Movie Moments that Make You Cry

[may2]

The montage of film clips at the end of Cinema Paradiso.

[Deleted]

I cried during Hotel Rwanda. Especially the scene where all the tourists are sent home, and the natives are made to stay at the hotel. Just the combination of the children's voices, the rain, the raw emotion, got me going.

And then Joaquin Phoenix gets on the bus, and says he's never been so ashamed of himself, and I completely lost it. So did the other people in the theatre.

[Deleted]

To my utter shame, the one movie that consistently makes me cry is Terms of Endearment. I've seen that movie a number of times and I still cry at key parts. I think the reason it gets to me more than Steel Magnolias is some of the smaller scenes. The big death scenes and the saying goodbye scenes make me teary but what REALLY makes me cry are scenes like...

When Jack Nicholson's astronaut character shows up to support Aurora Greenway in the hospital. She's been through so much crap at that point that you're kind of relieved for her. "Who knew you were a good guy?" (or something like that.)

I also cry in the scene where Aurora freaks out at her oldest grandson after they've gone to visit her daughter (his mom) in the hospital. He says something about how lazy his mom is and Aurora hits him with her purse, but then feels badly about it and explains by saying "I just can't have you criticizing your mother right now."

I cry during the scene where she starts screaming at the nurses to give her daughter more medicine. It's a weird scene because her screaming is borderline comical. But I just feel her desperation. She just wants to ease her daughter's pain.

Maybe it's the whole idea of parental love and the need to protect your child. There's also something about this tough, hard woman like Aurora Greenway hurting that kind of gets to me. It might be because my OWN mom is that sort of woman.

[Shanmac]

And then Joaquin Phoenix gets on the bus, and says he's never been so ashamed of himself, and I completely lost it.

Ugh. I'm going to go compose myself now. That was possibly the most painful moment in a film ever, for me.

[Deleted]

Ditto for Hotel Rwanda and The Sea Inside. I remember sobbing uncontrolably at the end of Philadelphia. When the family says goodbye to Tom Hank's character and then Neil Young's song starts playing and you see the home movie and this little boy with the curly hair running around...I know, it's totally manipulative, but guess it touched me because our family lost so many friends to aids during the 1990s. It's also the last movie i saw where i really liked Anthonio Banderas.

[thesurlymermaid]

kafka said:

Given my animal obsession, I think it's pretty obvious what almost all my films would be about....

As a kid, when Bambi's mother died, I sobbed and sobbed. As an adult, the one thing guaranteed to depress me for days is the true story of Pharlap. I get sniffly just thinking about the magnificient, legendary giant stumbling while being frantically walked around, after being poisoned by evil ratbastards. When his faithful trainer/groomer has part of his dying body on his lap and strokes Pharlap's neck while sobbing...

Any film where a beloved animal dies makes me whimper and run off to hug my Kafka but Pharlap.... nothing is more depressing to me, ever.

Parts of the Black Stallion still make me misty-eyed today. Same with SeaBiscuit. The part where the injured Seabiscuit is greeted by the injured Tobey Maguire, both with casts on their leg, and then Seabiscuit gently noses TM's neck with a whuffling, loving greeting and TM buries his face in SeaBiscuit's neck.... Waaaaaaa.

*runs off to find some hankies and to think of the national memorial to Pharlap*

I just had to respond to this...my God, someone else who loves Phar Lap. I was NUTS about this movie when I was a kid. I had the Breyer model horse, a copy of the movie, and every horse book that ever made a mention of the horse's name.

I still go on Ebay sometimes and bid for Phar Lap items. Actually, recent studies have shown that it is highly unlikely the horse was poisoned...they think he died of some rare (of course) disease that he basically had no chance of surviving. It just angered me so much that the horse was worked to death during life, sometimes racing as much as four times a WEEK, and then he died at age 6. At least someone cared about him though [/sob]

I had such a crush on Tom Burlison...the guy who played strapper Tommy Woodcock. Whatta last name...almost hard to believe.

[kafka]

thesurlymermaid said:

I just had to respond to this...my God, someone else who loves Phar Lap. I was NUTS about this movie when I was a kid. I had the Breyer model horse, a copy of the movie, and every horse book that ever made a mention of the horse's name.

