The One Movie That Makes You Cry, Every Time

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Mine's "Umberto D." Leaves me bawling like nothing else, and for some sick reason I just ordered the Criterion DVd of it because I need to own it.

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Toy Story 2. I once worried the flight staff on a trip to Singapore by weeping through Jessie's song.

To Live, also.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 21:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Forrest Gump

― luna (luna.c), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 21:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Say Anything: Twee, sure. But I defy no one to shed a tear when Ione Skye says to her father (after finding out he stole thousands from the elderly): "You stole from them! I trusted you; I stood up in court years ago, and I picked you!"

[The Philadelphia Story was a close second.]

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 21:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Love Story.
The Land Before Time.
Up the Junction.
If...
Doctor Zhivago.
Cinema Paradiso.

― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 21:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Appropriate use of space to create one movie....

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 21:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, I haven't seen Say Anything, so I'm crying now..

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 21:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I cannot watch the scene when Dumbo visits his mother.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 21:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Matos, you big-hearted, lovable madman.

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 21:22 (twenty-two years ago)

La Jetée. And, oddly, Independence Day.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 21:23 (twenty-two years ago)

best of the best

― luna (luna.c), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 21:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Forced to pick one I'd choose 'Shane'. It seems to hit on so many things - 'good vs. evil', doomed love, an appealing notion of basic human decency, the transience of relationships. On top of all that, and this is the killer, I used to watch it over and over again with my son when he was about four or five so I will always associate it with that. Transience again.

― David (David), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 21:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Brian's Song when I was a kid; now virtually anything that has to do with kids dying or being reunited with their parents/caregivers. (parents = suckas)

Oh, and The Jungle Book, because of COURSE Shere Khan was right, of COURSE Mowgli will end up being a hunter, and of COURSE his best bet was to stay in the jungle with Baloo and Bagheera. I'm still pissed I couldn't grow up in the jungle with talking and singing animals.

― Neudonym, Tuesday, 22 July 2003 22:15 (twenty-two years ago)

"Cry, Dan Perry!"

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 22:18 (twenty-two years ago)

i cried when i watched "Unfaithful". it made me think of how i would feel if my wife did that to me.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 22:20 (twenty-two years ago)

""Cry, Dan Perry!"

Or, "A Study of How To Style It Out When You Trip and Fall On Your Face"

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 23:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Father Of The Bride II

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 22 July 2003 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

The end of [i[Field of Dreams[/i] - if not crying, then tearing up at the least.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 01:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't Look Now and The Sound of Music

― rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 01:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh my god, Brian's Song is the saddest movie ever.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 01:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Cinema Paradiso...actually, i usually start when i hear the opening music...

― Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 01:07 (twenty-two years ago)

pootie tang. or scarface.

― Tad (llamasfur), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know if I have one per se, but the last that made me tear up a bit was Crouching Tiger. The last movie in general that completely left me a wreck was the original TV version of Shadowlands with Joss Ackland.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 01:11 (twenty-two years ago)

The Legend of 1900 always garners a few tears, too.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 01:12 (twenty-two years ago)

The thing is, I cry at every movie. Cool Runnings had me bawling for fuck's sake. Don't get me started on the Forrest Gump fiasco.

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 01:12 (twenty-two years ago)

i recently cried after i went to see the hulk and realized i'd wasted 3 hours and $30 (tix, food, etc.) for a crap film.

― Tad (llamasfur), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 01:14 (twenty-two years ago)

How the fuck much food did you buy?

― Ally (mlescaut), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 01:16 (twenty-two years ago)

The thing is, I cry at every movie. Cool Runnings had me bawling for fuck's sake. Don't get me started on the Forrest Gump fiasco.

Ally, we really are the same person.

― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 01:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Benji

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 01:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Sometimes, I cry during the trailers.

― rosemary (rosemary), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 02:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I inexplicably bawled thru my second viewing of The Cruise -- thru the whole thing. it was embarrassing and I couldn't stop.

― Aaron A., Wednesday, 23 July 2003 02:25 (twenty-two years ago)

...cried during Insomnia but only because I'd given myself a headache by squinting at Robin Williams trying to work out which emotion he was currently trying to convey....

