Movies that made you cry

Bicentennial Man and A:I.

There is something about robots trying to become human that just gets to me.

Also Return of the King.

Agreed on Dances... Agreed on the Giant, agreed on Gattacca, agreed on AI and Return... but I haven't seen Bicentennial Guy yet.

You see, as Devin confessed the other day, I'm also a huge tearshedder when it comes to many movies, sappy or not, but apart from Kong -which should jerk salted waterdrops even from the lamp posts on the street- the ones I remember being absolutely destroyed by are quite a few.

Elizabethtown.
The most recent example. You see, when I watched it a couple of months ago at my workplace's screening-room I had just lost my grandmother after 4 years of Alzheimer's and it was truly devastating. I guess I really connected with Cameron Crowe's personal tribute to his dad but after the movie ended I couldn't even stand up. The worst part of it was that I had to resume work after that (I work at a film distribution company, you see) and I had to disguise my tears in front of my boss and most hardened co-workers.

The Notebook.
Similar example, only my grandma was "alive" at the time and I couldn't do nothing but stare at a most probable fate. I saw this one in a movie-theater and my girlfriend almost made me walk out due to the state I was in. Aside from that, I didn't think much of the rest of the movie, which I thought was just as clichéd and hackneyed as any other Movie of the Week.

ET 20 Year-Anniversary Special Rerelease.
Shit, I hadn't seen that movie for maybe a decade and by the time they found the whitened ET dumped in the ditch, I COULDN'T EVEN BREATHE. So note to Mr.Spielberg: Due to that truly, absolutely painful moment, if the day comes and I finally get to meet you, you will pay for that.

The Sixth Sense.
Heartbreaking for me, hilarious for others. Contrary to popular belief, for me it's a movie that gets better on improved viewings. It was the third time I was gonna see it (had seen it twice in the US and it was opening night here in Spain) and I was with a college pal and the ex-girlfriend I was still secretly in love with. Well, by minute 45 nobody knew why I was sobbing in some spots but when the end credits rolled, everybody understood... before also telling me that I had been crying so hard that the WHOLE LINE OF SEATS HAD BEEN MOVING WITH ME!

Needless to say that girl and I never got back together...


Oh, and honorable mentions go also to Eternal Sunshine blahblahblah, To Kill a Mockingbird -when hairful Bob Duvall shows up it's a thing of Beauty- , The Apartment, Braveheart and goddamn Titanic. Maybe it's why I'm still saving that last one's 4-Disc SE for New Year's Eve...

...And damn, I also forgot Ahnuld's 80' classic Raw Deal.

Watched it the other night after maybe 15 years and by the time he's chasing that fake motorcycle cop with the honkytonk score in the background, I was in tears all the way. For the wrong reasons of course.

I hope nobody sees me when I try to put it back in the shelves of the store where I bought it.

There's a number of films that moved me to tears, but right now I only remember two of them:

Awakenings: DeNiro moved my heart with his acting. Nowadays all he moves are my bowels. Get a new manager, Bobby.

Casablanca: The scene where Victor Lazlo walks into Rick's and sees the Nazis hogging the piano, singing Die Wacht am Rhein. He walks to the band and tells them to play the Marseillaise. They do so, Victor starts singing, and all the patrons in the club join in.
And then Michael Curtiz shows a close-up of a young woman, who sings with a shaky voice and who sheds tears while singing. And that's the point where it finally hits you that most of the people you saw during the movie actually were immigrants, and that the emotions and tears you see in that scene are everything but acted. To me, one of the great scenes in American motion picture history.

Six String

I cried at the end of Six String Samurai the first time I saw it, just a little. I shed tears at the end of Das Boot and West Side Story, as well. My father thought it was a little weird that I was so upset when the U-Boat sank, but that was the moment I knew the captain would die too. I still get pretty misty at the end of those first two (haven't seen West Side Story in a long time).

Nothing else, though... I feel emotional during plenty of movies, but crying just doesn't usually seem like the right response. I don't think I could really explain why these three in particular get to me.

Just watched The Iron Giant recently. Nuff said I think.

My Dog Skip. I was not prepared for that one. I can't ever watch it again.

I went to Kong last night with my wife and daughters. When the lights came up after the credits, I felt like the worst father in the world--both girls' eyes were puffed up from crying. Then, noticed that my wife was too. There was a couple sitting next to us, and the woman had buried her face in her hands and was sobbing. As I looked around, there were quite a few people visibly crying, and lots covertly wiping their eyes. I guess that I squeezed out a few myself.

