# Most depressing movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 12, 2000, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912 "2000-09-12T18:04:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/61 "2000-09-14T00:13:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jab1 \* > \*\ ***1984** , starring John Hurt as Winston Smith and (in his last performance, and a GREAT one) Richard Burton. > \*\* A local video store keeps “1984” shelved in the _romance_ section. I kid you not. ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/62 "2000-09-14T06:43:56Z")
**Kupek** said: > [@](#): > > A Simple Plan \ I’ll second this one. I’ll third it and fourth it, too. When the Billy Bob Thorton character asks his brother (played by Bill Paxton) to please shoot him because he can’t live with himself after what they’ve done, and the Paxton character _does_it…movies don’t usually get to me that way, but that scene gave me the urge to drive off a bridge. As far as I’m concerned, _A Simple Plan_made _8 Millimeter_seem like a happy movie. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/63 "2000-09-14T07:34:50Z")
Max Torque mentioned my number-one choice, The Firefly’s Grave (I don’t know exactly what the US title is, the original is Hotaru no Haka). It starts with the main character, a 10-year-old boy, dying of starvation in the middle of a crowded train station, and just gets worse from there. This is the one film that my friends and I can freely admit to crying over. –sublight. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2000, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/64 "2000-09-14T09:14:50Z")
**The Miracle Mile** with Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham. Anthony and Mare finally find each other, soul mates, after a lot of lonliness. Should be the start of a wonderful life. But Anthony mistakenly gets a call where he learns that the U.S. and Russia have just fired the missles at each other, and they have only hours to live. Anthony spends those hours trying to find Mare. Made me want to shoot myself. ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/65 "2000-09-14T09:52:22Z")
The most depressing film, and one of the best I’ve ever seen is clearly Soylent Green. Just because it’s so _credible_, even if it is a science fiction story makes me want to commit suicide (alright, slightly exaggerated). Another good one is Philedelphia. I usually don’t like these tearjerkers, but this was a really good one. ---
**Author:** ![Spider\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Spider\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spider_Woman)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/66 "2000-09-14T11:32:23Z")
Someone from that movie might **eat** you. ---
**Author:** ![Commander\_Fortune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Commander\_Fortune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Fortune)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/67 "2000-09-14T12:02:37Z")
Lord, oh lord… **The Grifters** ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/68 "2000-09-14T14:17:49Z")
Wait, Spider Woman. Are you trying to suggest that SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE?!? ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/69 "2000-09-14T15:14:08Z")
[hijack] This is one of the things Hollywood does that always bugs me: They take a good novel and “improve” it with needless changes. In the novel _Make Room! Make Room!_ (admittedly not one of the best titles ever created; _once in a great while,_ they’ll make an intelligent change), soylent green was not people. It was a cracker made from **soy** beans and **lent** ils. But that wasn’t sensational enough, so they changed it and a story that was intended to get the reader to think about overpopulation and what we might have to do to prevent it became just another melodrama. Most people went home thinking, “Well, that was tragic, but it’ll never happen! We’d NEVER resort to cannibalism.” That’s why I recommended **1984** above. It was EXACTLY like the book, made by people who respected the story and the author and wanted not just to adapt the novel, but to _honor_ it. [/hijack] Another well-made movie with a depressing outlook was _The Last Picture Show._ (A few changes were made from the novel, but as they were made by the author, Larry McMurtry, it’s acceptable.) The characters were all trapped in dull, boring, desperate lives with no way out and they _knew_ it. It was no surprise at all so many of them turned to drinking, drugs and casual sex. What else did they have in that pathetic little dying town in the middle of nowhere? The only hope for the kids was to get jobs elsewhere, but that would leave the adults behind in a town that would now die even faster. It wasn’t a true story (many people who have seen the movie are surprised to learn this, the film rings so true), but it’s happened IRL all over this country a thousand times and will no doubt happen a thousand more. I grew up in a small Texas town that would’ve ended up that same way if Interstate 35W had been routed differently. That movie really hit home and reminded me why I left: No jobs, no future. (We even had our one and only “picture show” close for good, but it was a drive-in. It resorted to showing X-rated movies in its last days but even that didn’t last after they became available on home video.) ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/70 "2000-09-14T18:15:30Z")
Oh come on people. How can we get this far into a thread without anybody mentioning **Brian’s Song** or **Ol’ Yellar (sp?)**? (Sniff…) pcubed ---
**Author:** ![NikonDoggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3be4f8/32.png) [@NikonDoggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NikonDoggy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/71 "2000-09-14T18:36:30Z")
well the most depressing movie has yet to be made…its the one where dispite the classic phrase “nice guys finish last” he still ends up getting screwed in the end and ends up lonely and miserable…heck yeah…just like me… “IM NOT CRAZY, ITS THE REST OF THE WORLD THATS MESSED UP” qoute: ME MYSELF AND I ---
**Author:** ![NikonDoggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3be4f8/32.png) [@NikonDoggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NikonDoggy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/72 "2000-09-14T18:38:53Z")
i would have to agree with green eyes on this subject as well…legends of the fall was a damn good/depressing film…but in a way it gave me hope…dont ask i wont tell cause i dont know… ---
