# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/21 "2014-10-20T18:43:47Z")
Age: 29 GER: 4 I’m not sure how to rate myself. I’ve only cried once in the last decade from irl events. I’d rate my empathy for fictional characters very high, but I’m not overly expressive about it. Sometimes people get sad when someone is being beaten, abused, or the world is shitting on them in some unfair way, but I tend to get angry instead. _Six Feet Under_ is the most depressing TV series I’ve ever watched. I see a lot of my mother in Ruth. So many characters need a hug. You could make an entire thread about sad scenes just from this one. _Paths of Glory_, in the end Dax is losing faith in humanity and sees the soldiers hooting and jeering at the captured German girl as if to confirm that mankind is complete shit, but then they all get weepy and sing along with her folk song. _Land Before Time_, as far as animated animal parental death scenes go this makes \*Bambi \*and _Lion King_ look like a tea party. I think they were purposefully trying to scar children psychologically. _If We Hold On Together_ is a heart string puller too. _Short Circuit 2_ starts out as family friendly fun, and then it takes a 180 when the naive Johnny 5 is brutally beaten with crowbars and an axe. If he were a human being this would be more suitable for a grindhouse flick. That is more horrifying than sad. Then he pathetically, shakily pulls himself up off the ground while maudlin music plays and he wanders the streets looking for help. But the worst part is when he picks up a piece of chalk with his good arm and writes “DYING” on the brick wall. _Iron Giant_, besides the Superman part everyone likes to gush over there’s the scene where the Giant thinks Hogarth is dead and pokes his body with his shaky hand before he recoils in fear/sadness and remembers it’s taboo to mess with dead things, recalling the dead deer scene from earlier. _Corpse Bride_, when Emily realizes how selfish she’s been, finds inner peace, gives the ring back, and turns into a swarm of butterflies. Cheesy, but it worked for me. I’d second a couple other standard ones: \*Schindler’s List, Up, Toy Story 3. \* ---
**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, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/22 "2014-10-20T19:54:20Z")
Oh. I forgot a big one for me. The end of Planes, Trains and Automobiles when Steve Martin flashes back over their trip and pieces together than John Candy’s wife was dead and he was homeless. When he goes back to the train station and John confesses the truth it choked me up. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/23 "2014-10-20T20:24:58Z")
Age: 44 GER: ? The first thing that came to mind for me was Wades death in _Saving Private Ryan_. ---
**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, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/24 "2014-10-20T20:39:26Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > \*Apollo 13 \*- the scene near the end where the astronauts announce to Mission Control that they survived reentry. That really didn’t have an effect on me. It wasn’t exactly a surprise. The part that chokes me up is a little [earlier](http://www.anyclip.com/movies/apollo-13/ken-in-the-simulator/#!quotes/) when Marilyn is trying to tell Jim’s senile mother the bad news. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/25 "2014-10-20T21:01:46Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > 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. > > \ > > Age: 41 > GER: 8 inside a theater; 4 outside. This is pretty much me as well, including the age. I’m not sure I particularly _like_ that about myself, but so it is. Maybe I feel like I need to be strong and stoic for those around me, especially my wife and kids, so I don’t react much. But I guess I feel more able to show emotions when the stakes are lower. Hmm. Anyway, I always start to lose it in _It’s a Wonderful Life_, when George is in the bar before his trip to the bridge, and he’s breaking down, “God, I’m not a praying man…” I’m kind of getting teary now just typing about it. All the responsibilities he’s been carrying the whole movie are crashing, and he’s at the end of his rope. Kills me. I thought _Million Dollar Baby_ was just OK in general, but I choked up in the last scene between Eastwood and the priest. When the priest says, “Leave her to God,” and Eastwood replies through tears, “She ain’t askin’ for God’s help. She’s askin’ for mine.” There are a bunch of others. ---
**Author:** ![dataguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@dataguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dataguy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/26 "2014-10-20T21:44:25Z")
Age: 65 GER: 3-4 I’ve gotten a little weepy at a few movies, but the one that caught me by surprise was Gattaca. The scene where Ethan Hawke’s character (Vincent) is taking off into space, while at the same time Jude Law’s character (Jerome) is climbing into an incinerator to commit suicide. This was just an astonishingly emotional scene to me. Not the fact that he committed suicide, but the reason: He’d watched Vincent overcome his imperfect genetics through sheer force of will to achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut. While he, with his perfect genetics, had done nothing but feel sorry for himself because of his accident. In the end, he decided that Vincent deserved his life more than he himself did. I didn’t see it coming. Tears just flowed. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/27 "2014-10-20T22:09:39Z")
nothing comes close to Old Yeller. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/28 "2014-10-20T22:31:18Z")
