“When She Loved Me” in Toy Story 2. I can’t even THINK about that without crying.
In the book Little Women, the chapter in which Beth dies, and the chapter that includes Jo’s poem about the four wooden chests in the attic.
In the Alistair Sim version of A Christmas Carol, the scene where Scrooge learns that Tiny Tim has died.
The adagio from Dvorak’s New World Symphony (the “Going Home” movement).
This children’s book, which very nearly crosses the line into glurge, but it gets me every time. Good lord. I couldn’t remember the name of it, googled some key words, found this link, and now I’ve gotta go find Kleenex.
One scene from Winter People will get me every time. I don’t really remember everything about the movie, but this one part…
Kelly McGillis’ character had a baby by a man whose family was feuding with hers and he got killed. “A life for a life” was the motto they all lived by, so the one family planned to kill someone from the other in revenge. And so Kelly took her baby to the father’s family to plead with them to let it end here. She’d let them raise her child–a life for a life. They accepted her offer and she returned to her own family with empty arms. She was trying to explain to them why she’d done this–how she knows they’ll love him and care for him–and suddenly the pain of her loss hit her. Her head fell back and she wailed loudly in terrible grief.
Let’s see… The Color Purple, the movie. This story deals with so many issues that are very emotional for me: abandonment, isolation, redemption, faith, abuse, and others. I sob every time during God is Trying to Tell You Something, which is odd cause I’m am atheist. Also, the last scene absolutely wrecks me every time.
In addition, “Fly, you fools!” and “My friends, you bow to no one.” That whole story’s good for crying.
“Jurassic Bark” doesn’t make me cry, but it is difficult to watch. There’s a lot of stuff in that category for me, but not a lot of tearjerkers.
My soft spot is space exploration. Real missions, not sci-fi. The Right Stuff makes me tear up big time, as do Nova shows about the space program. Even unmanned missions get to me: I got weepy over reading the news of Pioneer’s final transmission to Earth.
You mean, other than when I am reading something that wouldn’t normally make my eyes water, and then I wonder what’s going on and realize it’s phase-of-the-moon related?
Anger. The only time I may cry in public is when I’m barely this side of murder.
Two Johnny Cash songs - “Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea” and his reading of “The Mercy Seat” have the strange ability to make me cry most any time I hear them.
In the movie Hair, three times: first, when Hud’s old gf comes to find him with their kid and sings Easy to Be Hard – oh, god.
Then, when they’re in the car driving to see Claude, and sing Good Morning Starshine – those are happy, sweet tears, though. It’s such a pretty song.
And then the whole ending, the montage of the hippies in Central Park and Berger going to Vietnam in Claude’s place and then the rest of them visiting his grave,played against Three-Five-Zero-Zero and Let the Sunshine In – sniff – yeah, I am just an old hippie wannabe, thanks for asking.
Recently we had to put our older female mastiff to sleep.
The day this took place, I got in the car, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Death Of A Martian” came on. This song is about the loss of Flea’s big girl dog, Martian.
I can’t hear that song without beginning to cry.
*Blood flowers in the kitchen
Signing off and winding down
This martian ends her mission
The nova is over
She caught the ball
By the mission bell
Chase lizards bark at donkeys
The love of a martian *
<sniff>
Life is Beautiful anyone? I started bawling when I first saw the little boy, way before they even go to the concentration camp. I knew the movie would get 100 times sadder as soon as a little kid was in it.
Let’s just put it this way: In Casa DeVena, no one ever cries alone. In real life or movies, I see someone really crying (not just over-acting) and I’ll be crying within seconds.
OK, this’ll sound weird, but sadness and grief don’t make me cry. Don’t make me feel much of anything, in fact. But people overcome with happiness? I’m a puddle.
In *Mr. Holland’s Opus * (I know, most consider this film the 9th level of schlock) when they go into the auditorium at the end, and the Senator is at the podium introducing him, and the curtain opens to reveal the orchestra prepared to perform the first public performance of his life’s work, and he gets a little choked up- I cry like a little girl. Every goddam time. I know it’s coming, I tell myself I’m not going to get emotional this time, not *this * time, doggone it- and it’s all over. Gimme a Kleenex.
Oh- it’s the darndest thing- any time a parent expresses sincere pride for their child, I suddenly get something in my eye.
The best specific example I can think of that will get me every time is the end of The Life Aquatic: With Steve Zissou when he finds the shark that ate his best friend. Everyone is packed into the mini-sub and they are starring out the windows at this massive, beautiful creature, and Steve, who has spent the entire movie hunting it for revenge and one last taste of glory quietly says, “I wonder if it remembers me?” Instant tears.
For a more general thing it is mountain climbing. Its a bit strange but after seeing an episode of the sitcom Sports Night this topic can always bring a tear to my eye. In the episode they are wathing a team of men make the final ascent on Mt. Everest and as they make it to the summit one of the characters watching simply says, “Look at what we can do.” Ever since then I can’t help but see mountain climbing as a metephor for human achievment of every kind. When I got to the passage in Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses where he describes a character’s final ascent on everest as I was reading in the office caffeteria it was all I could do to not burst into tears.
I have a copy of this book. I think it probably took a frumillion readings to my children before I FINALLY stopped tearing up. I haven’t read it in a while, and have another little one of reading-to age, so I guess I’d better get prepared for a waterworks reprise.
Two books I’ve read numerous times yet have scenes that ALWAYS make me cry: in To Kill a Mockingbird when the pastor says to Scout, “Stand up, your father’s passing.” <tremendous sniff>
And … in Lonesome Dove when Gus dies I cry every time.
Heh. CasaCurl is the same way. I’m just a big ole Dolly Parton in Steel Magnolias. I can’t help it. I’m tearing up just reading this thread.
Hurricane Katrina has kinda ripped me open with regard to crying, even more than usual, but any song that reminds me of that time will get me to sobbing. It has totally ruined Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends” for me. Bruce Springsteen’s “My City of Ruins” was already a tear-jerker from 9/11, but then he sang it at Jazzfest this year, and, well.
On a less real-life note, I don’t think it’s possible for me to actually list all the moments in the Buffy/Angel/Firefly verse that cause me to sob out loud, but some of the big ones that come to mind are:
Anya’s “I don’t understand… and no one will tell me why” rant about Joyce in *BtVS * “The Body”
Willow and Oz’s leavetaking in *BtVS * “Wild at Heart” (“Oz, don’t you love me?” / “My whole life, I’ve never loved anything else.”)
Buffy and Angelus channel the ghosts in *BtVS * “I Only Have Eyes for You”
Willow talks with Cassie/The First (“Tara says hi.”) in *BtVS * “Conversations with Dead People.”
Angel: the end of “You’re Welcome”, the end of “A Hole in the World”, the end of “Not Fade Away” ::
Firefly: the end of “The Message”… that haunting music and the narration by the Tracey character, and knowing that it was the coda of the series itself. God, I’m in blubs.
Said it before somewhere, but that scene at the end of Mystery, Alaska where the NY Rangers thump the ice in respect for the Mystery team. That’s just freakin’ beautiful, man!
And big tough guys helping little kids or fluffy critters, but I can’t think of a good example right now.
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