Heterosexual Life Partners / Film

Film — Animation

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The dwarfs Doc, Bashful, Sneezy, Dopey, Happy, Sleepy, and Grumpy are all considered this as they live together in a cottage and despite the fact that some of them bicker, they are united against any threats such as The Evil Queen.
• Mulan II. Lampshaded with Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po after having been told by the matchmaker that none of them would ever find matches for themselves:
  Chien-Po: I guess I'll spend my life with you two.
  Ling: Pass the hanky.
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Quasimodo and Phoebus' friendship morphs into this even though it got off to a rough start due to Phoebus' prior affiliation with Claude Frollo, who was Quasimodo's hypocritical, bigoted, evil, and abusive caretaker. Esmeralda also fits in with Quasimodo and Phoebus
  • The gargoyles Victor, Hugo, and Laverne, also qualify as they are all united with each other in helping Quasimodo achieve his dreams and stand up to Frollo. The fact that Hugo flirted a lot of Esmeralda's male goat Djali also make the gargoyle trio stand out to this trope as a whole.
• Toy Story: Buzz and Woody's relationship starts off very rocky due to Woody's jealously over Buzz being Andy's new favorite toy, with the main conflict of the film starting when Woody accidently gets him flung out of Andy's bedroom window and is accused of trying to murder him by the other toys, but later, Woody forgives him and they become good friends.
• Mike and Sulley from Monsters, Inc. can be this. They even have a song about it during the credits called "If I Didn't Have You".
• Timon and Pumbaa from The Lion King (1994). Even though they raise Simba as if he was their own son, their demeanor is more this than actual foster parents. This friendship is given a backstory in The Lion King 1 ½, which shows Timon's reluctance with befriending Pumbaa before warming up to him.
• Jumba and Pleakley of Lilo & Stitch, especially in the sequel movies and series. The fact that Pleakley is a Wholesome Crossdresser doesn't help the Ho Yay anymore.
• Miguel and Tulio, partners in crime and fortune-seeking in The Road to El Dorado.
• Sinbad and Proteus were and still are best friends with each other in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.
  • Kale and Sinbad are this given their interactions with one another and the fact Kale is the only crew member to know about Sinbad's feeling for Marina before it was revealed.
• In the Madagascar movies and the series The Penguins of Madagascar, Maurice and Julien's relationship fits as Heterosexual Life-Partners, though Maurice is officially his right hand man and, since the series, Butt-Monkey.
  • Alex and Marty as well. Their friendship is what helps Alex conquer his predatory urges. And in the sequel, Marty has the "withdrawal" part when he finds out Alex can't tell him apart from the other zebras.
• A Heterosexual Life Trio with Sid, Manny and Diego in Ice Age. (Though some would dare to say that Manny and Diego are the two main Heterosexual Life Partners because of their obvious closeness with Sid still being a part of it but the movies show that Sid is nowhere as close with Manny and Diego as the two are with each other.)
• The Princess and the Frog: Louis The Alligator and Ray The Firefly become this during the movie. When Ray is murdered by the movie's villain, Dr. Facilier, Louis becomes distraught over this and cried over Ray's death.
• In Frozen: Anna and Elsa qualify even though they are sisters especially the former who wish to return as to what it's like in the childhood before the accident. Ultimately at the end, after Elsa discover how to control her powers, she realize she could become close to Anna without harming her and ultimately managed to become best friends with her in the end.
• How to Train Your Dragon: Interspecies human/dragon example - Hiccup and Toothless. The whole film trilogy is built on their Forbidden Friendship after they're unable to kill each other and they only get closer from there. In the television series they're inseperable, would risk anything for the other and can't stand to be apart.
• Manolo Sanchez and Joaquin Mondragon in The Book of Life, they may be after the same woman but the two are best friends and constantly refer to each other as "Brother."
• In The Incredibles: Bob and Lucius, aka Mr. Incredible and Frozone. They've been best friends and superhero partners for many years. Lucius was the best man at Bob and Helen's wedding and their children call him "uncle Lucius". He's implied to be their godfather as well but this is never confirmed.
