Boo-Hoo: Film Scenes That Make You Well Up

There's probably been a thread already, but I'm not sure what to search for...Preferably not famous scenes; I can watch the end of Casablanca and feel close to nothing. Scenes that hit you on a more personal basis--you may not even be able to explain why you're so moved. Here are three of my own: 1) When the guy makes it over in Man on Wire; 2) When Ashley manages to spell "lycanthropy" successfully in Spellbound; and, the thing that inspired this thread, 3) Bill Murray's rendition of "What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding" (even more than "More Than This") in Lost in Translation. I was watching LIT for the fourth or fifth time yesterday, and that scene really, really moved me.

The "Moses Supposes" number in Singin' In the Rain. Just because I know it's more perfect than most things I will ever see.

i watched a newly-restored version of the ballet sequence from the red shoes in a theater recently and got pretty choked up, it looked dazzling

I mean, most of them I could list are scenes featuring people/characters crying or dying.

The end of The Lives Of Others!

- Prof. Kelp reveals himself as Buddy Love at the end of the Jerry Lewis Nutty Professor
- George and Martha, sad, sad, sad
- Jack Lemmon's slow walk down the hospital corridor, Short Cuts

But, first and foremost, "Baby Mine" in Dumbo

OMG yes! I was thinking as I woke up this morning about Dumbo, and how I should go add it to the "if they don't like it you'll lose $50" thread. But then I forgot.

I teared up at the end of The Big Fish

letter from an unknown woman, when the camera pans down to the last page of the letter...

The end of The Lives Of Others!

actually, yeah ...

also the end of All that Heaven Allows when Jane Wyman is sitting there in her house alone looking at the new TV

I'm usually not a very weepy at movies kinda person ...

This is actually television, but:

when Chris Keller fell to his death at the end of OZ

It wasn't the TV that made me weepy in Heaven but the moment before, when the daughter finally (FINALLY!) realizes how much she unconsciously wanted to keep her mother sexless for the rest of her life.

I got a little teary when the lover got on the train in Far From Heaven but the Nicole Kidman character just didn't seem to be devastated in the same way that Jane Wyman's character was in the original.

The scene in Mulholland Drive in which Coco (Ann Miller) condescends to Diane/Betty at her son's wedding party, patting Diane's hand with one of her own gnarled paws before she picks at some almonds. In the background: an early eighties beat box.

were those tears of laughter?

I suppose this should not be open to documentaries?

Because the end of the Silverlake Life documentary turned an entire theater into a sobbing mess... I've never seen so many people moved to emotion. Everyone just remained in their seats sobbing long after the credits had rolled.

OMG just remembered - the bit at the end of Etre Et Avoir where his class leaves for the last time!

I cry pretty easily when it comes to movies but one movie that I had a really weird reaction to was "The Wrestler" I cried through like 3/4s of it and most of the rest of the evening that I saw it. I have no idea why it affected me so much but damn that movie struck something deep inside. I honestly don't think I could handle seeing it again.

I also can't make it through ET without sobbing. It generally starts when they put E and ET in the tents and continues right through to the end.

also, there has got to be a previous thread on this...

Because the end of the Silverlake Life documentary turned an entire theater into a sobbing mess

Docs do sort of have that unfair advantage, but there it is.

OK, I haven't seen that but this line from the IMDB entry is almost enough to make me tear up "The scene where Tom sings "You are My Sunshine" to Mark and tells him goodbye is the real thing." !!!

I'm still baffled by the fact that I was sad about Chris Keller falling off the balcony and dying for several days ... I watched that episode twice - once alone, and then with the bf - and cried both times, and he was totally mystified by my reaction. I think I said something like, "I'm sorry. It's just sad. I know he was a sociopath, but he truly loved poor little Tobias, and now he's dead." The bf was convinced he fell on purpose as a vindictive act ...

xpost I haven't seen it, but I'm absolutely going to track it down now.

at least one previous thread:

The One Movie That Makes You Cry, Every Time

i almost made a spectacle of myself in my school's a/v center watching the last ten minutes or so of yi yi

I cried hardcore at the end of Catch Me if You Can when he looks through the window and sees his family having Christmas together, and then he runs away. I cried to the point where I was mad at the disproportion of my tears.

a documentary called "Silverlake Life". I've only seen it twice. The first time the entire theater stayed in their seats whimpering for about 10 minutes afterward. The second time I had to see it again at home on video and it had the exact same effect.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, October 27, 2004 11:42 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark

Wall-E makes me tear up in one spot or another.

