Badmovies.org Forum

What experiences have you had where you watched a movie (at theater or at home, doesn't matter) and something about it was a personal experience beyond JUST the movie.

One of mine:

I went to see HAMBURGER HILL at the theater with one of my best friends whose brother was killed in Vietnam only weeks before he was due to return home.  We had to drive to the next town to see the movie, and on the hour-long ride home, he did not say a word.

I was able to later honor both him and his brother...at The Wall in DC, I got a tracing of his brother's name and gave it to him.

Sadly, I've lost touch with that friend.  I have not spoken to him in over 15 years.  

I'm the son of a soldier so watching the movie To Heal A Nation (Michael Pressman: 1988), about the design, building and dedication of the Vietnam War Memorial was an emotional one for me. The last quarter hour of that movie wipes you out, from the time that one of the stoneworkers (Alley Mills) discovers her little brother's name on the stone she's cleaning and cries bitterly to the moving dedication ceremony, presided over by Jan Scruggs, played by Eric Roberts.  Archive footage of the real dedication is cleverly mixed with the footage shot for the film and there are many scenes showing real Vets: the emotion shown in those scenes is not acting ~ it is painfully real and raw.

Other scenes: two brothers, both of whom served in Vietnam are checking the names, each looking for each others' name when they bump into each other.
During the fundraising, a Green Beret Vet ~ who has long been ashamed of being a Vet ~ puts on his sergeant's uniform and comes to where the fundraiser is being held and says that he is now proud of being a soldier once more.
An elderly lady finds her son's name on the wall and turns to the Vet next to her saying "That's......my son, Sam......". The Vet says "Oh, my goodness....", hands her a flag and hugs her.
A Vet with his head covered in a hood plants a flag at the base of the Wall and prays.
Some Vets stand around and cry bitterly: most of them on the shoulders of their fellow Vets.
Scores of Vets injured in the war are there: I think Ron Kovic could have been there too.
Each name is read by a Chaplain to the accompaniment of soft rain and a haunting score.
A young lady brings a small teddy bear to the Wall and puts it down.
A threatening looking Vet approaches Eric Roberts and says "Are you Scruggs?" Roberts says "Yes" and the Vet says "You did good, buddy, you did good. [hugs ER] And the best thing was the names: God bless you for the names, buddy."
The film ends with a very emotional ER (yes, he can act) hugging his wife and saying "It was the names, wasn't it? Yeah."

I tear up watching this every time and it is hard to type when your eyes mist over. Damn, I'm an emotional ^%$#@&* sometimes.

 :bluesad: :bluesad:

Emotion aside ~ and believe me, I blub like a baby everytime I see this ~ there is one scene that is very funny: Scruggs' colleague goes to the US National Archives for info and this conversation occurs:

Colleague: "I'm looking for some names: MIA and KIA in Vietnam."
Archivist: "MIA KIA in Vietnam, no problem. Who in particular?"
Colleague: "All of them, in chronological order. Please."
Archivist: " :buggedout: :buggedout: :buggedout: :buggedout:"  :teddyr:

Wow, what a guy thread so far. And I'll just add another.

I saw Saving Private Ryan less than a month after getting out of boot camp. Anyone who has served in any branch knows how wound up you are that soon after boot.

I'd have to say seeing enterprise self destructing on st3 was a "Oh my god" moment for me. being a trekker from my earliest days despite my prick of a stepfather's hate for the show.

The fact the klingons died on board was mildly amusing, but still, it was just..unbelievable.

Flags Of Our Fathers, where Ira Hayes is working in the field on his reservation, and a family of tourists stop to have their picture taken with him.

The father goes on in front of his family about what a 'great war hero'  Hayes is, and after the picture is taken, he drops a handful of change into Hayes' hands and they drive off, and Hayes is "just another Indian" afterwards. It really made me mad.


Red Dawn: C. Thomas Howell is trapped by an incoming MI-24 Hind chopper.
Knowing his fate, he slowly unmasks his face, stands tall and proud, and yells "Wolverines"! as he opens fire, only to be cut down by the chopper's machine gun fire.  The crowd went nuts and some of them were screaming "USA!" at the the top of their lungs.

The shooting of Zowie, the kid's pet dog in Pet Sematary 2 by that rotten bastard of a stepfather.  I felt very satisfied ater in the film when Zowe came back from the dead and immediately ripped out the man's throat.

This leads me to the scene in Dances With Wolves with the wolf, "2 Socks". 'Nuff said.  :bluesad:

I felt some heart twangs towards the end of Toy Story 3.  I think its been known to make grown men cry, and if you're a fan of the series, and have a heart, I can see why.

I not only cried at the end but was choking on my tears.  I am not afraid at all to admit that and not to mention I was crying in front of my 4 year old. 

The powerful South African film Katrina (1969) has a tremendously sad ending: I screened that to 120 people once in a small Bloemfontein cinema in 2008 ~ 120 people went in dry-eyed and 120 people came out bawling.

