# Best tear-jerking line(s) in a modern movie. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971 "2005-06-20T00:58:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/41 "2005-06-20T17:51:03Z")
Well! I guess I’ve actually got a couple of different ones. LadyHawke, twice: Once, when they wake up in the morning, just as she’s turning to a hawk and he back to human…they almost touch and then she flies away. He throws himself half out of the hole trying to reach her, and screams this scream of pure agony, frustration, and loss…I’m sad just thinking about it. Also in the same movie, when he is about to kill the Bishop, and he’s trying not to let the bells toll,and they do toll. He cries out, and goes to the door and says something like “Make it quick”…in another part of the castle the Abbot is about to slay LadyHawke because he thinks Navarre is dead. _sniffle_ Both of those scenes make me cry every time…that’s probably my favorite romance movie. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/42 "2005-06-20T17:56:30Z")
> [@E. Thorp](#): > > I must have father issues too. My father issues stem from a divorce when I was in the 6th grade, and so on. In that regard, the movie _Hope Floats_ hits me, too… "Childhood is what you spend the rest of your life trying to overcome. That’s what momma always says. She says that beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it’s the middle that counts the most. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up. And it will… " ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/43 "2005-06-20T17:58:58Z")
Here’s some good ones from Shawshank Redemption. “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.” In his letter he left to red under the black stone, that line makes the next one that much more poignant. “I find I’m so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.” The best to me… “Andy crawled to freedom through five-hundred yards of shit smelling foulness I can’t even imagine, or maybe I just don’t want too. Five-Hundred yards… that’s the length of five football fields, just shy of half a mile. Andy DuFresne, who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.” Woo. That movie kills me. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/44 "2005-06-20T18:06:08Z")
In the PBS adaptation of _Anne of Green Gables_. Anne cradles Matthew’s head as he dies, and he says, “I’ve always been so proud of my girl.” ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/45 "2005-06-20T18:13:13Z")
Mulder to Scully… But you saved me. As difficult and as frustrating as it’s been sometimes, your damn strict rationalism and science have saved me a thousand times over. You’ve kept me honest.You made me a whole person. I owe you everything Scully,and you owe me nothing.I don’t know if I want to do this alone…I don’t even know if I can. And if I quit now,they win. —From “The X-Files Movie” ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/46 "2005-06-20T18:15:55Z")
The ending voiceover of “A River Runs Through It” (also in the story). > [@](#): > > ``` > Now nearly all those I loved and did not understand when I was young are dead, but I still reach out to them. > Of course, now I am too old to be much of a fisherman, and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone, although some friends think I shouldn't. Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise. > > Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. > I am haunted by waters. > > ``` Gets me every time. ---
**Author:** ![cruel\_butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/47 "2005-06-20T18:16:58Z")
Sally Field in Steel Magnolias: As a woman, I realize how lucky I am. I was there when that beautiful creature drifted into my life, and I was there when she drifted out.It was the most precious moment of my life. Even after watching that movie about a hundred-thousand times…sniff ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/48 "2005-06-20T18:22:34Z")
I knew I’d think of my other one! I’m not going to post the entire summation from [A Time to Kill](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117913/), but the entire speech gets me. Especially the last lines. “Can you see her? Her raped, beaten, broken body soaked in their urine, soaked in their semen, soaked in her blood, left to die. Can you see her? I want you to picture that little girl. Now imagine she’s white.” ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/49 "2005-06-20T19:05:50Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > Hey, hey _hey_! For the love of god, man! Use spoiler boxes. Sorry, that was from the pilot for the series, said pilot being 2 hours, name of _Serenity_… ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/50 "2005-06-20T19:40:58Z")
From _The Joy Luck Club_: Jing-Mei: I’m just sorry that you got stuck with such a loser, that I’ve always been so disappointing. Suyuan: What you mean disappoint? Piano? Jing-Mei: Everything: my grades, my job, not getting married, everything you expected of me. Suyuan: Not expect anything! Never expect! Only hope! Only hoping best for you. That’s not wrong, to hope. Jing-Mei: No? Well, it hurts, because every time you hoped for something I couldn’t deliver, it hurt. It hurt me, Mommy. And no matter what you hope for, I’ll never be more than what I am. And you never see that, what I really am. (I think I have mother issues) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/51 "2005-06-20T19:54:35Z")
> [@Orual](#): > > From _The Joy Luck Club_ The last lines of that one, when she finds her sisters back in China and they’re calling her “sister” in Chinese and hugging each other on the dock: “Ne ne!!! Ne Ne!!!” I know this isn’t a movie, but did anyone else lose it when Walt’s dog tried to swim out to the raft in that episode of **Lost**? ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/52 "2005-06-20T20:02:40Z")
Oh man. There’s a line at the climax of \*Backdraft \* that kills me- _Look at him. That’s my brother, g_ddammit.\* (Did I need a spoiler tag for that? Just being safe.) Kills. Me. And as much competition as it has, this line without question tops my list of _Most Poignant Scenes Featuring That Unsung Thespian of Our Times, Mr. Billy Baldwin._ ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/53 "2005-06-20T20:11:55Z")
From Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Shu Lien: “Free yourself of this world, as you have been taught. Let your soul rise to eternity with your last breath. Do not waste it on me.” Li Mu Bai: “I have already wasted my whole life. I wanted to tell you with my last breath. . . . I have always loved you. I would rather be a ghost drifting by your side, as a condemned soul, than enter heaven without you. Yet, because of your love, I will never be a lonely spirit.” From The Lion King “Dad? …Dad, come on. You gotta get up. Dad. We gotta go home. HEEEEELP! Somebody! Anybody… help.” From Fellowship of the Ring: Sam: I made a promise, Mr Frodo. A promise. “Don’t you leave him Samwise Gamgee.” And I don’t mean to. I don’t mean to. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/54 "2005-06-20T20:17:27Z")
I’ve mentioned this before, but Akira Kurosawa’s _Ikiru_ has been one of the few movies to make me cry. When the lead character learns he has a fatal case of cancer and sings “Life is so short”, the first time choking up as he truly realizes his impending mortatiliy, and then the second time in the playground he helped create, having accepted the inevitable and triumphant that he’s finally made a difference for somebody. Chokes me up to think of it even now. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/55 "2005-06-20T20:22:10Z")
> [@Moody Bastard](#): > > Oh man. There’s a line at the climax of \*Backdraft \* that kills me- > > _Look at him. That’s my brother, g_ddammit.\* > > (Did I need a spoiler tag for that? Just being safe.) > > Kills. Me. > And as much competition as it has, this line without question tops my list of _Most Poignant Scenes Featuring That Unsung Thespian of Our Times, Mr. Billy Baldwin._ Man, I completely forgot about that! And my late father was a career firefighter, so that adds to the tear factor for me. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/56 "2005-06-20T20:47:59Z")
From **Buffy, the Vampire Slayer** - the series, not the movie. When Buffy walks into the house and finds her mother dead a cerebral aneurism on the couch. “Mom? Mom? … [SUB]Mommy?[/SUB]” ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/57 "2005-06-20T21:41:59Z")
**Field of Dreams** had MANY of those lines… On the tragedy of Archie Moonlight Grahm: ## Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham: Well, you know I… I never got to bat in the major leagues. I would have liked to have had that chance. Just once. To stare down a big league pitcher. To stare him down, and just as he goes into his windup, wink. Make him think you know something he doesn’t. That’s what I wish for. Chance to squint at a sky so blue that it hurts your eyes just to look at it. To feel the tingling in your arm as you connect with the ball. To run the bases - stretch a double into a triple, and flop face-first into third, wrap your arms around the bag. That’s my wish, Ray Kinsella. That’s my wish. And is there enough magic out there in the moonlight to make this dream come true? ## Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham: You know we just don’t recognize the most significant moments of our lives while they’re happening. Back then I thought, well, there’ll be other days. I didn’t realize that that was the only day. Ray Kinsella: Fifty years ago, for five minutes you came within… y-you came this close. It would KILL some men to get so close to their dream and not touch it. God, they’d consider it a tragedy. Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham: Son, if I’d only gotten to be a doctor for five minutes… now that would have been a tragedy. (Remember the moment later in the movie when young Archie saw Ray’s daughter choking on the hot dog and he hesitated and pondered at the baseline deciding whether to stay with his dream or give it up to save the girl as the elder doctor and never to play again; that was an incredibly sad and powerful moment. Ray figured it out afterwards and was stricken with grief with the sacrifice Archie made.) ## After that: Shoeless Joe Jackson: [as “Moonlight” Graham walks off the field for the last time] Hey rookie! You were good. And, of course the ending scene: Ray Kinsella: What are you grinning at, you ghost? Shoeless Joe Jackson: If you build it… [nods toward John Kinsella] Shoeless Joe Jackson: … HE will come. [On who the Voice was] Ray Kinsella: It was you… Shoeless Joe Jackson: No, Ray. It was YOU. ## John Kinsella: Well, good night Ray. Ray Kinsella: Good night, John. [They shake hands and John begins to walk away] Ray Kinsella: Hey… Dad? [John turns] Ray Kinsella: [choked up] “You wanna have a catch?” John Kinsella: I’d like that. Anyone who has issues with their father (like me), broke down at that point. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/58 "2005-06-20T21:48:55Z")
I would have liked to have…seen…Montana…_ugh_ ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/59 "2005-06-20T22:06:38Z")
It’s almost easier to think of lines that _don’t_ make me get all teary-eyed. Some of these have already been mentioned: **The Sixth Sense** “She said the answer is… every day.” **The Royal Tennenbaums** “It’s been a rough year, dad.” **The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou** “I wonder if it remembers me.” **Mulan** “The greatest honor of all is having you for a daughter.” **Finding Nemo** Too many to count. The one Dory says about “If you never let anything happen to him, then nothing would happen to him” gets me, for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971/60 "2005-06-20T22:40:51Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > **Finding Nemo** > Too many to count. The one Dory says about “If you never let anything happen to him, then nothing would happen to him” gets me, for some reason. I was blubbering like a schoolgirl after the first 30 seconds of that movie, first when Coral gets it, then again when Marlin finds his one little egg that wasn’t eaten. I was also on an airplane. Kinda embarrassing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-tear-jerking-line-s-in-a-modern-movie/308971.md?page=4)