# "I'm crying because I'm happy" scenes in movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2002, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805 "2002-11-01T06:37:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/1 "2002-11-01T06:37:37Z")
I was trying to come up with candidates for the “saddest movie scene ever” thread, and realized that more often than not if a movie makes me cry it’s at the really happy moments. I’m a huge sucker for those types of scenes (as is evidenced by the fact that most of my examples are from Disney movies), and a director doesn’t have to do much of anything to get me to start crying. My worst offenders (each one of these gets me _every time_ I see it): _Mulan_, when her father tosses the medal and sword away and says “The greatest honor of all is having your for a daughter.” _Fantasia 2000_, in the “Rhapsody in Blue” segment, when the henpecked husband starts dancing with the organ grinder’s monkey. _Lilo & Stitch_, when Stitch delivers his, “This is my family. It’s small, and broken, but still good” line. _Amelie_, when she guides the blind man down the street, describing everything she sees. Man, that’s embarrassing. ---
**Author:** ![CyberPundit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/2 "2002-11-01T06:50:38Z")
The Marseillaise scene in Casablanca. Never fails to bring a tear or two to my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/3 "2002-11-01T07:42:02Z")
I usually cry only when movies make me sad. The one exception to this is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, of all things. Silly, I know, but every time I get to the very end of the book _or_ movie, to Dumbdore speech praising Neville’s special bravery,“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies but a great deal more to stand up to your friends” I tear up. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/4 "2002-11-01T07:58:19Z")
I thought you meant scenes in movies that contained people crying because they’re happy, and instantly thought of Mia Farrow in _The Great Gatsby_ (voice all a-quiver): “I’m crying because they’re such beautiful shirts!” ---
**Author:** ![Avalonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Avalonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avalonian)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/5 "2002-11-01T09:08:00Z")
I’m with **SolGrundy** … sad movies can make me cry, but happy movies (or sad movies with happy endings) are far more likely to do so. I tear up every time I see Hobbiton in the opening scenes of _Fellowship of the Ring_, and also when Bilbo and Frodo are reunited in Rivendell. Tears of joy, I’m telling you… I have to explain it to my daughters every time. _laugh_ Despite having seen it at least a dozen times now, I still get misty at the very end of _Monsters Inc._ Sully’s big grin at Boo’s tiny-voiced “Kitty!” does it every time. _Mulan_ gets me too, but for me it’s the scene when everyone at the palace bows to her, after the Emperor says that she has saved them all. Damn. Good scene. The last scene in the last episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” gets me, as Jean-Luc deals the cards to his friends and shipmates… “Nothing wild… and _the sky’s the limit_.” The scene near the end of _Unbreakable_ where David Dunn shows his son the newspaper article about his first act. The upspoken communication and understanding they share, just in their expressions, is a thing of beauty. Probably Bruce Willis’ finest moment on screen so far. At the end of _The Sixth Sense_ when Cole tells his mother about _her_ mother. “She says the answer is… ‘_Every_ day.’” Yeah, and I lose it every time I hear that. I guess M. Night does some great emotional moments like this, because here’s another. In _Signs_, when Mel Gibson loses control and yells at the dinner table, and his children start crying. Then he hugs them both and drags Joaquin Phoenix into the group hug too. I was laughing with tears rolling down my cheeks at the same time. A big one for me is the end of _Fearless_, pretty much the last 10 minutes or so, as Max finally accepts what has happened and it all comes crashing down on him… and then is saved. One of the most wrenching, emotional sequences ever committed to film. Funny thing, this just happened to me again tonight, as I watch a “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” rerun, one I had never seen before. Odo tries to nurse an ill changeling back to health, and teach it how to shapeshift. Just as he is making progress and connecting with the changeling, it has a setback and is about to die. But instead, as Odo is holding it, it bonds with him and restores his own changeling abilities. The first thing Odo does is change himself into a hawk and flies through the station, something he had promised the other changeling he would teach it to do. A surprisingly touching episode. A sad movie (a well-made sad movie) will often disturb me or put me into a funk. I’m a sucker for happy endings, though, and they’ll always make me a little weepy. Happy movies will make me cry more easily than sad ones do. The examples above are just a few of the better ones. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/6 "2002-11-01T11:03:21Z")