I cried unashamedly ~ silently though ~ when Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum see the dinosaurs for the first time in Jurassic Park and the ending also turned on the waterworks. I love me some dinosaurs: always have. :teddyr:

Armageddon also made me cry, and not just because Michael Bay made it.  :tongueout: Trevor Rabin's wonderful score and the acting from the time Bruce Willis says "We win, Gracie!" to the end is, just WOW.

Uwe Boll's Darfur made me cry bitterly at the end: Yowza ~ I was so distressed by that film that I nearly had a car crash en route to the hotel.

The "I love you all, my sons" scene in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made me bawl.

The ending of Cool Runnings made me cry too: THAT is what the Olympics is really all about.

The following films:

Elephant Man

Platoon

The Abyss

Batman (1989)

Batman Returns

Jurassic Park (you're not alone, Trev')

Dangerous Minds

Peter Pan (2003)

Angel - A

Stardust


Thats more than I thought (And there's loads more I can't think of..). I need to go back to man camp...

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, the 1991 Heisei remake.

The flashback scene on Japanese occupied Lagos island in WW2.

Godzilla is a pre-monster dinosaur. He is critically wounded by offshore American naval fire after killing an entire garrison of American Marines.

As he lay critically wounded, the Japanese garrison surround and salute Godzilla. The commander, (Yoshio Tsuchiya) gives an elegant speech about how Godzilla is their savior, and that of their nation.  They give him full military honors and march off to their fate.

Hearing it in the original Japanese language was very emotional compared to the dubbed version.  It's very powerful.

I was really drunk last week. I woke up and SLING BLADE was on. A freind of mine,Destiny, told me the next day that when the scence came on where Billy Bob is telling about burying his little brother I starting bawling. I don't remember. I was hammered.

I started tearing up about two weeks ago while watching an episode of Steve Wilko. Some thing about a guy and his addict sister...she claimed she was raped by her own father...and he didn't believe her. A lie detecter test proved she was telling the truth.  I'm a big baby.  :bluesad:

Ah, only in America!  :tongueout:  :lookingup:

I didn't cry at that scene but I will admit it is overly powerfull.  Especially when the old man says, "Welcome to Jurassic Park" and the music swells. 

Everytime I've seen a Star Wars film in the theater and I see the words "A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Far Away..."  I well up bad.  Then a second later when the scroll hits the tears come out.

I cried at the end Of HEAT...I feel bad for both Deniro and Pacino.

I still tear up at the end of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.
And when the Benjamin Martin's daughter goes chasing after him in THE PATRIOT, crying
"I'll say anything!  Anything you want, Daddy!"

But the number one emotional punch in the stomach of any movie I have ever seen was THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST.  I cried till I had no more tears, and I still consider it the most powerful, emotional film I have ever seen.

This is a great thread.

I should not be answering this because I cry on cue at every emotional scene in a movie, no matter how stupid or cliche it may be, I always fall for it.  It's embarrassing because I try so hard not to, and everyone that knows I do this immediately looks at me during these scenes to see if I'm getting all misty eyed so they can tease me. 

My husband loves to tease be about how I bawled like a baby while watching Zombie Lake.  I know it's a really goofy movie, but when that zombie dad was so protective of his daughter, I just got so sad and touched.  Ever since my father died when I was a kid, I cannot watch any emotional father scenes in movies without weeping my eyes out... actually seeing any emotional parent or pet scenes make me weep, and if one of them dies, I'm pretty much inconsolable for at least the next 15 minutes. 

What's wrong with crying during a movie? I've done it many times myself.  Yeah you might get teased (as I unavoidably have) but hey, it shows you have feelings; welcome to the Human Race  :smile:

Since you mention fathers, Here's one from me to you:

I always cry at the end of any episode of Leave It To Beaver, where Ward or June (or both) gently explain the lesson well-learned to Beaver and Wally, as the music plays in the background.  They always let the boys know that they love them, and not to be afraid to come to them if they're in trouble.

My father wasn't like that. He was nasty and mean, and I'll stop here because the worlds I have for him wouldn't pass a language filter.

Anyway, crying isn't a shame. It's part of who you are and noone can take that from you.

 :cheers:

Brother, when you don't talk politics, I love ya.  Plus, you learned how to quote.   :smile:

I feel like I'm become more sensitive to movies and whatnot in recent years, but here are the ones that stand out:

The ending scenes of The Elephant Man.  Unfairly devastating use of Adagio for Strings! 

I always choke up during The Iron Giant at the "Superman..." line.

The final scene of Tsurumaru on the cliff in Ran stirs some sort of deep sadness in me.

The conclusion of Chinatown makes me sad and angry.  I love that movie.

The entire sequence in Babe: Pig in the City where the animals in the hotel is being raided, especially Thelonius the orangutan clutching his goldfish bowl and staring at the men who are about to capture him, and once they do he drops the bowl and it shatters, leaving the fish gasping on the floor (Babe saves him, luckily).  God, there are several other parts in that movie that get me, too.

Stop Making Sense makes me feel all giddy.

Only if you dress up like Judy Garland and re-enact the scene.  :wink:

I'd say SCHINDLER'S LIST left me pretty teary-eyed.