I’m a big, strong, hairy 54 year old man, and I have no problem getting emotional and downright weepy at movies. > [@muldoonthief](#): > > 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. Just wait till they have a family of their own. > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > **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. > > **Up** - The first 10-15 minutes when they show the couple’s life together. The best storytelling EVAH! The genius of the best PIXAR movies is in the voice casting. Brilliant animation, sure, but the scene from _The Incredibles_ would be every bit as moving if you were only listening to the audio. And Joan Cusack’s performance as Jesse was so powerful. Woody says “Jesse, I didn’t know…” and her reply “…just go…” is what breaks me up every time. I’m tearing up just remembering it. And _Up_ is the opposite means to the same end. Silent animation with a devastating effect. I don’t know that anyone who has loved someone for a long time, and fears losing them, could be unaffected. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > 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). …and their sibling, noble acts of self-sacrifice. \*Titanic \*gets a lot of shit on this board, but the scene of Benjamin Guggenheim, one of the richest men in the world, refusing to get into a lifeboat, saying “We’ve dressed up in our best and are prepared to go down like gentlemen” gets me every time. > [@cormac262](#): > > “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. This one hit me particularly hard. My Dad lived a short but extraordinary life, and I don’t think he or I ever really understood each other. He died when I was 16, and I’m older now than he was when he died. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/29 "2014-10-20T22:55:56Z")
That’ll do, Pig - that’ll do. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/30 "2014-10-20T22:59:10Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > 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… Age 48 ans I havent seen that movie since its cinema release and that scene is still so powerfully etched in my mind, must watch it again. One of the best but tough scenes. this is not your fault, look at me son it’s not your fault, no no no it’s not your fault. Don’t fuck with me, I’m so sorry etc… ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/31 "2014-10-20T23:10:07Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > That’ll do, Pig - that’ll do. Brilliant, love that scene. It kind of reminds of that understated way my grandpa spoke, he was never a man to waste words and he had passed the year before this movie and yep made me cry. Coach Carter and “our deepest fear” Rocky Balboa and his “the world aint all sunshine and rainbows” “your my son my blood” So many to choose, Charlie Chaplin’s last speech in his first talkie. The Great Dictator. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/32 "2014-10-20T23:15:23Z")
62, male situations with people? maybe a 2 at best Animals? prolly a 7 I can’t think of any movie that choked me up at the moment so the moments certainly don’t last long. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/33 "2014-10-20T23:29:27Z")
1. GER 7. My emotions bubble near the surface, as wreck it ralph would say. The scene in “Ink” where the kidnapper realizes he has kidnapped his own daughter and starts fighting for her. That always gets to me. The scene in ‘doubt’ when the white kids are bullying the black kid, so Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character goes over and gives him a hug. Several scenes in ‘deliver us from evil’. That was a sad movie. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/34 "2014-10-20T23:47:56Z")
Mid-60s. I’m a weeper. _Field of Dreams_, when Ray and his Dad have a catch. I bawl every freakin’ time. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/35 "2014-10-20T23:54:52Z")
Does anyone really say, “have a catch”? I’d say, “Do you want to play catch?” StG ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/36 "2014-10-20T23:55:11Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Mid-60s. > I’m a weeper. > > _Field of Dreams_, when Ray and his Dad have a catch. I bawl every freakin’ time. Almost 50. I have been described as stoic. As soon as he says ‘It’s my father’ I choke up. When I saw Schindler’s List, and they had the actual people coming to lay something on his grave…I had to get up and walk around to keep from crying in the theater. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/37 "2014-10-21T00:19:16Z")
I got a little misty when they pushed an original Mini Cooper over the cliff in the original _Italian Job._ Can’t stand to see good cars abused. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/38 "2014-10-21T00:23:29Z")
Age: 40 GER: ~4 maybe. Off the top of my head, I can think of only a couple that tear me up. **Saving Private Ryan** - for me it’s none of the combat or death scenes, it’s when Ryan as an old man asks his wife to tell him he was a good man, that lived a good life. Actually I think thoughts of the sacrifices of soldiers must do it, because I recall choking up a bit at the post credits of Flags of our Father, and at the end of the Band of Brothers series as well. **Green Mile** - like everyone else has said, Coffey’s execution, brings a tear to my eye. **Braveheart** - For all it’s historical inaccuracy, when Wallace ‘sees’ his wife walking through the crowd, that cokes me up a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/39 "2014-10-21T00:30:02Z")
Age: 39 GER: 1-2 The first 15 minutes of [Up](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1049413/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) did it for me. Also got misty after the end of [The Lives of Others](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1). Damn good movie. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911/40 "2014-10-21T01:28:25Z")
The ending of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest gets me every time when Chief finds McMurphy labotomized before they can escape together and ends up breaking free himself. Gets me every time. And the “Papa, don’t go!” scene from The Patriot had me bawling. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-movie-scenes-that-seriously-choke-you-up/701911.md?page=3)