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?

[cuban leaf]

That scene, where she comes back, and then goes away. The despair you see in him.

Oh Crap! I’m crying again...

[redangus]

I’m 63 and I still wouldn’t watch Old Yeller again. In 1971 I cried my eyes out at the end of Love Story, long story involving my late wife, but when I watched it again in 2010 I couldn’t believe how bad a movie it was. Interestingly the final scene of Memphis Belle when they are trying to get the landing gear down while Danny Boy plays in the background tears me up big time. Maybe my dad’s stories about his time in a B17 had something to so with it.

[Boogieman]

Lucky you. My dad, normally a pretty stoic guy, tears up for Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals :)

[MayflowerMadam]

Great movie! Filmed in our neck of the woods, outside of Knoxville.

[Jonah Hex]

The only time recently my eyes really watered was the scene from LOTR - Return of the King, where Faramir and company rides out to their certain doom, while Pippin sings "The Edge of Night" a capella.

So sad, so much bravery, so much waste.

[DCBryan1]

"I want to go home".

I cried like a baby

[laplata]

“The Best Years of Our Lives” always makes me tear up...

---

Same with me. One of the best movies ever.

[envisio]

I’m 6’4”, 240lbs.
I have cow manure on my boots and axle grease under my fingernails. Usually I smell like a cross between gasoline and burned gun powder.

But... when my wife... God rest her sole... tricked me into going to see Marley and Me, I turned into a sobbing little girl.

“””””You know how we’re always saying what a pain you are, you’re the world’s worst dog, don’t believe it, don’t believe it for one minute because you know we couldn’t find a better dog, I love you, more than anything. You’re not a good dog. You’re a great dog”””””

Good Lord.....

[dfwgator]

The ending of “Black Adder Goes Forth.”

[cuban leaf]

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/101

IN the special features, it shows the crew soaking it up.

[onedoug]

Uh, this was 2004.

[The_Reader_David]

Grave of the Fireflies.

That's it for me, as far as really crying. (Though if a tear welling up counts, there are a few moving speeches in some good war movies that have had that effect on me.)

[DCBryan1]

The Right Stuff:

[Fiji Hill]

Empire of the Sun is one of those few movies that is better than the book on which it is based.

[TheMom]

My husband cried during Titanic.

After he looked at his watch and realized there was two hours left in the movie.

[dfwgator]

And yes, Liam Neeson is an idiot. but the “I could have done more” scene in Schindler’s List.

[fungoking]

Over 150 post and no one has mentioned Pride of the Yankees, I weep for America.

[Lurker]

Secondhand Lions.

[dfwgator]

After he looked at his watch and realized there was two hours left in the movie.

LOL, him too.

[cuban leaf]

Yep.

BTW. we have not had TV since 1997, which means we watch quite a few movies. We own most of these and have seen them multiple times.