For the great big saps among us
Via Terry Teachout, I find that Amanda Watson at Household Opera is asking, "Which movie scenes always make you cry (and which ones always make you laugh)?"
I say ditto to some of her choices (the Marseillaise scene in Casablanca, and the trek up Mount Doom in The Return of the King).
It's actually kind of embarrassing how many such scenes I can come up with. [Pedants of the world, I know I ended a sentence with a preposition. Back off!] Here are a few, off the top of my head:
*In It's a Wonderful Life, from when Harry Bailey says, "To my big brother George, the richest man in town!" to the end of the movie.
*In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, when Francie says, "Bend down, Papa! My cup runneth over." [Actually, with this movie, I prettty much start crying at the opening credits.]
*In Stella Dallas, the scene on the train, when Stella and Laurel both overhear two of Laurel's acquaintances ridiculing Stella, and Stella pretends to be asleep when Laurel looks down from her bunk to see if Stella overheard their comments. And, of course, the final scene.
*The last scene in In America. I'm not going to describe it.
*The voice-over and flashbacks at the end of How Green Was My Valley.
*The scene between Sammy and Terry at the bus stop at the end of You Can Count on Me.
*In Finding Nemo, when Marlin asks, "How do you know something bad's not going to happen?" and Dory replies "I don't."
*The final meeting between Bud and Deanie at the end of Splendor in the Grass.
*The last scene in Cinema Paradiso.
*The fall of Gandalf and the death of Boromir in The Fellowship of the Ring.
*The last scene of Midnight Cowboy, when Joe Buck puts his arm around Enrico "Ratzo" Rizzo.
Update: How big a sap am I? That's only the tip of the iceberg, my friends. This post was accidentally published before I could include the list of what always makes me laugh. I'll save that for later today. You're waiting with bated breath, aren't you? And please chime in with your own favorite weepy moments.
I say ditto to some of her choices (the Marseillaise scene in Casablanca, and the trek up Mount Doom in The Return of the King).
It's actually kind of embarrassing how many such scenes I can come up with. [Pedants of the world, I know I ended a sentence with a preposition. Back off!] Here are a few, off the top of my head:
*In It's a Wonderful Life, from when Harry Bailey says, "To my big brother George, the richest man in town!" to the end of the movie.
*In A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, when Francie says, "Bend down, Papa! My cup runneth over." [Actually, with this movie, I prettty much start crying at the opening credits.]
*In Stella Dallas, the scene on the train, when Stella and Laurel both overhear two of Laurel's acquaintances ridiculing Stella, and Stella pretends to be asleep when Laurel looks down from her bunk to see if Stella overheard their comments. And, of course, the final scene.
*The last scene in In America. I'm not going to describe it.
*The voice-over and flashbacks at the end of How Green Was My Valley.
*The scene between Sammy and Terry at the bus stop at the end of You Can Count on Me.
*In Finding Nemo, when Marlin asks, "How do you know something bad's not going to happen?" and Dory replies "I don't."
*The final meeting between Bud and Deanie at the end of Splendor in the Grass.
*The last scene in Cinema Paradiso.
*The fall of Gandalf and the death of Boromir in The Fellowship of the Ring.
*The last scene of Midnight Cowboy, when Joe Buck puts his arm around Enrico "Ratzo" Rizzo.
Update: How big a sap am I? That's only the tip of the iceberg, my friends. This post was accidentally published before I could include the list of what always makes me laugh. I'll save that for later today. You're waiting with bated breath, aren't you? And please chime in with your own favorite weepy moments.
posted by Kate Marie | 8:36 PM | Permalink
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5 comments
5 Comments:
Wow. I haven't seen any of the movies you mentioned.
"Children of Nature," the Icelandic film where two childhood friends, now elderly, bust out of an urban retirement home because they want to die in the abandoned fishing village where they were born. It's a heartbreaker.
CIV, not *any* of those movies? Not even "It's a Wonderful Life"? And you call yourself an American? I feel safe recommending at least that one and "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and "How Green Was My Valley." Try 'em; you'll like 'em.
Jeff,
That one sounds great. Is the movie actually available anywhere, like Netflix or something?
This got posted accidentally before I finished. I guess I'll save the "What makes me laugh" list for another post.
KM - "Children of Nature" doesn't appear to be on DVD yet, but any halfway-decent old-school video store with a foreign section should have it on VHS. (If they have one Icelandic movie, it'll be that one.)
Thanks, Jeff. That rules out my local Blockbuster, but there are some good old video stores around. I'll give it a try.
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