07/30/2008: X-E’s ‘08 Summer Megaparty: Dr. Pepper.
No content tonight, as I must get a shitload of paperwork done to avoid being shot to death tomorrow morning. Instead, a survey, and one sure to depress you: Talk about the saddest TV/movie moments you’ve ever seen.
They just keep coming to me! “Dream On” by Aerosmith gets me choked up sometimes! It’s an inspirational song for me. It motivates me to follow my dreams and seize the moment! Corny? Maybe. But it works for me!
Amazing thread reading through all these comments. Behold the power of X-E!
The final scene in A.I. is pretty powerful for me along with the whole premise of the film.
A couple from my childhood- “The other side of the mountain” and “Ice Castles” along with “Ryan’s Song”. Damn, did every 70’s movie have to feature sad piano music?
Ghosted by MikeyD @ 07/31/2008 1:15 PM EDT
Oh yea! The scene in “Dumbo” where Dumbo goes to visit his mother while she is locked in her cage and she rocks him with her trunk through the bars. I cry every time.
Someone earlier mentioned the movie “Grave of the Fireflies.” I started crying about 10 min. into that movie and never stopped until the credits.
And yes, Jurassic Bark also made be cry.
I think I’m just a complete sap in general.
Ghosted by lafftaff @ 07/31/2008 1:22 PM EDT
Oh, has anyone seen Nobody Knows (Dare mo Shiranai)? It’s a Japanese movie about some kids that were abandoned by their mother, inspired by a true story. I cried for the last 45 minutes of the movie. It’s so incredibly sad.
Wow, I thought a lot more people would know Plague Dogs. The only thing that will make you sadder/tearier than the first five minutes of the movie is the rest of the movie.
Anyway, here’s some disturbing side info- the Steven Stayner story gets even weirder. His brother, Cary Stayner, ended up being a serial killer about ten years ago. He killed a Yosemite park ranger and some time later kidnapped and killed a woman on vacation with her daughter and an exchange student. Got to be tough for that family…
Ghosted by jimbutsu @ 07/31/2008 1:35 PM EDT
lafftaff: I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who cries at that scene in Dumbo. I think it has something to do with my father passing away last year.
Grave of the Fireflies and Dancer in the Dark are the two most depressing movies I’ve ever seen. I did not just cry during them- I fucking BAWLED. Those are 2 flicks that I’ve seen only once, and once is enough.
Ok, I might screw this one up as my memory has become fuzzy, but there is a Taxi episode that haunts me to this very day. I must have been 4 or 5 when I saw it, anyway, Its the episode where Christopher Lloyds characters Dad died and he was left with a tape of Stevie Wonder’s “You are the Sunshine Of my life”. He played the tape and cried and stuff, then I cried and stuff.
It might be that the song makes me sad.
Dont start singing it, I mean it.
Ghosted by Boner Jams '03 @ 07/31/2008 1:41 PM EDT
I don’t know if any of you saw the Witchblade anime that recently played on IFC, but the series finale where Witchblade says goodbye to her daughter Ryoku is sad.
I just got back from Wal-Mart and got two new flavors of limited edition Pop-Tarts. One is guava mango, the other is dulce de leche aka toasted caramel. I also got all three flavors of those new Pringles Cravers chips.
Ghosted by JLAJRC @ 07/31/2008 1:42 PM EDT
Oh yeah, and The Green Mile. Dear god, that ending is heart-wrenching. Damn good movie, but sad as hell.
Since we’re going with songs, too, I’ve got to mention “The Last Song” by Elton John. I had to watch the movie “And the Band Played On” for a class in high school, and the way it ended with that song playing in the background got me choked up. I can’t listen to that song anymore without starting to well up. And the lyrics…
The last episode of Roseanne when it is revealed that the last season of the series was Roseanne’s drepression induced fantasy and that Dan died as a result of the heart attack he had at Darlene’s wedding. That was some seriously bad mojo!
Ghosted by Number 42 @ 07/31/2008 2:14 PM EDT
How ’bout the part in I Am Legend where Will Smith has to kill Sam via choking. I think I was the only one in the theater who wasn’t crying.
