Tear Jerker / Film: T to Z

• The end of Tae Guk Gi, a Korean movie about two brothers who fought in the Korean War. All the death and violence wasn't even as bad as the ending: Jin-seok, having lived his entire life thinking his older brother was still alive somewhere, returning to the battlefield where they saw each other for the last time, and realizing that his brother had never made it out of there.
  • Made even worse when it's combined with Please Wake Up as Jin-seok begs Jin-tae to get up and fulfill the promises they made at their last meeting.
• Just watching the trailer for the HBO movie Taking Chance. It's a simple story about one Marine escorting the body of another back to his hometown, based entirely on a true account. Very well made film, very hard to watch, especially if you are in the Armed Forces.
  • Those videos of the original Chance? God...
  • when Strobl crossed paths with the other escort...and found out the body he was taking home was his brother.
  • This scene:
  Lt. Col. Michael Strobl : "If more men were like Chance in this world, we wouldn't need a Marine Corps."
• The end scene of The Talented Mr. Ripley is a horrible Tear Jerker. Tom Ripley has escaped suspicion for murdering and impersonating Dickie Greenleaf, and is on a boat to Athens with his lover Peter, when he runs into Meredith, who thinks Tom is Dickie, and coincidentally knows Peter. Worse, she's on the boat with her entire family - Peter has no-one but Tom. Resolved, Tom goes to Peter in his room and asks Peter to tell him "some nice things about Tom Ripley." Baffled, but playing along, Peter does so as Tom cuddles up to him. Cut to Tom entering his own room, miserable and shaken, as Peter's list (which makes it very clear that he's in love with Tom) goes on in voiceover - and then changes to the sounds of Tom sobbing as he chokes Peter to death.
• Of all places, in the 1972 Tales from the Crypt movie. The segment, "Poetic Justice", counts as one big tear jerker.
• The documentary Taxi To the Dark Side. Invisible Children after the Mood Whiplash from the beginning.
• Tears of the Sun, especially the ending where, after all the death and fear and chaos, the young man is safe with his people, and they punch their fists into the air with hope.
• Terms of Endearment is a prominent film of this genre.
  Aurora Greenway: It's past ten. My daughter is in pain. I don't understand why she has to have this pain. All she has to do is hold out until ten, and IT'S PAST TEN! My daughter is in pain, can't you understand that! GIVE MY DAUGHTER THE SHOT!
• Testament. Jayne Alexander deserved an Oscar that she didn't get. It's a movie about a family coping with the aftermath of a nuclear war, and it is unbearably sad. In particular, the scene where Alexander's character is shown with a stoic expression sewing something, and then the camera pulls back and you realize she's sewing a funeral shroud for her oldest child.
• The last few minutes of Thelma & Louise.
• There Will Be Blood:
  • The last scene featuring Daniel Plainview and his son.
  • The very last scene, where Daniel is sitting next to the body of Eli Sunday, who he just killed, in the bowling alley of his mansion. The butler comes in, wonder about all the commotion:
    Butler:Mr. Daniel?
    Daniel Plainview:...I'm Finished
  • The whole movie, in fact. Say what you want about Oscar Bait and such, it's still one beautiful movie.
• A Czech movie called The Shop on Main Street. The fact that it's set during the Holocaust doesn't help to begin with. Then throw in the ending, where the main character hanged himself after accidentally killing the old lady whose shop he'd been running and you get an instant hankiefest.
• Lots of scenes in The Thin Red Line, particularly:
  • Attack on the village, accompanied by Hans Zimmer's "Journey to the Line".
  • The sequence of scenes, showing death of private Witt, the vision of his "other world" and the funeral, with Sgt. Welsh saying: "Where's your spark now...".
• The end of Thirteen Days; the Cuban Missile Crisis has been resolved, everyone's relieved and relaxing... except for President Kennedy, who excuses himself to dictate a letter of condolence to the parents of the only American military officer killed during the Crisis.
• Jake Brigance's summation at the end of A Time to Kill.
• In Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life when Lara is forced to kill Terry. And the music right there? Just wait for the key change.
• The film The Tooth Fairy, Derek (the father) shatters his son Randy's dream of being a professional guitar player. This causes Randy to smash his own guitar and angrily walk up to his room sobbing.
• Top Gun. Goose's death was the cause of a waterfall of Manly Tears. Especially because of the Mood Whiplash!
• All of Trip To Bountiful. ALL OF IT. Especially when after all her hard work, Carrie Watts arrives in the remains of her long-abandoned hometown of Bountiful, and begins to cry as she looks around her father's old farmhouse. Then she's forced by her overly-concerned son a his awful wife to return home just as quickly as she came.
• Troy:
  • King Priam's line "I have fought many wars in my lifetime. Some were fought for land, some for money, and some for power... I suppose fighting for love makes more sense than all the rest."
