# Men: Movie scenes that seriously choke you up. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 20, 2014, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911 "2014-10-20T13:34:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/1 "2014-10-20T13:34:21Z")
Please state the following about yourself: Age: 38 General Emotional Reactiveness (1 being stone cold killer/ 10 being cries in the greeting card section of the grocery store): 6.5 Black Hawk Down when the snipers decide to leave the helicopter to protect their injured team mate. Watching this for the first time I knew what was going to happen and knew it wasn’t really just a movie and remember thinking “Don’t go down there! You’re going to get killed!” and my eyes glassed over. Heart still races every time the movie approaches that scene. Those dudes were legit heros. You know they knew they were going to die. Then when they read the letter during the end credits. Get’s me choked up thinking about it. Friday Night Lights when, after being a horrible horrible father for the entire movie, Tim McGraw’s character just hugs his son on the field after they just lost the championship. Very well acted short scene that gets me choked up every time. Iron Giant. “Superman!”. Nuff said. Casper live action movie with Christina Ricci. When Bull Pulman see’s the ghost of his dead wife near the end of the movie. I cannot explain why this chokes me up so much but it did and does. Ghost. What can I say? I get reeled in by the music and final scene when she sees Sam as he heads for the light. Saving Private Ryan. Scene when the American Jewish soldier gets into the fight in that apartment and begs for his life as he’s slowly knifed. Rough. T2. When I was younger anyway. When he lowers himself into the molten metal and gives the ole thumbs up for John. Toy Story 2 when the backstory of Jessie plays out on screen. That Sara McLaughlin song is perfect for the scene and chokes me up. CHOKES ME UP. I know there are a few more but these are the ones I immediately think of. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/2 "2014-10-20T13:39:10Z")
I’m in my 50s and I’m a middle of the road emotional guy, but, I don’t get choked up a films. Never have. I’ll be interested to see if I’m an outlier. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/3 "2014-10-20T13:40:29Z")
Age: 52 GER: 2.37 If you can watch _Sniper_ and not tear up when Tom Berenger gets his trigger finger cut off, then you have no heart. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/4 "2014-10-20T14:11:53Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Age: 52 > GER: 2.37 > > If you can watch _Sniper_ and not tear up when Tom Berenger gets his trigger finger cut off, then you have no heart. To be a stickler, it didn’t get cut off, did it? The bad guy garroted it to the point where he couldn’t use it, but it wasn’t actually severed I don’t believe. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/5 "2014-10-20T14:16:47Z")
I dare any guy to get through the last 10 minutes of In 2002’s In America without losing it completely. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/6 "2014-10-20T14:28:53Z")
I’m 54. I’d rate myself a 3 or 4. Paul Newman’s summation in _The Verdict_. He’s playing a washed-up, alcoholic lawyer who has one last chance at salvation in a wrongful death suit (medical malpractice). In my opinion, it’s the best performance of his career. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/7 "2014-10-20T14:32:37Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > To be a stickler, it didn’t get cut off, did it? The bad guy garroted it to the point where he couldn’t use it, but it wasn’t actually severed I don’t believe. No, it was cut off. If you watch closely, you can see him firing a pistol with his middle finger after the amputation. The index finger is a stump. Never saw the sequels, but the wikipedia entry for Sniper 2 indicates the finger was amputated and he was discharged from service as a result. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/8 "2014-10-20T14:33:05Z")
Age: 43 General Emotional Reactiveness: 7 I can get emotional about a movie fairly easily I guess. I’ve been diagnosed with hyper sensitivity so maybe that’s why. **Armageddon** The entire last 15 minutes. Harry pulling a switcheroo and taking AJ’s place, telling him “take care of my baby girl now, that’s your job. I love you like a son AJ…” Harry saying goodbye to Grace over the video connection. The close up of Michael Clarke Duncan, after the asteroid has exploded…“Yo, Harry. You the man…” And of course, the landing scenes where everyone is hugging and crying, and the little boy comes running out to meet his Daddy for the first time. **Marley & Me** Duh… **The Green Mile** His execution, Tom Hanks knowing that he’s innocent, and he shakes John Coffee’s hand. **Forrest Gump** Jenny’s grave. “You’d be so proud of him…I am.” And the scene where he meets his son for the first time, his reaction and his worry about whether or not he’s smart. “You’re his Daddy, Forrest.” “Is he smart or is he…” “He’s very smart, one of the smartest in his class.” The look of relief that comes over him gets me every time. **Rocky II** “I just wanna say one thing to my wife who’s home…Yo Adrian, I DID IT!!!” ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/9 "2014-10-20T14:40:41Z")
Age; 45 Emotional sensitivity; less emotional than a Vulcan, so, 1.5-ish? The Iron Giant; Suuupermaaaann! Big Fish; the ending when the truth of Bloom’s tales are revealed (I find this movie hits harder now that my Dad is gone…) ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/10 "2014-10-20T14:51:52Z")
Age 43, I think my GER is around 4-5. **Toy Story 3** – the end of this one totally kicked me in the balls. I knew they toys would get some kind of happy ending but jeez. **Indian in the Cupboard** – I had seen this before and didn’t give it a second thought. Years later after having a wife and kid, the scene where the Indian tells the boy he has to leave was tough. **Brian’s Song** – 'Nuff said. I have a friend who said he cried in **Search for Spock** when the _Enterprise_ blew up. That’s the last time you’d get a reaction like that. Nobody cried when Troi wrapped the _Enterprise-D_ around a tree and I can’t imagine anyone having a reaction like that in the reboot movie because they seem to be specifically constructed for us to not care about the ship and feel contempt for its crew. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/11 "2014-10-20T15:05:40Z")