I still go on Ebay sometimes and bid for Phar Lap items. Actually, recent studies have shown that it is highly unlikely the horse was poisoned...they think he died of some rare (of course) disease that he basically had no chance of surviving. It just angered me so much that the horse was worked to death during life, sometimes racing as much as four times a WEEK, and then he died at age 6. At least someone cared about him though [/sob]

I had such a crush on Tom Burlison...the guy who played strapper Tommy Woodcock. Whatta last name...almost hard to believe.

Burlinson was excellent in The Man from Snowy River, which is a great film (and has lots of horsies) and has beautiful cinematography, so if you like him, consider renting it. If you haven't seen it already that is.

Can you explain more about Phar Lap's supposed illness?

BTW, I had the model of The Black Stallion when I was small. I think it was the Breyer model, since that name sounds familiar.

Speaking of all these horsie films, isn't there a film about "Man o' War", the Greatest of all real-life Greats? I"m pretty sure I remember seeing it as a kid and being very emotionally involved, but I can't recall the name of the film. It was a black-and-white and I was thinking about renting it on Netflix but I had no luck in searching for "Man of War" or variations thereof on IMDb. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

[thesurlymermaid]

Okay, here is a blurb I found about what they think really killed Phar Lap:

In 2000, equine specialists examined the two autopsy reports. They concluded that Phar Lap probably died of an acute enteric disease of bacterial origin: Duedentis-Proximal jejunitis. It was not until the 1980s that the infection was formally identified, so diagnosis in the 1930s would not have been possible.

The disease strikes so suddenly and furiously that death is the outcome for 70% of its victims. Phar Lap would have had little chance.

Sounds pretty final. I think that actually makes it worse.

I have seen Man from Snowy River and was totally obsessed with the soundtrack for a while. Same with the Black Stallion. I also had the Black Stallion Breyer model and my sister had Man o' War.

As for a Man O' War film, I've never seen one before, so I'm afraid I can't help you there. But if anyone does know what you are referring to, I would love to see this movie as well.

I was what one might call horse-crazy.

[kafka]

thesurlymermaid said:

Okay, here is a blurb I found about what they think really killed Phar Lap:

In 2000, equine specialists examined the two autopsy reports. They concluded that Phar Lap probably died of an acute enteric disease of bacterial origin: Duedentis-Proximal jejunitis. It was not until the 1980s that the infection was formally identified, so diagnosis in the 1930s would not have been possible.

The disease strikes so suddenly and furiously that death is the outcome for 70% of its victims. Phar Lap would have had little chance.

Sounds pretty final. I think that actually makes it worse.

Thanks, SurlyM. As for the disease, that actually makes me feel a bit better. I'd prefer that he died suddenly and for reasons that couldn't be helped than because he was poisoned by greedy competitors/gamblers who wanted to destroy him. The latter situation makes one feel that things could have been different but for mankind's inability to accept that "freaks" were brilliant trailblazers and were just petty enough to want to destroy something they didn't understand. I'm not an Ayn Rand fan but parts of the film definitely made me think of the Fountainhead.

I have seen Man from Snowy River and was totally obsessed with the soundtrack for a while. Same with the Black Stallion. I also had the Black Stallion Breyer model and my sister had Man o' War.

As for a Man O' War film, I've never seen one before, so I'm afraid I can't help you there. But if anyone does know what you are referring to, I would love to see this movie as well.

I was what one might call horse-crazy.

Me too. I rode a lot and had several horses, until I almost died in a horseback jumping accident when I was 9. I must have reread every one of the 19 Farley books at least 10 times over. I always wondered why Hollywood didn't make more of the books into films, especially given how they love franchises.

BTW, if you like horse films, have you seen Hidalgo with Viggo Mortensen. Lots and lots of beautiful Arabians. And he's not so bad himself.

[thesurlymermaid]

I guess you're right about a disease being a better alternative than being mercilessly killed, but my mind often works in weird ways...meaning for me, a there-was-no-hope-anyway scenario is just so relentlessly depressing. Nothing they could have done would have made him better...that sort of stuff really makes me upset.

I will definitely have to check out Hidalgo...I actually avoid most animal movies as of late because it has not escaped my notice that many, many animal movies end with the animal's death. Books, too. Why must this be? Now, I have two little dogs myself and the very idea of losing them makes me want to crawl into a hole and cry myself to death. I guess I am just hideously sensitive to those types of things.

Hidalgo looks like it might be a pretty safe rental for me, though. And I am a Viggo fan.