As the title implies, it’s been a recent hobby of mine to collect the saddest lines and/or scenes from films of recent memory. (Or even not so recent memory, if it’s sad enough) My current nominations (Possible SPOILERS ahead, of course:
From Final Fantasy; The Spirits Within, Ryan’s line from the Arizona wasteland…
The “I’ll die alone” speech from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Which is probably the second of about 3 good elements to come out of that movie.
And Gandalf’s “death” in Lord of the Rings. I think it’s the music.
And come to think of it, B.O.B.'s death in The Black Hole, even today it gets me a little choked up, but you can imagine the effect it had on a five year old.
Any other suggestions? Animation is fair game. Anime is a little “iffy,” but still acceptible.
Ranchoth
The end of Schindler’s List, after the Jews give Schindler the gold ring, and he stumbles and begins to cry in this voice of despair, “I could have saved more. This car, this pin, I could have saved more.”
No matter how many times I see that movie, that part always leaves me curled up in a fetal position on the floor, tears streaming uncontrollably.
Spock’s death scene in Wrath of Khan is hard for me to watch, but I usually can keep it together until Kirk’s line, “Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most human.” Say what you will about Shatner as an actor or as a person, his delivery of that line perfectly conveys the depth of Kirk’s love for his friend and the loss he feels.
Somebody on another message board I go to called the song Jessie sings in Toy Story 2 “the saddest song ever written.” After hearing it again recently, I have to agree.
Oh, and the almost-end of Monsters, Inc. freaking tears me up.
IMO, one of the saddest lines in a movie was actually in City Slickers. There’s a scene where the three friends are talking about their best day and their worst day; Crystal does the bit about his dad taking him to the Yankees game, and Stern does the thing about his wedding day, and then it’s Bruno Kirby’s turn. They need to prod him a bit to talk but he tells about his best day being the day he stood up to his cheating dad, stating that he realized he wasn’t just cheating on his mom, he was cheating on the whole family. So he tells his dad to leave, and that’s the last they saw of him. After hearing his account of his best day, Crystal says, “If that was your best day, what was your worst day?” To which Kirby replies, “Same day.” I get choked up just writing about it.
By the way, Bruno Kirby is an awesome, yet consistently overlooked character actor that deserves recognition.
You’ve got some odd picks there, Ranchoth, although I’ll give you Gandalf. And from the same movie, 2 more that choke me up: “They took the little ones!” and “I made a promise Mr. Frodo, a promise! ‘Don’t you leave him, Samwise Gamgee.’ he said. And I don’t mean to…”
The ending of Grave of the Fireflies.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: “I have only one last breath.” “Do not waste it on me. Use it to meditate, as you were taught.” "I’ve already wasted my whole life. I want to tell you with my last breath that I have always loved you. I would rather be a ghost drifting by your side as a condemned soul than enter heaven without you… because of your love, I will never be a lonely spirit "
Edward Scissorhands, when vincent Price dies, and the hands he made for Edward fall onto his blades.
In 'The Professional" with Jean Reno and Natalie Portman has a scene with Portman’s character after being struck by her mother’s boyfriend(I think it was her boyfriend) sitting outside her apartment when Reno’s character Leon walks by. Leon sees Portman sitting there with a bloody nose. Portman looks up at Leon and asks something like “It life always like this?” to which Leon says yes.
“Something had happened–a thing which, years ago, had been the eagerest hope of many, many good citizens of the town–and now it had come at last: George Amberson Minafer had got his comeuppance. He got it three times filled, and running over. But those who had so longed for it were not there to see it, and they never knew it. Those who were still living had forgotten all about it and all about him.”
The scene in Deep Impact where the blinded astronaut is saying goodbye to his newborn child that he has not met always chokes me up.
In LoTR, it is Boromir’s death that gets me, I am too disturbed by the fact that the Balrog’s whip has let go of Gandalf’s foot in his death scene… How can a director screw that up… oops, don’t mean to hijack.
The end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, when they’re both bleeding to death, talking about where they’re going to go next to strike it rich. Then they run out guns blazing.
I felt really bad for that black dude they left behind in that Sylvester Stallone movie, Daylight. It was such a helpless feeling seeing him floating there in the water while everyone left him to die.
There’s a scene in A Simple Plan where Billy Bob Thornton’s character is talking about the emptiness of his life. He’s never even kissed a girl and the one person he dated did so on a bet. It’s a really heartbreaking scene.
Maybe its just me but I didn’t find the Gandalf scene sad at all. Probably because I read the book. That and there are plenty of sadder moments out there:
The whole bit with the injured QB twords the end of Remember the Titans seemed to make my girlfriend all sad.
The ending of Saving Private Ryan (which I still need to get on DVD).
Terminator 2: Judgement day - “Ah know nahw why you cry…but it is sahmthing that I can never do” and then little John Conner lowers him into the molten metal pit.
The ending of The Professional.
The bit with the injured soldier in Black Hawk Down who they are unable to medivac.
Frado’s little boat trip.
Ok…I don’t really have much to work with since I don’t generally watch depressing movies like Terms of Endearment.
My Girl, when the little boy (Macauly Culkin) dies from bee stings and the girl runs crying to his casket in the middle of the funeral. First time I ever cried in a movie theater.
I normally do not do this, but I agree with you 100 percent. I wish Bruno Kirby did more work. He his decidedly so overlooked.
Completely hijacking, but Bruno Kirby in When Harry Met Sally v*“So you are saying Mr. Zero knew before you knew?” *
SPOILER ALERT:
The saddest part of a movie for me what in ** Somewhere in Time ** when Christopher Reeve’s character just dies after he returns from back in time and having an affair with Jane Seymour. He’d rather die of a broken heart than live. I was 11 or 12 when I saw that and that affected me profoundly. I haven’t seen it since.
The whole bit with the injured QB twords the end of Remember the Titans seemed to make my girlfriend all sad.