# Movie/books scenes that tear you up every time. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 25, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618 "2016-12-25T21:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/61 "2016-12-28T08:34:21Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > [Tell me I’ve lived a good life.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZgoufN99n8) The woman collapsing at the beginning seeing her local priest and the army car was devestating. Hopefully…they relayed all the news at once to her. Two other cars arriving a few hours apart from each other is the blackest of comedies. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/62 "2016-12-28T09:11:02Z")
Terms Of Endearment, when Debra Winger is telling her little boys to behave, listen to their daddy… The younger one is sad, but doesn’t really understand she’s really dying while the older son is really trying to keep it together… I’m tearing up just typing this. And when Shirley MacLane is demanding painkillers for her daughter… I’ll also throw in Arrival when our adorable Amy Adams as linguist says, “Who’s the little girl?” From recent losses, that threw me. The perfect “If you only knew…” type of line. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/63 "2016-12-28T12:50:31Z")
I’ll never watch “Up” again, and not because it wasn’t a great movie. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Lazarus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e7dd6/32.png) [@John\_Lazarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Lazarus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/64 "2016-12-28T13:25:45Z")
In the Alastair Sim version of _A Christmas Carol_, on Christmas morning after his epiphany, Mrs Dilber has run screaming from the room with her apron over her head, as Scrooge has almost mooned her trying to stand on his head. He chases her down the stairs and stops her halfway; she thinks he’s gone completely mad and is terrified. After calming her down and convincing her he’s quite sane, he gives her a guinea. Mrs Dilber: A guinea? For me? What for? Ebenezer: I’ll give you a guess! Mrs Dilber: _[pause]_ To keep me mouth shut? Ebenezer: Oh no! No, no, no, Mrs. Dilber. lt’s for a Christmas present. Mrs Dilber: _[in a small voice]_ A Christmas present? For me? Just the soft way she says, in disbelief, “A Christmas present? For _me?_”, it breaks my heart every time. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Gladdest\_Fain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Gladdest\_Fain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Gladdest_Fain)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/65 "2016-12-28T13:51:54Z")
I’ve got at least two that I’ve never heard anyone else mention before: There’s a one-issue comic book called “Fables: The Last Castle,” that gets me every time I read it. It’s the fact these people _know_ they’re not going to survive but they decide to stay and fight anyway, so others can live. Any stories like that just choke me up–facing, not just overwhelming odds but with a shade of hope, but no-doubt, certain death and choosing to fight, anyway. There’s a certain science fiction move out now that had me tear up the same way–a moment when I realized, “…uh, they’re not getting out of this.” I’m actually a little ashamed that fantasy and sci-fi movies/books–just any FICTION–make me emotional like this, only because I know this has been happening in real life throughout our history and so many times it’s just an event in a history book. It’s like if I think too hard about real wars, real people dying everyday, I’ll be overwhelmed and just curl up in a puddle. The second is a flashback scene from the US show, _Being Human_, when the character James Bishop–who, up to this point, has been nothing but a monstrous antagonist–is shown to have made a choice between the mortal woman he loves or the vampiric life of power he’s been offered. Her fate would be the same, regardless of his choice, and I thought the actor really drove home the anguish he felt with what he had to do. It also completely changed the way I saw his character the rest of the series. Everything he did after that had so much more weight, making him my favorite character ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/66 "2016-12-28T14:43:25Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > When M’Lynn is breaking down at her daughter’s funeral in _Steel Magnolias_ I can’t even \*think \*about that scene without tearing up. Same for the “O Captain, My Captain” scene at the end of _Dead Poets Society._ ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/67 "2016-12-28T14:46:33Z")
The scene at the train station in Reds. Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton) is meeting John Reid (Warren Beatty), knowing he is very sick. She sees them carrying a stretcher with a sheet covered body on it off the train, turns around and closes her eyes, crying. When she opens them, Reid is standing there just looking at her. He slowly walks over and takes her in his arms. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/68 "2016-12-28T15:07:47Z")
Two more, then I need to go take a Sertraline: “Ordinary People”: Conrad (Tim Hutton) calls Karen (a girl he met in hospital while recovering from a suicide attempt) to see how she’s doing over the holidays. Karen’s folks relay her recent successful suicide and Con freaks out and seems to be following suit. The acting, the music (Hamlisch), the photography–release the waterworks. Deserves every award it got, and then some. Will Smith. German Shepherd. “I Am Legend” (You know the scene). The only time I have ever wailed during a movie; glad I was watching it at home, alone. Didn’t help that I had recently lost my first dog to brain cancer. **John Lazarus** , ever get the feeling from that scene that there could be something else going on? Something possibly romantic, nudge, nudge? (I love the way Scrooge is sizing up the mechanics of pulling off the head-stand in the chair.) Bob’s your uncle! ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/69 "2016-12-28T17:27:53Z")