• In The Adventures of Tintin (2011): Tintin and Haddock, Detectives Thomson and Thompson.
• The Prince of Egypt: Miriam and Tzipporah, whose close friendship is highlighted during "When You Believe."
• Hiro Hamada and the inflatable robot, Baymax from Big Hero 6. They had some trouble getting along at first but their relationship with each other grew to the point where Hiro and Baymax deeply cared for each other.

Film — Live Action

• The film Becket depicts King Henry II of England (Peter O'Toole) and Thomas Becket (Richard Burton) as heterosexual life partners until Henry made the mistake of making Becket the Archbishop of Canterbury. Becket took the job very seriously and defied Henry's rulings in favor of the church. Henry then acts like a Woman Scorned, exiling Becket and later has him killed. Becket: "He never forgave me for loving God more than him."
• By the end of Blazing Saddles, Bart and Jim are this. As Bart's riding out of town, he stops by the hay bale where Jim is relaxing.
  Jim: Where are you headed, cowboy?
  Bart: Nowhere special.
  Jim: Nowhere special...I always wanted to go there.
  Bart: Come on.
  Jim: [mounts his horse and rides off with Bart]
• Dead Poets Society: Neil and Todd were set out to be this. Then Neil committed suicide and Todd was left heartbroken.
• Descendants: Mal and Evie.
• Ford v Ferrari: Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby have known each other for a long time and are close friends. Their relationship is one of the main plot points of the film. His death has a profound impact on Shelby, who cannot keep it from eating away at him, and even tears up when reminiscing with Ken's son Peter.
• Robert Ciaro and Jimmy Hoffa in Hoffa. Ciaro himself is a fictional composite character loosely based on several of Hoffa's right-hand men.
• Laurel and Hardy, despite the former always getting the latter into "another nice mess". This carried over into Real Life; when Hardy died, Laurel was devastated and never appeared again on film.
• Any Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson film with the possible exception of the Focker trilogy where they are rivals.
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Lorelie and Dorothy remain the closest of friends throughout the film and stay steadfastly loyal to each other. Notably, while they marry their boyfriends in a double wedding at the end of the film, the final shot is a close-up of just the two of them, demonstrating that their friendship is still the most important relationship in each of their lives.
• Harold and Kumar from Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and sequels. And their Jewish counterparts, Rosenburg and Goldstein.
• Mark and Roger from RENT. In fact, fans seem to prefer pairing those two together rather than Roger and Mimi.
• The trope name comes from Jay and "hetero-life-mate" Silent Bob of The View Askewniverse.
  • Dogma: Bartleby and Loki are technically asexual, but they have the dynamic.
  • Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes may be real-life versions of this trope, as Jason lived for quite a while with Kevin and his wife.
  • This can apply to Dante and Randall from The View Askewniverse as well.
  • In fact, all of the main characters in said films come in pairs, most with the same dynamic. The most apparent being Holden and Banky in Chasing Amy...whose relationship gets to the point that Holden suggests a three-some just to see if they're really in love with each other.
• In the movie Stick It (A gymnastics star who walked out of a national-level event for very valid and personal reasons, takes it back up and discovers it's fun. Also much snarking and funny), the main character has two goofy male friends, one of whom introduces the other as his 'hetero life partner'. And they manage to portray that, despite one of them trying on a dress when they take the gymnastics team out dress-shopping.
• Pirates of the Caribbean:
  • Captain Jack Sparrow and Mr. Gibbs are a classic example.
  • Pintel and Ragetti too (although they bicker Like an Old Married Couple). Allegedly, they were uncle and nephew.
  • Koehler and Twigg, two members of the Black Pearl's original crew who are never seen apart. Twigg is visibly shaken and angered by Koehler's death at the hands of Norrington.
  • Also Murtogg and Mallroy, being another pair of Those Two Guys.
