The 56 best on-screen couples of all time, ranked

We've looked at a lot of great duos, but this is the one that all directors, producers, and casting directors strive for when they are looking for an on-screen couple. The acting power of both Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart on their own and especially together in this movie is what has made it become an essential piece of cinema.

Like "Gone With the Wind" you need an amazing on-screen couple to make this massive movie work, and director James Cameron pulled it off big time with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Their connection being so genuine is why the movie would go on to become one of the biggest box-office hits ever.

This time Meg Ryan shows up on the list with Billy Crystal and the two are just perfect in this movie. Playing longtime friends who become lovers which leads to them ruining their friendship, they are aided by Nora Ephron's script and Rob Reiner's direction. But it's the performances that has made this a classic.

Jake Gyllenhaal (Jack Twist) and Heath Ledger (Ennis Del Mar) play cowboys with a secret love affair. It's a movie that is incredible to watch because you can't imagine two better actors in the roles than Gyllenhaal and Ledger.

Just how important is a good on-screen couple? If it's done right, the movie has the potential to go and be one of the greatest movies ever. That's what Clark Gable (Rhett Butler) and then little-known Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O'Hara) brought to the movie as it follows their characters' turbulent love affair during the Civil War. And then ends with that all-time best line delivered by Gable, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

Like Cameron Crowe did with "Say Anything…" here he once again writes and directs a love story that is timeless. And once more casting is key, as Renée Zellweger (Dorothy Boyd) doesn't just hold her own opposite Tom Cruise ("Jerry Maguire"), but by the end of the movie she is vital to Cruise's performance being believable.

Mix two attractive people like Jennifer Grey ("Baby" Houseman) and Patrick Swayze (Johnny Castle) with some very suggestive dances and you pretty much have a movie (and tandem) that we will never forget.

This Nicholas Sparks classic found the big screen adaptation treatment in 2004 and made stars Ryan Gosling (Noah) and Rachel McAdams (Allie) into the "It" couple of the moment. They even dated for a short time in real life. Though that didn't work out, their red-hot on-screen relationship will be with us forever.

There are just actors that are perfect together on-screen, and that's exactly what Richard Gere (Edward Lewis) and Julia Roberts (Vivian Ward) are. The two together are what makes this movie a classic.

Released in 1995, the unlikely relationship between Céline (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) shown in "Before Sunrise" would span over 16 years and two more movies as director Richard Linklater delves deeper in collaboration with Delpy and Hawke in how two people evolve over time.

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan show up on the list again, this time in a rom-com classic that follows Annie (Ryan) as she decides to meet Sam (Hanks), a widow who is still aching over the loss of his wife.

The wild thing about this movie is for most of it they aren't on screen together, but that's why the payoff at the end is so great.

William Powell plays former detective Nick Charles who solves crimes with his wife, Nora, played by Myrna Loy (they also have a lovable dog named Asta).

The on-screen chemistry of the two and their constant improvisation led to "The Thin Man" becoming hugely popular in 1934 (and it led to five sequels). It was also the blueprint for countless husband and wife team movies to follow.

This fairy tale about a man's quest to be reunited with his true love has become a classic thanks to the performances of Cary Elwes as Westley and Robin Wright as Princess Buttercup.

It was the love story you couldn't escape in the late 1980s thanks to the fantastic performances by John Cusack (Lloyd Dobler) and Ione Skye (Diane Court) who give unbelievable tenderness to the roles.

Timothée Chalamet (Elio) and Armie Hammer (Oliver) are fantastic together in this beautiful love story set in 1980s Italy. And hopefully we'll see more of them together as a sequel is in the works.

Memorable on-screen couples many times are people you would never think have any business meeting. And that's certainly the case with this fantastic love story in which Harold Chasen (Bud Cort) falls for Maude Chardin (Ruth Gordon), a woman decades older than him. The performances by Core and Gordon are perfect.

At the height of Hollywood's "Brat Pack," Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy were the "it" on-screen couple thanks to this John Hughes classic. Ringwald plays outcast Andie, who finds herself suddenly within the top high school clique when she hits it off with Blane (McCarthy).