― Matt (Matt), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 02:41 (twenty-two years ago)

The Iron Giant

― David Beckhouse (David Beckhouse), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 02:51 (twenty-two years ago)

ditto Iron Giant, holy god DAMN that movie had the saddest-then-happiest ending

― Neudonym, Wednesday, 23 July 2003 02:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Iron Giant and the little kid waving at the end of Donnie Darko come closest. Mosquito Coast used to sort of do it (I haven't seen it in ages so don't remember if it still would).

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 03:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Must be something to do with jungles, I remember The Mission always nailed me when I was jolly small.

― Matt (Matt), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 03:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Eh, it's a resonance thing -- Harrison Ford's character was, at the time, the closest movie character I'd seen to my father. (I think I posted somewhere around here on a thread about books that when I read Nick Hornsby's How To Be Good, I kept throwing the book across the room cause of the same resonance. Same basic effect.)

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 03:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Andrei Rublev, there's this one plan (no narrative role really) where Andrei and another monk are sitting in a tree in the rain, I have no real idea why this particular scene is so sad, but it is.

― daria g (daria g), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 03:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Dude, 'member when Hooch was in the hospital and Turner didn't know if he was gonna live or not?

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 03:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Not really, no.

― Matt (Matt), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 03:12 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, me neither
*muffled sobs*

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 03:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I feel your pain.

― Matt (Matt), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 03:19 (twenty-two years ago)

It's okay, Slim. Tom Hanks makes it out fine!

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 03:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow, it's funny that this thread came up because just this past Sunday I was randomly flipping channels, and I found Do The Right Thing somewhere, about a third of the way into it. I decided to watch because I hadn't seen the thing in ... heck, maybe a decade. It totally made me weep. I'm not really even sure why. I didn't cry when I first saw it as a 17 year old in 1989, even though I knew it was of the most intense things I'd ever witnessed. I'm not prone to crying at all. I guess I never joined in on those crying threads that were active recently, but honestly I can count the number of times I've cried in my adult life on one hand. And two of those were due to movies. Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers made me weep when I saw it a couple years ago. It just has such and epic, operatic flow and it builds to this totally cathartic climax. Alain Delon's performance is brilliant, and it's one of his earliest roles.

And then I cried Sunday. ha, I was actually going to try to revive that 'Spike Lee - Classic or Dud' thread to talk about it, but then we had the server problems yesterday, and then today I didn't feel as inspired to talk about how intense the experience was. But yeah, Lee's a genius.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 03:35 (twenty-two years ago)

All about my father... Oh. My. God. I bawwwwwwwwwled. It is so sand and romantic you MUST SEE IT.

― Nellie (nellskies), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 04:37 (twenty-two years ago)

[The Philadelphia Story was a close second.]

I was surprised recently to discover that The Phildelphia Story is almost entirely about the effects of alcohol. It didn't make me cry, it made me drink.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 05:01 (twenty-two years ago)

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/cinemacinema/AFFICHES_CINEMA1/cine_freddy_fingered.jpg

― Dada, Wednesday, 23 July 2003 05:03 (twenty-two years ago)

That one made me weep for the future.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 05:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm holding back tears at almost every movie too, the more obvious the better. However, the first thing that came to mind was 'In the Mood for Love' when he's whispering his secret to a hole in Angkor Wat and then covers it with earth; this has me ready to cry again right now.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 07:06 (twenty-two years ago)

pootie tang. or scarface.

oddly enough i was watching the 1932 Howard Hawks "Scarface" for the first time yesterday and I actually teared up a bit at the end, when Tony Camonte finally gives up hope after watching his beloved (heh) sister die.

my real, all-time, never-fails, yeah-i'm-a-wuss answer: "Snoopy Come Home."

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 23 July 2003 12:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 174 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Actually I'll second Cinema Paradiso and the Elephant Man, too.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 29 October 2004 03:34 (twenty-one years ago)

the thin red line
ordet
meet me in st. louis

― amateur!!st, Friday, 29 October 2004 04:20 (twenty-one years ago)

thin red line definetly. i must admit 8 1/2 always gets to me for some mysterious reason.

― ryan (ryan), Friday, 29 October 2004 06:20 (twenty-one years ago)

The de-licing part of Ratcatcher, so fucken grim.

