# Saddest Movie Scene? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491 "2008-08-28T00:36:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/81 "2008-09-10T04:00:50Z")
The poetry scene in \*\*Four Weddings and a Funeral \*\*gets me every time. I ran straight out from the movie theatre and bought some Auden. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/82 "2008-09-20T04:33:58Z")
The ending of _The Umbrellas of Cherbourg_ (1964). If you’ve seen the film, then you know the scene. I’ve not seen _Cinemania_, a documentary about a small group of friends who spend every free moment at the movies, but I’ve read that when one lady saw _Umbrellas_ for the first time at a New York City revival, she wandered through the streets crying afterward, it was so sad. ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/83 "2008-09-20T15:55:18Z")
Forrest Gump talking to Jenny at the end of the movie. You know, when she’s dead and all…God that was sad. Some great acting I might add too ! ---
**Author:** ![criminey.jicket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@criminey.jicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/criminey.jicket)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/84 "2008-09-20T17:34:35Z")
I would add: [ul] [li]The entire ending sequence of **Thelma and Louise**.[/li][li] **E.T.** being quarantined.[/li][li]Almost all of **Once Were Warriors** , but particularly the scene after Grace refuses to kiss her ‘Uncle’ Bully goodnight.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/85 "2008-09-20T17:47:12Z")
Many good examples up thread. I’m trying to type while I have something in my eyes. Sniff! Another one is the end of an obscure movie I saw on PBS many years ago [The Sailor’s Return](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078195/). In the very early 19th Century, a British sailor falls in love with a Dohomeian Princess, and smugglers her home to England. She was disguised as a man on the ship home. Sailor and princess settle on his home town and buy an inn. They face massive prejudice from everyone. They have one son who survives childhood, but another who dies in infancy. About the time their infant died, the Inn gets in deep financial trouble. He gets robbed and killed on his way to the horse track to try to win enough money to get by. Now **here’s** the sad part: The Princess tries to book passage back to Dahomey, but the ship captain won’t let a woman on board. She buys her son passage back by himself. She has no idea if he’ll ever get where he’s going. The next scene is of her crying, alone, between the graves of her husband and infant child. Wait - there’s still more! The final scene shows her washing dishes in the Inn she used to own, and fades into her still doing dishes, as a grey haired old woman. Saddest thing I ever saw on screen. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/86 "2008-09-20T17:56:52Z")
> [@criminey.jicket](#): > > **E.T.** being quarantined. I had completely forgotten about this one. This was one of the first movies I ever saw in theatres, I was five or so. I was not in good shape after that scene. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/87 "2008-09-20T18:20:13Z")
**To Live** , where The oldest daughter dies giving birth, because the medical students had kicked out all the doctors in the midst of the Cultural Revolution, then had no idea how to stop her bleeding. **Nobody Knows** , where The little sister dies, and they bury her in a suitcase out at the airport. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/88 "2008-09-20T19:47:13Z")
One of the saddest scens I’ve seen lately is the one with the Dutch assassin in “Munich” She’s just been shot, and while she dies, she goes to her cat for one last hug. That touch of humanity is what makes you see her as a real person. And okay, yes, she’s also real hot. Waste of talent, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/89 "2008-09-21T10:05:23Z")
**Planes, Trains and Automobiles** [QUOTE=Del] You wanna hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better. I’m an easy target. Yeah, you’re right, I talk too much. I also listen too much. I could be a cold-hearted cynic like you… but I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings. Well, you think what you want about me; I’m not changing. I like… I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me. 'Cause I’m the real article. What you see is what you get. [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > Well Marie, once again my dear, you where as right as rain. I am, with out a doubt, the biggest pain in the butt that ever came down the pike. I meet someone who’s company I really enjoy, and what do I do? I go overboard. I smother the poor soul. I cause him more trouble than he has a right to. God, I got a big mouth. When am I ever gonna wake up? I wish you were here with me right now. But… I guess that’s not gonna happen. Not now, anyway. Then Steven Martin sees John Candy sitting alone in the train station… You find out John Candy’s wife (Marie) has been dead for 8 years and he’s been homeless and alone. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/90 "2008-09-21T10:51:38Z")
This is going to sound ridiculous, but **Kung Fu Panda** gets me teary. There are so many good messages and poignant moments throughout the entire movie. In **Batman Begins** , Thomas Wayne is actually portrayed as something other than a corpse to avenge. He is actually a caring father, and when he is shot he tries to tell his grieving son something but he doesn’t manage it. It was a recounting of the Batman origin story in which for the first time I was actually moved (no spoilers - his origin has been known since 1940). The ending of **Million Dollar Baby** , where: not so much when she dies, but when you realise exactly what the narrative to the movie is - a letter by the assistant trainer to Clin Eastwood character’s estranged daughter was really unexpected and made me catch my breath. > [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Well I am one of the few who think **A.I.** is a brilliant movie and one reason is because how it plays with your emotions. > > When the mother leaves the robot boy in the woods it is extremely sad…yet, it isn’t, because after all he is a machine. And the emotions the mother is going through are also confusing, you are sad for her, yet you also want to say…stop it, it’s NOT A BOY! It was actually the ending that got to me. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/91 "2008-09-21T12:31:47Z")
> [@born\_too\_late](#): > > For second place, though, I’d like to nominate the scene in **The Piano** where… :eek::eek::eek: You have now confirmed for me that I am NEVER going to watch that movie. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2008, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/92 "2008-09-21T12:35:04Z")
> [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](#): > > (Re A.I…) > > It was actually the ending that got to me. Which one? The Kubrick ending or the Spielberg one? Both are sad- the first is the saddest. But it may be matched by the capture of Gigolo Joe. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/93 "2008-09-28T14:27:21Z")
The wife and I just watched Woody Allen’s _The Purple Rose of Cairo_. The ending’s a heartbreaker. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491/94 "2008-09-28T15:51:49Z")
Another vote for _The Joy Luck Club_, with “We have a sister!” That scene makes me tear up, and it’s been nearly a decade since the only time I saw it. _Saving Private Ryan_, with the old man at the Normandy cometary begging his wife to tell him he was a good man. _We Were Soldiers_, after Mrs. Moore bites the Taxi cab driver’s head off for coming to the wrong address with a death notice telegram: “I don’t like this job. I’m just trying to do it.” Even sadder when you realize that that sort of thing actually happened, and many cabbies even suffered severe depression problems from it. I’m told that the soldiers and Marines who do the same job today often suffer similar problems, but at least have support set up to help them deal with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie-scene/461491.md?page=4)