I was ten or twelve when these movies came out, but I stand by my tears for them.

Titanic. Everyone loves to pick on it. But it was a great movie, or at least an effective one.


Armageddon. Sure, it was a contrived situation that forced Harry into that position, but the acting and the musical score made it quite effective.
Also, it's Michael Bay's second best movie. Better, even, than the Island

Toy Story 2: When Sarah MacLachlan does Jessie's "When Somebody Loved Me", I well up instantly.

Signs: When they all sit around for their last meal and little Culkin says "I hate you" and Mel starts crying, by the time he grabs Bo, I'm like a little girl....

The Bridges of Madison County: The scene in the service station when Meryl starts crying and sees Clint hang the necklace on his rear view mirror... Man, that's some powerful shit.

Almost Famous: Tiny Dancer produces tears of joy.

About Schmidt: When Jack cries, I cry. Simple as.

Schindler's List: An obvious choice, but the little girl in the red coat gets me every time (her second appearance) and the laying of the rocks on the tombstones is about as powerful as Spielberg gets.

Monsters Inc: "Kitty!". The look on Sully's face when he peeks round the door at the end - again, tears of joy.

Titanic for sure. Not Leo sliding into the murkey depths of a 3 foot tank in Mexico, but the actual sinking. The absolute horror of knowing how many people died.

And here's another vote for Return of the King. "You bow to no one". Strangely, the scene with Frodo going off with the elves doesn't actually get me that much. But that line from Aragorn... Killer.

Yeah, "You bow to no one" is the same way for me.

Also, Armageddon. I know, I know. But consider that my father died when I was 10 years old and it is always a hot button for me emotionally.

Along those same daddy lines, Big Fish pretty much reduces me to rubble every time I watch it.

And finally, when I first saw Finding Neverland, I was near tears the entire movie. Growing up, Peter Pan had been been my favorite story. I watched the movie nearly every day (along with Disney's Swiss Family Robinson) and I read the storybook version every night before I went to sleep. So in short, Peter Pan was a gigantic part of my childhood. So in Finding Neverland, when it would reference the story and it's supposed inspirations (like the kite-flying scene alluding to Tinkerbell) I would get a little emotional. Then the fact that Freddie Highmore's "journal ripping" scene was so raw and well-acted didn't help, either. And finally, the whole death-of-a-parent thing is still a soft spot for me.

Like Sackley said, the Sarah MacLachlan song in Toy Story 2 destroys me. And I don't even like Sarah MacLachlan. It's just an amazing sequence, and the song is perfect.

ET and The Iron Giant go without saying. All men must cry at the end of those movies; it's the law.

Edward Scissorhands. Actually, several parts of it. Even the opening credits make me misty. It's definitely one of Danny Elfman's best scores, and it does its job very well.

While I'm not as in love with The Lord of the Rings as many around here, "You bow to no one" just hits me right in the gut. I can feel it just typing it out. I wish the movie had ended there.

This one is embarrassing. I was still deep in the throes of Trekkie disease when The Wrath of Khan came out, and Spock's funeral really did me in. Especially the part where Shatner's voice breaks. That was a nice touch.

Big Fish, when the son is finishing the father's life story. I was balling and heaving, and I hadn't done that since Land Before Time.

I remembered a rather curious one: the scene in Pleasantville where Jeff Daniels' character looks through a book of art. It's such a simple scene, but it just gets to me. Daniels' peformance and the music combine perfectly. It's one of those moments when you know a character will never be the same again.

Searching For Bobby Fischer is a great one too. Several scenes in that one make me gooey.

I'm not that hard to get to, actually.

Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind. Made me cry. That is all.

The ending of 25th Hour. About how everything came close to not happening.


Damn if that doesnt get to you.

Schindler's List always gets me in the same part,when he starts calculating at the end how many people his car couldve saved, and his ring, and QuiGon breaks down.

Two recent ones are Akira Kurosawa's Ikuru and Dodesukaden. Goes to show what a master he was.

Sackley:

I know we live thousands of miles apart, but I suggest one day we meet up halfway (like, say, in France) and we organise a 24 hour Cry-a-Thon with your movies and mine. Absolute coincidence, man. Then we could let ourselves go, and hug each other, and kiss, and...

Um, do I sound a bit gay to you all?

Oh, and everyone who cried with Big Fish can join us too...

Plenty of hugging and sobbing. It's gonna make the London mist pale in comparison.

Dude, as sweet as that is, yeah it's a little gay and a little worrying.

