# What films have made you cry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203 "2008-01-19T23:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/61 "2008-01-20T04:48:35Z")
[QUOTE=drm] **ROTK** - “my friends, you bow for no man” [/QUOTE] Actually, for me it’s the Theoden and the Rohirrim shouting “Death!” thrice before beginning their charge – they fully expected to die, and die well. Nevertheless, they went. ETA: okay, both _The Iron Giant_ and _Lilo and Stitch_ (“But I’ll remember you though. I remember everyone that leaves.”) ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/62 "2008-01-20T05:55:19Z")
What ever the movie or play, when Juliet says “Oh, happy dagger! here is thy sheath.” ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/63 "2008-01-20T08:48:00Z")
I’m kind of notorious for crying during even the most clishé films, but there are few that actually make me bawl in an auditory, snot-dribbling way. Some are completely understandable, others not so much. **The Color Purple**. Pretty much one of the greatest stories in existence, of course. The first time I saw this I absolutely fucking lost it during the scene where the sisters are literally torn apart kicking and screaming. They were all each other _had._ **Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon**. I don’t know why, but for some reason my husband and I rented this (back before we were even engaged) and at the end promptly burst into tears and held each other while we wept hysterically. My husband doesn’t typically cry at movies. I’m not sure what triggered it. I barely even remember this film, but I remember being incredibly moved by the romance in it. **Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind**. A beautiful, beautiful film. We saw this after going through a pretty difficult time in our relationship and were pretty much inconsolable for a while. If I were a stronger person, I probably would have wept during **Pan’s Labyrinth.** Regrettably, I was too busy trying not to vomit. That movie goes beyond ‘‘sad’’ and into the realm of ‘‘hellish nightmare you never want to think about ever again’’ territory. And in the TV series department… **Star Trek: Next Generation** : _Yesterday’s Enterprise_. An absolutely stunning episode from start to finish, I couldn’t help but weep for all the terrifying possibilities that our choices may lead to… and Tasha Yar’s choice to die in a meaningful way is incredibly moving. Then there is the episode of **DS9** , _Nor the Battle to the Strong_, where the naive Jake Sisko is confronted with the horrible reality of war while he works in triage with Dr. Bashir. It is a painful episode to watch. In essence you are watching a child lose his innocence one dead person at a time. You feel his grief, he suffers completely alone, and you just want to hold him throughout the entire episode. And while we’re discussing _Futurama_, I acknowledge the value of ‘‘Jurassic Bark,’’ but nothing rips me up so much as _The Sting_, where Leela slowly descends into madness as she struggles with the grief of losing Fry. The ending is just all kinds of mushy sadness. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/64 "2008-01-20T08:54:12Z")
[QUOTE=olivesmarch4th] And while we’re discussing _Futurama_, I acknowledge the value of ‘‘Jurassic Bark,’’ but nothing rips me up so much as _The Sting_, where Leela slowly descends into madness as she struggles with the grief of losing Fry. The ending is just all kinds of mushy sadness. [/QUOTE] Ditto."I’m so scared, Fry!"Gets me, so it does. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/65 "2008-01-20T09:35:54Z")
**The Butcher Boy** and **Breakfast On Pluto**. Both directed by Neil Jordan and based on novels by Patrick McCabe. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/66 "2008-01-20T09:37:40Z")
**Short Circuit 2** Yeah, I was around 8 at the time, but I’m pretty sure that scene would still get me. You know, the one near the end where Johnny 5 is just rolling along, minding his own business, when he gets jumped by the two thugs and they crowbar him to near death, leaving his left eye just dangling by a thread. “Please, stop! Nooooooooo” Dammit, I’m getting teary-eyed just thinking about it! How could you do that to Johnny 5?! ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/67 "2008-01-20T09:58:12Z")
Bride Of Frankenstein King Kong The Wizard Of Oz Bonnie And Clyde Trog Wild At Heart To Kill A Mockingbird Times Square Of Mice And Men Easy Rider Seven Faces Of Dr. Lao A Boy And His Dog Miracle Mile Pan’s Labyrinth Unforgiven Zebrahead Boys ‘N’ The Hood Dominic And Eugene If anyone’s baffled as to how any of those movies in particular could make a somewhat hardboiled grown man cry, I could perhaps answer later on in the thread but if I started tryimg to explain them all in this post I’d probably start wailing out loud and wake up my partner up. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/68 "2008-01-20T10:19:13Z")