The part in higher learning when Kristy Swanson (post-getting raped) is eating a sandwich alone on campus and trying to get the mustard out of the packet but it's too fucking complicated and she just starts bawling - i ain't been raped but that mustard thing is totally the kind of thing that can set you off when you're lost and everyone around you is vivid and in their prime, fucking mustard packet so hard to open

― LeCoq (LeCoq), Friday, 29 October 2004 06:23 (twenty-one years ago)

die hard

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 29 October 2004 06:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh I think I cried when watching Amelie because she looks so much like my Mamabear did when she was young, exact same hair and everything. God, I put that woman through so much shit I probably aged her doubletime. I love mamabear.

Yeah DIE HARD too!

― LeCoq (LeCoq), Friday, 29 October 2004 06:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I remembered Finding Nemo this morning too.

― PinXorchiXoR (Pinkpanther), Friday, 29 October 2004 07:02 (twenty-one years ago)

any dreyer film gets me, he knows how to make a film.

― todd swiss (eliti), Friday, 29 October 2004 07:15 (twenty-one years ago)

C.H.U.D. II gets me every time.

― cdwill, Friday, 29 October 2004 17:38 (twenty-one years ago)

four years pass...

Started bubbling up twice watching the 1951 Alastair Sim version of A Christmas Carol, then nearly lost it watching Toy Story 2 a bit later. Wife's a little bit concerned about my emotional state but it's a combination of sweating off a hangover and impending cold rather than any crises.

― Billy Dods, Wednesday, 24 December 2008 20:51 (seventeen years ago)

cinema paradiso

― "the steen of my life" and selected BIG HOOS (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 24 December 2008 21:59 (seventeen years ago)

Highlander

― Nate Carson, Wednesday, 24 December 2008 22:43 (seventeen years ago)

So glad Iron Giant was up there pretty early on this list.

― Gukbe, Wednesday, 24 December 2008 22:46 (seventeen years ago)

Harry and the Hendersons

― circa1916, Wednesday, 24 December 2008 22:52 (seventeen years ago)

the father stuff at the beginning of fanny and alexander

― circa1916, Wednesday, 24 December 2008 22:52 (seventeen years ago)

Highlander

I have this very experience

― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 24 December 2008 22:53 (seventeen years ago)

Iron Giant and Wall-E. My brother always cries at "My Giant," starring Billy Crystal and Gheorghe Mureşan. Fox and the Hound always makes me cry. There are others, but I forget them.

― Abbott of the Trapezoid Monks (Abbott), Wednesday, 24 December 2008 22:57 (seventeen years ago)

The Futurama episode about the dog made me cry, but "The Sting" episode made me cry even harder and it made my brain melt.

― Abbott of the Trapezoid Monks (Abbott), Wednesday, 24 December 2008 22:59 (seventeen years ago)

I am a huge cryer, it's terrible. Anyone else cry at people singing in movies? My boyfriend thinks I'm insane. I tear up during the happy parts of musicals. Fucking La Marseillaise scene in Cascablanca kills me. True story: I recently cried watching that episode of The Cosby Show where they lipsync to Ray Charles on the stairs. What the hell.

― franny glass, Thursday, 25 December 2008 03:21 (seventeen years ago)

The movies I cry during are rarely sophisticated in any reasonable sense.

― Eric H., Thursday, 25 December 2008 05:52 (seventeen years ago)

I guess maybe Passion of Joan of Arc might be one tho. Meet Me in St. Louis, obviously.

― Eric H., Thursday, 25 December 2008 05:52 (seventeen years ago)

dreyer's dependable for a good sob (cf. ordet)

― lyndonna larouge (donna rouge), Thursday, 25 December 2008 06:05 (seventeen years ago)

Almost every movie on a long flight

― bear, bear, bear, Thursday, 25 December 2008 07:39 (seventeen years ago)

PURPLE RAIN

― warmsherry, Thursday, 25 December 2008 14:36 (seventeen years ago)

Dreyer? :o

too Scandinavian.

E.T.

― Dr Morbius, Friday, 26 December 2008 00:20 (seventeen years ago)

Shadowlands
and, as I discovered today, the final ten minutes of Scrooged

― caek, Friday, 26 December 2008 01:13 (seventeen years ago)

I forgot about Martin Rosen's ability to make the world's saddest movies: 'Watership' Down and 'The Plague Dogs.'