Once more "Romeo & Juliet" is a strong influence for this love story in which Maria (Natalie Wood), sister of the leader of The Sharks gang, falls for Tony (Richard Beymer), one of the founders of the rival gang The Jets.

Woody Allen (Alvy Singer) is his most neurotic and Diane Keaton (Annie Hall) is her most likable (as well as most fashion forward) in this most unlikely of on-screen duos.

Made in 1967, this movie launched studios making more grounded and gritty stories for a new era of moviegoers, but it also inspired a new kind of on-screen duo: the rebels. Here, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway depict legendary bank-robbing couple, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker.

Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks had already proven their strength as an on-screen duo with "Sleepless in Seattle" five years earlier, but this time director Nora Ephron changes it up a little by having the two hating each other at first.

Hanks plays Joe Fox, a book superstore executive, Ryan is Kathleen Kelly, the owner of a small mom-and-pop book shop. The animosity (and use of email) makes this love story between the story special.

The good girl and the rebel guy becoming a pair has been done in movies forever, but there are some pairings that are eternal. High up on that list is Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) and Danny (John Travolta). Both Newton-John and Travolta have done amazing things since, but neither will ever be able to shake being paired up with the other in this movie.

In the latest version of "A Star Is Born," Bradley Cooper (Jackson Maine) and Lady Gaga (Ally Campano) give such passionate performances that audiences were convinced they were a couple in real life.

Some of the best on-screen couples are characters who are going through troubled times before finding each other. You could say Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) and Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette) get in even more trouble when they meet, but Slater and Arquette make it fun to watch.

Honestly, it's just unfair to have George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez paired together. The duo don't just give top-notch performances in this crime movie where Clooney (Jack Foley) plays an escaped con and Lopez (Karen Sisco) is a US Marshall on his tail, but they are also smoking hot together.

This is where we hit peak Matthew McConaughey rom-com. Teaming with Kate Hudson, the two have fantastic chemistry as they play two people with very different agendas: Benjamin Barry (McConaughey) needs to find a woman to fall in love with him, Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) needs to get a guy to break up with her in 10 days.

It's hard to think of anyone other than Jim Carrey (Joel Barish) and Kate Winslet (Clementine Krucynski) playing these characters who are trying to figure out love.

Considered the best out of all the Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire musicals, a big reason is because the pair show off some of the best dance numbers of their collaboration.

Just over a decade after Molly and Sam's love captured the hearts of audiences, the adaptation of the hit book, "Twilight," brought a new couple to gush over. Despite everything they have done since, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson will forever be linked to the Bella and Edward characters.

The 1990s started off with an on-screen couple that would define the decade. Molly Jensen (Demi Moore) and Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) are madly in love, but then Sam is murdered. However, his spirit stays behind leading to a very unique love story.

Hugh Grant goes full regular guy while Julia Roberts goes full-on movie star in this opposites-attract rom-com. William Thacker (Grant) is a bookshop owner who somehow gets the attention of the most famous actress in the world (Roberts). Hilarity then ensues with the duo playing off each other perfectly.

Having already been a couple in real life for a couple of years before doing this movie in 1987, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell shine in this wacky rom-com.

In it, Dean Proffitt (Russell) is a carpenter who looks to get back at a stingy heiress (Hawn) when he learns she's suffering from amnesia. He decides to convince her she's his wife, and the mother of his rowdy kids.

Who would have thought teaming Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore together would make such a great pair, but they knocked it out of the park.

Sandler plays Robbie Hart, a wedding singer who falls for Julia Sullivan (Barrymore), who happens to be getting married. But true love conquers all in a hilarious way.

Bonus: The two are also great together in "50 First Dates."

Sometimes it takes a while for a great on-screen duo to form, and that's what happens here between Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). But when the two finally do connect it brings with it a satisfying ending to the movie.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing the nice guy who is head over heels in love, and Zooey Deschanel as the unattainable girl is a perfect combo. And the chemistry between the two is wonderful to watch on screen.

Mixing "Romeo & Juliet" with the drama of life in high school turned out to be the perfect combination. And then having Vanessa Hudgens (Gabriella Montez) and Zac Efron (Troy Bolton) as the leads just took the whole thing to another level.

