When you ask for the first movie that made people cry, I think most people will go to a sad movie - not a scary one.
But the first movie that ever made me cry was also the first movie that I ever saw.
I was 5 years old and I saw this horror film (well … I’m not exactly sure if it would be accurately classed as a horror film. It was about a monster that was released from the bottom of the ocean after a nuclear explosion. It was called, “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms”.
Here is a link to another thread in which CalMeachem gave a good description of this film.
As a five year old, and given this was the first movie I had ever seen, I had no idea this was at all fake. I thought it was a real monster that was really killing many people and I was absolutely terrified. I was so scared that to this day, I don’t know why I didn’t pee my pants.
I had some weird fantasies about being crushed to death for many years afterwards.
To my five year old mind, this movie was really something else. “Terrifying” is too weak and adjective.
Parents really need to be aware of the movies that their children are going to see and - at a minimum - they need to talk to their kids before they just let them see things that will terrify them because, their young minds can easily be negatively impacted by these kinds of things.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if some children actually behaved seriously deranged after seeing certain kinds of films. I consider myself very lucky that I never went out and killed someone or did something that would cause me to wind up in some kind of institution after seeing that. Absolutely terrifying!
it was certainly Brian’s Song at age 13. It bothered me enough that I won’t watch it again. Steel Magnolias was certainly a tear-jerker and the all time assault on my senses has to go to The Spitfire Grill. The ending was so powerful and hit different emotions at the same time. I had to bring the car around for my mother and I used that as an excuse to run out of the theater. Anybody who saw me must have thought I just ran my dog over while winning the lottery.
Now I can’t even watch a damn Budwiser commercial without welling up.
I have a childhood friend who, I think, always harbored a grudge against me because I didn’t get choked up at that scene. He was a HUGE Transformers fan and was really insistent on having me watch that movie (on a well-worn VHS). I didn’t really get into it; Transformers weren’t really my jam. He seemed to think I personally assaulted his integrity.
I was home sick and to help cheer me up my sister rented me Transformers the Movie. The scene early on where half the characters I liked were killed (especially Iron Hide) completely stunned me. I didn’t cry but I was shocked and couldn’t get passed it and barely remembered the rest of the movie.
I had to be removed from the theater 15 minutes into 101 Dalmatians because I was bawling. They were going to make a coat out of the puppies! In my defense, I think was four.
Dumbo. I still can’t hear “Baby Mine” without sobbing. I must have been 5 or 6.
And when I was in seventh grade, we watched a movie about the Nez Perce flight called “I Will Fight No More Forever,” (part of a quote from Chief Joseph at the end of his attempt to lead his tribe into Canada. Our history teacher was kind enough to leave the lights off for a few extra moments after the credits rolled, because all of us - boys and girls - needed to pull ourselves together.
Around the same time, I took my little sister to see The Fox and the Hound. My mother was seriously worried about us when she picked us up, with our red eyes and sniffles.
I was not quite 13 and I saw it first with my parents, then with a visiting friend from out of town. . She kept talking about how she had heard this movie was “at least two kleenexes” and how she loved a movie that made her cry.
Somehow, even knowing the ending, I got caught up in her emotions and cried at the ending too.
Many years later I watched it with my son. He was into aliens and outer space that year, so about 6. He not only cried but he was completely desolate. He didn’t know why ET had to go, why he couldn’t stay here with us, and be our friend,
It was several years before he would watch a movie with any live action again.
Charlotte’s Web. The cartoon one from 1973. I would’ve been 3 or 4 when we saw it. I ended up sitting in my mom’s lap by the end and I was bawling. Her body was shaking and I thought she was laughing at me and got mad at her. She was crying just as hard.
Frankly, just thinking about the end is making tears run down my face right now.
The first one I can recall is “Where The Lilies Bloom” and specifically the scene where the children bury their father. I was about 12 years old and saw it on TV a year or two after it was in the theater, and never saw it again until a local TV station aired it a couple years ago. While I didn’t cry this time, as an adult, I understood it much better and it was an even better movie than I remember it (and it was good then).
Probably The Land Before Time. Bambi is much tamer in comparison. If I remember right they don’t show the mother’s body or have a tearful goodbye. She gets shot off screen and that’s it.
When I first re-heard that song as an adult, I remember feeling like it reminded me of some deep childhood trauma. Pretty sure you just pinned it down for me.
Karate Kid. We had a special screening for all newspaper carriers so the theatre was jam packed. I was an abused little dork and I cried and was so happy when he won.
It has to be sad to see Kim Hunters infant ruthlessly killed. Imo the corniness comes from the ape costumes.