# Entertainments that are guaranteed to make you cry every time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548 "2010-05-15T15:38:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/1 "2010-05-15T15:38:58Z")
There are certain movies/TV show episodes/books/songs/etc. that, no matter how many times I’ve experienced them previously, reduce me to tears. What are yours? Here are some of mine: **It’s a Wonderful Life** **Dances With Wolves** **Gladiator** **Up** **Finding Nemo** **Monsters, Inc.** **Toy Story 2** “The Whores Can Come” ( **Deadwood** , season two) “Kalends of February” ( **Rome** , season one) “De Patre Vostro (About Your Father)” ( **Rome** , season two) “Where’s Johnny?” ( **The Sopranos** , season five) ETA: How could I forget?: “The Spoils” ( **Rome** , season one) ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/2 "2010-05-15T15:45:37Z")
For me, Christmas isn’t Christmas until I see _A Charlie Brown Christmas_ and _The Grinch Who Stole Christmas_. And yes, I get a catch in my throat at the appropriate times. I admit it. Mind you, for a few years, I couldn’t bear to watch _The Grinch_ because I had seen the Ron Howard movie (damn kids made me take them to it), and that kind of screwed it up for me, but I could finally watch it again this past Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/3 "2010-05-15T15:48:33Z")
The bit at the end of the Sixth Sense when the kid is telling his Mom what his (dead) Grandmother told him. Bawl my eyes out every time. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/4 "2010-05-15T15:48:58Z")
We watch _It’s a Wonderful Life_ every year, and the wife cries every time. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/5 "2010-05-15T15:53:12Z")
There have to be dozens of them, but the two that leaped to mind when I saw the thread title are the songs _If_ by Bread and _Alone Again, Naturally_ by Gilbert O’Sullivan, both from the 70’s and still able to get that tear to turn loose. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/6 "2010-05-15T16:21:57Z")
_A Charlie Brown Christmas_ for me as well; it’s a happy kind of melancholy, reminding me of childhood happiness and love. The Garbage album _Beautiful Garbage_ is the sad kind of melancholy. I bought it shortly after my ex-wife left me, and listened to it a lot while breaking down crying; it was a very prominent part of a very dangerous depression. Listening to it now conjures up loneliness and despair, and I usually end up crying when I hear the song “Cup of Coffee.” I may have to dig it out, as I’m now going through a similarly harsh break up of an engagement. (Similarly with Foo Fighter’s “Everlong” and The Chemical Brothers’ “Where Do I Begin.”) ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/7 "2010-05-15T16:41:48Z")
“Hey Dad, you wanna have a catch?” Jurassic Bark. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/8 "2010-05-15T19:43:14Z")
The Iron Giant ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/9 "2010-05-15T21:56:54Z")
Three lovely children’s books: -[The Man Who Walked Between the Towers](http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Walked-Between-Towers/dp/0761317910), a Caldecott winner about Philippe Petit. I always read it to my second-graders on September 11, and reading the last couple of pages is always hard to do without tearing up. It’s a good, gentle lead-in to a discussion about why the day is meaningful. -[Coming On Home Soon](http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Home-Soon-Jacqueline-Woodson/dp/0439808103/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273960478&sr=1-2), a wonderful story about a girl whose mother goes to work in another city during World War II. When it gets to the lonely bedraggled kitten who shows up and who externalizes the girl’s loneliness, I’m just about bawling. -[Where the Wild Things Are](http://www.amazon.com/Where-Wild-Things-Maurice-Sendak/dp/0060254920/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273960558&sr=1-1). This is possibly the most perfect prose poem I’ve ever read; it just gets better with each reading, as a depiction of one particular part of childhood. Here the catch in my throat is from the sheer beauty of the book. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/10 "2010-05-16T00:07:42Z")
I agree with **Toy Story 2**. Every time Sarah McLachlan starts to play I cannot be dry eyed. It’s the same thing with the final scenes in two other movies, **Schindler’s List** and **The Color Purple**. They get to me every single time… ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/11 "2010-05-16T00:33:33Z")
_Schindler’s List_: Most of the time,I can make it through until the very end when they’re placing the rocks on his grave. _It’s a Wonderful Life_: Guaranteed I’ll need a box of tissue. Every. Damn. Year. _The Box_: Randy Travis’ song about the things found that meant a lot to the singer’s dad. I can’t hear that without thinking about a box of similar connections to my dad’s past, although my dad is still alive. _Teddy Bear_: Red Sovine song that’s glurge to the nth degree, but when they get to the part about the trucks lined up for three city blocks, there’s always water under my eyes. I’ve worked with a lot of rough and tumble men in my life and I can imagine most of them doing something similar. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/12 "2010-05-16T00:37:44Z")
