# What movies make men cry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2003, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026 "2003-02-19T01:30:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/141 "2003-03-01T05:46:39Z")
When I first saw this thread I thought _You’ve got to be kidding me. Cry - at a movie?_ I was the kid in Jr. High who, while reading Where the Red Fern Grows, looked up in shock at the tears and sniffling of practically everyone else in the room. But then I started to read and remembered that, while not out-right crying, I did get teary-eyed at two films. The first was Schindler’s List - at the end. The second was Saving Private Ryan, not at the end, but in the beginning, during the beach landing when several older men in the audience (presumably WW II vets - they were old enough) got up and left. The fact that these men couldn’t stand to watch really moved me. I almost punched some jack-ass in front of me who started to snicker. ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/142 "2003-03-01T05:59:21Z")
**Iron Giant** and **October Skies** for me. I’d put the final episode of **Band Of Brothers** up there too. The only time I _ever_ saw my dad cry was when he was talking about the scene in **Saving Private Ryan** where the chaplain comes to the door and the mother drops. ---
**Author:** ![plastic\_conspiracy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@plastic\_conspiracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plastic_conspiracy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/143 "2003-03-01T06:05:39Z")
_Dances With Wolves_: I cried the first three times I saw it. _Dead Poets Society_: Sobbed after the first time (I was in high school, though, so I wasn’t quite a “man.”) _The World According To Garp_: After the car accident, when Garp and his wife tell each other they love each other. _The Others_: I was too caught up in the movie the first time to get emotionally shook-up, but when I watched it a second time the ending moved me a whole lot. Not quite tears, but really close. _A River Runs Through It_: Something about the way that movie ended just hit me like a freight train. I went from normal to sobbing mess in less than a second. Then I sort of laughed maniacally through my tears, which kind of freaked me out. _The Lion King_: I was on hallucinogenic mushrooms at the time, but the tears were real. ---
**Author:** ![Mothchunks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@Mothchunks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mothchunks)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/144 "2003-03-01T06:18:50Z")
Gettysburg: ?If I ever raise my hand against you, may God strike me dead.? Gods and Generals: ?All the daddys will come home.? Jesus Christ Superstar: ?Judas, must you betray me with a kiss?? Braveheart: ?Freedom!? Iron Giant: ?Su-per-man.? FOTR: Boromir?s death: When he clutches his sword to his chest. Superman: ?It is forbidden for you to interfere in human history.? City Lights: ?Yes, I can see now.? Watership Down: ?Not because they hated us; because we were in their way.? Bambi: ?We must be careful, for today, Man is in the woods?? Babe: ?Can I call you mom?? The Elephant Man: ?I am not an animal. I am a human being.? Wrath of Khan: ?Of all the souls that I have encountered, his was the most?human.? Two Towers: Theoden at Theodred?s grave, all covered with Simbelmyne blossoms. And: Arwen at Aragorn?s tomb. The Ghost and Mrs Muir: (The original with Rex Harrison) Pleasantville: ?I don?t want it to go away.? Gladiator: ?Go to them.? Excalibur: ?In the name of God, Saint Michael and Saint George, I give you the right to bear arms and meet out justice.? Dangerous Beauty: ?I stand alone for Venice.? ---
**Author:** ![boo\_boo\_bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@boo\_boo\_bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boo_boo_bear)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/145 "2003-03-01T07:12:37Z")
Let’s see… Actual all-out, uncontrollable sobbing in a crowded theatre even though I had read the book and knew what to expect - **Terms of Endearment** … **Henry V** - in the scene with Fluellen after the battle at Agincourt… A couple of scenes near the end of **It’s A Wonderful Life** … Ditto for **Zen Postman’s** “… **Forrest Gump** “Is he…?” “He’s smart, Forrest.”” Ditto for **ich Bin’s** “How about **Babe**? Where the man says, “That’ll do pig. That’ll do.” I just lose it.” - I do too… A couple of scenes in **The World According to Garp** … (“I’ve missed you”… “I’m flying”…)… A couple of scenes in **City of Angels** … …and the last scene in **Choose Me**. Those are the ones I cry _each time I watch them_. I’ll cry at almost anything these days - a friends 13 year old daughter got me to watch **A Walk to Remember** and I thought it was horrible, but I cried, anyway… -big cry baby- ---
