# Saddest Movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787 "2003-06-23T15:51:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/21 "2003-06-23T18:35:58Z")
**Last Night** , about the last few hours before the end of the world. In one scene, the main character casually tells his friend (something like) “Well, see you later,” but his friend corrects him, “No you won’t.” And what an ending. Sad, sad, sad, beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/22 "2003-06-23T18:37:15Z")
More sadness: _Jean de Florette_ (part one) and _Manon des Sources_ (part two) – a two-movie sequence containing a devastating ending. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/23 "2003-06-23T18:41:51Z")
I can’t believe I’m the first to mention _Old Yeller_. It’s tough being a man, isn’t it, Travis? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/24 "2003-06-23T18:42:20Z")
_Miracle Mile_. Most people who’ve never seen it before stare at the screen in silence for about 5 minutes after the ending and then say very little for the next few hours. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/25 "2003-06-23T18:44:59Z")
The end of “Miller’s Crossing” is very sad. There is a profound sense of loss but you’re not quite sure what has been lost. Leo asks Tom to come and work for him again but goes too far, “forgiving” him for his affair with Verna. Tom gives him a very final “goodbye” but the last shot, of Tom watching Leo walk away, is strangely melancholy. But maybe it’s just that damn music. It kills me how sad that music is. I’d second “The Royal Tenanbaums.” I did not at all expect the film to be so moving at the end, if not truly sad. “It’s been a tough year, dad.” just broke my heart. “Parenthood” also has a really hard scene for me to watch. The whole sequence where Jason Robards offers a deal to his son (Tom Hulce) to get him out of trouble, only to get a “counter-proposal” totally in line with Hulce’s character. You can see Robards’ character kind of die a little. And then, his simple speech to Cool is a beautiful scene. But I think the prize goes to “Magnolia” as just generally a very sad film where even unlikeable characters still manage to earn my sympathy. ---
**Author:** ![Marlow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Marlow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlow)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/26 "2003-06-23T18:47:32Z")
There’s always **Requiem For A Dream**. I found **The Iron Giant** to be very sad too. ---
**Author:** ![Sassafras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@Sassafras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassafras)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/27 "2003-06-23T18:59:43Z")
I nominate **The Color Purple** \> I bawl every time I see it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/28 "2003-06-23T19:55:25Z")
**Boys Don’t Cry** was pretty depressing. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/29 "2003-06-23T20:02:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lisa-go-Blind \* > \*\ ***Simon Birch** is pretty sad \*\* Haven’t seen it and probably won’t since I don’t want to listen to my daughter griping about how that kid was a “ringer” allowing his school to beat hers in Odyssey of the Mind competions. “Oooh! It’s the kid from _Simon Birch!_ Isn’t he noble and long-suffering?” She found him to be a jerk taking advantage of people’s sympathy but she was HEAVILY prejudiced. This is a useful thread. I hate sad movies so I’ll be able to avoid them easier now. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/30 "2003-06-23T21:19:25Z")
Dancer in the Dark is a true wrist-slasher. Sophie’s Choice…oh my gawd. That movie kills me. Boys On The Side. 'Nuff said. There are many more, but I can’t think of them off hand. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/31 "2003-06-23T22:08:11Z")
The “Iron Giant”, In my opinion, is sad, but hopeful… I agree, “The Pianist” was very depressing…quite an ordeal to watch. My daughter and I always cry at the end of “My Dog Skip”. Oh—and I think the end of “Forrest Gump” is sad. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/32 "2003-06-23T23:05:24Z")
**Equus** was pretty depressing, especially in the end. ---
**Author:** ![greenphan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c37758/32.png) [@greenphan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenphan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/33 "2003-06-23T23:13:27Z")
I can’t believe this thread has gone on for about 30 posts and no one has nominated “Life is Beautiful”. I had to be helped out of the theatre at the end of the movie, I was crying so hard. My girlfriend at the time was nonplussed and amused at me bawling, but I couldn’t help it; it was just such a sad ending. –greenphan ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/34 "2003-06-23T23:24:12Z")
I knew that with as many posts as have been made already, several people would have already mentioned **Grave of the Fireflies** , and I was right. This movie left me in tears for several minutes after the closing credits, and I still get weepy just thinking about it – and I saw it before I had kids, too! ---
**Author:** ![Mearl\_Dox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Mearl\_Dox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mearl_Dox)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/35 "2003-06-23T23:25:03Z")
_Grave of the Fireflies_ is pretty sad, agreed. But the movie that’s made me cry the longest and the hardest at the end was _Brazil_. “Happy ending” and all. ---
**Author:** ![TeaRoses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c37758/32.png) [@TeaRoses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaRoses)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/36 "2003-06-23T23:27:23Z")
I got sad watching “Brief Encounter” but it doesn’t really measure up to the tragic nature of the movies listed here. I own Grave of the Fireflies but I can never decide when to watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Padmaraga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@Padmaraga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padmaraga)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/37 "2003-06-23T23:35:47Z")
“Somewhere in Time”, with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. “Somersby”, with Richard Gere and Jodie Foster Any film where the dog dies. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![witchwendy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@witchwendy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/witchwendy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/38 "2003-06-23T23:45:58Z")
“Life is Beautiful” I can’t watch that movie because every time I do, I just start crying. ---
**Author:** ![karomon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@karomon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/karomon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/39 "2003-06-24T00:16:18Z")
I forgot all about “Grave of the Fireflies” and “The Iron Giant”. Sad, sad, sad. “Raise the Red Lantern” was another one, but I can’t believe no one’s mentioned “Schindler’s List”. ---
**Author:** ![80sHairMetalMaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/8/ed655f/32.png) [@80sHairMetalMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/80sHairMetalMaven)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/40 "2003-06-24T00:38:46Z")
Did anybody ever see that one called “The Cure”? It’s about two boyhood friends, both around 11 years old and one of them has AIDS. They attempt to find a cure for the AIDS by setting off to Lousiana to see a Dr. they saw advertised in a newspaper who said he could cure AIDS. Being without his meds for so long makes the one boy so sick that he dies at the end of the movie. IDBB [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787.md?page=3)