I'm a pretty sentimental gal.

I cried during Breaking the Waves but I totally forget at which point.

awww ... Wall-E - yeah.

never seen CMiYC but that just reminded me of the end of stella dallas, which definitely belongs here too for me

I think I also cried at Splendor in the Grass and when Sal Mineo dies in Rebel Without a Cause

oh god, a friend of mine took me to see Grave Of Fireflies in college... "it's a japanese cartoon!"

fuck... that was a long ride home.

One of the tearjerkiest is The Fox and the Hound. "Your my pal, Copper." "You're mine too, Todd." "And we'll always be friends, forever!" "Yeah, forever." The refrain of this just fucking kills me. I'm getting sensitive just thinking about it.

I think part of it is as a kid I wanted friends so bad, and never had any, and the promise of it is proved to be a lie at the end.

I'm a pretty sentimental gal.

Yeah, me too. I am apt to cry at almost any movie that is even remotely ~touching~. However the scene in "Terms of Endearment" where a dying Winger says goodbye to her kids is ridiculous.

"Iron Giant" when he says "I'm Superman" as he flies into the missile.

I have never seen "Iron Giant".

It's a great combination of touching sweetness and chilling cold war paranoia.

On that note, Pleasantville always makes me tear up & generally emote all over the place.

I would have cried at the end of Wall-E if something very fortunate didn't happen

I think I also got a little weepy when Clovis the cat hero sacrifices his life in this schlocky horror movie where the villains are vampires that are somehow susceptible to the presence of cats.

One of the tearjerkiest is The Fox and the Hound. "Your my pal, Copper." "You're mine too, Todd." "And we'll always be friends, forever!" "Yeah, forever." The refrain of this just fucking kills me. I'm getting sensitive just thinking about it.

Saw it when it came out in 1981 or 82 and had about the same reaction. I almost think that might be the last truly sad Disney movie ending.

I would have cried at the end of Wall-E if something very fortunate didn't happen

Popcorn box trick?

look, sometime it just digs into my leg and it hurts...

oh another one ... Stepford Wives - the original

Any movie with those fucking hobbits in it tugs at this heart here.

I think documentaries are perfectly valid for this thread. You've got to walk a real fine line in a documentary. If you're feeling manipulated, like I do with (you guessed it) Michael Moore--I'm thinking of the scene in Farenheit with the soldier's mother--I recoil. But the end of The Heart of the Game, where Darnellia finally gets her championship, really gets to me. Oldest cliche imaginable in sports films, I know, documentary or otherwise. But for me, it's powerful.

Last scene of "Plague Dogs."

Last scene of "Pan's Labyrinth," after she dies.

So glad someone else said Iron Giant. I could not believe that I was crying.

I think the only movie that didn't make me sad when a cat died was Rubin and Ed

from the other thread:

I cried in Monsters Inc, when Sully took Boo back home.
― C J (C J), Thursday, July 24, 2003 12:34 AM (6 years ago) Bookmark

Me too.

Maybe an embarrassing one this...it's the sequence in A.I. where the mother abandons Haley Joel Osment's robot boy character out in the woods. I was 11 at the time and it registered with me. Does anyone else agree what a great film it is? Delighted to see it on the Stylus 00s films roundup.

Not a film, but what about when Bubbles wakes up to discover Sherrod dead.

ohh, i know. the scene at the end of A Patch of Blue where she has to leave sidney poitier. fuck.

xp - yeah, I got weepy over Bubbles and Sherrod, and when Randy gets sent to the group home.

pretty much any scene in Philadelphia.

