Which Movies Make Grown Men Cry?

FIVETHIRTYEIGHT ^ | 01/14/2015 | Walt Hickey

[SeekAndFind]

Argument — much like karaoke and online shopping — is at its best when done with friends and a drink. And so, here’s “Bar Fights With Walt,” a column devoted to solving the only questions that truly matter: the dumb arguments about life and pop culture developed and hashed out in barroom rants. We’ll use data and research to take these arguments to their logical statistical conclusion. If you’d like to submit a question or conundrum, corner the author at one of his typical haunts and pick a fight.

After an evening at Grassroots Tavern, some friends and I got into a heated argument about “Love Actually,” which I contend is a good movie (see this Ben Dreyfuss essay for more on that). This eventually became a slightly less heated argument about which movies make people cry. The consensus was that everyone has at least one movie that gets them. The lone dissenter was my friend Alex Kaufman, who claimed he had never cried during a movie. After we listed approximately half the films on IMDb, he eventually recanted, saying that “Saving Private Ryan” had, at points, briefly broken his steely resolve. This leads us to this week’s question:

What movies make people cry the most?

[dfwgator]

I could see why you’d mention that one.

[Hulka]

“Men cry much too easily these days.”

We are talking about MEN, here. . .not democrap wannabe’s.

[cuban leaf]

My wife and I both turn 61 in the next few weeks. The Notebook is one of our biggest crying movies. Especially the very end.

Crap, I’m tearing up just typing this.

[dainbramaged]

The scene in “From Here to Eternity” where Montgomery Clift’s character plays taps for his dead buddy (Frank Sinatra). Gets me every time.

[cuban leaf]

Somewhere in Time

[Dubh_Ghlase]

Yeah, "A River Runs Through It" was like going home for me. My wife was a surprised to see how it affected me (I'm not one to be impacted).

I will put "About Time" on my list...thanks!

[DCBryan1]

Jeez...no mention of:

The Right Stuff

Driving Miss Daisy (end scene of Hoke feeding Ms. Daisy in the nursing home)

Forrest Gump ("and right there, Bubba died in my arms")

[dfwgator]

Toy Story 2, when Jessie’s owner gives her away with Sarah McLaughlin singing in the background.

[edpc]

A former co-worker of mine absolutely hated Titanic. His wife made him go and he groused the entire time.

I said, "Well....at the least you enjoyed the sketch scene, right?"

He replied, "No...because I could only picture her when she was 100."

[Fiji Hill]

A few years ago, I saw PT 109, a movie which, like Titanic, is about bad seamanship.

[wardaddy]

Speaking of which

My wife’s mommy died 18 years ago

Rare is a day she doesn’t tear up at some point....her mom was 44 when she was borne and she was the baby....her mom didn’t drive....they were super close...looked alike.....brown eyes....tiny petite buxom

She’s never really gotten over it

Needless to say....Hope Floats is a no go movie for her....it’s like she relives it all....makes me sad for her

Steel magnolias....another southern hanky flick

[cuban leaf]

Yeah, I cried.

I gotta go back to man class.

[FlJoePa]

Great movie - for a made for tv production.

[skinndogNN]

Empire of the Sun. When Christain Bale’s parents finally find him.

I think children being sad makes me cry. Why? We were all 8 years old before.

[wardaddy]

I agree

Anyone old in a longish happy marriage gets it

Well cast too

[DCBryan1]

Glory....

[Billthedrill]

I shall admit to a tear of gratitude when the saucer blows up Washington DC in Independence Day.

[catman67]

SPR benefitted from modern special effects, but as to good performances, give me “Battleground”, “They Were Expendable” or “The Big Red One”.

[Disambiguator]

actually stopping in the very town Radiator Springs was based on.

Which town is that?

[Walmartian]

I lose it watching that little squirrel waterskiing.