# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/41 "2010-05-16T22:18:46Z")
It’s embarrassing how easily manipulated I am by movies, songs and books that are intended to make me cry. :o And most of the ones above are on my list. Three more: **God Only Knows** at the end of **Love Actually**. I’m not sure it’s considered an “entertainment” but \*\*Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address \*\*does more than choke me up a little. Reading it is bad enough, but hearing it recited does me in. I’m slobbering by the time I hear "conceived in liberty . . . " The impact of seeing Monet’s **Waterlilies** at L’Orangerie in Paris for the first time was so moving, I could only sit and whimper for several minutes. They are surprisingly HUGE, beautiful beyond my ability to express, and sparely displayed in the spaces for which they were created. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/42 "2010-05-16T22:42:51Z")
-Thirding Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” and the beginning of **Up**. -The ending of **Pan’s Labyrinth**. - **Grave of the Fireflies**. Just… **Grave of the Fireflies**. -Another anime: many, many moments in **One Piece**. But particularly The Going Merry’s viking funeral. -The ending of **Gladiator**. -The ending of the book **Alex, the Life of a Child** (a book about the author’s daughter, who died of cystic fibrosis at the age of 8). ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/43 "2010-05-16T23:48:18Z")
The Band of Brothers episode, “Why We Fight”. And the special with all the veteran interviews. Also, “Jurassic Bark” and “Luck of the Fryish”. ---
**Author:** ![MsChilePepper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MsChilePepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsChilePepper)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/44 "2010-05-17T00:36:53Z")
Bill Pullman’s rah-rah speech in _Independence Day_, especially the part where he says, “We will not go quietly into the night!” The bit in _Air Force One_ where the fighter pilot looks at the damaged plane and then tells Harrison Ford it’s not possible to land it, and then says, “You did great, sir” and salutes him. ---
**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 17, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/45 "2010-05-17T03:42:21Z")
Also the end of the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird when the Reverend says: “Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father is passing” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/46 "2010-05-17T03:56:57Z")
When Helen Keller breaks out of her silent darkness by finally understanding the sign language Annie Sullivan has been teaching her, in _The Miracle Worker_. The last supper in _Godspell_, as the song “On the Willows” is sung, when Jesus silently says goodbye to his each of his apostles, each in a different way. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/47 "2010-05-17T05:32:22Z")
The country songs “The Baby” by Blake Shelton and “Love, Me” - forgot the artist, but I’m afraid to look it up because then I’ll look up the YouTube clip and start crying. The Spanish song “Mi Nina Bonita,” which is traditionally played at quinceaneras. It makes me think of when my daughter turns 15, and how much older she will be. (I know, it’s another 6 1/2 years, but it makes me emotional anyway.) 2 episodes in the anime series _Fushigi Yuugi,_ when Chiriko dies, and also Nuriko’s death a few episodes later. Another anime: _Naruto Shippuden_: (major spoilers if you haven’t seen it!) the death of Asuma, and the scene in the next episode when Shikamaru, Asuma’s pupil, notifies his sensei’s pregnant girlfriend, Kurenai. There’s also Asuma’s funeral, when his nephew, Konohamaru, begins to cry, and Naruto consoles him, and later when Shikamaru’s dad tries to talk to him over a game of shogi and Shikamaru finally knocks down the shogi board and begins to cry inconsolably. Hell, that whole episode is nothing but crying for me. And I still haven’t seen the one where Jiraiya dies. Oh, yeah, I forgot that most of _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ made me cry. I cried every time someone died, so that by the time I got to Lupin and Tonks’ death, I was all cried out. But then Snape got killed and I started crying again ---
**Author:** ![MsChilePepper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MsChilePepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsChilePepper)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/48 "2010-05-17T08:24:16Z")
**Lucky13** , Colin Ray sings “Love, Me”. I just saw another one. In _The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada_, the old blind man makes me unutterably sad, and when he asks Tommy Lee Jones to shoot him so he can die, I bawl like a baby. ---
**Author:** ![lshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@lshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lshaw)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/49 "2010-05-17T11:03:40Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > \*The Velveteen Rabbit \*gets me in tears every time. This one for me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Goliath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rex\_Goliath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Goliath)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/50 "2010-05-17T15:43:49Z")
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. My girlfriend bawls for the entire hour. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/51 "2010-05-17T17:25:03Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > The Band of Brothers episode, “Why We Fight”. And the special with all the veteran interviews. Most definitely. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/52 "2010-05-17T17:35:10Z")
