The Greatest Tearjerkers of All-Time
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Movie Title/Year and Brief Tearjerker Scene Description |
Screenshots
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Nashville
(1975)
- the concluding tragic and shocking sequence at a country
music festival/political rally at Nashville's Parthenon in which
popular country singer Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakley) had just finished
performing "My Idaho Home" and then was assassinated -
and quickly replaced with unknown performer Albuquerque (Barbara
Harris) who calmed the crowd with "It Don't Worry Me"
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The Natural (1984)
- the final (tacked-on) concluding scene of a redeemed
ballplayer Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) finally reconciled and together
on his ex-girlfriend Iris Gaines' (Glenn Close) farm, and playing
catch with their 16 year old son in the golden warmth of the sun
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The New World (2005)
- the late scene of Native American ("natural")
Princess Pocahontas/Rebecca (Q'orianka Kilcher), now
married to loyal farmer-husband John Rolfe (Christian Bale), who
was summoned to England to meet King James, when she experienced
an uncomfortable reunion scene in the garden with her first love:
regretful Jamestown explorer Captain John Smith (Colin Farrell),
as they remembered their past: Smith: "Did
I make a mistake in coming here?...Perhaps I'm out of order speaking
with you this way, but I've thought of you often....You knew I
had promise, didn't you?" Pocahontas answered: "Yes.
Did you find your Indies, John? (pause) You shall" - he replied:
"I may have sailed past them" - Smith responded that what
they had in Virginia (the New World) in their past was not a dream
but the real 'truth': "I thought it was a dream - what we knew
in the forest. It's the only truth. It seems as if I was speaking
to you for the first time"; she slightly bowed to him, turned,
and sadly walked away
- their reunion was followed by her expression of
fully devoted love (and kiss) to her husband John Rolfe at the
estate; she walked up to him and gave him an arm embrace; and then
she asked: "Could we not go home?" and he responded: "As
soon as possible"; she devotedly called him: "My husband" as
she gave him a kiss, with a score enhanced
by Mozart's concerto and a recurring prelude from Wagner's Das
Rheingold
- in the film's conclusion, she was running and playing
hide-and-seek with her only child Thomas in a manicured English
garden of the estate; but before returning to the New World with
Rolfe, Pocahontas acquired pneumonia and died in bed (with her
weeping husband next to her), on the 13th of April, 1616; in voice-over,
and in death, Pocahontas closed her eyes and spoke to her mother: "Mother,
now I know where you live"
- Rolfe's words (in voice-over) described her death,
as he read his letter addressed to their son Thomas about his deceased
Native-American mother (aka Rebecca):
"Dear Son, I write this so that someday in the future you might
understand a circumstance which shall be but a far memory to you.
Your dear mother, Rebecca, fell ill in our outward passage at Gravesend.
She gently reminded me that all must die. 'Tis enough,' she said,
that you, our child, should live"
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Running and Playing in English Gardens with Son
Thomas
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(voice-over) "Mother, now I know where you
live"
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Rolfe Grieving at Pocahontas' (Rebecca's) Deathbed
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Nixon (1995)
- the scene of Nixon noisily playing "Happy Days
Are Here Again"
on the piano and calling his wife Pat (Oscar-nominated Joan Allen)
a "cocksucker" when she complained about political life (and
then suggested a divorce) after he lost to incumbent Pat Brown in California
during the gubernatorial race in 1962: ("It's over, Dick....I
have always stood by you. I campaigned for you when I was pregnant.
During Checkers, when Ike wanted you out, I told you to fight. This
is different, Dick. You've changed. Life is tough and it is unfair
and sometimes you forget that in your self-pity. You forget sometimes,
Dick that I had a life before you - before California...You've changed.
You've grown more bitter, like you're at war with the world. You weren't
that way before. I'm 50 years old now, Dick. How many millions of miles
have I traveled? How many millions of peoples' hands have I shaked
that I just don't like? How many thank-you notes have I written? It's
as if I, I don't know, just went to sleep a long time ago and missed
the years between. I've had enough...I want a divorce...This isn't
political, Dick. This is our life")
- Nixon's
press conference, when he promised to never run again after his defeat
in 1962 - to prevent a divorce from Pat: ("But
as I leave you, I-I want you to know. Just think
what you're gonna be missing. You won't have Nixon to kick around
anymore")
- Nixon's pitiful
speech to the nation, inter-cut with comments from Henry Kissinger
and Alexander Haig (Powers Boothe) watching on TV, in which Nixon
vowed that he was not a crook:
("Good
evening, my fellow Americans. Tonight I'm taking an action unprecedented
in the history of this office. I had no knowledge of the cover-up
till John Dean told me about it on March 21st, a year ago. (I think
I'm going to throw up) ...no payment to Hunt or anyone else be
made. (He's completely lost touch with reality) I've made my mistakes
but in all my years of public life, I have never profited (Can
you imagine what this man would have been had he ever been loved?)
I've earned every penny. In all of my years of public life, I have
never obstructed justice. (It's a tragedy because he had greatness
in his grasp) I welcome this examination. (But he had the defects
of his qualities). Now I made $250,000 from a book (They'll crucify
him. Does anybody really care anymore?) which many of you were
good enough to purchase (And what happens after?) ...every year.
When I, in 1968, decided to become a candidate for the President,
I decided to clean the decks and to put everything in real
estate. So, that's where the money came from. That's all I own.
