# Which movies or novels make you cry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2009, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838 "2009-09-28T12:44:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/21 "2009-09-29T00:41:34Z")
The ending of _Pan’s Labyrinth_ chokes me up every time I watch it. _Grave of the Fireflies_ made me into an emotional wreck–I needed about a day to recover. I took a class on race in undergrad, and it was chock-full of video material that made me tear up. There was the video on Rwanda. Then the video on the repatriation of [Saartjie Baartman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hottentot_Venus). Then the eulogy to [Bert Williams](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Williams). The latter was done as a sort of dramatic monologue by a modern black actor, who talked about having to wait at the back doors of theaters in order to be let in, and other such hardships. All the while, he sat at a mirror putting on blackface makeup. I don’t know why it affected me so much, but it did. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/22 "2009-09-29T01:16:49Z")
Not a novel and the shortest of short stories, but here’s it’s opening: > [@](#): > > “Summer was dead, but autumn had not yet been born when the ibis came to the bleeding tree. It’s strange that all this is so clear to me, now that time has had its way. But sometimes (like right now) I sit in the cool green parlor, and I remember Doodle.” ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/23 "2009-09-29T01:46:40Z")
_The Great Escape_: That scene where McQueen goes for the second jump across the wire and into Switzerland, and instead the bike gets hit and he crashes, still earnestly reaching for freedom. Every time I hope for him to make it. Go, Steve, go! Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/24 "2009-09-29T03:17:39Z")
> [@5-4-Fighting](#): > > Not a novel and the shortest of short stories, but here’s it’s opening: Oh, crap! Also, a short story called “The Stone Boy.” ---
**Author:** ![BomTek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bomtek/32/21364_2.png) [@BomTek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BomTek)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/25 "2009-09-29T07:47:33Z")
\*\*Field of Dreams \*\* for me. I love that movie, but I will never, ever be able to make it through that last scene between Ray and his dad without crying. I think I confused Mrs. BomTek when we saw **Million Dollar Baby**. I cried like I’ve never cried at a movie while watching that. I was sobbing and heaving, physically shaking from the effort. \*\*Marley & Me \*\*is another one. That movie is one long glurge chain letter (the book was good though), but I cried so much while I was watching it in the theater. My grandpa was very sick at the time, and I think it had something to do with losing someone who’s always been there for you that shook me. The funny thing is Mrs. BomTek’s grandma had me and a total stranger sobbing on her shoulder on the way out. There was a 17- or 18-year-old kid who just lost his shit too, and somehow Grandma found herself consoling him too. ETA: the only book that ever made me cry was _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_. The part toward the end where Harry opens the Golden Snitch by telling it, “I am about to die,” was so mature, and so brave to me. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/26 "2009-09-29T09:35:36Z")
-The Spitfire Grill - most powerful ending to a movie ever -With Honors - the court scenes were great but they’re gunning for your heart -Steel Magnolias - Jesus frickin Christ - put a warning label on this movie -Sisters Act (don’t ask, it’s a sappy good cry) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/27 "2009-09-29T12:19:12Z")
Heh. A great deal of movies and novels have left me _depressed_, but it really isn’t too many that make me feel like _crying_… …but _9_ and _Up_ were close for me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/28 "2009-09-29T12:27:27Z")
I saw Tim Burton’s _Big Fish_ on the third anniversary of my dad’s death and bawled right there in the theatre. I own it on DVD now, and every time I watch it I still mist up a bit. _The Road_ by Cormac McCarthy was an emotional sucker punch, too. I finished it at 2:00 and I recall sneaking into my son’s room to watch him sleep and crying my eyes out. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/29 "2009-09-29T15:44:28Z")
> [@glee](#): > > The closing scene in the courtroom of ‘To kill a Mockingbird’ always gets me. > > As Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) dejectedly walks out, the Reverend Sykes says to Finch’s daughter “Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passing.” > And all the black population in the segregated balcony silently rise to honour Finch (who doesn’t notice them). > > This has so many overtones of honour, heroism, racism, justice and fatherhood. Are we related? My uncle, who keeps his emotions entirely to himself thank you very much, cries at this. I do, too but that’s not saying anything. I cry at everything. I cry at movies, books, TV shows, commercials…not always full on weeping, but definite tears. I get misty when the coach or the captain gives a rousing lockerroom pep talk. The thing I can identify that makes me cry every single time (even though I’d estimate that I’ve seen it over 2 dozen times) is the episode of MASH in which Henry Blake’s plane is shot down over the Sea of Japan. There were no survivors. I’ll remember more specific crying incidents after I click “submit”. eta I just noticed that TV wasn’t included in the OP. Sorry. I also cry at Sliding Doors, anything directed by Doulas Sirk, Stella Dallas, a heart wrenching Cary Grant/Irene Dunne movie called Penny Serenade. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/30 "2009-09-30T02:10:09Z")
