# Scenes that (unexpectedly) made you cry **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 11, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514 "2016-05-11T00:14:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/21 "2016-05-11T19:43:55Z")
> [@Totenfeier](#): > > The one that gets me is just before that, when Schindler looks at his car, his watch, etc., and realizes that he had resources that could have saved even more Jewish lives. Yep, this one. “I could have done more.” I’ve watched the movie several times (I feel an obligation to watch it when I surf across channels, to honor those who died) and this scene gets me every single damn time. Also, the part at the end of **Saving Private Ryan** , where Captain Miller pulls Ryan down and says, “You earned this.” ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/22 "2016-05-11T19:54:25Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Also, the part at the end of **Saving Private Ryan** , where Captain Miller pulls Ryan down and says, “You earned this.” :dubious: Pretty sure he was beseeching Ryan to “earn this” in the future by leading a good life, being a good man. Thus the awful moment of trembling uncertainty at Miller’s grave 50 years later, where the elderly Ryan pleads with his wife to reassure him that he’s a good man and has led a good life (this is where I cried). ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/23 "2016-05-11T19:56:27Z")
You could be right. Either way, it made me cry. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/24 "2016-05-11T20:04:27Z")
The end of AI I lost my mother far, far too soon in my life and so, regardless of the merits overall of the movie, the final scenes were a gut-punch to me and I don’t blub easily. Also, the end of 12 Monkeys where professor Railly comforts the dying Cole and then looks back to the kid with the crew-cut in the crowd…I wasn’t expecting that to be quite as emotionally powerful. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/25 "2016-05-11T20:20:09Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > :dubious: Pretty sure he was beseeching Ryan to “earn this” in the future by leading a good life, being a good man. Thus the awful moment of trembling uncertainty at Miller’s grave 50 years later, where the elderly Ryan pleads with his wife to reassure him that he’s a good man and has led a good life (this is where I cried). Yeah, Ryan hasn’t earned it yet. He’s being commanded to live a life that’s worthy of it. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/26 "2016-05-11T20:39:25Z")
Two seemingly random ones: Finding Nemo: When Dory gives her speech about how she doesn’t want Merlin to leave because she’s better with him around, remembers more (it’s even heartbreaking because she DOESN’T remember, but knows it’s there) and she doesn’t want him to leave because “no one has stuck around this long”. I tear up every time because that whole speech is my life in a nutshell and it’s terribly personal. The Simpsons: Same basic idea. One of the earlier seasons has Homer doing something to anger Marge and she kicks him out of the house and he comes back and says that he doesn’t just love her or need her but he needs her more than anyone has needed anyone in the history of forever. It’s just a sweet sentiment from someone who is desperately sad. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/27 "2016-05-11T20:44:40Z")
The scene in The Incredibles when Mr. Incredible is forced to watch and listen as Syndrome murders his entire family (as far as he knows), and there’s _nothing he can do about it_. I tear up every time, and my kids make fun of me for it every time. Stupid kids. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/28 "2016-05-11T20:52:22Z")
There are several “crying” moments in _E.T.-The Extraterrestrial_. But I cried when the kids reveal him to their mother. She’s shocked and scared, grabs them all and makes them leave ET. He reachers out his hand and tries to speak. He’s sick, dying in fact, cold, away from his own people, and NOW he’s being abandoned by the humans(or so he thinks.) That’s when I started bawling, and I was a grown up when I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/29 "2016-05-11T20:53:23Z")
> [@CheshireKat](#): > > Another surprise was _The Muppet Movie_. When Kermit sang The Rainbow Connection I started crying. That song still brings tears to my eyes any time I hear it. This always gets me. So does the song in \*1776 \*when John and Abigail Adams are signing off their letters to each other - _Till Then/Yours Yours Yours._ ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/30 "2016-05-11T21:00:33Z")
When the Indians win the one-game play-off against the Yankees in _Major League_. I love seeing an underdog come through. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/31 "2016-05-12T02:06:16Z")
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=989pUycUqAg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=989pUycUqAg) The ending scene in the movie Billy Elliott. The look on his fathers face. He’s bursting with pride. Especially when he gasps at the sight of Billy leaping across the stage. As a parent myself, it touched me in a way that caused me to sob all during the credits. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/32 "2016-05-12T04:19:09Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/h-_QWAl16HI/hqdefault.jpg "Christian Bale EMPIRE OF THE SUN as JIM") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-_QWAl16HI) The last scene in Empire of the Sun, when Christian Bale sees his parents again has always made me tear up. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/33 "2016-05-12T11:33:23Z")
A certain type of scene always does it for me. It’s not sad or tragic scenes but ones with strong emotion. Like Mrs Lovell’s [moment of clarity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywErQpULc74) in Apollo 13. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/34 "2016-05-12T18:28:09Z")
I was watching **Jurassic World** recently. I actually got misty when the T-Rex was losing the battle against the Neo-Rex. T-Rex was getting pinned, its neck chomped on, its poor little arms ineffectually fighting back…☹ Luckily it came back and won. Who’s a good little rexy rexy? You are! ---
**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:** [May 12, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/35 "2016-05-12T18:49:43Z")
The montage in “Look Who’s Talking Too” when everyone is doting on the new baby sister and the older brother is feeling left out. I have no idea why I cried so hard. I was 18 years old and it was likely PMS, or it could be the fact that I will never have children or that I’m an only child and therefore no brothers or sisters. Funny thing though is I don’t particularly like children. That scene made me sob like a baby though. ---
**Author:** ![Totenfeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Totenfeier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totenfeier)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/36 "2016-05-12T19:18:16Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > This always gets me. So does the song in \*1776 \*when John and Abigail Adams are signing off their letters to each other - _Till Then/Yours Yours Yours._ Continuing the song motif, in _The_ _Sound_ _of_ _Music_, the _second_ time Captain von Trapp sings “Edelweiss,” at the Salzburg Festival, with all the Nazis in the audience - that gets me, too. Quiet heroism and defiance. ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/37 "2016-05-12T19:36:54Z")
The final montage in _ **Six Feet Under** _ that showed what the future brought for the characters. So well done and the first time I’d heard the music of Sia. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/38 "2016-05-12T22:01:53Z")
[Miracle on 34th Street](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibDD8Y3IJrg) when the woman waits in line for Santa with a Dutch orphan girl. And Santa starts talking to the girl in Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/39 "2016-05-12T22:24:35Z")
The scene in **Babe** when Farmer Hoggett sings to Babe to get him to start eating. ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514/40 "2016-05-13T00:26:11Z")
This thread has made me cry unexpectedly. However, the fantastic movie PRIDE - the true story of the 1985 miners strike in the UK and how a group of London based Gay and Lesbians raised money for them- was always going to hit me hard. My brother was gay and lived in London in the 80’s. He died of AIDS in 88. We collected for the miners outside The London Apprentice whenever I visited. But in the movie, it was the scene of a (like me) welsh man living in England who didn’t go home because of his mother being wished a Merry Christmas (Nadolig Llawen) by a female welsh stranger on the phone that incapacitated me. That connection; - she hears he’s welsh and says Nadolig Llawen. It is the reaching out of one to another to say I don’t know you but here’s my hand. Please watch it - it’s as funny as hell - and McNulty’s in it! ‘What the fuck did I do?’ Mim [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scenes-that-unexpectedly-made-you-cry/754514.md?page=3)