  • Anything remotely connected to Patroclus/the death thereof in that movie, particularly for someone who got to like him as he was in the Iliad and managed to project that on what was going on. (Yeah, all... ten lines of him.)
  • The scene where Hector prepares for his battle with Achilles. Watching him say goodbye to his family, particularly his infant son is heartbreaking. Knowing that the situation he is in really isn't his fault makes it even worse.
• The Truman Show has a triumphant tearjerker ending!
  • And yet, despite deserving what happens, some sympathy has to be set aside for Christof, as he obviously truly cares for Truman, only he can never hold Truman and is never able to truly convey how he feels for his surrogate son.
• Turtles Can Fly is about a group of refugee children near the Iraq-Turkish border, most of whom have some some of physical injury/disability.
• There are two such moments in The Tuskeegee Airmen: first, Cuba Gooding's last moments after his plane is hit by a German fighter and Laurence Fishburne knock the Nazi down. Knowing what's about to happen, Cuba tells Laurence to get out of range and to safety - them, as his plane heads down in flames, sings the squadron's anthem. Even the racist bomber pilot they were protecting is moved. Also, the last five minutes of the film; Laurence is presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross and a promotion to Captain for taking out a German destroyer. He is then informed that their next mission is bomber escort over Berlin, and that they were't assigned - they were requested to fly the mission. The film ends with photos of the actual Tuskeegee Airmen, their list of accomplishments - including the fact that they never lost a single bomber to enemy fire - , and that sixty-six Tuskeegee Airmen died in battle.
• Unbreakable, M. Night Shylaman's homage to superhero movies. This movie is, for 90% of it, so heartbreakingly sad that Bruce Willis' final emergence as a superhero is a tear jerker on its own. But the unexpected tearjerker is when Willis mumbles to his son "I'm just an ordinary man," and the little boy achingly, despairingly, replies "Why do you keep saying that?" Has double impact if you're a father; little kids think of their parents as superheroes.
  • The morning after Bruce Willis kills the serial killer and saves (what's left of) the family, when he surreptitiously, and silently, shows his son the newspaper article about the incident — the look on the boy's face...
  • The fact that he was too late to save the wife/mother, and that this apparently makes him fully realize how much his own wife means to him.
  • The scene showing Elijah's incredibly tough childhood, and how his mother helps him cope with it. And the ending. "I'm not a mistake!" He may be a supervillain, but he at last knows that he has a purpose in the world.
  • Elijah as a child, sneaking away from his mother in a theme park. He goes into one of those rides, where you sit in a rotating cup. The laughter of him is just heartwarming. Then his bones start breaking and it turns into screams...
• Under Wraps (1997), a Disney channel original movie about a mummy who's going to die if the kids don't get his sarcophagus back from antique dealers, and he knows it, and he goes through all of these terrible circumstances (being mistaken for a burn victim, etc.) trying to get it back, and then he finds his lost love. To make matters worse, it's a Romeo and Juliet meets Hunchback of Notre Dame-type story about how the mummy was actually a high priest and the woman was his queen, and they finally get to be together in sarcophagi next to each other in a museum.
• United 93. The stark, realistic film style and not using Big Name Actors made it feel almost like a documentary of military personnel hearing about the attacks. That was the first breakdown. Then there was the part with the passengers calling their families to say goodbye after deciding what they had to do, and making peace with their own deaths (not bothering with spoilers, because we all know what happened that day).
  • Once everyone started making the phone calls, it was tears straight through until the end of the movie. The worst part was the flight attendant who rang her husband and said "I swear to you, if I make it through this alive, I promise I'll quit tomorrow. I promise, I'll quit tomorrow". Especially sad because she said at the beginning that she wanted to get home to see her babies. Another thing was the interviews that came in the DVD, which had the actors meeting the families of the deceased. Seeing the reactions of the actors, in particular one guy who was trying so hard to keep it together, but just burst into tears while talking to the family.
  • The horrified reactions of all the air traffic controllers witnessing the second plane hit the World Trade Center. She made it through the phone calls without crying. But when the passengers fought back for control of the plane, especially in the last minute or two of the movie, she started crying. Hard.
• The ending of A Very Long Engagement. Who doesn't cry simply does not have a heart.
• V for Vendetta,
  • The scene where V smashes the mirror.
  • The sequence with Valerie, and Evey's subsequent release. "God is in the rain."
    Valerie: But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that, even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you, I love you. With all my heart, I love you. Valerie.
  • When V dies at the end and is put in the train. Also tears of joy as the house of parliament was blown up.
  • "Is it meaningless to apologize?" "Never."
  • "I don't want you to die." "That's the...most beautiful thing...you could have given me...."
• La Vie en Rose: "You must be brave, Edith." "Is it Marcel? ...What?" "The plane crashed..."