I love that movie. David Byrne was a brilliant performer. I guess the title of the thread doesn't necessarily mean crying. Giddiness is certainly an emotional reaction.

Yeah...  I lost my father as a teenager and I'm the same way.  Maybe we should start a club or something?  Most recently, I've been watching Dexter and some of the scenes in it got to me.  Which is a little funny considering the context of that show and all..

I remember finding the trailer to Pearl Harbor very moving, added in was the fact that many of the elderly people in the theatre around me were moved deeply by it and were obviously lost in the moment.  It's a shame the movie isn't much.

One of the movies I find the most effective at moving me close to tears is Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.  In particular, the church scene.  It's a visually gorgeous and poetic film.  My opinion, if you're only going to see one silent film, it's the one to see.

I tear up at the end of Gladiator and The Crow and when Babe is taken away from his Mom in Babe.  I got pretty distraught the first time I saw John Wayne get killed, in The Cowboys.

Here's a funny story about The Cowboys. I'm sure some will insist on getting bent out shape because of their politics. I just think it's a funny comeback.

At the wrap party, John Wayne told Bruce Dern that he wasn't going to be too popular among Western fans for being one of the only villains to have ever killed one of his characters in a film.

Quick as could be, Bruce came back "but in Berkley I'll be a patron saint."

Well, it was the 60's.

Benjamin Button made me cry because the real time (the non flash back montage) was minutes/ hours before Katrina hits.

I know I've listed these elsewhere on the board but here we go again:

Finding Nemo - that ending SLAYS me every damn time when Nemo and his father hug.  I'm tearing up now thinking about it.

Field Of Dreams - father and son playing catch, yep that nails me down.  

A Christmas Story - not every time but I think the first time I usually watch it for the year it gets me.  

Jersey Girl - an immensely touching ending that got me and I didn't even have a daughter when I first saw it.  Now that I have one I'd probably be out of work for a week if I watch it again.  

Return Of The Jedi - When Luke sees Yoda, Obiwan and Anakin through the Force. 

That one gets me too.  :smile:

Another one that made me cry: the scene in Star Trek IV The Voyage Home where everyone, stoked at the fact that the whales have saved the day, jumps in the water and just have a ball. Even Mr Spock has a smile on his face.

Berkeley, it figures.

THE COWBOYS is 1972.  :wink:

Although no way near as personal and powerful as some others' experiences here, I teared up something shocking at the scene in the first Transformers movie, with all of the Autobots streaking through the sky and landing on earth.  For some reason that moment in the movie struck a chord in me, and it appears from other people that I wasn't alone in this.

Possibly one of the most depressing movies I've ever seen, and one that haunted me so much that I had to talk to a friend about it the next day, was Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl.  It's a Chinese movie directed by Joan Chen, about a young girl who is sent to live in an farming village during Chairman Mao's redistribution of populace campaigns. 

Xiu Xiu was a city girl who longed to go back, and lives with a good-hearted man who has been emasculated during the war, and who is in love with her, but she won't have a bar of this country bumpkin.  Meanwhile, she ends up sleeping with a variety of officials who promise her that they can help her go home.  They are obviously using her, but she's so desperate that she thinks she's using them.  It ends with her having an abortion, after which she asks the farmer to set her free by killing her.  He buries her in the rock-bath he made for her earlier in the movie.

After that, I swore to never watch any remotely depressing movie ever again.  The Autobots coming to earth was a happy kind of tears.  That horrible Chinese movie was something else.

I have emotional moments from AI and similar movies.  It occurs not so much from the movie but the hypothetical thought you see sometimes.  That which we desire which can't occur because of powers beyond our own.  I find it sad as we can struggle and struggle but will never be able to attain.  This kind of thinking saddens me as we realize all our efforts are futile.  They are simply illusions.  The thing we desire is unobtainable and thus absent from any sense of normality.  This saddens me.  It occurs often times in family films or in certain romantic films but it gets me all the time. 

I've seen this one too, and you're right, it was very depressing.

One scene that stole my breath was from The Last Samurai, when you see the Samurai coming out of the forest in the early morning mist in slo-motion, with their katanas held high.

Galloping on proud horses, their banners held high, screaming out the ancient battle cries of their ancestors, they truly evoked the image of another day, one of honor and fearless courage.  What a georgeous scene.

That's why I felt like sh*t when they were all killed at the end of the film..I SO wanted them to win.

Some of these might seem a bit strange but well...

Patlabor 1: The Movie: the scene where the cops are discussing change and how it seems as though the minute you stop to smell the roses and take in the scenery, another buge building or skyscraper appears blocking the horizon as though out of nowhere.

Blade Runner: the poetic farewell from Roy Batty.

2001: A Space Odyssey: when HAL sings his song.

Soylent Green: Sol goes home. The opening montage gets me too.

The Omega Man: Heston repeating the words from Woodstock

Old Yeller: had tears running down my eyes in the end.

Gojira (1954) / Godzilla: King of the Monsters: The song sung by the Japanese children.

I always feel sympathetic for the following characters too:

The Wolf Man
The Phantom of the Opera
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Godzilla (especially in Gojira 1954)
King Kong
The Phantom of the Paradise