My wife and I watched The Elephant Man the other night. It’s one of my favorite films from the 80’s, and I hadn’t seen it in ages. It takes a lot to make me tear up, but the Romeo & Juliet scene between John Hurt and Anne Bancroft gets me every time.

This got me thinking about sure-fire tear-jerkers, i.e. those movies which invariably reduce me to a state of quiver-lipped, puddle-eyed helplessness. I don’t get choked-up very easily, but some flicks never fail to illicit copious tears. Besides The Elephant Man, the list includes…

BARRY LYNDON -- specifically little Bryan’s deathbed scene. Every parent's worst nightmare. The next time Ryan O’Neil decides to take a pot-shot at his real-life son he should pop this baby in the DVD player. Sad, sad, sad.

THE KILLING FIELDS -- especially the moment near the end when Dith Pran emerges from the jungle and sees the Red Cross station. After all the character has been through the emotional release at that moment is overwhelming.

TEARMS OF ENDEARMENT -- I’m sorry, but the scene where Debra Winger dies is one of the saddest moments in film history. If Shirley MacLaine’s reaction to her daughter’s death doesn’t put a lump in your throat your soul is broken.

Now fess up… which movies Make You Cry Like A Little Girl?

Mighty Joe Young. As Joe goes back after the little orphan as she wanders towards the crumbling orphanage, and Joe takes the hit.

Seriously, my eyes tear up everytime I watch the scene where the Enterprise is blown up in Star Trek III.

Oh, and the father/son scene in Field of Dreams kind of gets me too.

Perhaps you girls have heard of a little movie called Brians Song? Hello? By the time Gale gets to the "I love Brian Piccollo" line I'm usually well into the Kleenex.

When Scout says "Hey Boo!" as Robert Duvall steps out from the shadows.

Good one, Scott!

- GJS

Perhaps you girls have heard of a little movie called Brians Song? Hello? By the time Gale gets to the "I love Brian Piccollo" line I'm usually well into the Kleenex.

That's the one that has always gotten to me.

I also remember seeing the final cut of The Wrath of Khan for the first time complete with the Amazing Grace piece and the closing shot of Spock's coffin added from Golden Gate Park. I think they're still mopping up the tears from that one. Not a dry eye in the house - even the executives.

A sweet little girl wearing a red sweater walks through hell on earth, goes to her home, climbs up the stairs, crawls under her bed and covers her ears.
And you can be certain that that actually happened.
That scene gets me every time. Lets get back to Spock and Brian's Song, shall we?

When the Terminator in T2, gives his life/melts. Tears flowing, and all choked up.

1. The end of A.I.
2. Field of dreams at the end when he says "Dad...wanna have a catch"
3. Jack the bear (Danny Devito) not the cartoon film.
4. GREEN MILE (big time)

I'm sure theres more.....ok....I guess that makes me a big cry baby....oh well.

1. "I'll be right here"(points to heart)...My god I cannot cry enough at the end of E.T.
2. Steel Magnolias (Only because I saw this movie originally in theaters a week after discovering that I was a Type 1 Diabetic. Scared the hell out of me)
3.Have to agree on Terms of Endearment.
4.Cocoon(James Horners music and the death of Rose, I start crying then and keep it up til the credits roll...happy and sad tears.)

A sweet little girl wearing a red sweater walks through hell on earth, goes to her home, climbs up the stairs, crawls under her bed and covers her ears.
And you can be certain that that actually happened.
That scene gets me every time. Lets get back to Spock and Brian's Song, shall we?

Gotta agree with this one. The ending where the actual survivors and the actors who played them are placing the stones on Schindlers grave... no dry eyes at my house.

The end of Armaggedon.
When Harry takes the kid's place .
Then sends the message to his daughter.

I know a lot of people here dislike this movie, but the end always chokes me up.

This may sound retarded, but when I was like, seven I cried during that episode of seventh heaven when mary was shipped off to Switzerland or something.

I dont even like seventh heaven. I guess I was just watching it for some reason. The episode wasnt really sad, but when everyone (even the men) started crying on the screen, I was highly disturbed and cried myself.

