# The manly weepers - What films are OK for men to cry while watching? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2006, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484 "2006-12-17T06:50:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/1 "2006-12-17T06:50:48Z")
[From this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=400335) we have: Old Yeller Brian’s Song Field of Dreams (maybe) What are some other films that reduce grown men to sobs, or a river of silent tears and snuffles. What other films make you broad shouldered, lumbering brutes dissolve into tears? The end of “Raising Arizona” always gets me, and the end of “AI” made me cry like a baby. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/2 "2006-12-17T06:55:23Z")
Brokeback Mountain ---
**Author:** ![hey\_alright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/90ced4/32.png) [@hey\_alright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hey_alright)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/3 "2006-12-17T07:03:41Z")
Return of the Jedi ---
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/4 "2006-12-17T07:31:38Z")
I think most people would forgive even the manliest of men for shedding a tear at the end of _Braveheart_. Of course I got teary-eyed watching _Finding Nemo_, so what do I know? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/5 "2006-12-17T07:44:08Z")
As a man, I want to say that I’ll cry at whatever film I damn well feel like. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/6 "2006-12-17T07:44:14Z")
Iron Giant ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/7 "2006-12-17T12:26:11Z")
_It’s a Wonderful Life_. Every single time. I start tearing up during the last half hour or so, and I’m a mess by the final scene. I swear. I don’t know whether it’s “okay” for guys to cry at this one, but I sure do, and it seems I always will. My fiancée knew this and still she accepted my proposal, so there’s at least one woman who’s okay with it. She’s taken, but there’s at least one. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/8 "2006-12-17T12:38:01Z")
_Babe_. Yes, the one with the pig. I heard it mentioned as a movie that makes men cry, had a little laugh about the sheer ridiculousness of that notion, and then watched it. No more laughing. Tears, though. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/9 "2006-12-17T13:39:18Z")
Spider-Man Transformers: The Movie The Iron Giant (seconded!) ---
**Author:** ![PaperBlob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@PaperBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaperBlob)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/10 "2006-12-17T13:43:10Z")
**The Dirty Dozen** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BunnyTVS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BunnyTVS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyTVS)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/11 "2006-12-17T13:43:11Z")
The scene in _Casino Royale_ with the Big Knotted Rope ™, brought a tear to my eye. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/12 "2006-12-17T13:43:45Z")
**Bad Santa** - love the ending. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/13 "2006-12-17T13:45:13Z")
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou] Spider-Man Transformers: The Movie The Iron Giant (seconded!) [/QUOTE] Re the Transformers movie this is not the first time I’ve heard this. Having never seen the movie what is the tear causing scene? ---
**Author:** ![NJ\_Kef\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b487fb/32.png) [@NJ\_Kef\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NJ_Kef_1)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/14 "2006-12-17T14:11:07Z")
_Brokeback Mountain The Color Purple Lassie Come Home Imitation of Life (Lana Turner) Shadowlands The Way We Were The Little Princess (Shirley Temple) An Affair to Remember Sleepless in Seattle A Star is Born_ Oh, what the hell! Despite my broad shoulders and lumbering, brutish ways, I weep at the end of _Mahogany_ when Diana Ross rushes into Billy Dee Williams’ arms. There! Are you satisfied? I am going to slink away now and look into the possibility that the SDMB uses subliminal hypnosis to compel members into revealing their deepest, darkest secrets. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/15 "2006-12-17T15:06:43Z")
[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_II:_The_Wrath_of_Khan) is aboot the only one I can think of. 🙂 Spock: I… I have been… and always shall be… your friend. [holds up his hand in the Vulcan salute] Live long… and prosper. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/16 "2006-12-17T15:53:16Z")
[QUOTE=astro] Re the Transformers movie this is not the first time I’ve heard this. Having never seen the movie what is the tear causing scene? [/QUOTE] For most guys who grew up in the '80s, Transformers was a very popular cartoon show, toy line, and comic book series. The movie came out in theaters in 1986, after two seasons of the cartoon being shown after school, probably at the height of its popularity. Before the movie’s halfway point… [spoiler]The evil Decepticons graphically and violently KILLED several of the heroic Autobots (Prowl, Ratchet, Brawn, and Ironhide) and attacked the Autobots’ home base on Earth (where you could see the bodies of Wheeljack and Windcharger among the fallen). As if that wasn’t enough, Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, beat the noble and brave Autobot leader Optimus Prime in a cataclysmic duel, leading to Prime’s truly heart-wrenching death scene, surrounded by his surviving allies and friends. They never showed anyone dying in the cartoon, but the violence was ramped up to high levels for the movie (which was rated PG instead of the usual G for true kiddie fare). While I fully understand that the Transformers cartoon and the movie were essentially 30- and 90-minute toy commercials, they did create personalities and backstories for the toys, and Optimus Prime was a hero through and through. His motto (on his “Tech Specs” on the back of the toy package was “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings,” and he embodied that message as a patient father-figure, a valiant warrior, and a loyal friend to all, robots and humans alike. When he died on screen, for those of us who were seven years old at the time, watching in horror, it felt like a little piece of us died as well.[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/17 "2006-12-17T16:04:34Z")
[QUOTE=astro] [From this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=400335) we have: Old Yeller Brian’s Song Field of Dreams (maybe) [/QUOTE] I know that you’re looking for other movies besides these there, but I protest the use of the term “maybe” after Field of Dreams. That one gets me every time. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/18 "2006-12-17T16:09:13Z")
Saving Private Ryan. The end of the movie when an aged Ryan is at the cemetary. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/19 "2006-12-17T16:17:58Z")
Well, I teared up a bit towards the end of _The Holiday_ last weekend. When Eli Wallich enters the hall…I don’t know. Something about that sort of scene always gets to me. Oh, and I second _The Dirty Dozen_! ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484/20 "2006-12-17T16:18:28Z")
As one review of “Bang the Drum Slowly” put it, you’d have to have ice water in your veins not to cry over the last 20 minutes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-manly-weepers-what-films-are-ok-for-men-to-cry-while-watching/384484.md?page=2)