Finally I have found it!

I can't believe Donna has never told me about it. I guess it has never really come up during all of our conversations, but if it has and she did not tell me about it I will be upset.

I am referring, of course, to my search for a movie in which there is no love story. For years I have been in search of a movie in which romance plays no role whatsoever. This is hard because there always seems to be some dame that the hero has to leave or save or find or be with.

I have had an ill contempt for what often seem like love stories in the middle of a story that would do just as well without. The movie Get Smart which I just saw is a prime example of this. Why Max and 99 have to fall in love is beyond reason. They could have just become trusting partners and maybe friends. But no. They have to fall in love.

What is even worse is the way that love stories make it into stories as plot devices that motivate the hero to save the day. The most despicable instance of this being the climax of The Matrix which forces Trinity to say she loves Neo even though there has been nothing of real romance between them at all. If maybe there had been some sort of development in their relationship during the movie (at least more than her shooting up a building lobby with him--is that a date?) the kiss would not have been so unimpressive.

However, I have found a movie without all of that.

Lawrence of Arabia is truly epic. It is filled with wide shots of the desert, the growth of a character over a long bit of time, and Peter O'toole and Omar Sharif drunkenly riding camels during some of the most physically challenging scenes. That said, there are almost no women in the movie. There are a few here and there in the background mostly, but there aren't even any credited.

To make it even better, there aren't even any female characters. Lawrence has no girlfriend, wife, or unrequited love. Instead he has only his ego and his desire to show that he is an extraordinary man. And for this he is a classic character.