• The Horrible Bosses movies give us another Heterosexual Life Trio with Kurt, Dale, and Nick, the three main characters. Though their (extremely) frequent bickering makes it a Vitriolic Best Buds version, the first film implies that they have been like The Three Musketeers since high school, and now, as adults, they are drinking buddies and confidants who eventually try to start a business together (with not overly successful results). By the end of the second movie, even after everything that's happened, the three of them are still best friends.
• Simon Pegg's and Nick Frost's characters in both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. And very much so in Real Life, and that friendship was simply translated onto the screen.
  • Shaun and Ed in SOTD is a particularly interesting case, as the movie bills itself as a "romantic comedy with zombies", presumably the romance between Shaun and his girlfriend Liz. But it's really more about the friendship between Shaun and Ed as the movie ends with them, the idea being that not even being a zombie (and in a sense death) can prevent Ed from being with his best friend.
  • In the Shaun of the Dead commentary, Simon Pegg mentioned that Nick had actually lived on his couch for a while in Real Life exactly like Ed does in the movie. Art imitating life indeed!
  • Again, in the Spaced tv series.
    • One of the commentaries on the USA DVD release of Spaced actually has Simon getting permission from Kevin Smith to use the expression to refer to his relationship to Nick Frost.
  • Early drafts for Hot Fuzz had a female love interest for Pegg's character; in the end they cut her out and gave the lines to Nick Frost.
  • Simon has referred to his and Nick's relationship as this a number of times.
• Harry and Lloyd of Dumb and Dumber. You could not find a better example.
• The Mean Girls Karen and Gretchen.
  • Mixed-Sexuality Life Partners: Janis and Damian.
• Marwood (credited as "...&I") and Withnail from Withnail and I. As Paul McGann said on the commentary: "It's like a marriage going wrong."
• Dan Cain and Herbert West in Re-Animator and Bride of Re-Animator. In the first, they start out mutually suspicious but grow closer as they work together; by the second, they are sharing a house and West is actively jealous of Dan's girlfriend.
  • Although Herbert is Asexual according to actor Jeffrey Combs.
• Bob Wallace and Phil Davis in White Christmas certainly counts. While at first they are only really business partners, as the movie progresses it is quite evident how much they enjoy each other's company and how thankful they are to know one another.
• Detectives Hughes and Costanzo in Running Scared (1986).
• Jesse and Chester in Dude, Where's My Car?. Though they have girlfriends in Wanda and Wilma, they live together and seem to be with each other more often.
• Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure: Bill and Ted.
  • Bill & Ted Face the Music: Their daughters Thea and Billie mirror the relationship between their fathers, who are still as close as ever. The girls collectively address them as "Dads".
• President Andrew Shepard and A.J. MacInerney in The American President. Granted, they were the original models for Jed and Leo of The West Wing.
• Star Wars:
  • Han Solo and Chewbacca. They live in the same ship and travel everywhere together, for god's sake. How much more life partner can you get? They may have ended up as friends but their relationship started as a life debt after Han saved Chewbacca from slavery.
    • In the reboot continuity, Solo depicts their first meeting. Han saves him from being forced to eat Imperial deserters on Mimban, beginning a 44-year friendship that would last until Han's death at the hands of his own son in The Force Awakens.
  • In the Star Wars prequels and the Expanded Universe, Obi-Wan and Anakin. That is part of the reason their climactic fight was so tragic. It's been commented — accurately — that they bicker like an old married couple.
  • R2-D2 and C-3PO, technically asexual life partners, being droids and all.
    • It's also strongly implied that Poe and BB-8 may also fall into this category.
• Dale, Saul and Red in Pineapple Express, making up a rare trio example. It is Lampshaded. The end of the film does not see Dale tearfully reunited with his (presumably still in hiding) girlfriend Angie, but hanging out with Saul and Red instead.
• Abbott and Costello. Only on-screen. In real life, they were not particularly close (and at one point, at the height of their fame, spent a year not speaking to one another except when the cameras were rolling).
• The title characters in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, who had been together for some time before the movie started.