I forgot about this one when I was doing my main post, but the end of \*\*Spun \*\*]made me cry,too-- every time I’ve seen the damn movie. _ **12 Monkeys** _ did it to me, too. And _ **The Plague Dogs.** _ I hardly made it to the end of that one, now that I think back on it. But my most face-reddening admission has to be that the WB cartoon _Feed The_ _Kitty_, starring Marc Anthony the bulldog and Pussyfoot the kitten, has made me cry nearly every time I ever saw it, from when I was five right up until the night before last. _On my next birthday, I will be 49 years old ._ ---
**Author:** ![katie1341](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/91b2a8/32.png) [@katie1341](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katie1341)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/69 "2008-01-20T11:21:30Z")
Too many to count- I’m such a sap, I cry during some commercials! But some that really got to me- **To Kill a Mockingbird** , when Atticus was leaving the courtroom- “Stand up, your father’s passing”. The end of **Into the Wild** Even though I’ve seen it a zillion times, **It’s a Wonderful Life** **Out of Africa** **The Pursuit of Happyness** **The Crucible** ---
**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:** [January 20, 2008, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/70 "2008-01-20T13:05:38Z")
[QUOTE=DLuxN8R-13] Bride Of Frankenstein King Kong The Wizard Of Oz Bonnie And Clyde Trog Wild At Heart To Kill A Mockingbird Times Square Of Mice And Men Easy Rider Seven Faces Of Dr. Lao A Boy And His Dog Miracle Mile Pan’s Labyrinth Unforgiven Zebrahead Boys ‘N’ The Hood Dominic And Eugene If anyone’s baffled as to how any of those movies in particular could make a somewhat hardboiled grown man cry, I could perhaps answer later on in the thread but if I started tryimg to explain them all in this post I’d probably start wailing out loud and wake up my partner up. [/QUOTE] Well, , some quotes will do… Bride of Frankenstein: “Friend… good,” and “She hate me… like others.” Of Mice and Men: “I see it, George! I see it!” and “When you say to yourself ‘I’m alive and being alive is wonderful!’ then you are part of The Circus of Dr. Lao.” I’m a movie-crier but this past year, two stand out. I cried in the theater & I cried every time I passed them playing for weeks on the big TV display at work- Charlotte’s Web, and when they decided to put on a new movie- it was Bridge to freakin’ Terabithia! ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/71 "2008-01-20T13:32:28Z")
I cry easily, especially when I’m stressed out, so there’s been a wealth of movies that have done this to me. A number of documentaries-- Up From Zero, Bowling for Columbine (the Columbine scene), Theremin (last scene where Leon Theremin and Clara Rockmore are reunited in their old age). I also get teary-eyed during A Charlie Brown Christmas, which isn’t a film, but still… I recall tearing up at a crowded theatrical showing of My Girl; not sure how to do spoilers here, so I’ll just say it’s “the scene.” The place was crowded with teenaged couple out on dates, and I glanced around during the scene to see _everyone_ in tears or with quivering chins. ---
**Author:** ![vertizontal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ad7895/32.png) [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/72 "2008-01-20T13:42:47Z")
[QUOTE=Poysyn_Mr Holland’s Opus_ - so many times but especially when the mom freaks out, “I can’t talk to my son!”[/QUOTE] For me, during this movie, (which I hope I’m remembering correctly) it was the scene near the end when we see that the woman who is the current State Govenor was the shy red-headed girl who he taught to “play the sunset” on the clarinet. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/73 "2008-01-20T14:06:58Z")
I cried when I saw **The Green Mile**. A day or so later, I was walking along a sidewalk on campus and I thought about Coffey asking them not to cover his face because he was scared of the dark. I started bawling again. ---
**Author:** ![Alias](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/74 "2008-01-20T14:54:12Z")
[QUOTE=Carm6773] I cry at the drop of a hat and most recently cried during _I am Legend_. When he kills the dog, his only companion, because it has developed the virus. Him crying while he strangles it is just too much. I also cried at the end when he sacrificed himself. [/QUOTE] I came in here to mention that movie too! The part where he strangled the dog KILLED me. Not only was it brilliantly acted by Will Smith, but I have a German Shepherd too! His dog looked too much like my dog, and when he strangled it while singing through tears, I just lost it. It was brutal. As for older movies: Sophie’s Choice. Anyone who has seen it will know EXACTLY what part I’m talking about. I haven’t seen a movie yet that can make me cry like that one does. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/75 "2008-01-20T14:56:20Z")