  • This must be seen to be believed, as it is all done in one continuous camera shot. Marion Cotillard's acting is sublime. Édith Piaf learned of the crash and went on to perform a recital that night. The song playing, "L'Hymne à l'amour", was written by Piaf for Marcel, the only man she ever really loved.
• Voces Inocentes, a Spanish-language film about a boy named Chava in El Salvador during their civil war. That would suck enough, but here's the clincher: At 12, the military recruits boys to be Child Soldiers and fight the guerilla army. Chava is 11. Oh, Crap!.
• The ending of the Chinese film Wait 'til You're Older. The child protagonist Kwong, wanting to grow up, takes an aging potion. However, it backfires horribly and he finds out that he only has a few days to live before dying of old age. Realizing he has no time left, he makes amends to his father and stepmother, whom he hated before, and finally accepts her as his second mother. The film ends on a bittersweet note with an aged Kwong resting in his stepmother's arms before his inevitable death. There was not a single dry eye in the theatre. He really should have known that Growing Up Sucks.
• War of the Worlds (2005):
  • When Ray sings "Little Deuce Coupe" as a lullaby to his daughter.
  • Then there's the scene when Ray has to kill the Crazy Survivalist who's threatening to attract the aliens' attention. The tears really start when Rachel starts singing "Hushabye Mountain".
  • The evacuation scene. There is a small clip of a kid and a dog at an overturned ice cream cart, and then a whole scene of numerous people going to the mountaintops.
  • In addition, the ending where the gospel choir music plays while the Martians are dying because of biological reasons is also rather depressing to hear.
• Watchmen: the flashback leading up to Jon's disintegration. And Rorschach's death, obviously.
  • The death of Hollis Mason, shamelessly edited out of the theatrical cut but restored for the DC is absolutely heart-wrenching, even more so than in the book.
  • The opening titles, showing the idealism of the first Minutemen falling away as they get old (or murdered), and the political changes taking place as the new Watchmen take their place. The scene with the hippy fearlessly putting a flower in an MP's gun during a protest... only for the line of MPs to open fire is what does it. It's peace and idealism being shot in the face.
    • Dr. Manhatten's split second hesitation before killing Roschach. Crudup sold the lines beautifully.
      Doctor Manhattan: I can change almost anything, but I can't change human nature.
• The movie version of Watership Down. When the Black Rabbit finally comes for Hazel. Actually, you'll probably spend at least fifty percent of the movie in tears and the other fifty shuddering from the horror. And this is an animated movie about rabbits!
  • "Bright Eyes burning like fire..." This scene, despite being slightly trippy, is even worse when you understand what Fiver's mental processes are. This is done by reading the book. There's a reason it's considered a masterpiece.
  • You know what's even worse? That song was originally written about the writer's father.
• Were the World Mine: when Timothy breaks the spell and says goodbye to Jonathon. It's a combination of Timothy looking like he wants to share one last kiss but being too much an actor to break character like that on stage and Jonathon's look of confusion. The fact that The Show Must Go On, so the music plays a triumphant tune as the spell on the lovers is broken doesn't help, either.
• Everything after the Rumble in ''West Side Story will have you in tears, but especially the scene where Anita is almost raped, as well as Tony's death.
• We Were Soldiers:
  • If you don't find yourself crying at least once during the film. especially during the scene with the reinforcement charge and any of the poignant moments that underscore the horror and senselessness of war. The song Sgt. McKenzie.
  • Most sand-in-the-eyes moment in the film? The Taxi driver, who has just had his head proverbially bitten off by Mrs. Moore for freaking her out by coming to her door with a death notice telegram... and asking her for directions to the right house.
  "Ma'am, I don't like this job. I'm just trying to do it."
• What Dreams May Come.
  • The movie is absolutely beautiful. He goes to hell for the sake of his wife! And the very end of the movie mirroring the very beginning, except that it's their reincarnations meeting as children.
  • The part where he realizes the woman he's been talking to all day is really his daughter...
• Where the Red Fern Grows (1974) practically has you to the tearjerking point the whole time. When the ending finally arrives after what seems like years of watching, you're left sobbing.
• Renee Zellweger crying at the end of The Whole Wide World.
• The last five minutes of the manly-man's adventure The Wind and the Lion
  • "I'll see you again, Missus Pedicaris . . . when we are both like golden clouds on the wind."
  • "I'd like to be alone with my bear."
  • Raisuli's letter to Theodore Roosevelt
  • "Is there not one thing in your life that is worth losing everything for?"
• Most of The Wind That Shakes the Barley.

  • Sinéad's screaming at the end. That alone could make the movie.

• The HBO movie Wit, an adaptation of the Pulitzer-winning play of the same name. It is about an English Literature professor, Vivian Bearing, portrayed by the incredible Emma Thompson, and her battle with cancer. This is a movie that hurts so much that Roger Ebert cannot watch it a second time.