• Casablanca: Rick and Sam. At the end, it may be that Rick and Louis will be heterosexual life partners, as Sam is staying in Casablanca, and the other two are going to Brazzaville to fight Nazis.
  Louis, I think this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
• In It's Love I'm After, Basil and his servant Digges can't live without each other.
• Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu in Red Cliff. Ironic, considering the two most likely never met historically, and in the book Zhou Yu was constantly trying to kill Zhuge Liang.
• Seth and Evan in Superbad. Remember this scene?
• Poppy and Zoe from Happy-Go-Lucky teach at the same primary school, share a flat, are best friends, and have travelled the world together. They have have a regular very silly rapport all through the film, and it's implied that if they ever want to give up the flat, they'd buy a house together too. Throw in a few "jokey," Les Yay comments and another character thinking they actually are couple, and if Poppy hadn't started dating a social worker guy...
• Billy Mack and his manager, Joe, from Love Actually. Solidified at the end where Billy returns early from a party at Elton John's house to spend Christmas with Joe, who he confesses has been his best friend for countless years, and is essentially "the fucking love of my life."
  Joe: Well, this is a surprise. Ten minutes at Elton John's and you're as gay as a maypole.

• Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in all the four films they did together: Silver Streak, Stir Crazy,See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Another You. In real life, the two of them were not close friends and didn't have much to do with one another.
• The Shawshank Redemption: Andy and Red become inseparable best friends for the rest of their lives through their experience in prison. Word of God even describes the movie as a platonic love story.
• Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris' characters in Appaloosa, whose relationship gets thrown for a loop with the arrival of Renée Zellweger.
• Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan's characters in the movie Cop Out, in a typical buddy cop manner.
• Corey Mahoney and Terrence Christian in the Syfy original Soulkeeper.
• Roger and J.P. in the Disney remake of Angels in the Outfield. Despite only having been in a foster home with each other for a few months, and despite Roger being approximately four or five years older than J.P., they were best friends and went everywhere together. At the end, Roger refuses to allow himself to be adopted (he wanted a family more than anything in the world) unless J.P. could come with him.
• Connor and Murphy McManus from The Boondock Saints. They're twins and so have spent their entire lives together; they work in the same meatpacking plant, live together, and would do anything for each other. This includes pulling a toilet out of the floor and dropping it on the head of a Russian mafia man from five stories up.
• The various interchangeable characters played by Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in the Road to ... movies.
• Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, as mentioned in Literature, but emphasized in the film. These sorts of relationships were essential to life in the British Navy, though.
• Captain America (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) from Easy Rider. Reputedly an Odd Couple due to Real Life Writes the Plot, with Fonda as the Straight Man and Hopper as the Cloud Cuckoo Lander best friend.
• Similar, in The Motorcycle Diaries, Che Guevara and Alberto Granado are motorcycle-partners across South America.
• Jedediah and Octavius in Night at the Museum. In the third movie though it's hard to call it heterosexual because of the strong implications of Octavius being gay and at least having a crush on Jedediah.
• The Night of the Grizzly: Big Jim Cole and Sam Potts both have female love interests, but have been lawmen together for about a decade and retire and ranch together.
• Gary and Julius from Remember the Titans become this over the course of the movie. After Gary's accident, Julius talks to Gary in the hospital about how race won't always come between them and essentially growing old together.

• In Strange Brew, Bob and Doug McKenzie are temporarily split up. They immediately go through withdrawal symptoms and become completely useless until they are reunited.
• Oscar and Felix in The Odd Couple.
• The eponymous Mystery Team has shades of this, especially near the end.
• Eddie (Bruce Willis) and Tommy (Danny Aiello) in Hudson Hawk are in a May-December Bromance.
• Romy and Michele from Romy and Michele's High School Reunion fit this trope. Michele doesn't want to dance with the guy who had a crush on her in high school and who still loves her unless Romy can join them. Aww.
