Does anybody else agree with me on this one? If not, what films would you point to as being the stories that place the deepest value of subtle poignancy that highlights friendship?
shareWrath of Khan has a very strong friendship at its core, as does Shawshank, but I'm not so sure about Ronin. It's not that I think De Niro and Reno aren't good friends, but they don't epitomize it; not to my thinking, anyway. In a crime/spy thriller there's too much distrust, even between friends, I think.
Lord of the Rings might be closer there, particularly with the myriad of examples. There's Legolas and Gimli finding the unlikeliest friendship grown in the soil of an old grudge, there's Frodo and Sam of course, and Merry and Pippin. The strong friendships of the Fellowship carry them through, even divided. Outside of those best-buds pairings, we can see close friendships between Gandalf and Pippin, and of course it isn't as though Merry and Pippin don't care for Frodo and Sam, too.
So, I'd go with Rings over Ronin.
I've never given a close thought as to what would be the *best* movies about friendship, though...
Top of my head? I might go with Stand By Me, E.T., Shaun of the Dead (and/or Hot Fuzz), the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and
Toy Story and its sequels.
You could get further interesting explorations of friendship with "unlikely friends", which might be stuff like Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang or The Nice Guys.