Many years ago, we went rowing on the Cherwell River, which joins the Thames near Oxford University. Well, Elizabeth rowed. I was attending to our picnic lunch, which needed attending to.

So, for some reason this morning, I was thinking of movies filmed on the Thames, and here they are some that I found.

My favorite remains Henry VIII’s arrival via royal barge in A Man for All Seasons. The music is magnificent, too, and the way the crews raise their oars and glide into shore is elegant. Okay, I like the James Bond boat chase, too.

1. The World Is Not Enough. Bond films are always good for chase scenes, but this one, with a soggy Pierce Brosnan, has to be one of the best.

2. Let’s tone it down a bit. How about Ringo’s disconsolate walk in A Hard Day’s Night?

3. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, we get an aerial view.

4. We use the Thames to assassinate model Kate Moss in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.

5. And, speaking of assassination, Elizabeth I’s narrow escape in 1998’s Elizabeth:

6. Joseph Fiennes woos again, trying to chase down his muse, Gwyneth Paltrow, in Shakespeare in Love.

7. Alex pulls off a coup among his group of droogs alongside the river in what remains such a disturbing film, Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange (1971).

8. Ah, but here’s the masterpiece: Henry VIII arrives for dinner at Thomas More’s home in Fred Zinneman’s A Man for All Seasons (1966). The music. by Georges Delerue, is glorious, as is the cinematography.