_We Were Soldiers_ does the trick. And the scene in _Saving Private Ryan_ where Tom Hank’s character goes off to weep out of the sight of his men after the death of their medic sends me into gobs of snotty weeping. I think his hand-twitch thing really adds some weird emphasis and weight to that scene. Of course, the scene at the very end of the movie with a now old Private Ryan visiting the Captain’s grave slays me too, especially when his wife approaches and he asks her to “Tell me I’ve been a good man, led a good life” or something similar. Also, oddly, _Forrest Gump_ does it to me too. Mostly for how the whole scenario with Jenny ends up, with Forrest talking to her grave about their son. God that’s heart wrenching. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/31 "2009-09-30T02:35:46Z")
When Mulder sees his sister Samantha’s “ghost” in Closure, the season 7 episode where the story line ends. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/32 "2009-09-30T03:13:54Z")
_Little Women_ – Beth’s death, the poem Jo wrote about the trunks in the attic, and the end, where Jo leads Friedrich into the house. (I read that passage at my sister’s wedding, and I could barely get through it.) _Toy Story 2_ – “When She Loved Me.” Gaaah! I can’t even THINK about that scene without getting choked up! _The Jungle Book_, when Akela dies. _The Velveteen Rabbit_ Good lord, the children’s books I’ve read my son that I’ve cried over! _Love You Forever_. WAAAAAAH! ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/33 "2009-09-30T04:30:52Z")
The closing shot of the “Sunshine Through the Rain” sequence in Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams always makes me choke up – it’s one of the most beautiful shots ever committed to celluloid, but the forboding story and surreal dream-logic of the sequence make it really emotionally powerful. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/34 "2009-09-30T16:19:12Z")
**Schindler’s List** , when Schindler is whispering “I could have done more.” Gets me every single damn time. **Dragonfly in Amber** , when Jamie sends Claire back through the stones. The anguish, the love, slays me. (Of course, Gabaldon rewards her faithful readers for that gut-wrenching scene in **Voyager** , but just damn.) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/35 "2009-09-30T17:09:56Z")
Also, I tear up when…Battlestar spoilers below: Roslin dies and Bill Adama doesn’t realize it for a moment. The look on his face when he knows she’s gone is some of the greatest acting I’ve seen on screen. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/36 "2009-09-30T22:15:02Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > I’ll be the one to mention [Grave of the Fireflies](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095327/) in this thread (someone always does!). I own and enjoy several of the Studio Ghibli movies, but this one… Saw the trailer, read the cover, put the DVD back on the shelf. Haven’t seen it. Coward I am. And it completely does my head in that its “initial theatrical release in Japan was accompanied by Hayao Miyazaki’s much more lighthearted My Neighbor Totoro as a double feature”. _My Neighbor Totoro_ and _Grave of the Fireflies_ as a double feature?! There must have been some traumatized theatre goers that night. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![shellofmyformerself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@shellofmyformerself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shellofmyformerself)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/37 "2009-09-30T23:49:36Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > _Mr. Holland’s Opus._ > > Stop laughing at me. No laughing here…I was coming to post this same answer! ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/38 "2009-09-30T23:57:15Z")
The funeral scene of _Steel Magnolias_. I’ve seen this movie 50 times and it never fails. Ditto with the scene at Jenny’s grave in _Forrest Gump_, and the scene where Forrest realizes that Forrest Jr. is his son and is terrified that he is stupid like him. The look of joy turning to fear turning to relief and joy again on Tom Hanks’ face without saying anything other than “Is he…?” is just an incredible bit of acting. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/39 "2009-10-01T00:05:15Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > The funeral scene of _Steel Magnolias_. I’ve seen this movie 50 times and it never fails. Ditto with the scene at Jenny’s grave in _Forrest Gump_, and the scene where Forrest realizes that Forrest Jr. is his son and is terrified that he is stupid like him. The look of joy turning to fear turning to relief and joy again on Tom Hanks’ face without saying anything other than “Is he…?” is just an incredible bit of acting. I agree. And I meant to add earlier that I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that made me cry. For some reason, movies can get me emotional but books can’t get the waterworks going. I’ll experience shock, fear, awesomeness, pleasure, etc from books but never sadness to the point of tears. Not sure why. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838/40 "2009-10-01T00:22:17Z")
I’ll admit, I’m a soft touch. I tear up pretty easy. But nothing’s ever gutted me like Kurosawa’s _Ikiru_. I was absolutely destroyed by that - full on sobbing by the end of the film. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-movies-or-novels-make-you-cry/511838.md?page=3)