These are great. I'm gettin' misty just reading them.

Thought of a couple more: Remains of the Day... the farewell at the end. I love this film to pieces (best thing Merchant/ Ivory ever did) but it is one sad piece of work (also very funny; Michael Londsdale is a stitch playing a whiny French ambassador with sore feet. And Chistopher Reeve has the best scene in the movie, warning a bunch of well-meaning but clueless gentleman appeasers about the looming disaster in Europe).

I also get choked up during Streep's a cappela Amazing Grace at the end of Silkwood.

And, is it just me, or does Scarlett's "I'll never go hungry again" speech still pack an emotional wallop? Gone With the Wind hasn't aged well in some respects, but that character-defining moment on the hilltop above Tara gets me every time.

Agree with Fluke's comment about A.I. That film is weepy almost to a fault (the scene where Mom abandons David in the woods verges on cinematic child abuse).

When the Iron Giant says:


"Superman"

The Ricky Shroeder/John Voight version of The Champ gets me every time.

The bittersweet ending of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, with Michel Legrand's swelling music, always brings tears to my eyes. Guess even a hokey soap-opera plot can do that if it's all sung in French.

When the Iron Giant says:


"Superman"


Ooo, good one!

Most screenwriters would kill to have written a moment as sublime as that. It simply does not get any better.

Thought of a couple more: Remains of the Day... the farewell at the end. I love this film to pieces (best thing Merchant/ Ivory ever did) but it is one sad piece of work.

Love that film and Anthony Hopkins' "Shadowlands". I get a little dewey-eyed during the funeral scene in "Out of Africa" too.

The final scene at Minas Tirith in "LOTR: ROTK" can be tearful as well.

Pass me a tissue.

Jim

When the Iron Giant says: "Superman"

Whew, I thought I was the only one.
ET gets me, too.
And, believe it or not, I remember getting teary eyed during Harry & The Hendersons.
Forrest Gump is one of my all-time favorite movies, but it's difficult to watch because I cry so hard when Jenny dies.

- Joe

Jimmy Stewart, sitting at the bar, praying to God to show him the way, in "Its a Wonderful Life"

Just that. One time. Thats all. Nothing else. Ever. Really. :)

Interesting thread.
And some even more interseting responses.

I'll admit I well-up pretty easily especially when it come to the whole 'circle of life' thing. Since I became a parent, I've become sensitive to that whole relationship. So here are ones that quickly come to mind and one that will make you go 'WTF?' No particular order here.

1.) End of Superman Returns when Supes is in the bedroom of his son and says to his son what his father said to him, the little speal of 'The son becomes the father and the father the son'.
On a side note, I know they have the standard happy flyby ending in those films, but I thought that scene was so powerful that they should have ended it right there in the bedroom.

2.) Since were on that track, the first time when Jor'el says the longer version to Cal'el (don't get me on spelling here as I'm not really a big superman fan) as he's preparing the capsule. I think its idealic of what every parent wants for their child.

3.) End of 'League of their Own'. Again, circle of life thing here. What a person can accomplish with their life and the times in which they did them. Its sad that everyone has to get old.

4.) A lot of 'Deep Impact'. While not as action packed as 'Armageddon' (and I also tear-up at Bruce Willis' good-bye to his daughter, I think Deep Impact has simply the better story). When I was young and in school I read 'On the Beach' The post nuclear-war book where everyone in the southern hemisphere had about six months to live as the radiation from the north filtered down south. Deep Impact was a lot like that book in dealing with how people decide to live once they know they only have a finite amount of time left. Also in the end where Tea' Leoni goes to find her dad standing on the beach, and as the wave approaches she cries out 'daddy'. Again where no matter how old you are, something may happen where you want that comfort of a parent.

And now the wierd one.

5.) The launch sequence from 'Apollo 13'. For some reason I always tear-up here, and I think it has to do with what we as humans beings have/can accomplish if we put our minds to it. If we didn't so much time and effort on CRAP think about were we could be now.

