Top 10 Movie Bromances

1 Dean and Jerry




Over more than a dozen films, the comic duo of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis established a bromantic relationship the likes of which Hollywood has rarely seen since. As TIME critic Richard Corliss writes, "The intimacy they shared was intense and startling in the '50s and remains so today."

Just take a look at this clip from their first film together, 1949's My Friend Irma. Skip ahead to about the two-and-a-half minute mark, when Lewis comes on to join Martin in a song. We're not sure why Lewis starts pawing at Martin before tousling his own hair and licking his hand, but it's the wacky start to a beautiful (too beautiful?) cinematic friendship.


2 Jules and Jim





Jules: "So you won the war, you louse."
Jim: "I'd rather have won this." 

Two guys (Jules and Jim) in love with the same woman (Catherine). A common plot, but in the hands of young French New Wave director Francois Truffaut, it's a poignant one.

Notice that the film isn't titled Jules et Jim et Catherine. That shows you where the story lies. In this scene, the two men — who essentially carried out a platonic three-way relationship with Catherine (Jeanne Moreau) before heading off to WWI to fight on separate sides — have returned from the front. Jules is married to Catherine. His side has lost the Great War, but he's emerged victorious over his pal. It's a brief comfort, though, as Catherine proceeds to bounce between the two for the rest of the film. Still, Jules and Jim remains friends for life, the love of a girl pushing them apart and bringing them together, each in its own time.


3 Butch and Sundance


 

(Spoiler Alert: the clip above reveals the movie's ending.)

Just a couple of outlaws trying to find the next big score? Nah. The 1969 classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is more about having your buddy's back than it is about the infamous Hole in the Wall Gang. Whether they're riding together on a single horse or taking a trip down to Bolivia, Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) are never very far apart. They fight over a woman, they evade the law, they rob banks and trains. But mostly they seduce the audience with their clever and affectionate banter. Even today, the image of one naturally conjures up the other. Apparently, Newman and Redford felt the chemistry too, because they made another hugely successful buddy flick — The Sting — just four years later.

4 Bodhi and Johnny Utah


 

FBI agent goes undercover as a surfer bum. FBI agent meets girl and befriends bank-robbing surfer bum. Bank-robbing surfer bum turns out to not be so bad. Waves. Crisis of conscience. Bigger Waves. Sky-diving. Point Break is a cult classic for a reason — the unlikely bond between burly hippie Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) and Special Agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves). They're crushing on each other so bad it's like acid in their mouths.


5 Riggs and Murtaugh



(Warning: The clip above may contain offensive language.)

Accompanied by a cheesily ever-present Eighties saxophone score, Lethal Weapon is endearing nonetheless because of the partnership between crazy eyeball-popping Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and sensible Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover). They come to each other's rescue on and off the job — Riggs saving Murtaugh from feeling old and boring and Murtaugh savings Riggs from a suicidal mania he can barely seem to contain. It's good cop/bad cop, black cop/white cop, family-man cop/single-guy cop — they're opposites in every way. Naturally, they love each other.


6 Maverick and Goose



 

They fly fighter jets together at the speed of sound and then play beach volleyball. So? Night follows day. Judging from the frequency of high (and low) fives, Lt. Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) and Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) do it all well, and they prefer to do it all together. In a movie full of barely contained homoerotic glances and lots of glistening man-flesh, Goose and Maverick have the real bromance. Why? Because there's love. You know if they slept in the same bed, it would be full of cuddling and laughter. Now Maverick and Iceman (Val Kilmer) on the other hand...

7 Craig and Smokey


 

(Warning: The clip above contains profanity and good-natured marijuana use.)

Yes, Friday revolves around pot-smoking. But it's real message is not "Get high," it's that you can't survive in the hood without friends. Craig (Ice Cube) is the decent guy with a stable family who can't resist peer pressure. His pal Smokey (Chris Tucker) is the loveable bad influence who's trying to evade his murderous drug dealer. Together, they spend one long Friday sitting on a porch smoking away while trouble finds them over and over and over again. OK, they find some of the trouble without any help. But it's Friday. You aint got s--- to do and you know this maaaaaaaaaaaaan! (Ok, you really needed to hear Chris Tucker's voice for that last sentence to work.)

8 Red and Andy


 

The prison yard is a place where you definitely don't want to be without a buddy, especially if said buddy is a "man who knows how to get things." Red (Morgan Freeman) and Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) become fast friends as inmates in The Shawshank Redemption. Years of hard time, a corrupt warden and bullying from a rapist harden Andy, but he's got Red to lean on through it all. One's a true criminal, one is an innocent victim, but by film's end, they're close enough to start a new life together.

9 Seth and Evan



 

High school dorks need to stick together. Superbad screenwriters Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg know this as well as anyone — they started writing the movie when they were, you guessed it, high school dorks. 14 to be exact. The on-screen Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) try their hardest to be cool high school seniors — you know, going to parties, scoring hot chicks, and getting as drunk as possible before going their separate ways. They mostly fail, but in the process, bond like teenage boys will when chased dangerously immature cops. At film's end, the pair declare their love to each other while tucked into side-by-side sleeping bags. College shall never cleave their hearts in twain.

10 Sam and Frodo




(Warning: This clip contains the emotional and narrative climax of an approximately 12-hour film. Avoid if you're one of the seven people who have yet to see The Lord of the Rings trilogy.) 

Over the course of three films Samwise Gamgee — Frodo's incredibly loyal gardener — grows to become the most heroic character in a trilogy obsessed with the idea of heroism. Time and again, he puts himself in harm's way to save his old boss (and when we say "time and again," we're serious. Sam saves Frodo like eight times — from drowning, from Orcs, from a giant spider...), though it's only at the climax of the entire series that we get to witness his true mettle. He carries Frodo up the side of a volcano!

But bravery aside, it's easy to lose count of how many times the two look longingly into each others eyes and exchange emotion-filled words of love and fellowship. And let's not even get into the trilogy's second-to-last scene, which consists of Sam jumping happily on Frodo's bed before giving him a fierce hug, and a long, tearful stare goodbye. He wasn't the only one crying.