Anyhoo.... Pleasantville is a good call - more a tingles film than a tears one for me though. The one bit that gts me welling up, bizarrely, is the absolutely pitch-perfect sequence where Tobey Maguire and the blonde hottie are riding in his car on the way to the lake and switch on the radio. As Etta James' At Last begins to play, they notice pink blossom falling all around them (this is when everything is still black and white) and by the time Etta soars wih "My lo-o-ove has come along...", they are surrounded by colour and it is glorious. One of my all-time favourite scenes, just because it really is cinema at its most magical.

The last 10 minutes of Close Encounters. Never. Fucking. Fails.

"We're not gonna make it."

"You are!"

No shame in fessing up to Wrath of Khan. What gets me is, when Kirk's voice breaks, Saavik loses it.

"Now, you'll never be tired again." The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

"I love you." "Ya do? O.K." Joe Versus the Volcano.

"Sometimes, grass don't grow, wind don't blow, and the sky ain't blue." Little Big Man.

I have a short list of movies that make me tear up-- and they've all already been mentioned. Good to know I'm not the only one.

Braveheart, Big Fish, American Beauty, and 25th Hour immediately spring to mind.

Good call. This does it to me every time. I even wrote a play about it once.

THE STRAIGHT STORY - Didn't expect it and then the ending killed me.

ROBIN & MARIAN - The majority of the movie doesn't hold up well, but the ending destroyed me. Had to turn out the lights and pretend I had a cold.

SPELLBOUND (the documentary), THE IRON GIANT, FIELD OF DREAMS (yeah, I'm a sucker), BIG FISH, FAHRENHEIT 9/11, the shot of the Strausses on the bed followed by Jeanette Goldstein putting her children to bed in TITANIC, and when Ellen Burstyn makes her final appearance in REQUIEM FOR A DREAM are always reliable.

This year, MILLIONS was the one. I could barely talk for about an hour after seeing this.

Narc: Damn you Joe Carnahan for writing such a depressing ending. Ray Liotta's acting in the final flashback is devastating

The Pawnbroker: There are 2 major cry scenes in this flick. one is where Brock Peters threatens Rod Steiger while he flashes back to his time in a concentration camp. And the ending of the film where the pawnbroker starts to feel again.

Manic: The scene where Don Cheadle asks Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character ""Why are you alive?"

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: SPOILERZ The scene where Brad Dourif stops stuttering and then is badgered into suicide by Nurse Ratshit. Brad Dourif doesn't get enough credit for that movie.

This ain't the first of these threads but for some reason I'm never embarrassed answering them.

ROTk - DEATH!!
Transformers: The Movie - The Death of Optimus Prime. When Daniel crys I can't hold 'em back. I'm barely doing it right now just remembering that scene.
Best of the Best - When the fight ends without Tommy killing Dae Hon and Dae Hon's speech at the end.

The latest to my personal list, is King Kong

King Kong made my cry for tighter editing

Anywho only 3 movies get me to visable tears

La Strada - watching a man like Quinn breakup just hits yah

Moulin Rouge - considering I dont like Nicole Kidman this tells you just how plain brilliant Ewan was

Leon - when her brother gets it till the pig sequence, and the ring trick at the end

Everytime this thread pops up (like every 6 months) I also post this film's ending for causing spontaneous ocular re-hydration.

First saw this film when I was 14...and at 42 I STILL mist up when Carey Duffy turns his head from Melinda Dillon's shoulder, looks up at the departing Mothership and simply says "Goo'bye!"

Thank god for video and DVD so I can enjoy the emotions without having to walk past hoards of prats at the films end.

I cry a lot watching movies. A huge number of the usual suspects are mentioned above, but I have to say Shawshank makes me blubber like nothing else - at least 5 or 6 times during the movie. By the time the camera is pulling away as Red and Andy hug on the beach, I'm openly wailing - for joy, mind, but still wailing. Christ I love that movie.

Amen! I know a number of people hear who hate that movie but for me it was devastating. For me it was part relief, I knew after years of having a distant relationship with my father I'd get a chance to fix that, and part of it was crying for the loss of people I never got a chance to say goodbye to. It was so very hard on me. Love it, though!

Just wanted to add that anytime someone loses an animal in a movie I bawl like a five year old girl. (I admit to being a complete softie when it comes to animals)

And to whoever posted Joe Versus the Volcano I love that moment too but it doesn't get me nearly as much as "It's been a long time coming here to meet you!" It always reminds me of meeting my wife for the first time.

The Fox and the Hound. Not only was it one of the first movies (if not the first) that I ever saw, but I went to it with my best friend who has long since passed away. Whenever I think of that line about friendship, I instantly get choked up.