• Donna and Taryn in Hard Ticket to Hawaii, Picasso Trigger and Savage Beach
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • During The Avengers, Bruce Banner and Tony Stark hit it off when they're both called to help with the Tesseract problem. By the end of the movie, Bruce is seen hopping into Tony's convertible to gleefully tear off into the geeky sunset. Tony's voiceovers throughout Iron Man 3 are revealed in The Stinger to be part of a pseudo therapy session with Bruce, who points out that he's not that kind of doctor.
  • Tony's been this with Rhodey even longer than he has with Bruce.
  • Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes have enormous affection for each other. The strength of this relationship is highlighted in The Winter Soldier after Steve finds out that Bucky is the eponymous villain.
  Steve: Even when I had nothing — I had Bucky.
  I'm with you 'til the end of the line.
  • Also in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve bonds almost immediately with VA counselor Sam Wilson (Falcon), who in turn chooses to forgo hunting HYDRA with Fury to accompany Steve in his search for the still-missing Bucky Barnes.
  • In Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket Raccoon and Groot have this relationship, being the only members of the team who were together before forming it, and Rocket being heartbroken when Groot dies in the climax. In the sequel and their other appearances, Rocket has this with the new incarnation of Groot (who is basically the "son" of the original), though it's mixed with being a Parental Substitute for him.
  • In Spider-Man: Homecoming and continuing in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter Parker is this with his best friend Ned Leeds, who finds out that he's Spider-Man part-way through the first movie, loyally keeps his secret, and is eager to help him out whenever possible. Peter, in turn, trusts Ned and confides in him far more than anyone else.
  • Captain Marvel, a.k.a. Carol Danvers, had this with Maria Rambeau in her backstory before ever getting her powers. Since Carol was apparently not very close to her biological family, Maria and her daughter, Monica, were Carol's Family of Choice, such that Carol was considered an Honorary Aunt to Monica and, when she was believed to be dead, her possessions were given to the Rambeaus. When she returns to Earth amnesiac and with superpowers, Maria is clearly pained that she doesn't remember her or the bond they shared very well, but Carol still has brief flashes of their adventures together, feels a strong bond with both of them, and begins to reconnect.
  • Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton are friends forged in fire, who will fight for each other, live for each other and die for each other. They're as close as two people can get, and Black Widow's death utterly devastates Hawkeye.
• Kenny O'Donnell and the Kennedys in Thirteen Days.
• Bert the Cop and Ernie Bishop the Cab Driver from It's a Wonderful Life.
• Kirk and Spock in Star Trek Into Darkness, to the point that Spock gets jealous when Kirk accepts Carol Marcus as a second science officer on-board the Enterprise.
  • Also, Kirk and McCoy, especially in the first movie.
• Forget J.J. Abrams' movies; Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were this long before. They repeatedly risk their lives for each other. In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Kirk sacrifices his beloved ship to save Spock, and in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, he practically calls the two of them his family.
• Back to the Future: Marty and Doc, "Partners in Time". Throughout the entire trilogy, they're by each others' sides, protecting each other.
• Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth films.
  • Frodo and Sam as well as Merry and Pippin.
  • Legolas and Gimli are an Odd Friendship variety due to their feuding races. The former is this with Aragorn as well, as did both their fathers.
    • The three became a trio eventually.
  • Boromir seemed to have this with Faramir despite being brothers by blood.
    • And while we're at it, Fili and Kili also.
  • Thorin seems to have this with Dwalin, both having their fair share of bitterness during their exile.
    • He also gradually becomes this with Bilbo during the course of The Hobbit trilogy.
• Bruno and Pablo from Plan B become inseparable friends from the moment they meet each other, holding lengthy conversations as if they've known each other for years and regularly sleeping over at each other's places. Pablo even says that Bruno is like a secret 12-year-old friend that he doesn't want to share with his girlfriend or others. However, their relationship ends up subverting this trope as the massive Ho Yay between them that would normally be ignored or played for laughs by other bromantic pairs is instead shown to be a genuine romantic/sexual attraction that grows until they can no longer pretend that their relationship is strictly platonic.
• Don Lockwood and Cosmo Brown from Singin' in the Rain.