That's what we have, and that's what we owe. Because people have
gotta know whether or not their president is a crook. Well,
I am not a crook. I've earned everything I have....She doesn't
have a mink coat, but she does have a respectable Republican cloth
coat. And I always tell her, uh, she'd look good in anything...
There has never been any feathering of nests. Not in this administration.
Now, let me just say this... And I want to say this to the television
audience...")
- the scene in which about-to-resign, sobbing
President Nixon (Anthony Hopkins) kneeled and prayed with Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger (Paul Sorvino): ("The world needs
you, Henry. You always saw the big picture. You were my equal in
many ways. You're the only friend I got, Henry. Do you ever pray?
You know, believe in a supreme being?...My mother used to pray
a lot. It's been a long time since I really prayed. Let's pray,
Henry. Let's pray a little. Just you and me. I hope this doesn't
embarrass you, Henry....Don't be too proud, Henry. Never be too
proud to go on your knees before God. God. How can a... How can
a country come apart like this? What have I done wrong? I opened
China. I made peace with Russia. I ended the war. I did what I
thought was right. Ah... God, why do they hate me so? Is unbelievable.
It is insane. Oh, M-Mom, I'm sorry. God, please forgive me, God.
I really didn't mean it. I didn't know what to do. I don't know
why this is happening to me. I can't believe...")
- the scene of Nixon's poignant late-night conversation
to a portrait of Kennedy in the hallway, with only
his wife Pat: ("When
they look at you, they see what they want to be. When they look
at me, they see what they ARE..."); then he confided in Pat:
("I'm so afraid. There's darkness out there. I could always see
where I was going. But it's dark out there. God, I've always been
afraid of the dark")
- Nixon's goodbye-farewell and impromptu speech
to his White House staff, including his tribute to his mother:
("Nobody
will ever write a book, probably, about my mother. Well, I guess
all of you would say this about your mother. My mother was a saint....Yes,
she will have no books written about her. But she was a saint");
he then went on to say: ("...the greatness comes, not when
things go always good for you but the greatness comes when
you're really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments,
when sadness comes. Because only if you've been in the deepest
valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be
on the highest mountain...Remember, always give your best. Never
get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate
you. But those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And
then, you destroy yourself. And so we leave with high hopes and
good spirits and with deep humility. And I say to each and
every one of you, not only will we always remember you but always
you will be in our hearts. And you'll be in our prayers")
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The Notebook (2004)
- a romantic love story viewed over many years was the subject
of this intense tearjerker
- young, privileged and pretty Southern debutante
Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) shared a passionate rain-soaked kiss
after an idyllic afternoon rowboating through a spectacular duck-filled
setting with earthy mill worker Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling), as she
learned for the first time that he had written her 365 love letters
(one each day for a year) - although her domineering mother had intercepted
them and disapproved of his 'low-class' status. Noah professed his
love on the dock: "It
wasn't over. It still isn't over!"
- later, another emotional scene
was the moment that Allie finally made a choice between Noah and her
parent-approved fiancee Lon Hammond, Jr. (James Marsden) - and drove
to Noah's fixed-up mansion to move in and be with him
- in the final
scenes, the revelation that nursing home patient Allie Hamilton/Calhoun
(Gena Rowlands) had severe Alzheimer's Disease and could only remember
the story of their love for a few minutes. She and frail heart patient
Noah or "Duke" Calhoun
(James Garner) had met and fallen in love when in their teens - in
old age, Noah repeatedly rekindled their love by re-reading from her
old faded notebook diary (written by Allie as a present to Noah years
earlier, with the handwritten dedication in its front: "Read this
to me, and I'll come back to you"). After one of the readings telling
of their love for each other, Allie briefly remembered their
love during a special candlelight dinner in the nursing home when they
shared a dance together - Allie requested: "Do
you think I can be her tonight?" - but then she rapidly 'forgot'
and panicked.
- in the final scene in the rest home, she remembered
him as they held hands in her bedroom, where he promised he would
always be there and never leave her. She asked him: "Do you think that our
love can create miracles?" He replied: "Yes, I do. That's what
brings you back to me each time." She asked a second question. "Do
you think our love can take us away together?" He responded: "I
think our love can do anything we want it to." They fell asleep
in the same bed, and passed away together.
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Now, Voyager
(1942)
#41
#93
- the final famous tearjerking scene
between married single father Jerry Durrance (Paul Heinreid) and love
interest Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) when she proposed that they
would test out Charlotte's care for Jerry's 12 year-old daughter
Christine "Tina" (arranged by her psychiatrist Dr. Jaquith (Claude
Rains)): ("Jerry, Dr. Jaquith knows about us. When he said I could
take Tina, he said, 'You're on probation.' Do you know what that
means? It means that I'm on probation because of you and me. He allowed
this visit as a test, and if I can't stand such tests, I'll lose
Tina, and we'll lose each other. Jerry, please help me"); Jerry responded
by asking once more:
("Shall we just have
a cigarette on it?") to which she responded breathlessly: "Yes,
sir," holding
out an opened cigarette box. He took two cigarettes and put them
in his mouth, lit them both, and then handed one over to Charlotte
- the film ended
with Charlotte's most memorable line on the balcony - although she
knew Jerry would never leave his wife, they had found something far
more enduring and happy. Tina would remain with Charlotte to
be cared for as their "child," and he could regularly come
and visit: ("Of course, and
just think, it won't be for this time only. That is, if you'll help
keep what we have. If we both try hard to, to protect that little
strip of territory that's ours. We can talk about your child" - "our
child" "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars").
As the music swelled, the camera moved between them and ascended
above the trees to a starry night sky
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