Or how ’bout the ending of Signs, when Morgan almost dies while Phoenix is Swinging Away. “His lungs were closed. His lungs were closed. No poison got in. His lungs were closed.”
*TEARY EYED*
I still get sad thinking about Fred’s (Winifred Burkle) death on the Angel TV show. I got so attached to her then she dies and even her soul is completely snuffed out by the demon Illyria. That whole scene with Wesley holding her as she dies still gets me.
“My Dog Skip” – holy crap, I watched it once and I can never watch it again. I don’t even remember the rest of the movie because if the way it ended. I know the dog was old, but…man, that got me.
Wonder Years has been mentioned several times but it got me for a different reason…we find out Kevin’s dad died of a heart attack 2 years after the final episode. Man, that one little piece of narration at the end affected me in a way very few shows have.
Ghosted by freudguy @ 07/31/2008 2:18 PM EDT
I’m with the others who say the “Angel” dog shelter commercial. Doesn’t get much more poignant than that. Also, Lou Gehrig’s final speech at Yankee Stadium. I will always get teary-eyed watching that.
Ghosted by Clockwork @ 07/31/2008 2:23 PM EDT
I’ve got one- the part in Titanic where it shows the two old people lying on the bed in their cabin room holding each other as the room fills up with water, and the old woman is crying. That one scene really got to me.
- Series finales make me upset in general and I avoid watching them. Too many to list.
- I shamefully admit to bawling at the end of the second Ewok movie, when Cindel has to leave Wicket behind and take off with Wilfred Brimley in a salvaged spaceship. Yeeeaahhh….
- The scene in Rear Window where Miss Lonely Hearts (or whatever the nickname was) is shown having a pretend date and then sobbing out of loneliness — holy shit.
- Every episode of All In The Family where Edith is sad, being attacked, or dead.
- The recently recalled “shoe murder” scene from Roger Rabbit.
- As a child I was super affected by the “burning Vader” scene from ROTJ, but not so much now.
Ghosted by Matt @ 07/31/2008 2:35 PM EDT
Darlene’s wedding actually just aired last night! It would have been a terrible downer but the show could have ended right there.
I’m grateful I never saw the episode where Edith dies. The one where she gets attacked was absolutely bad enough.
-The bridge scene in Cloverfield
-Ted leaves the dude ranch for “summer high”
-Elliott from ET getting shot up in Legends of the Fall
-The time jumping Futurama episode where Fry rearranges the stars for Leela but they get sucked into a black hole *sniff*
i had to skip ahead here and go along with the SPCA type commercials.. but there was one i saw to top them all.. when i lived in toronto over 10 years ago they had this 30 minute long ‘almost infomercial’ about the SPCA etc.. and one scene they showed a dog being put to sleep by injection.. you could see how scared the dogs eyes were when they brought him in and put him on the table.. and he was shaking.. and even worse when they were injecting it.. *i’m not going to make it through this post.. they are going to think i’m crazy crying at work..* .. and then you could actually see the realization in his big brown eyes as he got sleepier and sleepier.. bastards…
There was a “Band of Brothers” episode that focused completely on the Creole Medic from Easy Company. I was on the verge of tears because I really identified with him -constantly having to help others, no time for himself, and completely trusting the guys around him ’cause he didn’t have a choice.
When he found the French church all bombed out- UNGH! What a hit… His Medic Duties couldn’t even let him mourn properly. If he wasn’t a medic, he’d have been Section 8′ed.
I too hated the Shoe Murder, And dumbo’s mummy… I think Death shouldn’t happen in Cartoons. From Bambi’s Mum, to Watership Down- Cartoons aren’t supposed to die!
So when they do… it’s very difficult for me to NOT cry.
And anything having to do with Animals being Hurt. From the ASPCA Commercial, to the Animal Cops to Documentaries. I get bummed more if it’s from Human neglect.
Oh good…I thought I was the only one with Jurassic Bark.
WHEN SIMBA’S DAD DIES IN THE LION KING.