I just watched **Marley and Me** , and I must admit to blubbering up, then hugging my dog (a black Lab) and begging him to never grow old. It hit me worse than Jurassic Bark. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/13 "2010-05-16T00:57:24Z")
The song _This Woman’s Work_ by Kate Bush. The song _By My Side_ & its segment in the movie GODSPELL- the women are all promising Jesus that they’ll stick with Him no matter what, meanwhile Judas is plotting his betrayal. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/14 "2010-05-16T01:01:04Z")
Agreed on “This Woman’s Work”, especially after seeing how it was masterfully utilized in the **Extras** “Extra Special Christmas Special”. Got a lump in my throat just thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/15 "2010-05-16T01:01:42Z")
Things that make me cry: The writing in Twilight. Hayden Christensen’s acting. The number of big budget roles Shia LeBouf (and before him, Chris O’Donnell) get. R Rated films like Gamer that are deemed “failures” because teens bought tickets to “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and snuck in. How badly the Beatles and Michael Jackson have been pimped out. Latoya Jackson. Transferring films into “3-D” format to make an extra buck (I’m looking at you, Clash of the Titans remake.) Remakes in general (I’m looking at you again CotT.) Fake I-Max theaters. Sequels to horrible movies (Are We There Yet Again? Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.) God, I have to stop now…I…I need a moment. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/16 "2010-05-16T01:03:25Z")
Just thought of something else - [“Hurt”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go&feature=PlayList&p=75C49F71B848734C&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1), by the late, great Johnny Cash. Devastating. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/17 "2010-05-16T01:31:27Z")
\*The Natural Born on the Fourth of July Forrest Gump\* ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/18 "2010-05-16T01:50:39Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > **Up** I just wrote in another thread about this, how the montage of Carl and Elly’s life together functions as a sort of Voight-Kampf empathy test for sorting out the Replicants. > [@](#): > > **Toy Story 2** The fine folks at Pixar not only know how to push my emotional buttons, I’ll pay good money to have them do so. > [@Paintcharge](#): > > Jurassic Bark. Yeah, every time. That and the one with the bees. > [@supervenusfreak](#): > > I agree with **Toy Story 2**. Every time Sarah McLachlan starts to play I cannot be dry eyed. I’ve actually sought that clip out on YouTube when I need a bit of emotional catharsis. But the real kicker is Jesse saying “…just go”. > [@cochrane](#): > > I just watched **Marley and Me** , and I must admit to blubbering up, then hugging my dog (a black Lab) and begging him to never grow old. It hit me worse than Jurassic Bark. I don’t know whether or not to recommend _[My Dog Skip](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156812/)_. > [@MTCicero](#): > > Agreed on “This Woman’s Work”, especially after seeing how it was masterfully utilized in the **Extras** “Extra Special Christmas Special”. Got a lump in my throat just thinking about it. I’ll have to search for that one. But the late John Hughes gets points for directing [the film in which it first appeared,](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096094/)and inspiring Kate to write it. And putting up with her slow work habits and delaying to film for her to deliver it. > [@MTCicero](#): > > Just thought of something else - [“Hurt”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go&feature=PlayList&p=75C49F71B848734C&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1), by the late, great Johnny Cash. > > Devastating. Agreed. A wonderful choice by Rick Ruben, of great song by Trent Reznor, made into something for the ages by Johnny Cash and a truly great video. Everything came together perfectly. In addition to these, the films _[The Elephant Man](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080678/)_ (“Am I a good man? Or a bad man?”) and _[The Princess Bride](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093779/)_ (“I want my father back, you son of a bitch!”) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/19 "2010-05-16T01:58:40Z")
Every single time I watch **Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix** I tear up when Trelawney reacts to being fired by looking lost and saying that Hogwarts is her home, and McGonagall comforts her. Every time. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/20 "2010-05-16T02:37:41Z")
Madeleine Lebeau as Yvonne singing [La Marseillaise](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KL76edqCKc) in Casablanca Any production of Romeo and Juliette, at the line in act 5 scene 3: “O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548.md?page=2)