> [@The\_Gladdest\_Fain](#): > > I’ve got at least two that I’ve never heard anyone else mention before: > > There’s a one-issue comic book called “Fables: The Last Castle,” that gets me every time I read it. It’s the fact these people _know_ they’re not going to survive but they decide to stay and fight anyway, so others can live. Any stories like that just choke me up–facing, not just overwhelming odds but with a shade of hope, but no-doubt, certain death and choosing to fight, anyway. There’s a certain science fiction move out now that had me tear up the same way–a moment when I realized, “…uh, they’re not getting out of this.” > > I’m actually a little ashamed that fantasy and sci-fi movies/books–just any FICTION–make me emotional like this, only because I know this has been happening in real life throughout our history and so many times it’s just an event in a history book. It’s like if I think too hard about real wars, real people dying everyday, I’ll be overwhelmed and just curl up in a puddle. > > The second is a flashback scene from the US show, _Being Human_, when the character James Bishop–who, up to this point, has been nothing but a monstrous antagonist–is shown to have made a choice between the mortal woman he loves or the vampiric life of power he’s been offered. Her fate would be the same, regardless of his choice, and I thought the actor really drove home the anguish he felt with what he had to do. It also completely changed the way I saw his character the rest of the series. Everything he did after that had so much more weight, making him my favorite character Comics? THOR-“He stood alone at gjallerbru” SANDMAN-“So live.” SUPERMAN (Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow)-“Yes kara, you’re in the past now” ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/70 "2016-12-28T17:57:49Z")
> [@carlb](#): > > I’m glad they re-wrote the book for the film to give Boromir a final moment with Aragorn, and Sean Bean sold the hell out of that line. 😕 They have a final moment together in the book too, albeit not with quite the same script. Apologies, I’m contractually obliged to nitpick Tolkien misquotes. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/71 "2016-12-28T18:03:54Z")
One that I’ve seen get people (and affects me) is the end of the _Diary of Adam and Eve_ section of **The Adventures of Mark Twain** , when Adam is soliloquizing after Eve’s death “Wherever _she_ was, there was Eden.” And you know that he’s not just talking about Adam and Eve, but also about Twain and his departed wife, Livy (Olivia). Particularly impressive because that emotional scene gets wrung out by pieces of animated plasticene. It shows you what great animation can really do. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/72 "2016-12-28T18:22:44Z")
I’ve never seen it, but I’ve heard\* Grave of the Fireflies\* may require a box of tissues or two. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/73 "2016-12-28T19:16:21Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > My Chief Rabbit has told me to stay and defend this run, and until he says otherwise, I shall stay here. Oh God. A lot of moments from that book, actually. Finishing with maybe the finest and simplest description of a death ever: ‘It seemed to Hazel that he would not be needing his body any more, so he left it lying on the edge of the ditch…’ Richard Adams died this week. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/74 "2016-12-28T19:20:20Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > [post=9988779]We’ve done this before.[/post] Your point? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/75 "2016-12-28T20:16:01Z")
How is it possible to have a thread like this without anyone mentioning _[My Dog Skip](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156812/)_? To say that this movie is a tearjerker is an understatement. I pretty much cannot watch it at all, or at least there are certain parts that I would have to avoid. It’s not just about the dog growing old and lame and the passing of childhood, it’s basically about life itself and the inexorable passage of time. The great, late Roger Ebert reviewed this movie and basically said, in his typical raw honesty, that it transcends objective measures and is just simply a deeply emotional movie that no one who has ever owned, loved, or really known a dog could possible be immune to. I would add that it’s hard to see how anyone with any sense of life and mortality could be immune to it, either. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/76 "2016-12-28T20:23:15Z")
[The Cold Equations](http://www.spacewesterns.com/articles/105/), by Tom Godwin (the whole short story is in the link) ---
**Author:** ![Anglachel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Anglachel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anglachel)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/77 "2016-12-28T20:49:37Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’ll never watch “Up” again, and not because it wasn’t a great movie. I came in to say “Up”. Particularly the scene where he continues through the scrapbook. The beginning is pretty rough too. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/78 "2016-12-28T21:03:56Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [The Cold Equations](http://www.spacewesterns.com/articles/105/), by Tom Godwin (the whole short story is in the link) I was expecting a twist, but it was pretty straightforward. The title is apt. There is no room for mistakes in space. ---
**Author:** ![Sassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/79 "2016-12-28T21:19:57Z")
Arthur C. Clarke’s The Star. Short, short story & I know exactly what will happen & I always cry. I cry trying to describe it. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618/80 "2016-12-28T21:23:29Z")
I saw The Force Awakens once and can’t do it again. Well, I can do it again up to a certain scene then I’m out. I waited 30 years to see my favourite character of all time and was so happy…AND THEN that happened. I burst straight into tears right there in the movie theatre. It felt like I’d lost a loved one in real life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-books-scenes-that-tear-you-up-every-time/775618.md?page=5)