You’ve seen ‘em: those sappy ads for Nights in Rodanthe, with Richard Gere and Diane Lane, their hair blowing in the seaside breeze looking like they are on an Eddie Bauer catalog-shoot. Well…it turns out that it’s actually the third film they’ve starred in together, in what is perhaps a planned or unplanned Richard Gere/Diane Lane Trilogy…here is how I see it:
- The Cotton Club (1984)–This is where it all begins, Gere and Lane both looking young and smashing in the Francis Ford Coppola directed film portraying two lovers caught up in all the steamy corruption and crime during the jazz age at the famed Harlem night club.
- Unfaithful (2002)–By now they’ve become the quintessential boring married couple. Lane, as the unassuming wife steps out on Gere with an unbelievably hot artist. Unable to resist their criminal-linked past, they tread into dangerous territory in the attempt to save their marriage.
- Nights in Rodanthe (2008)–Ok, now it’s time for the ’we are fated’ ending…after leading seperate lives (he’s a doctor, leftover from Dr. T and the Women) they find one another/rekindle at some rickety (but lovely looking) beach house. As the trailer’s tag line says: “It’s never too late for a second chance of a lifetime.” Well, it should really say third, but something tells me that didn’t play out very well in the sound-bite booth.
Anyway…let’s hope this is the end, they’ve pretty much covered all the formulaic bases. And of course, since I love throwing up clips, below is the trilogy, in chronological order (the first one is long, so all you really need is the first few minutes)…