― Abbott of the Trapezoid Monks (Abbott), Friday, 26 December 2008 19:20 (seventeen years ago)

Jacob's Ladder
(small sample size -- 1 viewing, but it was a pretty memorable breakdown)

― WmC, Friday, 26 December 2008 19:25 (seventeen years ago)

Donnie Darko has already been mentioned multiple times...two others come to mind:
W;t (2001 Mike Nichols/HBO adaptation of the play)
Alpha Dog

― Someone Still Loves You Evan and Jaron (Tape Store), Friday, 26 December 2008 20:52 (seventeen years ago)

and, as I discovered today, the final ten minutes of Scrooged

same here. i cry extremely easily at movies, though, even ones i dislike. it doesn't matter. i still don't know how i restrained myself during wall-e, considering that one of the previews (triumphant story of a mexican little league team) managed to bring me to (hidden) tears.

― lauren, Friday, 26 December 2008 20:59 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

am i the only one to cry at the end of citizen kane?

― dan138zig (Durrr Durrr Durrrrrr), Thursday, 6 May 2010 00:17 (fifteen years ago)

The part in "The Accidental Tourist" where William Hurt is id'ing his son's body in the morgue, the way he says "Yes that is my son," and the look on his face after, gets me every time.

― thirdalternative, Thursday, 6 May 2010 03:08 (fifteen years ago)

Also: Babe. Yeah, the pig movie.

― thirdalternative, Thursday, 6 May 2010 03:11 (fifteen years ago)

Already mentioned, still unsurpassed in movie history imho:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oSdgIDyl6Q&feature=related

― Now, Thursday, 6 May 2010 03:22 (fifteen years ago)

early summer
tokyo story
late spring

pretty much any ozu melodrama

― by another name (amateurist), Thursday, 6 May 2010 05:39 (fifteen years ago)

waterloo bridge
the heiress

― by another name (amateurist), Thursday, 6 May 2010 05:39 (fifteen years ago)

lassie come home (hey, YOU try watching this movie without crying)

― by another name (amateurist), Thursday, 6 May 2010 05:39 (fifteen years ago)

how green was my valley

― by another name (amateurist), Thursday, 6 May 2010 05:40 (fifteen years ago)

sunrise

― by another name (amateurist), Thursday, 6 May 2010 05:40 (fifteen years ago)

matter of life and death, most of the time

― by another name (amateurist), Thursday, 6 May 2010 05:40 (fifteen years ago)

Up (opening montage)

― in movie 2001 resurrect thread on planet jupiter (Pillbox), Thursday, 6 May 2010 05:45 (fifteen years ago)

early summer
...
late spring

conceivably these two could take place during the same time period, yeah?

― vike me down (dyao), Thursday, 6 May 2010 05:56 (fifteen years ago)

The ending of The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Last night we watched Hotel for Dogs which was a pretty bad movie, but it's about two orphaned siblings fighting to stay together while taking care of all the stray dogs in New York and see? Just typing that sentence made my tear ducts well up.

― kkvgz, Thursday, 6 May 2010 10:27 (fifteen years ago)

Babe, Forrest Gump and The Lion King.

Movies that are meant to make grownups cry generally do nothing for me!

Agree wholeheartedly with DP on Magnolia, for instance.

― Get fourth and multiply (darraghmac), Thursday, 6 May 2010 11:12 (fifteen years ago)

mrs. doubtfire

― peacocks, Thursday, 6 May 2010 12:52 (fifteen years ago)

Iron Giant, Lukas Moodysson's Together, Yi Yi (oh god, the little boy reading at his grandmother's funeral...), Princess and the Frog, Babe. I'm much more likely to be moved by gentility and kindness than harsh emotional realities or w/e.

― ampersand (remy bean), Thursday, 6 May 2010 12:53 (fifteen years ago)

la lengua de las mariposas. only seen it twice and cried both times. don't think my heart can handle a third viewing

― hotel califor.nia (r1o natsume), Thursday, 6 May 2010 14:59 (fifteen years ago)

ppl who get emotional for like "quality" movies are wi-erd. little women for all time.

― plax (ico), Thursday, 6 May 2010 18:02 (fifteen years ago)

little women is classic! Which part makes you cry?

― peacocks, Thursday, 6 May 2010 18:07 (fifteen years ago)

which one? the 1994 version? i prefer that one.

― by another name (amateurist), Thursday, 6 May 2010 20:49 (fifteen years ago)

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