**Author:** ![psychomonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@psychomonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychomonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/146 "2003-03-01T08:18:06Z")
OK, I made it through the entire thread thinkin i was pretty manly. And then somone had to go and mention _A River Runs Through It_ . I have to second that one in a huge way. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/147 "2003-03-01T15:12:33Z")
irishfella made me watch the last 2 episodes of Band of Brothers with him. i thought i was because he thought i would like it. nope. he wanted someone to hold his hand and pass him tissues. aww. sweet. we both welled up at the end of Ice Age too. ---
**Author:** ![ecugrad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac8455/32.png) [@ecugrad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecugrad)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/148 "2003-03-01T20:26:43Z")
I’m wiping my eyes just from reading these posts - no wonder I can’t go to the movie theater anymore! My husband cries at **It’s A Wonderful Life** , **Saving Private Ryan** , and quite a few more. I’ve only seen my father cry THREE TIMES in my 39 years and they were all over movies: **To Sir With Love** , **Tribute** , and **ET**. Too bad he couldn’t cry for his wife/my mother when she died, but that’s a whole other story… ---
**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/149 "2003-03-01T22:52:32Z")
Here’s an unusual one for y’all… **2010** Doesn’t even compare to **2001** because it’s not even the same art form. But the scene toward the end still gets to me. Where Chandra’s spilling the beans about HAL getting left behind to be destroyed. HAL: Dr Chandra… will I dream? Chandra: (whispers, choking back tears) I don’t know. Interestingly, according to the book, Chandra dies of a broken heart on the way home. Renting \*\*Iron Giant \*\* tonight, E ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/150 "2003-03-02T00:18:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by d\_redguy \* > **The Patriot.** I’ll second that one. I was blinking back tears when his oldest son died in his arms, and he finally lost it. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/151 "2003-03-02T00:23:18Z")
Actually, I have another (althought it’s not _technically_ a movie). Anyone out there played **Final Fantasy X** on the PS2? The ending of that had me choking back the tears. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/152 "2003-03-02T00:47:22Z")
I tend to hate blatant tearjerking moments – during Bruce Willis’s speech in **Armageddon** I was shouting at the television “Hey — aren’t you supposed to be saving the world or something?!?”, and Boromir’s departure in **FotR** went on for waaaaaay too long IMHO. There are some films that have made me cry or brought a lump to my throat when they’ve caught me in the right mood, but the one that reduces me to a sodden heaving lacrymose lump _every single time_ is the “Valse Triste” segment of **Allegro non Troppo** (the one with the cat in the deserted house). It’s damned embarrassing, I tell you. Hell, I’m starting to choke up just remembering it. I also tend to cry during the last act of **La Boheme** – no, not when Mimi dies, but when Colline sings his farewell aria to his coat. Possibly the stupidest thing to cry about in the whole opera, and it gets me every time. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/153 "2003-03-02T01:44:23Z")
Another Lilo and Stitch vote here. Just got the DVD two weeks ago - first time I’d seen it. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/154 "2003-03-02T02:17:52Z")
Doubful if you can find it to rent, but **Liar’s Moon** gets me every time, and I’ve seen it many times. **Always** and **Once Around** can be added to **Mr. Holland’s Opus** for the Richard Dreyfuss teary film genre. **City of Angels** left me staring at the screen with tearstreaked cheeks thinking NO! The ending of **Perfect World** gets me misty. Add these to the other obvious choices previously posted, and I’ll get some tissues while heading to the VCR ---
**Author:** ![cedric45](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@cedric45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cedric45)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/155 "2003-03-02T02:43:54Z")
Lots of good “crying” movies here in this thread. “Steel Magnolias” got me because of Shelby’s (Julia Roderts) final scene. My dad’s best friend had a daughter, Linda. We were classmates and the same age. What happened to Shelby was exactly what happened to Linda 5 years after high school graduation. Graduation was 30 years ago and I still have great difficulity breathing I get so tight in the chest when I think of her or the movie. “Hope Floats” was the biggest emotional ambush of all time: the scene where the dad is leaving and the little girl runs crying and screaming after him begging him to come back. I even tried to leave the room but I couldn’t walk. My dad didn’t leave us… my mom stole us away from him to marry the biggest baddest asshole f_ **ing piece-of-s** _ prick in the universe. I know how that little girl felt though. I think I’ll try another thread… I having chest pains, no kidding. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/156 "2003-03-02T02:46:26Z")