6.) I'll second that whole 'Jenny dying' thing in Forset Gump and add the scene were Forest is recounting to her all the things he's seen in his life -especially the mountain views while he was running. Its easy to think of Forest as slow and hense maybe without the same dreams and desires as the rest of us or the ability to percieve beauty. My wife works with developmentally challenged adults, and I feel this scene does a nice job to contridict that perception.

1. Schindler's List - made it all the way through without getting emotional but lost it at the end with the grave site visit.

2. Awakenings - First dramatic role I saw Robin Williams in and man the scene where De Niro's character comes out of camatose and dances with his love and then relapses and looks out the window in yearning with tears in his eyes.... I was crying like a baby.

3. Jackson's King Kong - First two viewings didn't impact me too emotionally, but on the third, I was a wreck. Particularily when after rampaging NY, Ann comes walking up. Of course the beautiful score made it that much easier to cry during that scene. Also the last few minuets of Kong's life as he reaches out to touch Ann for the last time.... OMG!

Finally, watching Ep IV ANH after watching all the prequals. When Obi rescues Luke from the raiders, man that one hit me full force (pun intended). The whole arc of the character came crashing down on me and I couldn't help shedding a tear for such an awesome character portrayed so beautifuly by both Alec and Ewen.

OOPS, forgot one. Life is Beautiful..... 'nough said. I have yet to make it through the whole film, it's just too sad.

The launch sequence from 'Apollo 13'. For some reason I always tear-up here, and I think it has to do with what we as humans beings have/can accomplish if we put our minds to it.

Perfectly understandable, in fact the related From the Earth to the Moon has a couple of moments that always make me a bit misty-eyed, when Michael Collins reads the post card at the end of "1968", the talk between Dave Scott and geologist Lee Silver at the end of "Galileo Was Right", and oddly, the saddest scene of all (imho) when engineer Tom Kelly says goodbye to the LEM in "Spider".

All right, here's one from out of left field ...

Disney's Lilo & Stitch ... When Lilo wants to play with the other girls, but they think she's odd and run away while she isn't looking. She's angry and throws her homemade doll down in disgust. She marches over a hill and out of the frame -- only to come running back seconds later, to scoop up and embrace her doll again.

A second one ... Stitch finds a photo of Lilo and Nani with their mother and father. Lilo explains, "It was raining. They went for a drive."

A third scene ... After being adopted by Lilo, there's a scene where Stitch finds the girl's copy of The Ugly Duckling. Later, convinced he is only bringing ill to Lilo's family, Stitch takes the book out into the jungle in the middle of the night. With the book open to a page showing the Ugly Duckling crying for a family, Stitch cries out, "I'm lost."

Something about this modest (by Disney animation standards) film really strikes a chord in me. I'm not sure why.

Qapla'

SSB

Iron Giant and Lilo and Stitch. Fabulous movies! I agree with your comments on them guys. Just great stuff.

Huzz

I was never a bigSound of Music fan, but the moment in which a choked-up Christopher Plummer loses his voice whilst signing about his lost homeland is pretty damned tear-worthy. Ditto the beat near the climax when he tells the young Hitler Youth "You'll never be one of them."

As an old soldier, it's not surprising that mine tend to come from military movies; three of my favorite "enough to make you weep" moments come from Gettysburg:

1. Sam Elliot as General Buford giving his prediction of the coming battle: "And we shall charge valiantly... And be butchered valiantly! And afterwards, men in tall hats and gold watch fobs will thump their chests and say what a brave charge it was." In less than one minute of speech, he sums up the real liability of being a soldier: The fact that politicians are often not worthy of the instrument of policy they're wielding.

2. Martin Sheen as General Lee explaining the Great Trap of soldiering: "To be a good soldier, you must love the army. To be a good commander, you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love." Truer words were never spoken. Going from the level of soldier to that of combat leader entails as much loss as it does gain.

