Music | Movies
The MOST Iconic Best Friend Duos
To get on the real list, you need to be kick ass. That’s not to say these pairs of people are garbage, far from it. But this site isn’t about the Lucy and Ethels of the world, nor the Romy and Michelles. Nothing from Grey’s Anatomy.
Taylor Swift and her posse? Pass.
Chandler and Joey? Monica and Rachel? We’ll be there for someone else, friend.
Cogsworth and Lumiere? Beat it, Disney fan.
So without further adieu, here’s our list of iconic duos. No, not bff, besties, and other cutesy words we don’t want to use. Grade A Bros and Broettes who battle the forces of mediocrity and bring us the most non, non heinous entertainment in TV shows, Movies and Music.
Hint: All of these pop culture icons would make for a good pairs Halloween costume.
Bill & Ted
The BEST of best friends, Bill & Ted, as played by Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, are two dudes from San Dimas, California who travel through time to save the world. Their excellent adventure, which may not have been their first (rules of time travel), takes place in High School.
The Great Ones need to pass their final report in order to prevent Ted from being shipped off to Colonel Oates Military Academy. This would breakup their band, Wyld Stallyns, and cause interplanetary dissonance.
They followed up said Excellent Adventure with a Bogus Journey, which, didn’t seem too bogus after all, given that they defeated Death (in death) by sinking his Battleship and returned to life to make it to the Battle of the Bands.
To conclude, they each bore a child with their respective spouse, a princess they rescued in the ancient past, that grew to develop a bond much like their respective dads. A best friend duo creates a generational best friend duo.
Only Rufus could solve that equation.
Burke & Rutecki
Billed as Top Gun on the Ski Slopes, per the cover of the DVD case, Aspen Extreme is one of the very best movies to ever grace the silver screen. Two guys from the Motor City, let’s call them brothers since Burke’s father took Rutecki in as a youngster, decide to hell with Detroit, we’re moving to Aspen.
They then hop in the van, drive out West, and bs their way into being ski instructors because of good looks and the ability to rip daffys and helicopters as they cruise through the tryout.
Dex and TJ grow apart because, and know one really wants to call it out, TJ starts to value his writing career and his fancy girlfriend more than their friendship and the outstanding local played by Terri Polo. The movie carries on much akin to the way Top Gun played out half a decade prior with Burke being victorious (alone) at the Big Movie Challenge.
The first half of the movie is pure iconic best friend time though.
Cher & Dionne
Cher & Dionne, the darlings of the hit movie Clueless, are first ballot besties. Ok ok, we just went and washed our mouths out with soap. We’re sorry, we won’t do it again.
Clueless did have a pretty good soundtrack though.
And maybe singers Cher & Dionne Warwick are good friends? We just don’t know.
Ferris & Cameron
Only a best friend could convince Cameron to get out of a bed and enjoy a day of Chicago frivolity. Only a best friend would not hold the rescue of a fake drowning attempt against Cameron. Only a best friend could get away with annihilating a priceless piece of motor vehicle history, the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California that belonged to Mr. Frye, Cameron’s father.
Bow-bow, chick, chick-a-chicka!
Hall & Oates
50+ years of beautiful, sweet, magic music making. Need we say more?
Han Solo & Chewbacca
Pilot and Co-Pilot of the fastest hunk of junk in the Galaxy, this pair became best friends when Solo boosted Chewie out of a space gulag. There is so much more to say about this pair that simply won’t fit in a few paragraphs. So let’s cull some highlights from the list.
- Chewbacca was (presumably) a co-best man with Luke Skywalker at the wedding of Han Solo & Princess Leia Organa
- Han Solo, knowing the temper and fury of his furry friend, advises future brother-in-law, Luke to never anger a Wookiee early on in their relationship.
- Chewbacca immediately throttles Lando Calrissian for believing that he sold Han out to the Empire. Lando had no choice, but Chewie don’t care.
See, always looking out for each other.
Jerrica Benton & Jem
Can you be a best friend duo with your alter ego? Sure can.
John Connor & T-800
Another dynamic duo that has to overcome the oddities of time travel with ease, John Connor & T-800 aren’t even the stars of their own buddy film. No, that belongs to Connor’s mom, Sarah, as played by human badass Linda Hamilton (who may just be a Terminator herself).
Nevertheless, the on-screen relationship that develops is pure gold. So is You Could Be Mine, the bitchin' rock tune from LA Rockers, Guns N' Roses, that is peppered into the flick.
Know this, despite the resurrections and remixes that the sequels created with regarding to the timeline in the story, Wolfie the Dog (Max) is still dead.
Roy & Sergeant Al Powell
This relationship is special, in that it’s the only one that develops over CB radio / Walkie-Talkie. Roy, aka John McClane, a New York police officer, is out visiting his wife, from whom he is separated, over the holidays, when suddenly terrorists takeover the building she works in. Only the 80s, right?!