Two for the Road. Audrey Hepburn, Albert Finney movie about a romance and marriage that hits me hard for all the brutal truth of trying to sustain love over a long period.

Millions. Most recent example. Saw it this weekend and it got me thinking about my own deceased mother. The ending really brought the emotion.

Field of Dreams. Made me realize how many things that my Dad had taught me, and how much of a friend he had become to me since I'd left home.

Titanic. The older couple on the bed, and the look on the face of the ship's designer as the Titanic goes down. Simply tragic.

Harry & The Goblet. During the graveyard duel when Lily and James show up to aid their son. Not a full-out cry, but wow, did the tears come in quickly. Just a sap for "love conquers all", I guess...

She's Having A Baby. Not a great movie, but again the effectiveness of a well shot scene and a great soundtrack come together when Kevin Bacon is in the waiting room knowing that there are complications in his child's birth and not being able to do anything about it. Hit me hard as a young man, and again was on my mind when I almost lost my wife during our son's delivery.

"...a long time, on a crooked road." That line gives me chills, but mainly because it pays off the zig-zag symbol featured throughout the movie. Then Meg #3 holds out her scared, nervous fist... just like Meg #1 did at the beginning... I swear, Joe is the greatest movie no one knows about. I watched it again recently, and it's acquired a whole new (unintended) subtext: traumatized New York firefighter, anyone?

The 2002 World Series DVD.

It's sort of a movie, right?

Just seeing guys I followed since I was about 10 or so win it all made the waterworks start. I'm getting the newspapers from the following day framed once I have space for the bastards.

That one makes me cry for a whole other reason, especially game 6. Jesus Dusty, Ortiz was cruising, why the hell did you take him out in the 7th?

That's exactly how I feel about that movie. It got critically roasted when it came out, and drowned at the box office. That's happened to a lot of great films, of course, but they tend to be rediscovered later. Blade Runner is a great example. I'm still waiting for people to realize what they've missed with Joe Vs The Volcano.

If you have never seen Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless mind do not watch it when you are in the midst of a divorce......................God what a mess I was.

The Shootist never fails to level me every time I watch it. There are some people who say John Wayne wasn't much of an actor. I point them towards this movie. I'm also pretty teary when he dies in The Cowboys. I also get choked up at the end of The Searchers, if only because that final shot is so goddamn brilliant.

Glory is another one--the waterworks start when Denzel grabs the flag and leads the doomed charge, all the way to the final shot.

Finding Nemo managed a feat no other film ever has--I saw it opening weekend, a matinee, kids all around me. Five minutes in, this line hits me: "Daddy's here. I'll protect you. I won't let anything happen to you." And for some reason, I start weeping. After five fucking minutes.

The aforementioned ones like Shawshank, 25th Hour, A.I., and Big Fish are all ones that got me nice and choked up. Kong was another one, and oddly enough, I'm sure I would have been misty-eyed at the end of War of the Worlds if Robby had not magically survived.

Damn you Pixar for making me feel like a pussy.

Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc. get me as well.

Whoo boy, here it goes.

The Iron Giant: "Suu-per-maaan!"
Revenge of the Sith: "You were my brother Anakin! I loved you!"
Return of the Jedi: "Obi-Wan once thought as you did."
King Kong: First time I ever remember crying over a movie (the old one obviously). I couldn't believe they killed the hero for no reason. Okay, all the killing, I guess...
King Kong '05: Motherfucking ice dance bullshit!
Edward Scissorhands: Motherfucking ice dance bullshit!
Big Fish: "...a very big fish."
Tarzan: "I hope you rot for all I care!"
LotR: Boromir's death, Sam's speech, the last 40 minutes of the last one.
Schindler's List: "I could have saved... one more."
The Green Mile: Why you guys gotta be playahataz?
Spider-Man 2: People still care about Spidey!!!
Peter Pan: "I do believe in fairies!"
E.T.: Fuck you government guys!
Hook: Hook has no mommy!
Braveheart: I can't remember when exactly, but I'm pretty sure I did.
Toy Story 2: When somebody loved me...
The Incredibles: He's MISTER MOTHERFUCKING INCREDIBLE you small boss guy!

Although it's a show, Buffy, the vampire Slayer made me cry a few times.

Inexplicably, a friend of mine once told me his mom cried at the end of Exit Wounds when DMX got reunited with his brother who was serving wrongful jailtime (???).

I cried at Exit Wounds when I realized I couldnt get my buck fifty back.