Ghosted by ellaenchanted @ 07/31/2008 3:32 PM EDT
What Number42 said about the Rosanne episodes. It really gets me when they do things like that. The episode of Ed Edd and Eddy when you find out that the whole series was just them as old men reminiscing about when they were kids was pretty sad too.
I know six feet under has been said, mainly the finale. I thought it was all pretty sad when Nate died.
Ghosted by Etno @ 07/31/2008 3:35 PM EDT
I don’t know what was up with me as a child, but I just didn’t react to sad things the way most people would. They didn’t seem to faze me at all. Didn’t do a lot of crying due to T.V./movies as a kid. I am, however, making up for it now. Anything that could be a tear-jerker for whatever reason causes my eyes to well up. From Hallmark commercials featuring lonley old ladies getting cards, to the deaths of beloved characters, all the tears I never shed as a tyke come pouring fourth like Niagra Falls. Just reading through these comments made me misty-eyed.
Aw I didn’t know that’s how Ed Edd and Eddy ended. That actually sounds kind of sweet.
-In the Arrested Development series finale, when Michael gives a speech and starts choking up. Even Buster’s like “What a f*cking baby!” but I was right there with him.
-The end of Dexter S1, when Dexter finds out just why the Ice Truck Killer understands him so well.
-The episode of Reno 911! where Clemmy and Garcia hook up and after he dumps her she tries to play it off like she intentionally drove him away, but then the camera catches this heart-wrenching look on her face when nobody’s looking.
-In Sin City, when Wendy tells Marv he can call her Goldie.
You people have made me tear up quite a bit through this thread. I had to call my kitty to come snuggle with me.
I’ve told y’all about how I almost died a yeay and a half ago, and ever since, I cry at the drop of a hat. I remember watching Idol Gives Back last year and bawling at all the poor African folks and the New Orleans people. The ASPCA commercial gets me everytime. And even though they’re not really “sad,” I always cry at the end of Frequency and Jersey Girl. Actually, the part of Jersey Girl where J. Lo dies gets me because I can’t imagine losing my wife during labor, being left to raise a child by myself.
Two off the top of my head that make me cry to this day: E.T. when Elliot thinks he’s dead and also at the end when they’re saying goodbye to him.
Mask (with Cher) when she finds out her son died in his sleep.
Ghosted by Melissa Y. @ 07/31/2008 4:19 PM EDT
Totally in agreement with all of the Futurama references here!
The last episode of Home Movies, where Brendon drops his camera out of the car as it’s driving away for some reason ruins me. The whole episode’s theme is Brendon, Melissa, and Jason rethinking the years they spent making movies, but the camera-out-the-window moment was the one that got me.
No references to Cowboy Bebop yet? I cried for days and days after Spike’s death–and it’s driven home with the final “You’re Gonna Carry That Weight” in place of “See You Later Space Cowboy”. Tears. Days. Everywhere.
There are a lot of Scrubs moments that had me too, but they’ve been mentioned.
(ha! I came out of lurking for this!)
Ghosted by Nyoro @ 07/31/2008 4:20 PM EDT
Primus you’re trying to make me cry at work! Anything dog related makes me cry so easily…I have tried watching those shows on Animal Planet about the Animal Cops and one story made me never want to watch it again. I can’t even type it out b/c I’ll start crying at my desk…
Holy shit, I’m never watching the Never Ending Story AGAIN. You know what, I think that’s the first movie that genuinely made me cry. In my earlier post, I mention E.T. which I was sad as a kid to see those scenes but they made me cry more as I got older. The Never Ending story was the first time I sat and watched a film that I cried over. I’m never watching it again knowing that horse really died during that scene.
Ghosted by Melissa Y. @ 07/31/2008 4:25 PM EDT
Everyone’s mentioned how sad the ASPCA commercials are and animals being harmed or killed in general. I don’t cry about it, but animals being harmed makes me cringe, especially dogs. I take this to the extreme, too: I was upset when they killed Cujo!