Ditto _Sixth Sense_ just at that exact point. Also I felt very choked up the first time I saw _Galaxy Quest_ over certain bits. Not the second time though. ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/7 "2002-11-01T12:45:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Avalonian \* > \*\* > I tear up every time I see Hobbiton in the opening scenes of _Fellowship of the Ring_, \*\* Me too. One of my favourite parts of the movie (Ok the initiail scenes with Sauron are pretty good as well :))I get taunted for it by my niece in law. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/8 "2002-11-01T13:13:23Z")
_Shine_ is the only movie to ever make me cry - the ending. It’s not a sad ending, but I got all teary in the theatre. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/9 "2002-11-01T14:51:15Z")
I, too, tear up at the _Mulan_ scene mentioned in the OP. I tear up at the _Sixth Sense_ scene mentioned earlier, too. Once (it must’ve been a particularly hormonal day), I welled up at _Babe_ when the farmer said, “That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.” at the end of the sheep herding competition. [nitpick, because it’s my favorite line] “The greatest gift and honor is having you as a daughter.” [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/10 "2002-11-01T15:42:31Z")
Empire of the Sun When Jim is finally reunited with his parents and he closes his eyes I bawl like a baby. As far as a person in the film doing it I thought of Emma T. in Sense and Sensibility near the end. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2002, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/11 "2002-11-01T16:46:43Z")
Pleasantville When the rest of the town turns colour, I cried. ---
**Author:** ![Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/73ab20/32.png) [@Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caesar_s_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/12 "2002-11-02T00:28:42Z")
That does it to me too. It’s not the really sad scenes, but the really happy scenes that make me emotional. _sigh_ For example, _Moulin Rouge_. I don’t think I need a spoiler since the ending is revealed in the very beginning, anyway. At any rate, the “show must go on” scene and some of the happy scenes between Christian and Satine make me sad because I know what’s going to happen at the end. Likewise for Disney movies, at least when I was younger; I never watch them anymore. And in sappy movies that I shouldn’t be crying at but can’t help. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/13 "2002-11-02T01:35:01Z")
As a boy I used to cry when watching lassie. I think it’s the music that did it. deeply embarrasing it was. I would try to hide my tears if anyone came in or was watching it with me ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/14 "2002-11-02T05:01:31Z")
When Dubey shows up with the marigold heart in _Monsoon Wedding_. When Sam catches up to Frodo at the end of _Fellowship of the Ring_ ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/15 "2002-11-02T11:22:43Z")
**In Schindler’s List** – when the real life survivors and descendents of surviovrs top the hill. I’ve known nothing to compare with the feeling it gave me. ---
**Author:** ![Lou\_E.Thunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Lou\_E.Thunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lou_E.Thunder)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/16 "2002-11-02T13:03:57Z")
_Home Alone_ at the end where the old man re-unites with his daughter …thats it, i swear. …ok _Home Alone 2_ does it to me aswell when Kevin’s mother finds him in the park. The tears come on when she is talking to the cop about why she is looking for him etc and how he doesnt deserve this to happen again. When she finally sees him in the park and goes over to him i usually leave the room. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bibliophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophile)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-crying-because-im-happy-scenes-in-movies/134805/17 "2002-11-02T15:17:47Z")
I’m disappointed to say that I cry pretty much at the drop of a hat when it comes to movies. A few examples: “Say Anything,” when Diane shows up at the gym and she and Lloyd get back together it kills me. I tear up too when Lloyd takes the letter to her dad in prision. “Safe Passage” is another good one. Sam Shepard and Susan Saradon have seven sons, one of whom is in the military and missing following an explosion. Two hours, six sons and several flashbacks and monologues later, all is well, and I’m a blubbering idiot on the sofa. I also teared up during “Great Expectations”, “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and “Bridget Jones’ Diary.”