Yes that is harrowing. So much potential utterly crushed. Wire season 4 is bleak huh?

last movie I cried at was free willy

I watched Cinema Paradiso with a girl as our first date. Through out the movie there were scenes I teared up, but I was able to hold them back. Then at the end when he watches the kissing, explicit scenes, I let it go. The girl was so moved she ended up being my girlfriend for 5 years.

xxp - yeah, that's the failure at fatherhood season. Pretty much all attempts at it fail, well, except one. I just felt sad for all the characters involved.

omg jacob that's the cutest story ever

^^Wow to Jacob Sanders.

Also I can understand Free Willy if you're not being ironic. Will You Be There is a powerful song!

I watched "Cemetery Man" with a guy on a first date, and I cried, partly because of the sad parts, and partly because I wished I was seeing it with my ex, who would have felt the same way about it.

Now that makes me tear up.

my date just was incapable of the sheer joy at seeing zombie boy scouts and zombie nuns

Zombieland looks promising....

not being ironic about free willy but also kind of don't want check imdb to see when it came out in case I was like 20 at the time or something

ok its cool I was 8

Cemetery Man was almost the perfect movie for me at the time - it combined inappropriate zombies and Sartreian existential angst.

Who takes an 11-year-old to see A.I.?!?!

Also: Stand By Me, River's monologue when he cries has made me cry like a baby from the first time I ever watched.

Opening scene of Flashdance, with her walking along the railroad tracks. I DON'T KNOW WHY IT MAKES ME CRY. Nostalgia for legwarmers or something. Shut up. you asked...

re: AI, Wasn't it rated G? I can't remember them cursing, and the jude law robowhore scenes were very chaste. Were ratings board used in 60s? because for some reason 2001 is also rated G.

Is cemetery man delamorte delamore? What were the sad parts? I remember Rupert Murdoch being kind of a jerk to his grunty Igor pal.

cemetery man was indeed delamorte delamore. It was sad that he kept fucking up getting the girl, and then at the end when he realizes that there is nothing outside of town.

i've never cried during a movie cuz... u know... not a broad... but one time i was watching DEEP IMPACT on tv during a ~*~*vulnerable*~*~ thyme in my lyfe and the scene where tea leoni and her dad die made me choke up a lil

A.I. was PG-13, but there's absolutely no reason an 11-year-old can't see a PG-13 movie.

I watched it on DVD fwiw.

Also in the UK where it was a PG.

The "When She Loved Me" segment in Toy Story 2

yah, its sad!

E.T. yes.

Also ending of 'Big'. Last time I watched that my daughter turned to me and her look said 'you're going to cry now', and yeah I was wellin' up.

Hey, I'm 42 I'm allowed to get more sentimental.

Cried recently at the end of 'Officer and a gentleman' even though I was still mad as hell that the blonde woman was happily working in the factory.

Biggest blub I've ever done? 'Brief encounter' when husband puts down crossword to say "you've been a long way away, thank you for coming back to me"

I should add that the big brief encounter blub was when i was approx 15. My mum was ironing in the back room and I had to walk very quickly past her averting my head so I could get out into the garden and let it all out. But rather than go to the garden I chose the little side path where the dustbins were. F*cking rubbish behaviour.

Ending of Bicycle Thieves made me cry and I've only cried 2 or 3 times this decade.

Many, many scenes from Griffith's "Way Down East" - Anna's cousins are mean and horrible to her, while she uncomprehendingly thinks they are her friends, Anna's baby dies, Anna is cast out into the snow by Squire Bartlett, Anna, having been rescued from the ice floe, wakes up beside Squire Bartlett's son, who loves here even though she's had a child out of wedlock, off the top of my head.

The final scene from Chaplin's "City Lights", where the formerly blind flower girl only recognises the tramp when she holds his hand.

"Sunrise", where the wife is rescued from the lake.

I'm a sucker for ott melodrama, gets me every time.

drawing a blank, I guess I'm heartless

― Hat Trick Swayze (Shakey Mo Collier)

Ha ha ha Shakey. NO WAY.

