. 

When Harry Met Sally (1989): Anyone who’s seen this movie automatically thinks about Meg Ryan’s faked orgasm in the deli (and it is funny!). Beyond that is an insightful screenplay from Nora Ephron that explores the thin lines between mutual dislike, friendship and love among members of the opposite sex. 

Different couples appear throughout the movie to describe the origins and nature of their own relationship in an interview format that effectively illustrates love;s mysteries and joys. 

Titanic (1997): Initially, everybody came to writer-director James Cameron’s big-budget opus about the doomed ocean liner to see the ship sink. But it was the romance between Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet and its impact on the life of the one who survives that brought people (mostly teen-age females) back again and again and …

Pat Young writes about movies and entertainment for The Monitor.

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