Al just so happens to be called into work to investigate the Nakatomi building for a potential hostage situation. He gets dragged into the fray when they start firing on him. McClane sees this and reaches out via Walkie-Talkie, giving the LA Police Force a man on the inside.
They stay in communication throughout the whole movie, with Al confiding that he can’t discharge his weapon any more due to a previous incident. We in the biz call that foreshadowing.
What happens at the end of the movie? Al kills the Karl the Terrorist when he surprises everyone one last time at the end.
And that folks, is friendship.
Loggins & Movie Soundtracks
Can one form a best friend duo with a concept? Loggins sure did in the 1980s. Let’s count the times.
- 1980 | I’m Alright (Caddyshack)
- 1984 | Footloose (Footloose)
- 1984 | I’m Free (Footloose)
- 1986 | Danger Zone (Top Gun)
- 1986 | Playing with the Boys (Top Gun)
- 1987 | Meet Me Halfway (Over the Top)
We’re not sure which one he’s most known for. Every time we want to argue Danger Zone, Footloose creeps in, and vice versa. We’ll give the nod to Danger Zone since it appears on the soundtrack for Top Gun Maverick as well.
Loggins actually walked his way in the backdoor and through the kitchen to get himself Danger Zone, as Playing with the Boys was his actual contribution to the movie. Once Whitlock and Moroder realized that they needed someone to lock down Danger Zone, they called upon Kenny and he delivered in a massive, switching from guns-to-rockets kind of way.
Here’s a quote shared by Forbes, “No, I got a call from Giorgio Moroder's office when they realized they had to dub the song into the movie, and they didn't have an act to sing it because with the acts that had been lined up, act or acts I'm not sure which, that the deal had dropped through. I think I was lower on the list because I was already in the movie, I was already involved with “Playing with the Boys,” and they probably didn't want an artist to do more than one song. But they thought, 'Well, who do we know that are the artists who can sing this high and has the chops for this?' So they got around to calling me, and I was totally into it. I needed up-tempo material for my show, so I was motivated to have a rock song.”
Mav & Goose
Were Cruise & Edwards real-life bros? No, and we’re fairly certain they had different friendship goals. But they were excellent on-screen as flyboys who just had to get sent to Top Gun by Admiral Stinger since Cougar turned in his wings.
So it’s fitting that Top Gun pilots, Maverick & Goose, would follow Loggins & Soundtracks. Because once you introduce Danger Zone, you might as well go all the way - like the time Mav did with Penny Benjamin, the Admiral’s Daughter - and bring in these two hot shots.
Their best friend status is unquestioned, as the pair weave through the skies in training missions, croon out old tunes on a piano, and play Ice and Slider in a rousing game of beach volleyball. Of course Maverick needs to flex, check his watch, and jet off on his Kawasaki Ninja H2 to get to Charlie’s house eventually.
The sign of any good Bromance (or Galmance?), is when they must switch roles, with one of the duo embracing the other’s characteristics and attitude for a spell. Mav, in a post Goose’s death scene, doesn’t want to carry on. Enter Carole, Goose’s wife, with this gem, “God, he loved flying with you Maverick. But he would've done it anyway... without you. He'd have hated it, but he would've done it.”
Maverick then takes to the air and saves the day after Hollywood and Wolfman go down, stranding Iceman and Slider against 5 MiGs. It leaves just enough room for a sequel 36 years later where he gets to instruct Goose’s son, Bradley (aka Rooster).
That’s quite the 36 year Road Trip if you ask us. We'd still prefer to be turnin' & burnin' with Mav & Goose to Cheap Trick's Mighty Wings.
Nancy & Ann Wilson
There are female friendships, and then there are legendary female friendships. Same as there are sisters, and then there are legendary sisters. Nancy & Ann Wilson fall into that last category.
70s & 80s Rock Royalty, the Wilson sisters formed the band Heart and all sentient beings were thankful. Crushing it multiple decades takes work, but their limitless talent is why we have both Barracuda and Alone.
Riggs & Murtagh
Riggs & Murtagh, as played by Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, are perhaps the best of the Buddy Cop genre. Murtagh, a homicide detective and former lieutenant of the 173rd Airborne Brigade for the United States Army, becomes paired up with Martin Riggs, an ex member of the U.S. Special Forces and all-around urban-style Rambo. You know, without the high murder rate.
They go on adventure after adventure, solving crime around Los Angeles
Let’s just forget that Fox ever turned Lethal Weapon into a sitcom.
Starsky & Hutch
Even the late, great, Notorious B.I.G. knew that Starsky & Hutch were close. Do you think Starsky & Hutch knew that Biggie and Puff Daddy (now Diddy)
Thelma & Louise
They believed in each other enough to drive off a cliff together. Re-read that if you doubt their Iconic Duo status.
