I truly love my guy friends. Sometimes it feels like we’re distant cousins of the Apatow crew. Good guys hangin’ out and shootin’ the shit. Together, we share our triumphs and tragedies as easily as we do our beer. They’re guys who will be at my wedding and may ask to borrow the bedpan at the retirement home.

This kind of heterosexual bonding didn’t have an appropriate moniker until recently. The newly-minted phrase “bro-mance” refers to such relationships as something cool and reinforcing. Not just a support group for bros but guys who relish male pursuits and leave chick stuff to the Oxygen Network.

I find the phrase’s sudden popularity ironic. True dudes have known of its existence in pop culture for decades. Especially in movies. Nothing says, “I love you, man,” quite like the following films:

Good Will Hunting

Encouraging his super-genius best pal, Will Hunting (Matt Damon), to ditch south Boston to pursue his English flame (Minnie Driver) might be the most selfless act Ben Affleck ever performed. Eschewing the “bros before hos” philosophy for his friend’s happiness remains unrivaled to this day.

Swingers

How money is the iconic duo of Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn? Depressed after being dumped, sad-sack Favreau is dragged to Vegas by oily Vaughn for beautiful babies, gambling and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. With lady troubles haranguing you, Vaughn’s irritatingly genial perseverance reminds you just how money you really are. And you don’t even know it.

Sideways

Wine. Golf. Philandering. Thomas Haden Church and Paul Giamatti spend a bachelors’ weekend of revelry in wine country proving old habits die hard but friendships are forever. And the true test? At the altar, Church shoots his buddy a sly glance saying, “Yeah, I’m a lecherous prick, but thanks for bailing me out, amigo.” Giamatti smiles. Now that’s male camaraderie.

Superbad

After a night of teenage bacchanalia, Michael Cera’s timid Evan and Jonah Hill’s sex-addled Seth share bagel bites, a sleepover and the all-important confession of love: “I just wanna go to the rooftops and scream, ‘I love my best friend, Evan.’” Feeling’s mutual, Seth. Cue the tender nose-poke. Boop.

Brokeback Mountain

No affection equals Jake and Heath’s physical bro-mance. Nothing says male bonding like pitching a tent (sans lube) in Ang Lee’s decades-long forbidden romance between two cowboys who rode a lot more than horses on that titular mountain.

Midnight Cowboy

What’s the deal with cowboys? The title that spawned a dozen pornos focuses on the unlikely bond between a sleazy con man (Dustin Hoffman) and a wannabe male escort (Jon Voight). What should be trashy instead becomes very touching as two outsiders find solace in each another.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Two cowardly outlaws flee from a super-posse only to stave off the Bolivian army and eclipse into myth in a single sepia frame. Nobody looked cooler than Newman and Redford. Sharing witty banter, tossing around women and leaping to certain doom, these anti-cowboys defined male friendship on the silver screen.