**Caddyshack 2**. I cried for days after seeing this horrific sequel to a comedy classic. **The Iron Giant** was definitely great, not only the “Superman” line but even the happy ending when the Iron Giant’s parts are approaching his head in the snow to reassemble. While such a thing could potentially detract from the film by lessening the impact of the Iron Giant’s sacrifice, it didn’t do so in my opinion. For books, I’m a sucker for Victor Hugo. Many parts of **The Hunchback of Notre Dame** got to me, as well as the scene in **Les Miserables** where Cosette is playing with the little lead sword wrapped in a rag like it was a toy doll. I found the ending of **Toilers of the Sea** to be a bit much though… Gilliatt busts his butt to save the engine of a wrecked steamer in order to gain the hand of Deruchette in marriage, only to force her to marry Ebenezer (who she had only recently become infatuated with when he put a move on her shortly before Gilliatt arrived), and kill himself by sitting on a rock near the sea and letting the tide come in. I use this smarmiest of smilies reluctantly but aptly… :rolleyes: Last attempt at posting apparently got eaten. Let’s see if this try works… ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/157 "2003-03-02T07:50:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jackelope \* > \*\*_Old Yeller_. \*\* I’ve always thought Old Yeller should be a tool for women to evaluate prospective boyfriends and weed out obviously lousy ones. Here’s how it works: EVERYBODY cries when Travis has to shoot Old Yeller. This is a given. You ask him if he cried when they shot Old Yeller. If he says no, either he’s a liar, and you reject him, or he’s a mere shell of a human being, with a rock where the heart belongs, and you reject him. If he says yes, you watch it with him and make sure. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/158 "2003-03-02T07:52:50Z")
I admit it - the first time I saw it, I was well into my teens and trying to be the cool, tough guy who wasn’t affected by anything, and I cried like a little girl. And to this day, every time I read Where The Red Fern Grows, I get all teary-eyed on the best of days, and weepy on the bad ones. The movie lost a lot in translation, though. Most of the emotion didn’t make it to the screen, even though it was still pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/159 "2003-03-02T08:02:42Z")
ExTank, that’s a really good list. But I have some changes to make: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ExTank \* > **The very end of _Braveheart,_ when Hamish lofts the Wallace sword;** The parts that get me involve his wife: When the magistrate cuts her throat, and you can see in her eyes that the entire time she fully expects him to come charging out of the woods and rescue her. Then again, when he stands the magistrate at the pole where he killed Wallace’s wife and cuts his throat, I get choked up and teary, not because I’m sad, but because I can feel the rage in him as he does it, and I’m overwhelmed with emotion and WANTING him to suffer more. He MURDERED THE MAN’S WIFE for RESISTING A RAPE. I just think a cut throat let him off the hook far too easily. > [@](#): > > \*\*_Iron Giant:_ one word: “Superman!” > > _Schindler’s List:_ An emotional brick upside the head through-and-through;\*\* I agree 100% with both of these. Schindler’s List is such a depressing movie. Sometimes I watch it just to feel disgusted at sharing in humanity with the monsters in Germany at the time. Very cathartic. > [@](#): > > **_Titanic:_ the scene of Isador and Ida Strauss dying together in their cabin as the water rushed in;** That was harsh as well. ☹ > [@](#): > > **_The Road Warrior:_ yeah, I know, not the usual pick. But the ending narration, coupled with the whole post-apocaplyptic wasteland ambiance the movie achieved, left me feeling very sad;** Leaves me depressed, but not to the degree that the others do. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026/160 "2003-03-02T08:06:25Z")
The Littlefoot/ Mom earthquake scene in A Land Before Time…the only time I can recall it getting dusty while I was at the theater. Movies which inspire strange allergic reactions at home also include Rain Man and Hoosiers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movies-make-men-cry/156026.md?page=9)