The Greatest Tearjerkers of All-Time
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Movie Title/Year and Brief Tearjerker Scene Description |
Screenshots
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Ladyhawke (1985)
- in the film's conclusion, the joyous tearful
reunion-celebration in the front of
the cathedral of two lovers: Captain Etienne Navarre (Rutger Hauer)
and Isabeau d'Anjou (Michelle Pfeiffer) - after the Bishop of Aquila's
(John Wood) curse had been lifted. Navarre remarked to Isabeau:
"You cut your hair!" - in the scene, their companions: the
escaped thief Phillipe Gaston (aka "the Mouse") (Matthew Broderick)
and cloistered monk Father Imperius (Leo McKern) tearfully looked on
and then exited, as Navarre embraced and lifted Isabeau high into the
air and spun her around
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The Land Before Time (1988)
- in this G-rated, animated feature
(Don Bluth-directed / Spielberg / Lucas-produced), the emotional,
heart-stirring scene of the death of the Mother (voice of Helen Shaver)
of young Aptosaurus Littlefoot (voice of Gabriel Damon), during a great
earthquake that split the land. She was mortally wounded after fighting
off Tyrannosaurus Rex 'Sharptooth.' During a nighttime thunderstorm,
she reminded him about the Great Valley before dying: (Mother: "Dear
sweet Littlefoot. Do you remember the way to the Great Valley?" Littlefoot: "I
guess so. But why do I have to know? You're gonna be with me." Mother: "I'll
be with you, even if you can't see me." Littlefoot: "What
do you mean, if I can't see you? I can always see you." Mother: "Littlefoot,
let your heart guide you. It whispers. So listen closely..." Littlefoot:
"Mother? Mother?")
[Note:
Realizing that
the scene would be devastating for family audiences, the film-makers
added a post-death scene to soften the emotional impact.]
- soon after in the post-death scene,
a depressed, angered and confused, newly-orphaned Littlefoot accidentally
slid down a ravine, where he bumped into a wise old armored dinosaur
named Rooter (voice of Pat Hingle, who also narrated the film) who
consoled and advised him upon learning of his mother's death: (Rooter: "What's
your problem? You're not hurt." Littlefoot: "It's not fair.
She should have known better. That was 'Sharptooth.' It was all her
fault." Rooter:
"All who's fault?" Littlefoot: "Mother's." Rooter: "Oh.
I see. I see."
Littlefoot: "Why did I wander so far from home?" Rooter: "Oh,
it's not your fault. It's not your Mother's fault. Now, you pay attention
to old Rooter. It is nobody's fault. The great circle of life has begun.
But you see, not all of us arrive together at the end." Littlefoot: "What'll
I do? I miss her so much." Rooter: "And you'll
always miss her, but she'll always be with you as long as you remember
the things she taught you. In a way, you'll never be apart, for you
are still a part of each other"); and then when Littlefoot complained
of a stomach-ache, Rooter added:
"Well, that too will go in time, little feller. Only in
time"
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Lassie Come Home (1943)
#62
- the scene in which Lassie (Pal) was
separated from her loving young owner Joe (Roddy McDowell) when his poor
family was forced to sell the dog to the rich Duke of Rudling (Nigel Bruce)
- the teary scene in which Lassie, having traveled
1000 miles, returned to Joe and was reunited
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The Last American Virgin (1982)
- in this teen sex comedy's concluding segment after cute, curly-haired newcomer classmate Karen (Diane Franklin) had become pregnant (her shallow boyfriend Rick (Steve Antin) had made love to her under the school's bleachers and then dumped her when he found out), socially-awkward and sensitive nice-guy pizza delivery boy Gary (Lawrence Monoson) - suffering from unrequited love - helped her to acquire an expensive $250 abortion by selling some of his possessions (including his stereo equipment) and borrowing money in a montage/abortion sequence (to the tune of U2's "I Will Follow")
- however, in the downbeat, unexpected, tearjerking
ending, after Gary had taken care of her for the weekend in his grandmother's
empty house and expressed how much he loved her and embraced her
(and was planning on giving her a birthday present of a gold-heart
locket with To Karen With Love inscribed on the back), she
was back in Rick's arms at her own birthday party where a stunned
Gary saw her passionately making out with him. When the two realized
that Gary was watching them, they just stared back blankly, leaving
a heartbroken Gary crying at the sight as he left and drove away
into the darkness in his pizza delivery station wagon - the film's
ending!