A.I. was PG-13, but there's absolutely no reason an 11-year-old can't see a PG-13 movie.

I dunno, I just imagine parents saying "I bet our 11-year-old would love this movie about parents who replace their 11-year-old with a robot copy that looks a lot like a real boy, they then cheerily condemn to tragic existence, never returning its preprogrammed affections!"

(Also I just sort of hated the movie so I wouldn't take anybody to see it, of any age, but YMMV.)

I know! My preschool took me to see "Little Shop of Horrors" even though they knew I was an orphaned botanist who had been adopted by a sadistic singing dentist.

hah I also cried at A.I., in the theater...

this reminds me of a very silly one - when I was 10 or so I watched Dumb and Dumber, and got really upset at the scene where they try to pass off a dead parrot to the blind girl - it outraged my 10 year old sense of moral justice!

"A.I." is such a sad, heartbreaking movie. I mean, the very idea of a robot boy designed to be "real," then left to fend for himself in an uncaring world in essence as an experiment intended to prove the success of his programming ... and then outlasting the entire human race so that he's the closest thing left to human emotion on earth, the perfect simulation of a perfect boy made real. And then getting his reward - reuniting with his mother for those scant few minutes - which is all he wanted to begin with, for all those years spent alone, under water, essentially frozen by grief and sadness? It makes me weepy just typing this. There are some crass moments in the film, but the emotional payoff is undeniable.

Another guaranteed weeper: "Waking the Dead," with Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly, and a great score by tomandandy. My wife and I were left blubbering.

I was really un-moved by the film I guess. If it was about a toaster that kept making toast after three thousand years - just like it'd been programmed to! - would it still have the same payoff? I never saw the kid as a character I guess, just a machine on autopilot. The Brave Little Toaster, I'll admit, somehow gets away with this.

Yeah, but what if the toaster absolutely loved making toast, and wanted nothing else but to make toast, and yet no one wanted his toast? Devastating.

Anyway, kid wasn't on autopilot. He was tragically compelled by an undying love he couldn't turn off.

i have to admit AI hit me pretty hard too, as flawed as that movie inevitably was, at its core i was drawn into it emotionally

He's a robot I tells ya! No more tragic than the fact that my Internet Explorer window is compelled at a fundamental level to close when I hit the little X at the top right of the screen.

A few places in Three Colors: Blue/White/Red.

The war flashback in Porco Rosso, with the vapor trail made up of all the dead pilots.

A little more love for Porco Rosso, esp this scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT-gZp1gnfQ

The lighting of the beacons in LoTR The Return of The King also leaves me with a lump in my throat like a goose egg every bloody time I see it. I tested this by watching a dubbed spanish version on youtube ten minutes ago and almost had to turn it off, so emo was the effect.

Strangely, the end of 'Blackadder Goes Forth' always makes me tear up.

OTM

A couple I didn't see mentioned above:

'Wings of Desire' - Not the angel/trapeze artist love story, actually, but the b/w cinematography (e.g. a scene of a tree surrounded by mist; a flock of birds in flight), and the old gentleman from the library's internal monologue.

'Bridge to Terabithia' - Never read the book, so the turning point of the film blindsided & broke me up. (*SPOILER*: And I feel the depiction of grief was well-done & very thoughtful).

very much otm with Bridge To Terabithia.

Just thinking about Good-bye, Lenin! made me misty-eyed just now. I want to see it again but I'm too wimpy to put myself through the heartbreak.

the farewell scene between Andrei and Kirill in Andrei Rublev kills me.

oh and Brief Encounter too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDEvP68qMLM&feature=related

^^ YES

Also, pretty much every scene in Ordet, the end of Tokyo Story, Late Spring and Diary of a Country Priest.

That new bloody Futurama episode where

...

SPOILER IF YOU HAVENT SEEN IT

...

We find out Hermes made Bender and saved him from being squished because he was defective

That made me cry quite unexpectedly!