3. Jeff Daniels as Colonel Chamberlain of the 20th Maine shouting the order to fix bayonets; you can tell that it breaks his heart to do it, but he doesn't hesitate. He has always been a good soldier, but the situation dictates that he must become a good commander.

Just $.02 from a crippled old GI...

---Da Sarge

As far as war movies go, the end of Mr. Roberts ranks fairly high on the weep-o-meter (my dad served on an escort carrier during WWII, and this was one of his favorite films).

Independence Day when Randy Quaid's character sacrifices himself for his kids and My Dog Skip , I have a dog and some of the stuff from that movie hits home.

"No one cried when Old Yeller got shot?... I cried my eyes out!"

I'd have to agree with all of the movies mentioned here, but the one that rips me up the worst is actually the Voyager episode "Real Life" from season 3.

The Doctor creates a holographic family and at the end of the episode his daughter suffers and injury even he can't heal.

"Am I going to die?
"You're too sick to get better."
"So I'm going to die. I won't be afraid if you stay with me daddy."

Hard to believe the episode was directed by Anson 'Potsy' Williams

I remember when I was ten or eleven my folks took me to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was that or suffer my incessant pestering.

Anyway, I was crushed when they had the audacity to SINK the Nautilus!! Duno if I ever got over that.....;)

And a couple of years later I watched Fantastic Voyage on TV, only to see the awesomely cool Proteus suffer a similar fate. Don't those writers have any respect?:wave:

I agree, Forrest Gump is sad when he is talking to Jennys tombstone and he starts crying. Apollo 13 was pretty emotional at the end when they all make it home.

I did. I still do whenever I see that seen from Old Yeller.
ST:II when Spock dies and then when they do the Amazing Grace.
Superman Returns when Supes "lands" the plane in the middle of the stadium and everyone cheers.
And there've been others. Can't think of anything off the top of my head, tho....


When Scout says "Hey Boo!" as Robert Duvall steps out from the shadows.
Hate to sound ignorant, but which movie is this from...?

I did. I still do whenever I see that seen from Old Yeller.
ST:II when Spock dies and then when they do the Amazing Grace.
Superman Returns when Supes "lands" the plane in the middle of the stadium and everyone cheers.
And there've been others. Can't think of anything off the top of my head, tho....



Hate to sound ignorant, but which movie is this from...?

To Kill a Mockingbird.

Monsters, Inc. ...especially the final shot where Sully opens the door looking for Boo and you hear "Kitty!"

The destruction of the Jedi in Episode III. The music really helped it, but damn!

The scene in Casper when the clock strikes ten and Casper turns back to a ghost and Bill Pullmans wife fades away.

In Little Women, when Claire Danes tells Winona Ryder about how brave she can be and how she gets to go first this time.

The whole "Circle of Life" opening sequence from The Lion King. I sometimes just watch that.

Tom Hanks clinched again in Philadelphia when he tells Antonio Banderas..."I'm ready..." and he smiles and the scene fades to his apartment and the camera moves around to the photos and then the old footage of him as a kid on the TV while Neil Young's "City of Brotherly Love" plays.

The last 30 minutes of Return of the King.

The death of Two-Socks in Dances With Wolves.

We were soldiers....when they play "Sgt Mckinley"...Knowing what hell They are about to be dropped into

I did. I still do whenever I see that seen from Old Yeller.
ST:II when Spock dies and then when they do the Amazing Grace.
Superman Returns when Supes "lands" the plane in the middle of the stadium and everyone cheers.
And there've been others. Can't think of anything off the top of my head, tho....



Hate to sound ignorant, but which movie is this from...?

To Kill a Mockingbird

I can not believe I forgot to mention Saving Privet Ryan! "Earn this"......"Tell me I'm a good man"

That one gets me every time! :cry:

Oh yeah and.....

....and if they fall in love tonight...it can be assumed...that his care free days are history... in short our pal is doomed....whahaa!!!!!!!!

Speaking of Disney films, that reminded me of another one.
Am I the only one who tears up at the end of Disney's Beauty & the Beast? When Bell tells Beast that she loves him? That hits me hard every time!

