We're all very different people. We're not Watusi. We're not Spartans. We're Americans, with a capital "A", huh? And you know what that means? Do you? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We're the underdog. We're mutts. Here's proof.
[touches the nose of another member of the platoon]
His nose is cold. But there's no animal that's more faithful, that's more loyal, more lovable than the mutt. Who saw Old Yeller? Who cried when Old Yeller got shot at the end? Nobody cried when Old Yeller got shot?
[hands are reluctantly raised]
I cried my eyes out.
--Bill Murray in Stripes
I usually try to do something a little bit more upbeat as a late-night diversion, but I thought this might be interesting. What are those movies that get you emotional, and bring on the waterworks?
I usually don't cry at movies, but there are some that just get the tears to just flow. Old Yeller was just one of Walt Disney's traumas of childhood. I'll let Steven Spielberg talk about Bambi.....
LEE: What is the biggest crying movie of all time?
SPIELBERG: "Bambi." When I was a kid, I would actually get up in the middle of the night and make sure my parents were still alive.
Here are some of the films that have gotten to me......
[Requiem For A Dream]
Probably one of the most depressing movies you could ever watch. The film is amazing in that the final act has very little dialog and is almost totally propelled by images. However, the scene that I always remember is where Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) explains to her son what a chance to go on television means to her.....
[Schindler's List]
The scene with the little girl in the red coat is horrifying in so many ways. As the camera follows her as she makes her way through the Kraków ghetto, murder & almost every other unGodly thing posible occurs around the little girl. Only for it to end with her climbing a flight of stairs, to take refuge under a bed, while we hear the jackboots of the Nazis marching through the night......
Amon Goeth: Today is history. Today will be remembered. Years from now the young will ask with wonder about this day. Today is history and you are part of it. Six hundred years ago when elsewhere they were footing the blame for the Black Death, Casimir the Great - so called - told the Jews they could come to Krakow. They came. They trundled their belongings into the city. They settled. They took hold. They prospered in business, science, education, the arts. With nothing they came and with nothing they flourished. For six centuries there has been a Jewish Krakow. By this evening those six centuries will be a rumor. They never happened. Today is history.
[Forrest Gump]
This is a movie people either love or hate, but there is one scene that always gets to me. The first time I saw the movie, the tears just flowed when Forrest says goodbye to his Momma......
Forrest Gump: What's the matter, Momma?
Mrs. Gump: I'm dyin', Forrest. Come on in, sit down over here.
Forrest Gump: Why are you dyin', Momma?
Mrs. Gump: It's my time. It's just my time. Oh, now, don't you be afraid, sweetheart. Death is just a part of life. It's something we're all destined to do. I didn't know it, but I was destined to be your momma. I did the best I could.
Forrest Gump: You did good, Momma.
Mrs. Gump: Well, I happened to believe you make your own destiny. You have to do the best with what God gave you.
Forrest Gump: What's my destiny, Momma?
Mrs. Gump: You're gonna have to figure that out for yourself. Life is a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you're gonna get.
Forrest Gump: [narrating] Momma always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.
Mrs. Gump: I will miss you, Forrest.
Forrest Gump: [narrating] She had got the cancer and died on a Tuesday. I bought her a new hat with little flowers on it. And that's all I have to say about that.
[E.T.]
The teacher once showed this to the class in elementary school, and when E.T. dies, I could just here sniffling all across the room.....
Elliott: E.T. Stay with me. Please...
E.T.: ...stay.
Elliott: Together. I'll be right here. I'll be right here.
E.T.: Stay, Elliott. Stay. Stay. Stay. Stay.
Scientist: The boy's coming back. We're losing E.T.
Elliott: E.T. Answer me, please. Please.
[Ghost]
I'm going to include this one, even though it doesn't work on me as much as a woman I know. I once watched this with her late at night, and she was just a blubbering mess by the end. This movie also proves the acting range of Patrick Swayze. Who else could have acted in Ghost.....
- Red Dawn
- Dirty Dancing
- Road House
The final scene......