I know Matt only asked for TV/movies, but I have to add a book here…Professor Severus Snape’s final words…”LOOK AT ME!”
Ghosted by Ann Marie @ 07/31/2008 4:29 PM EDT
Okay, I’ve cried enough reading all of yours that I’m adding my own…the scene in Hotel Rwanda when Don Cheadle finds out that the buses aren’t there to pick the *all* up, just the kids and nuns. I lost it entirely and still choke up thinking about the fact that this stuff actually happened, on any level.
TV- MASH, when Henry Blake didn’t get to make it home, and we have to find out through Radar, who was like a son to him.
Ghosted by Sean @ 07/31/2008 4:33 PM EDT
Hotel Rwanda- should say “them”, not “the”, my mistake
Ghosted by Sean @ 07/31/2008 4:34 PM EDT
I never cried during these two moments, but I definately find them poignant, even today.
Gilda Radner died and Steve Martin hosted SNL that week. They showed a sketch they both did in the 70s era where they both simply dance, no dialogue. It’s my favorite Gilda sketch.
Also, when Phil Hartman died they showed a sketch he did with Jan Hooks where they sang “Love is a Dream.” Awesome.
The Wonder Years finale never did it for me. I know they were trying for poignancy, but I just felt ripped off. I know it maybe more realistic for Kevin/Winnie not to hook up, but if I’m gonna invest years of my life to a show, you better give me what I want. I was more pissed than sad.
I’ve never seen the full movies of either, just the endings, but they both did me in. One was “The Champ.” The other was “The Death of the Incredible Hulk.” Can’t believe they had the guts to do that one.
Ghosted by JLAJRC @ 07/31/2008 4:40 PM EDT
Nyoro I mentioned Bebop but I’m trying to be fairly oblique about really spoilie spoilers. Besides it was always Faye firing her gun into the air in frustration that got to me the most so I mentioned that scene.
If we’re bringing Harry Potter in, then Dobby, for sure. Basically the entire last half of the last Harry Potter, really.
Growing up watching the “Incredible Hulk” TV show in syndication (I was born in ‘81), I definitely wept at the end of “The Death of the Incredible Hulk” TV movie from ‘90. Of course after that, I cried again when Bill Bixby died in real life.
I know there are a lot of others, but these where the first to come to mind.
Ghosted by Loneman1 @ 07/31/2008 5:08 PM EDT
I’m not a cryer myself, but just because you don’t cry doesn’t mean you don’t care about things. In addition to the animal commercial I mention where that song Angel plays, I am affected and depressed by ANY animal commercial.
Ghosted by ULTRAMAN @ 07/31/2008 5:14 PM EDT
I have to agree with those who put Doomsday from Docotor Who. It was gut-wrenching to see that Rose and the Doctor where going to be separated, until The Stolen Earth. Neither the Doctor nor the audience has time to grieve when Donna suddenly drops in out of nowhere.
Ghosted by Thomas @ 07/31/2008 5:18 PM EDT
In My Girl, when Vada is at the funeral crying and screaming “his glasses! He needs his glasses!”
Simon Birch. The whole thing.
Ghosted by Muppet Baby @ 07/31/2008 5:24 PM EDT
Benji the Hunted. That is the saddest damn kids movie I have ever seen. The hawk carrying off a kitten and the wolf going over a cliff were pretty bad, but the absolute worst part is when Benji watches helplessly as the search party leaves the island. I am, no joke, tearing up right now.
Ghosted by Elizabeth @ 07/31/2008 5:34 PM EDT
My saddest TV moment was when Arnold and Dudley get molested by the bike shop guy on Different Strokes. I could never set foot in a bike shop after that. Not that there were too many bike shops around in my hood back then anyway.
Ghosted by Pig Malien @ 07/31/2008 5:41 PM EDT
When they lit a candle for Wash at the end of ‘Serenity’. Damn.
When River Phoenix disappears at the end of ‘Stand by Me’.
Ghosted by Muppet Baby @ 07/31/2008 5:47 PM EDT
The movie “Harsh Times”, with Christian Bale left me totally empty inside.