I can’t believe I haven’t yet mentioned [this Brad Paisley weeper](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYHT-TF4KO4). Or [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZbN_nmxAGk). ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/53 "2010-05-17T17:43:25Z")
Also, the [Grand Poobah](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5216FZHLcsU) of tear in your beer country ballads. ---
**Author:** ![howye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/54 "2010-05-17T17:50:49Z")
**Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire** - Amos Diggory’s reaction to his son’s death. The actor absolutely nailed the anguish a father would feel. It is the moment I peg in the books and the movies that the tone changes and the weight of what has happened and is going to happen falls on the characters. Agree about Cash’s version of _Hurt_ and the beginning of **Up** ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/55 "2010-05-17T21:45:56Z")
Two places in Watership Down: General Woundwort: Why throw your life away? Bigwig: My Chief ordered me to guard this run. General Woundwort: [Stunned] YOUR Chief? and of course: Black Rabbit: Hazel… Hazel… you know me, don’t you? Hazel: I don’t know. [the apparition reveals himself to be the Black Rabbit, and Hazel gasps] Hazel: Yes, my lord. I know you. Black Rabbit: I’ve come to ask if you’d like to join my Owsla. We shall be glad to have you, and I know you’d like it. You’ve been feeling tired, haven’t you? If you’re ready, we might go along now. [Hazel looks at all the younger rabbits of Watership Down] Black Rabbit: You needn’t worry about them. They’ll be all right, and thousands like them. If you come along now, I’ll show you what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/56 "2010-05-17T22:22:57Z")
Oh, man. Have to second, third and forth a lot of the previous nominations. I’m a big grizzly bear of a guy who isn’t ashamed to cry (okay, maybe I’m in denial), but I very rarely do. Here’s what carries me to the brink. The opening montage of _Up_, and the “scrapbook moment” near the end. Several moments in _LotR: The Return of the King_. Pippin’s Song, the “Far Green Country” reverie, and “You bow to NO ONE.” _The Iron Giant_ I consider to be my generation’s _Ol’ Yeller_. I don’t care HOW much testosterone is coursing through your body. It is perfectly okay for a guy to bawl his eyes out at the end. Gorécki’s _Symphony of Sorrowful Songs_. In my opinion, the greatest piece of music of the 20th century. My visualization of it is a scene of complete post-war devastation, like Warsaw in _The Pianist_, with a single rose sprouting from between the shattered cobblestones. Hope in the face of near-annihilation. The finale of Beethoven’s _Symphony No 9_ brings tears to my eyes as well, but tears of joy. I got to sing it a few years back with my local symphony, and the intensity of the emotion is…damn, I haven’t the words to express it. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/57 "2010-05-18T01:59:44Z")
I’m 42 years old, and I still tear up at the end of \*\*\*Babe \*\*\*when the judges give him his score. ---
**Author:** ![Mother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@Mother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mother)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/58 "2010-05-18T04:10:38Z")
_Madame X_ starring Lana Turner. I cry a river every time I see it. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/59 "2010-05-18T04:33:50Z")
> [@labtrash](#): > > I’m 42 years old, and I still tear up at the end of \*\*\*Babe \*\*\*when the judges give him his score. Same here! ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548/60 "2010-05-18T04:55:22Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > I can’t believe I haven’t yet mentioned [this Brad Paisley weeper](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYHT-TF4KO4). Or [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZbN_nmxAGk). My song is You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive as done by [Patty Loveless](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3IrnNAweM0) or [Brad Paisley](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anPfTJyJVQY&feature=related). Between the haunting melody and the way that the lyrics evoke images of desperation and abject poverty, I don’t stand a chance. If I’m in the right mood, I’ll cry with the Dixie Chicks’ [You Were Mine](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttggMJeUAo4). > [@](#): > > He’s two and she’s four, and you know they adore you, so how can I tell them you changed your mind? What can I say? My own life is too cheery, so I listen to country music. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entertainments-that-are-guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-every-time/539548.md?page=4)