# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![confiteor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@confiteor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/confiteor)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/61 "2003-06-25T01:11:03Z")
I cried and cried at **Apocalypse Now** , I can’t even remember the particular bits that prompted it. I just can’t watch war films, I can’t get over the fact that whatever happened with the characters probably _did_ happen with someone else, but thirty times worse. And over and over. But yeah. Good film 😑 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/62 "2003-06-25T02:09:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by InquisitiveIdiot \* > \*\*“Artificial Intelligence” - for two reasons. Neither is enough to nominate it by itself, but both together is depressing: > > David spends all of eternity praying to the blue fairy in vain. That is the end of the movie. Ignore the spielburg-esque alien scene. That’s just a mass hallucination. > > The second reason is because of spielburg’s desecration of what would otherwise have been a half-decent movie. Everytime I think of it I get depressed. \*\* Correct on all points. I cried like a baby (in a quiet, manly way of course) while watching this film. . ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/63 "2003-06-25T02:32:30Z")
Oh man : ( When Davids mother leaves him in the woods like a poor unwanted dog…scuse me I need a hankie ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/64 "2003-06-25T02:41:33Z")
Man… when he pleads with his mother…GOD I HATE HER!!! someone…please…stop…me ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ultress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/7c8e57/32.png) [@ultress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultress)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/65 "2003-06-25T11:08:29Z")
Love Story - the classic sad love story. My dad was as tough as they come but I saw him tear up at that movie. Steel Magnolias was a tear jerker for me. Tears in The Sun, Bruce Willis’ new movie hit hard with me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/66 "2003-06-26T20:15:16Z")
Terms of Endearment. That whole movie from beginning to end ripped my heart out. That’s my vote for fictional movies. For nonfiction- Schindler’s List- I sobbed uncontrollably for 3 hours after that one. Could anything be sadder than that movie? ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/67 "2003-06-27T01:40:44Z")
For foreign movies, [Ponette](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0117359) is most certainly a contender. I went to see it with a good friend of mine; it was the first and only time I ever saw him cry. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/68 "2003-06-27T05:32:51Z")
I didn’t cry, but the endings to Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down got to me. A good war movie will get to me. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/69 "2003-06-27T05:34:17Z")
Oh, and I forgot Glory. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/70 "2003-06-27T05:49:38Z")
I didn’t cry at the end of **Magnolia** , but I was depressed for days. Just the memory of it is enough to bring me down. ---
**Author:** ![herwono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9f8e36/32.png) [@herwono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herwono)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/71 "2003-06-28T03:43:51Z")
Malèna - the brutal public beating was just so sad. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/72 "2003-06-28T03:46:36Z")
I’ve never quite gotten over the 1957 version of _An Affair to Remember._ ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/73 "2003-06-28T03:58:06Z")
Holy crap, _Dancer in the Dark_ takes the cake for me, for just the reasons **Lucki Chaarms** said. You know things are going to turn bad, you can see pretty early on how they are going to go, and they go there and go even worse. It isn’t even a tearjerker – nothing that surprising happens, nothing that shocking happens. It just hits you in the gut like a sledgehammer. Depresses me still to think of the ending. I am a huge Bjork fan, and I have only seen that movie once and could never stand to watch it again. I own the soundtrack and the last song (A New World) is truly awesome, yet it I can’t listen to it very often because it reminds me too much of the end of that movie. I saw the beginning forty-five minutes of _Miracle Mile_. It looked like it was starting out to be depressing, but it was a late, late show and I had to go to bed. Being the fan of apocalyptic tales and movies, I can’t believe I don’t know how it ends. Will someone please email me the end (or spoil it in a spoiler box here) or point me to a good web site where I can spoil it myself? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/74 "2003-06-28T08:13:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MrSarcasticus \* > JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN has my vote for the most depressing movie. Ugh, not only depressing, but very disturbing. That movie seriously creeped me out to the point that I wish I had never seen it. Second “Schindler’s List” How about “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?” And “Of Mice and Men” ---
**Author:** ![WonTon\_Sean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WonTon\_Sean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WonTon_Sean)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/75 "2003-06-28T15:50:26Z")
Umm, **Bambi** , anyone? Talk about turning on the waterworks. Actually, there are quite a few Disney/animated films that tear me up. **Toy Story 2** , with the cow girl doll’s flashback, had bawling like a baby. ---
**Author:** ![RawkStah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@RawkStah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RawkStah)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/76 "2003-06-29T12:22:33Z")
All good noms thusfar, but I actually appreciate BOTH endings of _AI_. The First (Kubrick) Ending because, well, what the hell else are you going to feel after seeing that. But, the Second (Spielberg) Ending, because Teddy is going to be alone. Forever. Wept like a baby the first time I saw that. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/77 "2003-06-29T16:08:46Z")
**Angus** : when the grandfather (played by George C. Scott) dies (on his wedding day). ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/78 "2003-06-29T17:35:01Z")
I will agree with Schindler’s List, Grave of the Fireflies, and I’ll add Full Metal Jacket. ---
**Author:** ![klockwerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/klockwerk/32/6475_2.png) [@klockwerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/klockwerk)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/79 "2003-06-29T21:33:17Z")
_Moulin Rouge_ always gives me hiccoughs of sadness as soon as the credits roll around. It ends very sadly, and that final song written by Craig Armstrong sure helps bring out your emotions. People die in movies for sacrificing things, for instance in war, for a friend or for love, but in _Moulin Rouge_ Satine just dies… so young and in love. She didn’t die for anyone or anything, but it just all happened. Sure, you know she’s dead just about 5 minutes after the movie starts, but it still give you a shudder. I think I’ve watched that movie about 10 times and I think I have cried just about every time. ☹ Other assorted movies that do this to me include _American Beauty_ (specifically the part where we see the homemade video), _Saving Private Ryan_, _Edward Scissorhands_, _Amadeus_ and _A Beautiful Mind_. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787/80 "2003-06-29T21:54:24Z")
**Liar’s Moon** continues to be a tearjerker for me 20 years after I first saw the film. **Always, Once Around,** and **Mr. Holland’s Opus** still get my eyes damp. Then again, I get misty when watching **Silkwood** or **A Perfect Storm** because I know how they turn out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddest-movie/183787.md?page=3)