What life event in a movie will move a person to tears? Filmmakers count on the event being something you have personally experienced or can’t imagine having to experience it. It is somewhat amusing to see the difference between what moves a man to tears versus what moves a woman to tears. There are a few themes in life that will move both sexes to tears in the movie theatre. For example:
Tearjerker war movies: almost every war movie will make me cry, but will also make men cry. Some notable tearjerker war movies like Schindler’s List, Reds, Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, Sophie’s Choice, Life is Beautiful and Glory will have anyone who breathes grabbing for the Kleenex box. But, the one tearjerker war movie that makes me cry rivers of tears every time I see it is The Deer Hunter. Why, when you are faced with the fear of death in a combat situation, would you choose to tempt fate even more by playing Russian roulette in your spare time?
Tearjerker health movies: anybody that is human will cry for Brian’s Song, Steel Magnolias, Philadelphia, Awakenings, Mask, Beaches, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, and Moulin Rouge. Then there is the number one quintessential tearjerker movie of all time, Love Story.
Tearjerker love movies: men will cry at these tearjerker movies because it is losing some love in your life, whether it is a parent, child, sibling, pet or lover. Tearjerker movies that will get men and women crying every time are Old Yeller, Ghost, Eight Below, Edward Scissorhands, The Joy Luck Club, Always, P.S. I Love You, and What Dreams May Come. For women, there is nothing more powerful to cry over than forbidden love like the tearjerker movies Romeo and Juliet, The King and I, West Side Story, Doctor Zhivago, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, or King Kong.
Tearjerker movies about unexpected death or tragedy: how can you not ball rivers of tears for movies like The Other Side of the Mountain about 1956 Olympic hopeful Jill Kenmont’s downhill skiing accident during the 1955 Alta, Utah tryouts, or Sweet Dreams about Patsy Cline’s life and tragic plane crash in 1963 at age 30? La Bamba is a tearjerker movie about the tragic 1959 plane crash that claimed the lives of Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. You might need an entire tissue box for We Are Marshall, the story of the tragic 1970 plane crash in Ceredo, West Virginia that claimed the lives of all 75 aboard including six coaches and 37 players of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team.
Why is Robert Redford always doing tearjerker movies? Notable Redford tearjerker movies like The Way We Were, Ordinary People, A River Runs Through It, The Great Gatsby, Out of Africa, Up Close and Personal, The Horse Whisperer, Jeremiah Johnson, and Redford’s Ike the Horse voice in Charlotte’s Web make chicks come back for more tears. Redford figured out early in his career that sappy chick flicks are big box office draws.
Here is my list of the Top 100 Tearjerker Movies of all time:
Love Story
Brian’s Song
Steel Magnolias
Ghost
Old Yeller
Doctor Zhivago
The Notebook
Schindler’s List
Romeo and Juliet
We Are Marshall
King Kong
Moulin Rouge
A Walk to Remember
Lonesome Dove
Bonnie and Clyde
We Are Marshall
When A Man Loves A Woman
On Golden Pond
Sweet Dreams
The Great Gatsby
Terms of Endearment
Sophie’s Choice
Untamed Heart
Legends of the Fall
Lorenzo’s Oil
City of Angels
The Last of the Mohicans
The Joy Luck Club
Funny Girl
Message in a Bottle
Eight Below
The Deer HunterForever Young
AwakeningsMichael
Milk
In America
P.S. I Love You
Philadelphia
The Green Mile
The English Patient
Ordinary People
Les Miserables
West Side Story
Out of Africa
Glory
A Star is Born
Up Close and Personal
Titanic
Saving Private Ryan
Evita
Beaches
Dead Man Walking
Ghost
The Way We Were
Platoon
Cocoon
The Piano
Braveheart
I Am Sam
Longtime Companion
Castaway
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Moulin Rouge
E.T.
Farewell, My Concubine
West Side Story
The Miracle Worker
Forrest Gump
Bambi
The Dirty Dozen
Autumn in New York
The Color Purple
Always
Remember The Titans
In Love and War
Marvin’s Room
Splendor in the Grass
Life is Beautiful
Harold and Maude
Charlotte’s Web
Bugsy
Meet Joe Black
Big Fish
A Streetcar Named Desire
Brokeback Mountain
Mystic River
What Dreams May Come
Reds
Edward Scissorhands
The King and I
The Other Side of the Mountain
Tristan & Isolde
A River Runs Through It
Mask
Hope Floats
My Girl
La Bamba
My Life
Pay It Forward
Where The Red Fern Grows
