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]

The Fighting Sullivans.

[CrazyIvan]

I and several other men will confess to crying at the end of Big Fish.

[advertising guy]

The Fighting Sullivans

[WayneS]

That was never five seconds!

[Hulka]

Ahh. . yes. . .of course. Me too.

[Gamecock]

By the way, I saw that English Patient film last night. It was extraordinary.

[Dubh_Ghlase]

A River Runs Through It

[wally_bert]

Vanishing Point where the Challenger becomes a Camero hitting the two dozers.

[dfwgator]

Dirty Dozen*. Duh.

Every time I watch it, I think Jim Brown is going to make it.

[Jeff Chandler]

I prefer Thumbtanic.

[chris37]

Braveheart.

And just about any movie or video with dogs.

[dfwgator]

I cheered when DiCaprio became a popsicle.

[qam1]

Never watch the Fly II

In an otherwise forgettable sequel to Jeff Goldblum’s 80’s version, what happens to the dog after they put it through the transporter...... well it’s the saddest and most traumatic thing by far you will ever see in any movie.

[skeeter]

Yeah, but I’ll admit the scene with the chaplain pulling up in front of the farmhouse still gets to me.

[cuban leaf]

Every time I watch it, I think Jim Brown is going to make it.

---

You need to watch it more. He eventually does make it.

[Jeff Chandler]

Vanishing Point where the Challenger becomes a Camero hitting the two dozers.

Almost as good as Thelma and Louise where the tanker became a flatbed and blew up.

[SkyDancer]

“Christine” when that beautiful Plymouth got crushed.

[Big Red Clay]

Saving Private Ryan

Brian’s Song

Field of Dreams (at the end when Costner plays catch with his dad. I watched this again a couple months after my Pop passed. Cried like a baby at that scene).

[dfwgator]

Katyn.

[CatherineofAragon]

What kind of male cries at a romance movie? A scarf-wearing metrosexual?

My husband wouldn’t watch a romance movie in the first place. If I want to make him cry, I’ll find a documentary about a man forced to follow his wife and carry her handbag while she shops.