Age: 54 GER: 7.5 **Ordinary People** - The scene where Tim Hutton learns Karen has committed suicide and you’re not sure if he’s going to, also; up to the end of the next scene with Judd Hirsch. **Iron Giant** - previously mentioned “Superman” scene. **Toy Story 2** - The Jessie scene. **Toy Story 3** - The toys all think they’re going to be incinerated and join hands to go together. **The Green Mile** - John Coffey’s execution. **Spider Man 2** - Doc Ock: I will not die a monster. **Up** - The first 10-15 minutes when they show the couple’s life together. The best storytelling EVAH! **Watership Down** - The ending where Hazel passes away. Totally agree with the Enterprise blowing up in ST III: SFS :: **Cubsfan** and I must have been separated at birth.:: ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/12 "2014-10-20T15:39:54Z")
Age: 47 GER: it depends. Ordinarily I’m a cold-hearted cyborg, but if there’s a scene in a movie, TV show, commercial or black & white print ad that depicts a father’s love for their child, I’m an emotional puddle. Yes, that’s something I need to explore in my own relationship with my dad. When\* Forrest Gump\* meets his son and asks if he’s smart or dumb (and he can’t even say the word) (and as quoted above by SykoSkotty), I well up. In _Mr. Holland’s Opus_, when he goes to his son’s school and signs & sings Beautiful Boy, then adds “Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful… beautiful Cole” at the end, I’m in tears. Then at the concert at the end when he’s overwhelmed by the outpouring of support by his current and former students, it’s all over for me. FFS, I’m welling up right now just thinking about it. I know there are others but I can’t think of them right now. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/13 "2014-10-20T15:39:58Z")
**2010: The Year We Make Contact** , the sequel to **2001: A Space Odyssey.** At the countdown to when they have to blast from Jupiter orbit, and everybody aboard the _Leonov_ is afraid HAL is going to abort the countdown. Dr Chandra, alone aboard _Discovery_ calmly and quietly lays it out: HAL needs to sacrifice himself so that the humans can survive. Chandra asks if HAL wants him to stay with him, but HAL declines. Then, harkening back to an earlier scene, HAL asks “Will I dream?” ☹ Later, after the _Leonov_, the spirit of David Bowman returns and gives HAL one last message to send. THis exchange always kills me: “What’s going to happen, Dave?” “Something wonderful.” “I’m afraid.” “Don’t be. We’ll be together.” “Where will we be?” “Where I am now.” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/14 "2014-10-20T15:50:03Z")
Age: 47 GER: hard to peg. About a 1 in real life. Watching movies, about an 8. The big one for my is _Field of Dreams_. I too hit a point when I didn’t want to play catch with my father. I would do anything to be able to have another catch with him. He’s been gone over 25 years. A couple of times during _Return of the King_. Especially the death of Theoden. The Gump scene mentioned earlier. A know that movie gets a lot of grief here but that one scene is some great acting. When the Neil Young song is playing at the end of Philadelphia. During most of _World Trade Center_. I don’t think I will ever be able to watch that movie again. It has been my honor to correspond briefly on a board we both belong to with Will Jimeno. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/15 "2014-10-20T15:52:42Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I’m 54. I’d rate myself a 3 or 4. > > Paul Newman’s summation in _The Verdict_. He’s playing a washed-up, alcoholic lawyer who has one last chance at salvation in a wrongful death suit (medical malpractice). > > In my opinion, it’s the best performance of his career. Absolutely. One of the best performances of anyone. He was robbed that year. Gandhi was a splashier role but Newman deserved the Oscar. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/16 "2014-10-20T15:58:27Z")
Age: 55 GER: 3 “Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan” - Kirk’s eulogy for Spock. Not so much for the scene itself, but (being a HUGE TOS fan), what the passing of one of these two means. I think through all the life-and-death, fate of the universe situations they have been through together. It’s like this quick montage of all these TOS scenes flashes through my head when I watch that scene. “Big Fish” - the ending story the son tells of Bloom’s death, particularly when they reach the river, and “everyone” is there to see him off. “Armageddon” - when Harry says goodbye to Liv Tyler. (I think this has more to do with my father passing away at an early age, and that he never had a chance to say such a goodbye) ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/17 "2014-10-20T16:00:14Z")
In my 30s, average emotional responsiveness. The following two kinds of scenes usually choke me up: young men dying while fighting honorably in war; and people suffering in the Holocaust (or other genocides). ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/18 "2014-10-20T16:00:16Z")
\*Apollo 13 \*- the scene near the end where the astronauts announce to Mission Control that they survived reentry. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/19 "2014-10-20T16:02:22Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > I’m in my 50s and I’m a middle of the road emotional guy, but, > > I don’t get choked up a films. Never have. I’ll be interested to see if I’m an outlier. You definitely have a counterpart. I’m an even-keeled, poker-faced guy in most situations and when interacting with most media, but I cry very easily at movies. I could list dozens here, including parts that may have been meant to be stirring, but not necessarily tear-jerking. Case in point: I teared up at the beginning of _The Fellowship of the Ring_, right after all the prologue stuff, where Gandalf rides into the Shire with his cart and Frodo is sitting under the tree waiting for him. I had just been waiting so long for a serious live-action film adaptation of those books, and when I saw the scenery and costumes, and heard the music, and realized that these long-awaited films were not going to suck after all, I lost it. Age: 41 GER: 8 inside a theater; 4 outside. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/20 "2014-10-20T16:14:34Z")
Age 47 GER 3 The scene in _The Incredibles_ when Mr. Incredible is forced to watch and listen as Syndrome murders his entire family (as far as he knows), and there’s _nothing he can do about it_. I tear up every time, and my kids make fun of me for it every time. Stupid kids. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911.md?page=2)