SALT LAKE CITY -- Ah, Valentine’s Day. It’s the day of love and romance. It’s the ultimate day of couple togetherness. It’s the day that can drive single people crazy.

What if you just want to forget about Valentine’s Day and all that lovey-dovey stuff? What if you want to tune out the world for a day and find a distraction that will let you believe it is just another day? The perfect solution may be one of the following five non-romantic movies. Just pop one in, sit back and forget that according to the National Retail Federation, Americans will spend over $12 billion for Valentine’s Day this year. Let’s get started.

"Seven Samurai"

This is a Japanese masterpiece by Akira Kurosawa that stars Toshiro Mifune. It is the story of seven unemployed samurai who come to the rescue of a small village being threatened by bandits. The samurai teach the villagers to defend themselves and also learn from the villagers about the simple acts of day-to-day living in a community. This movie was released in 1954 and runs 207 minutes. It is long enough to really keep your mind off the hearts and flowers. Another added distraction benefit is that you can watch it in the original Japanese and read the subtitles.

"Bridge on the River Kwai"

This movie was released in 1957 and takes you to a World War II Japanese prisoner of war camp. British Colonel Nicholson, Alec Guinness, agrees to oversee the construction of a bridge for the commander of the POW camp. He believes it will give the men something to do and improve morale, but as the bridge progresses he becomes a bit too attached to it. This movie is not only a fascinating look into life in a POW camp, but a great psychological study. It is not only an excellent movie, it will leave you with a great tune to whistle throughout the day.

"Duck Soup"

An all-time Marx Brothers masterpiece, this will have you laughing so hard you won’t even remember that you are supposed to be sad. This 1933 movie is a flat-out comedy with lines, gags and physical comedy flying so fast you need to watch it at least twice to catch everything. Underlying all of the comedy is a more serious message about fascism and warmongering done only the way the Marx Brothers can do it. Watching Groucho chew up the screen is a treat in itself, but it is also the last movie where the brothers were all together on film. They went on to make more movies, but "Duck Soup" was Zeppo’s last film. Most Marx Brothers movies have a love story thrown in, but Duck Soup leaves that out in favor of political satire. You really don’t want to miss the famous mirror scene.

"Jaws"

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This is the movie that made us all afraid to go in the water — even swimming pools. Everyone is so busy looking for the shark or trying to blow it up that there is no time for romance. This 1975 movie starred Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and, of course, that terrifying shark. This tense, suspenseful film pulls you completely into the story. The terror of waiting for the shark to surface in the scene with all the people in the water is completely engrossing. We know the shark is still hanging around and we watch as the families gleefully play in the water. There is nothing like fear to drive out thoughts of love and romance.

"The Wizard of Oz"

This film is a good old-fashioned buddy picture, with no romance in sight. At its heart it is the story of the friendship that develops between Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. As they pursue their various quests, they learn to rely on each other and develop real bonds of friendship. This 1939 classic is also just stunningly beautiful. The glorious colors of Oz are breathtaking. We all know the songs and could probably sing them by memory, but there is nothing like hearing them in the film sung by Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr. This is a movie that can take you back to a childhood where the only Valentine concerns were reading the messages on your candy hearts.

Now, there is one more suggestion for those who don’t want to block the romance out but embrace it in all of its painful glory. The ultimate romantic love story is "An Affair to Remember." Released in 1957 with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, it follows the classic formula of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl, but with Cary Grant the formula is anything but pedestrian. If you don’t cry at the end, you may just have a heart of stone.

After attending BYU and the University of Utah for five years and not being able to settle on just one major, Connie Lewis decided to be a writer so she could keep studying all things wonderful and new.

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