The episode of Trigun where Wolfwood dies.
Ghosted by Ryane @ 07/31/2008 5:48 PM EDT
OH MAN that commercial for the animals with that Angel song is playing RIGHT NOW as I type this !
Ghosted by ULTRAMAN @ 07/31/2008 5:55 PM EDT
The real Tarzan wouldn’t wear a shirt! Wait a minute,where are you kids going? That’s 20 bucks for the bike tire!!!!
Ghosted by Kid Nicky @ 07/31/2008 6:01 PM EDT
Yes Muppet Baby! That movie makes me cry because of that and because of what happened to Book. WAH!
TV: Buffy’s mom. I cry every time. And Charlie on Lost. I also cried when Mr. Eko died. And the series finales of just about any show that I’ve loved. I am a total sucker for anything sad or touching. And that ASPCA commercial should have a warning, it’s so depressing.
Movies: Maybe’s it’s because I’m a girl, but the funeral in 4 Weddings and a Funeral. When he reads that Auden poem (”he was my north, my south, my east, my west”), I sob uncontrollably. And that always seems to be the scene that is on when I happen to come across it playing on TV. Also, in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, when they burn the house down with their mom inside. And Green Mile, and Shawshank, and way too many others to list.
The biggest tearjerker for me, though, is Snoopy, Come Home. My parents took us to see it in the movie theatre (I know, I’m OLD, okay?), and when Snoopy leaves, I just lost it! It was so bad that my mom had to take me out of the theatre, and I wouldn’t go back in. And I outright refuse to watch Dumbo!!!
Also, I can’t hear Kermit the Frog sing “The Rainbow Connection” without getting sad because it always makes me think of what a genius we lost when Jim Henson died.
I’m sure I could think of a kajillion others…
Ghosted by Chixie @ 07/31/2008 6:06 PM EDT
Annette!!! OMG!!!!
I had obviously seen and loved Voltron and such as a kid,and things like Ghost in the Shell and such,but Gundam 0080 turned me into a lifelong anime fan when I stumbled across it on Midnight Run. (before adult swim was invented) When the other little kid thinks the kid’s crying because the war’s over,and he’s like “Cheer up! There’ll be another war before you know it!”
Best. OVA. Ever.
Ghosted by Kid Nicky @ 07/31/2008 6:08 PM EDT
Yeah, I remember Midnight Run. I used to watch Gundam Wing on there. Good times.
Jurassic Bark for sure.
Followed by The Last of the Eskimo Curlews
A really obscure movie I caught on Cartoon Network
ten years ago.
Its all about this bird who thinks he is the last of his kind, but he’s not he finds a mate…who gets killed later.
He flies off an the narrator says how “there is one. Very soon, there will be none,”
Due the waterworks.
Then comes…
Mudslide…yeah..the episode of Batman the Animated Series where it looks like Clayface dissolves in the rain.
Ghosted by lost-lenore @ 07/31/2008 6:46 PM EDT
I don’t know what was up with me as a child, but I just didn’t react to sad things the way most people would. They didn’t seem to faze me at all. Didn’t do a lot of crying due to T.V./movies as a kid. I am, however, making up for it now.
That pretty much describes me perfectly. My best friend was a crier and she was always trying to make me cry by showing me sad scenes in movies. I don’t think she realized that showing me isolated scenes about characters I knew nothing and cared nothing about made me even less likely to cry. She told me if I didn’t cry at Steel Magnolias, I was made of stone. I didn’t cry. She got really mad. These days, I cry at Johnson & Johnson’s commercials.
Dumbo made me sad, but the first movie I actually remember crying during was Harry & The Hendersons. I didn’t list it before because it doesn’t rank high with me these days, but that scene where they’re trying to make Harry go back to the wild and he doesn’t understand tore me apart when I was 10.
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Posted by Matt. E-mail me!
Ghosted by 
They just keep coming to me! “Dream On” by Aerosmith gets me choked up sometimes! It’s an inspirational song for me. It motivates me to follow my dreams and seize the moment! Corny? Maybe. But it works for me!