- Joe

Wow, I agree with many choices here.

Field of Dreams still comes to mind, but a different scene always makes me tear up. My wife will attest to this one. The scene where Lancaster's character chooses to revert to a doctor to save Ray's daughter and give up his dream to be a ball player always makes me weepy.

RAY - "Oh my God, you can't go back. You can't go back can you? I'm sorry"

Archie - "It's all right. I best be gettin' on home. 'fore Elicia begins to think I've got a girlfriend."

Kudos from players

Archie - "Win one for me one day will you boys?"

Joe Jackson - "Hey rookie! You were good"

Man, I'm tearing up just reliving it now. What a great sequence.

Fellini's La Strada.

Monsters, Inc. ...especially the final shot where Sully opens the door looking for Boo and you hear "Kitty!"Oh, yes! Probably as close as I've ever seen to a spot-on perfect ending in a film.

Speaking of which, here's another one that gets me -- the final bit of dialogue from Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption:

I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel -- a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain.

I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand.

I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams.

I hope.

Qapla'

SSB

The movie that brought tears to my eyes was at the end of Mask. Cher gets a phone call from her sons school wanting to know why he wasnt in school. She turns to see that is bedroom door is still closed. At this point she realizes that he died during the night while he was sleeping from a rare illness that he had all his life. A true store.

Another movie that brought tears to my eyes was a 1979 TV movie that most of you never heared of. The name of the movie was Sole Survivor and it starred William Shatner, and Richard Basehart. It is based on a true story about a B-24D Liberater bomber. The bomber and its crew dissappears in 1943 on a bombing mission. Everybody thinks that the plane crashed in the Miditerranean Sea. In 1959 a American bomber is discovered deep in the Libian desert. It turns out to be that missing bomber. The crew survived the crash but they all died within 5 day from the heat. Of a crew of 9 all but 1 of there remains were found .The plane in the movie was named Home Run, but the name of the real plane was Lady be Good.

Another movie that brought tears to my eyes was a 1979 TV movie that most of you never heared of. The name of the movie was Sole Survivor and it starred William Shatner, and Richard Basehart. It is based on a true story about a B-24D Liberater bomber. The bomber and its crew dissappears in 1943 on a bombing mission. Everybody thinks that the plane crashed in the Miditerranean Sea. In 1959 a American bomber is discovered deep in the Libian desert. It turns out to be that missing bomber. The crew survived the crash but they all died within 5 day from the heat. Of a crew of 9 all but 1 of there remains were found .The plane in the movie was named Home Run, but the name of the real plane was Lady be Good.
Actually it was shown in 1970 (IMDb entry (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065007/maindetails)). This movie is something of a legend on IMDb.com's I Need To Know board. It used to be a week wouldn't go by without several people trying to identify it. Apparently, a lot of people saw it when it was originally broadcast and the twist ending made quite an impression, but no one can remember the name.

I remember it well (at least, I think I do), and for ages I've been searching for a copy. Sadly, I think this particular MOW is GWTW. :cry:

in Saving Private Ryan , the scene that gets to me is where it cuts from the beach to the room full of ladies typing the letters home . it just hits you right there how many ...
the launch scene in Apollo 13 . yeah , it gets me . but it gets me every time i watch a manned launch .
there's a movie , i think this is the title , called Nothing in Common . stars Tom Hanks and ( again , i think ) Jackie Gleason as father and son . who never really had a relationship ( ya know Mom and Dad divorce and son lives with Mom . Mom dies . son begins to get to know Dad etc ) . some pretty funny stuff but also some very poignant and sad stuff too . hits pretty close to home for me .
The Killing Fields , for sure when he walks out and sees the camp . a lot of strong stuff in that flick .
hb

Thanks a lot guys.

I can't even think of some of these movie moments without tearing up. Esp. TKAM's "Hey Boo."

Two more not already mentioned--

The ending of "West Side Story" always gets to me. The whole movie is so hokey, but the ending always gets me.

For the last half hour of "House of Sand and Fog" I was sobbing, and left the theater in tears.