**Author:** ![corvidae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@corvidae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corvidae)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/73 "2000-09-14T22:25:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jophiel \* > \*\*Even more depressing animation: _The Plague Dogs_. > > Good luck finding it because this beautifully animated film is long since out of print but it’s one of the saddest films I’ve ever watched. If you don’t want to know the ending (or be depressed), scroll down now to the next post. > > Two dogs, Rowf and Snitter are in a research lab having varous tests performed upon them. They get the chance to escape and decide to become wild animals after they fail to find a “master” who isn’t cruel. In the meantime, it is leaked to the press that (a) two dogs escaped from the lab and (b) one of the things being tested in the lab was bubonic plague. The media makes a field day of it claiming that the dogs may be carrying plague (they’re not – plague carrying fleas don’t feed on dogs) and eventually public pressure gets the military into it, performing a sweep of the area to find and destroy the dogs. The dogs are chased down to the shore and with no other choice, swim out into the sea. Snitter convinces Rowf (who is deathly afraid of water since his tests involved repreatedly drowning and reviving him) that there was an island out there, an island where they would have kind masters and be free. > > Snitter: “Rowf, I’m tired… I don’t… think I can swim… anymore…” > Rowf: “Don’t… stop… we must be near… the island by… now…” > Snitter: “I… lied… Rowf… There is… no… island…” > > Pull back and fade into the credits and end song as the screen shows the lapping waves. \*\* Jophiel, if it’s any consolation, I seem to recall that the book _The Plague Dogs_ had a happy ending. I can’t remember it very well, but I think Snitter and Rowf ended up ok after being adopted by some nice guy. corvidae ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2000, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/74 "2000-09-14T23:23:33Z")
[Hijack] Yeah, if I’m remembering correctly, the novel “ends” with Rowf and Snitter being pulled out of the water by Peter Scott and Ronald Lockely (both friends of author Richard Adams). Of course, when this happens, the two are discussing how Adams takes animals and changes them into fuzzy happy creatures in his stories and makes people want to save rabbits instead of shooting them in the garden like they should. We’ve discussed quite a few times on the Watership Down mailing list I’m on whether or not this is supposed to be the bona fide ending or if it was just added to ease the pain of readers who were expecting a more Watership Down type ending. Of course, the film offers no such consolation. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/75 "2000-09-15T00:30:34Z")
College. My roommate, our next-room neighbor, and me watching videos. They specifically got movies they had never seen before. Coincidentally, I had never seen either of them either. _Deliverance_ _The Conversation_ After the first one, we were like, “Well, let’s hope this one’s a little more upbeat.” After the second, we were assessing our options: Can’t go to the country, can’t stay in the city, can’t trust strangers, can’t trust the people you know. We were the dukes of despair that evening, I assure you. I still watch _The Conversation_ now and then when I’m feeling too chipper. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/76 "2000-09-15T00:54:03Z")
Lamia and Welfy both mentioned chinese movies, but not _Raise the Red Lantern_, showing the sad fate that comes to the youngest wife of a chinese rich man. Turpentine, that was a blast from the past! I had forgotten all about _Santa Sangre_. A very strange and unusual horror movie. ---
**Author:** ![ladybug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@ladybug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladybug)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/77 "2000-09-15T01:42:16Z")
**Steel Magnolias** – I saw this on an airplane when I was about 15. All I remember afterward is that everyone around me was smiling and laughing and happy to be on vacation and I was crying my eyes out. **Seven** – I felt so sick after I saw this movie. I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from watching it. **Saving Private Ryan** – My brother and I put this one in the “great films that we don’t like” category. I knew it was graphic when I went in to see it, but I didn’t realize how graphic it was. Even my mom, who was an ER nurse for many years, had to turn away from the screen for half the movie. ---
**Author:** ![DRY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@DRY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRY)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/78 "2000-09-15T05:32:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aghris \* > \*\*The most depressing film, and one of the best I’ve ever seen is clearly Soylent Green. Just because it’s so _credible_, even if it is a science fiction story makes me want to commit suicide (alright, slightly exaggerated). > \*\* I saw this movie in school and it was essentially ruined for me by a classmate who had obviously seen it before. He chose an extremely dramatic moment to theatrically scream out: “Oh, my God, it’s PEOPLE!” :mad: Entire class stared daggers at him. In retrospect, I’m a little disappointed we didn’t drag him out of the class and beat the shit out of him. (Hey, at least when someone told me about “The Crying Game”, it was before I had a chance to see the movie, NOT during it!) ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/79 "2000-09-15T05:41:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kupek \* > **Boys Don’t Cry: The fact that it’s based on a true story makes it rather unbearable.** Yes, very true. I saw the A&E documentary on her and even that made me depressed (let alone the movie). And yeah, as much as I love **Chasing Amy** , it does bring me down. I wouldn’t call it the most depressing, as some of the humour in it is phenomenal, but it does make me blue. Another movie that I love, but is somewhat depressing is **American History X**. Again, great movie, but the feeling of it and that ending…dang. Gets to me. ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2000, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912/80 "2000-09-15T05:43:50Z")
Oh yeah, and though I love the movie, and pretty much all of it makes me exceedingly happy, the end of **Mary Poppins** has always made me pretty sad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/32912.md?page=5)