Animated Tear Jerkers: **Anastasia Iron Giant Beauty and The Beast** Other Tear Jerkers: \*\*The Joy Luck Club \*\* - “I see you… I see you”. The twins on the side of the road. I’m getting misty just thinking about this film. **The Color Purple** - When the mayor’s wife refuses to drive herself home. The reunion scene. \*\*Finding Forrester \*\* - The soundtrack version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” gets me every time. **Antwone Fisher** - I was sobbing in the theater - Strangers offered me tissues. **Terms of Endearment** - “GIVE her the medicine!..” \*\*South Pacific \*\* - The song, “They’ve Got To Be Taught” really tightened my throat. **Hotel Rwanda** - no explanation needed if you’ve seen the movie. I have many more, but this isn’t my thread so I’ll stop. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/76 "2008-01-20T15:28:22Z")
_Whose Life is it Anyway?_. I had to watch it twice because after the first 15 minutes the first time round, I couldn’t see anything through my tears. _Brokeback Mountain_. The desolation stayed with me for weeks afterwards. _Losing Isiaih_. It’s very pertinent to me, as I have a black adopted sibling whom I love very much. I watched it on a plane and sobbed uncontrollably - very embarrassing. _Lorenzo’s Oil_. That movie should be illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/77 "2008-01-20T15:52:05Z")
\*\* The Color Purple \*\* - “Celie, this is your son. This is Adam.” “Mama! Jambo Mama!” \*\* Steel Magnolias\*\* - “I’m fine! I can jog all the way to Texas and back, but my daughter can’t! She never could! Oh God! I am so mad I don’t know what to do! I wanna know why! I wanna know why Shelby’s life is over! I wanna know how that baby will ever know how wonderful his mother was! Will he ever know what she went through for him! Oh _God_ I wanna know why? Why? Lord, I wish I could understand!” Also, I can remember sobbing hysterically at a TV movie when I was younger - \*\* Alex: The Life of a Child \*\* Since I had a child it’s a lot harder to watch movies where a child is injured/dies. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/78 "2008-01-20T16:22:20Z")
_Empire of the Sun_ gets me every time - from the point that the American bombers attack the camp through when Jim doesn’t recognize his parents & they don’t recognize him at first. _Little Man Tate_ gets me for some reason - it always has, but I’ve never figured out why, just that it does. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/79 "2008-01-20T16:32:11Z")
**Spoilers** **Lord of the Rings** : Pippin: I didn’t think it would end this way… Gandalf: End? No, the journey doesn’t end here… Death is just another path, one that we all must take… The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back and all turns to silver glass… and then you see it… Pippin: What, Gandalf? See what? Gandalf: White shores… And beyond… A far green country under a swift sunrise. Pippin: Well, that isn’t so bad. Gandalf: No… no it isn’t. **Nausicaa** The ending, obviously, but it also breaks me up when she goes in unarmed to rescue the baby ohmu from the floating turret. The gunners are firing away with a heavy machine gun at her and we see a shot of this young girl coming straight at at them, standing up on her little plane with empty outstretched arms, no fear at all for own life, just absolute determination. **Pan’s Labyrinth** I crack up completely at the fairy tale ending. Whether it’s true or just a mercy stroke of the imagination for the little girl. **Porco Rosso** Porco’s vision, after the battle in which he was the sole survivor. Flying just at the top of the clouds, like sailing on an endless sea, he looks up and sees a strange silvery thread in the sky. Then planes start rising from the cloud all around him. They are the dead pilots from both sides, and they rise up and up past Porco, until he realises that they are headed for the silvery thread in the sky. And then he sees it clearly - it is a vast ribbon of planes. All the pilots who have died, ever, now flying peacefully forever against a perfect sky. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203/80 "2008-01-20T18:56:59Z")
Oh, and _Angela’s Ashes._ I had read the book several times and started bawling when the opening credits started rolling . . . not sure I stopped. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-films-have-made-you-cry/434203.md?page=5)