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The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
- the romantic farewell scene
in a cave behind a cascading waterfall between Nathaniel "Hawkeye"
Poe (Daniel Day-Lewis) and a redcoat colonel's headstrong daughter
Cora Munro (Madeleine Stowe) as they were pursued by a Huron war party,
with Hawkeye's promise: ("...You
stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you. No matter how long
it takes, no matter how far, I will find you!...")
- the poignant
eulogy by Chingachgook (Russell Means) for his son Uncas (Eric Schweig)
after avenging his death by killing Magua (Wes Studi) - he spoke the
film's final lines of dialogue: ("Great
Spirit, Maker of All Life. A warrior goes to you swift and straight
as an arrow shot into the sun. Welcome him and let him take his place
at the council fire of my people. He is Uncas, my son. Tell them to
be patient and ask death for speed; for they are all there but one
- I, Chingachgook - Last of the Mohicans")
- the tearjerking
moment after Chingachgook finished his speech, when he gave a tortured
look to his adoptive European-born white son Hawkeye as they looked
out to the New York wilderness
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The Last
Picture Show (1971)
- the fishing scene in which ex-cowboy
Sam 'The Lion' (Oscar-winning Ben Johnson) reminisced about a girl
he swam nude with one day: ("...she wanted to swim the horses
across this tank. Kind of a crazy thing to do, but we done it anyway.
She bet me a silver dollar she could beat me across. She did. This
old horse I was ridin' didn't want to take the water. But she was
always lookin' for somethin' to do like that. Somethin' wild. I'll
bet she's still got that silver dollar")
- the scene of the senseless
death of Sonny Crawford's (Timothy Bottoms) mentally-retarded brother
Billy (Sam Bottoms) -- hit by a truck -- and Sonny's anguished cry
to the insensitive bystanders: ("He was sweepin', ya sons of
bitches. He was sweepin'!"),
before covering Billy's body with his letter jacket
- the scene
of the tirade of coach's wife Ruth Popper (Cloris Leachman)
at Sonny for abandoning her when he returned to her after Billy's
death: ("What
am I doing apologizin' to you? Why am I always apologizin' to you,
ya little bastard?...")
before empathically realizing Sonny's pain: ("Never you mind,
honey, never you mind...")
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Legends of the Fall (1994)
- the scene in which family patriarch Colonel William
Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins), unable to speak after having suffered a
stroke ("He can't talk now"), wrote on a chalkboard: "AM
HAPPY" -
to middle son Tristan (Brad Pitt)
on his return to the ranch after years of self-exile
- the accidental
death of Tristan's "half-breed" wife Isabel Two (Karina Lombard)
by a ricocheting bullet
- the reconciliation and hug between the Colonel and
his eldest, politician son Alfred Ludlow (Aidan Quinn) when Alfred
saved his family from mobster John T. O'Banion's (Robert Wisden)
gang
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Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948)
- the unrequited love and sorrow
of Lisa (Joan Fontaine) - the film title's "unknown woman," revealed
in the opening scene in a letter to womanizing pianist Stefan Brand
(Louis Jourdan), and addressed from St. Catherine's Hospital - and
its startling first statement (in female voice-over): "By the time
you read this letter, I may be dead"; after another line: "If
this reaches you, you will know how I became yours when you didn't
know who I was or even that I existed," there was a segue to a flashback
to tell the story
- the scene in which as a shy, fourteen
year old girl, Lisa stood in fright behind a glass door, holding it
open for the pianist she had fallen in love with
- the scene on the
staircase in which Lisa looked down and witnessed Stefan's return
home in the early morning hours with his latest woman-of-the-evening
- Lisa's one night of romantic bliss with Stefan including
his purchase of a single white rose for her
- the sequence at the
Viennese fairgrounds - their cyclorama ride, dancing in a deserted
dance-hall, her kneeling at the keyboard as he played, and her return
up the stairs to his apartment
- their goodbye at the train station
when Lisa said: "I'll be here when you get back" as Stefan
falsely promised to be gone only two weeks ("It won't be long. I'll
be back in two weeks"); however, Lisa's voice-over of her letter recalled:
"Two weeks. Stefan, how little you knew yourself.
That train was taking you out of my life"
- the sequence
in which Lisa left her husband, wealthy, middle-aged Austrian aristocrat
named Johann Stauffer (Marcel Journet) (who accepted her son born
out of wedlock), and returned with a large bouquet of white roses
to offer herself to her pianist love
- the touching scene
(and ending scene) years later of Stefan looking back and remembering
the enamoured young girl shyly holding the door open for him
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