  • The scene with Vivian's old professor visiting her and reading her the Runaway Bunny.
• The All Just a Dream ending of The Wizard of Oz. Such a fantastic adventure, and none of it really happened...
  • The original ending called for a pan down to under her bed, where the Ruby slippers were.
  • The Books and quasi-sequel Return to Oz subvert All Just a Dream. Not only will Dorothy return to Oz, she will come to live there as heir to the throne.
  • Countless reviews analyzes of the film have consistently named The Wicked Witch of the West to be the absolute most evil character in the history of film. But after seeing Wicked, you'll cry when Dorothy accidentally kills her to save The Scarecrow.
  • All the scenes where the Lion cries, but the worst one is the ending scene. Dorothy obviously never gets to see them again, and everyone's crying and the Tin Man's heart is breaking.
  • Watch Charley Grapewin as Uncle Henry while Dorothy is telling everyone what happened. He is absolutely straightfaced. He believes her.
  • At the end of the film, Dorothy got exactly what she wanted from Oz: A carefree, perfect world where everybody is kind and friendly, yet more than anything else, she wanted to go back home and see reunite with her aunt. As Dorothy herself said: "Toto, we're home – home! And this is my room – and you're all here – and I'm not going to leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all! And... oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home!"
• In The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, when Wilhelm is deathly ill, he has a vision of his fairy tale characters coming to tell him that if he dies now, before he has written their stories down, no one will know that they ever existed.
• The World According to Garp, especially the end where Garp gets shot and is taken in a helicopter to the hospital, but dies on the way, and before he dies he says "I'm flying..." (a reference to when he was a kid and obsessed with his pilot father). Cue "There Will Never Be Another You" by Nat King Cole.
• World's Greatest Dad. Yikes. When he discovers his son's body? Holy Christ. Best performance of grief friggin' ever. And it doesn't fade to black anywhere or anything... Just the song "Love is Simple" is depressing.
• The Wraith: The ending is a big tearjerker. After The Wraith, kills Packard, Keri is walking home. She sees The Turbo pulling up to her house and is scared at first and sees The Wraith in person. The Wraith then transforms into Jake, which confuses her at first until he reiterates that she knows who he really is. She realizes then that Jake is a reincarnated version of her dead boyfriend, Jamie Hankins and hugs him relieved to seeing him again. He tells her to pack her things, while he runs off on an errand. We then see Billy cleaning up his restaurant after his earlier beating from Packard. He almost hits Jake with a bat thinking Packard came back for another fight, but lowers his bat when he sees who it is. Jake tells him, it's time for him to go, but not before handing him the key's to the Turbo. Billy's at first confused, but then awestruck when he sees the car parked at his restaurant. The last line brings him from confusion to tears.
  Billy: Hey Jake Who Are You?! *beat* No it couldn't be. Jake!! JAKE!!! JAMIEEE!!!!
• The Wrestler: Randy has lost his only friend, his daughter has forsaken him, and will probably suffer a fatal heart-attack if he goes through with his final match. He does anyway, exhibits the same warning signs he did earlier, and still goes to the top rope for his Finishing Move. With all due respect to the legacy of Harvey Milk, Mickey Rourke deserved the Oscar for Best Actor.
  • Sean Penn played a male homosexual activist, which is one of the most exemplified roles a person can be in. Rourke, on the otherhand, played a professional wrestler, who to this day never receive the credit they deserve. Rourke's performance was easily head-and-shoulders above Penn's, but Rourke stood no chance.
  • The small wrestling function that showed various aged wrestlers selling their merchandise to a meager amount of fans.
  • The steady buildup of Guns 'n Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine". It finally kicked in as Randy's entrance theme, and coupled with Rourke's little monologue to his love interest
• World Trade Center, a movie about two Port Authority officers who fight for their lives to survive 9/11, after having survived the collapse, and it's based off of a real story.
• Valkyrie: The ending, even without Stauffenberg's words to Olbricht, or Von Haeftan standing in front of him, sheer bravery and defiance in the face of your imminent demise. "Long live sacred Germany!"
• You've Got Mail. Meg Ryan turns around and looks back at her shop, and sees an image of her mother spinning her as a child.
• Zulu. Just before the final battle, the weary and terrified Welsh troops start singing an old battle hymn that is absolutely heartrending to hear.
• The 2003 horror movie Willard is a combination of awkward, uncomfortable moments and a creeping sense of unease. One heavy Tear Jerker occurs, however, when Willard's first and dearest rat, Socrates, is killed by Willard's boss at work, followed by Willard's complete breakdown.
• Warrior: The last fight and the entire last scene, combined with a a Heartwarming Moment. When Tommy broke down in Brendan's arms, there isn't a dry eye among the audience.

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