Thirty, flirty, and thriving turned out to be not as great as it sounded when Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) magically went from a 13-year-old to a grown woman. But things get better when she tracks down her best friend, Matt (Mark Ruffalo).

This beautiful story follows two neighbors who grow up with big dreams to be basketball players but in the process fall in love. It has only grown in popularity thanks to the performances by the movie's stars, Omar Epps (Quincy McCall) and Sanaa Lathan (Monica Wright).

In this romantic drama, Pat (Bradley Cooper) has just gotten back from a mental institution and Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) is dealing with her own problems leading to them coming together. This is one of the most unlikely on-screen couples ever put on screen, and it's memorable because of the great performances by Cooper and Lawrence.

The backbone of Rocky's (Sylvester Stallone) journey to becoming a boxing great is the love he has for Adrian (Talia Shire), which is beautifully launched in the first movie of this epic franchise.

Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack are perfect as two people who, after meeting one night in New York City, can't forget each other years later, even though they are both in relationships. We would love for these two to work together again.

Based on Kumail Nanjiani's real-life relationship with Emily V. Gordon, in the movie version, Kumail plays a version of himself with the Emily role going to Zoe Kazan. The two are perfect as a couple trying to build a relationship until Emily becomes ill and suddenly Kumail has to navigate both their families.

Marking the first of many movies in which Katharine Hepburn stars with husband Spencer Tracy, here the duo play rival reporters who fall in love. But things get hectic as Sam (Tracy) has to deal with Tess' (Hepburn) hectic work schedule.

Kara Hayward (Suzy) and Jared Gilman (Sam) are perfectly cast for Wes Anderson's tender tale about two pen pals who decide to run away so they can be together.

Here a modernization of "The Taming of the Shrew" highlights the talents of its stars Heath Ledger (Patrick Verona) and Julia Stiles (Kat Stratford), and then their on-screen chemistry does the rest.

Will Smith (Alex Hitchens) and Eva Mendes (Sara Melas) have fantastic chemistry in this rom-com in which Smith plays a "date doctor" who has met his match when he starts putting the moves on Mendes' Sara.

Adèle (Adèle Exarchopoulos) has her life changed forever when she starts a passionate relationship with the blue-haired Emma (Léa Seydoux). And it leads to a powerful search of self-discovery for Adèle.

One of the reasons why this is one of the best "Star Wars" movies ever is the fantastic love story subplot between Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher). It hits its climax with Leia telling Han she loves him and Han simply replying "I know."

This notorious Hollywood disaster (it was one of the most expensive movies ever made in the time it was released in the late 1960s) is highlighted by Elizabeth Taylor (Cleopatra) and future husband Richard Burton (Mark Antony).

Set in 1960s Hong Kong, Su (Maggie Cheung) and Chow (Tony Leung) are neighbors in the same apartment building. As their significant others are often away, the two find themselves ending up in the same places together. It leads to a forbidden love and the movie becoming one of the greatest movies in Asian cinema.

Claire Danes (Juliet) and Leonardo DiCaprio (Romeo) are perfectly cast as the legendary star-crossed lovers.

Angela Bassett plays career-driven Stella who takes a vacation to Jamaica and catches the eye of Winston (Taye Diggs), who is 20 years her junior. Thanks to his steamy on-camera relationship with Bassett, Diggs' first feature film is a memorable one.

When southern gal turned New York socialite, Melanie (Reese Witherspoon), has to return to Alabama to finalize her divorce to Jake (Josh Lucas), it turns out to be harder than planned. That's because the lifelong on-and-off couple still love each other. Witherspoon and Lucas are perfect playing the love-hate couple.

The hit 2018 movie is fueled by family values and lavish lifestyles, but at its core is the perfect chemistry between Henry Golding (Nick) and Constance Wu (Rachel).

A highlight of the Matthew McConaughey rom-com era, here he plays Steve, a guy who is on the verge of getting married until he falls for Mary (Jennifer Lopez), who turns out to be his wedding planner.

Lana Condor (Lara Jean) and Noah Centineo (Peter) quickly became the on-screen couple of the moment when this Netflix high school rom-com became hugely popular in 2018.