• K. Roth and Mills from The Living Wake.
• James Franco and Seth Rogen in This Is the End are a subversion. Seth is good friends with James, who is more than a little obsessed with Seth, to the point of willingly sacrificing himself to a group of cannibals so that he can save Seth. Seth, on the other hand, finds the affection a bit weird. Made more amusing by the fact that Rogen and Franco actually are Heterosexual Life-Partners in real life.
• My Fair Lady has Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering. Both are middle aged bachelors and seem to prefer the relationship they have with each other over one with a member of the opposite gender although this is much more evident with Higgins than Pickering.
• Barney Ross and Lee Christmas from The Expendables.
• The Hidden Fortress has Matashichi and Tahei, a pair of peasants who love each other like brothers despite their bickering and constantly reaffirm and vow their friendship throughout the film.
• Life Partners: Sasha and Paige are this, although the former is gay (but it's never suggested she has feelings for the other; they're just really close friends). Things get complicated when the straight one finally starts up a relationship with a man that lasts, forcing her to be available to the other woman less often.
• Weird Science - Wyatt and Gary. Extremely close and intimate (socially), but they take it for granted so much that it is overlooked by the viewers. This movie actually has three sets of hetero life partners - Wyatt and Gary, their end-of-movie girlfriends Deb & Hilly, and their bully/rivals Max & Ian.
• Bud "Squirrel" Macintosh and Doyle "Stubs" Johnson in Bio-Dome
• Best of the Best 2 - Alex Grady and Tommy Lee.
• Charlie and Louis in Kangaroo Jack. At one point when they share a Man Hug, Louis makes the point that it's "a very intimate, non-gay moment."
• Riggs and Murtaugh from the Lethal Weapon series.
  Riggs: You're the only family I've got! I've got three beautiful kids, I love them, they're yours. Trish does my laundry, I live in your icebox, I live in your life!
• I Shot Jesse James: Jesse James and Robert Ford become this during their downtime in Illinois, though the heterosexual part might not be true by the film's end (at least, for Bob).
• Sherlock Holmes (2009) has Sherlock and Watson for decades.
• Zac Efron and Adam Devine after filming Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates . Those two act completely like brothers to each other. Tatiana and Alice from that same film also qualify, and their actresses (Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick) are good friends in Real Life too.
• Syd and Ernie in What a Carve Up!. The two live together, eat together and, despite being Vitriolic Best Buds, look after each other, with Syd even being willing to sleep in the same bed when Ernie is too scared to sleep alone.
• X-Men Film Series:
  • X-Men Origins: Wolverine: Victor Creed with his half-brother Logan for their childhood and most of their adult lives, up until Logan leaves Team X.
  • X-Men: First Class: Considering that Charles Xavier's and Erik Lehnsherr's friendship only lasted a few months, it was unusually intimate on an emotional level.
  • The Wolverine: Mariko and Yukio. They are not related, as Yukio was a poor girl found in the street by the Yashida family, but they were raised and treat each other as if they were sisters.
  • X-Men: Days of Future Past:
    • Played straight with the elderly Magneto and Professor X (the moment where they're holding hands is the closest that we've seen them since First Class), but averted with their younger selves. In 1973, Charles never once calls Erik "friend" (although Erik uses the endearment twice), which goes to show how broken their relationship is.
    • Hank and Charles are each other's Only Friend for a decade, so it's inevitable that they would develop a very close bond. There are moments of non-verbal (and non-telepathic) communication between the two men, like when Xavier gently taps Beast on the chest after he mutters to Logan, "I think I'd like to wake up now." McCoy immediately understands that the gesture means, "You can calm down now, our visitor is not a threat," and he reverts back to his human form.
  • X-Men: Apocalypse: Charles and Hank retain their close friendship from Days of Future Past, and it's a lot healthier now because McCoy is no longer Xavier's enabler, and they've ceased to be codependent. They also behave more like peers, as Hank is a teacher, and he has grown out of being needy of his former mentor's approval.

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