For Crying Out Loud

Dumbo, 1941, animation supervisor: Ben Sharpsteen
It's very simple. When Dumbo cries, we cry. "Baby Mine" is probably one of the most emotional sequences in film history for us. To see Mrs. Jumbo barely able to reach out of that cage with her trunk, just enough to cradle Dumbo and swing him gently back and forth. We get that lump in the throat and can't help ourselves.

Shadowlands, 1993, directed by Richard Attenborough
Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis (Anthony Hopkins) falls in love for the first time in his life with an American writer, Joy Gresham (Debra Winger). Their bliss is cut short when she is diagnosed with cancer and slowly begins to die. Winger was fine, but it was really the scenes where Lewis comes to terms with the fact that he's fallen in love that were painfully tender. To see the pain and joy mingle in his eyes just as the first tear runs down his cheek makes us lose control.

Umberto D, 1952, directed by Vittorio de Sica
A elderly retired bureaucrat in Rome is about to be forced onto the streets due to the loss of his pension, with only his little dog to comfort him. Even if you're not a dog lover this movie will still get to you. It makes Old Yeller Iook like a dog food commercial. The ending (which we won't spoil for those who haven't seen it yet) will have you reaching for the Kleenex.

Dancer in the Dark, 2000, directed by Lars von Trier
The fact that we detest Mr. von Trier wasn't enough to hold back those floodgates in our eyes during the final scene. Pretty much everything we liked about the movie had to do with Bjork and everything we hated about the movie had to do with von Trier. The digital visual texture, clunky musical choreography, monotonously handheld camerawork, and hellish melodramatic plot complications grated us into supreme annoyance. But Bjork was so magnetic, such a hypnotic mixture of naivety, strength, vulnerability, and wisdom onscreen, and her music was so amazingly tender, that von Trier's manipulation succeeded even as we tried fighting against it. Jonathan Rosenbaum, despite hating this movie, admits in his review that he cried at the end.

It's A Wonderful Life, 1946, directed by Frank Capra
What, you didn't think this would make our list? The interesting thing is that we seem to get teary-eyed during a different part of the film each time we watch it. There's the ending, of course; always makes us go weak, all the money and gifts being piled on the table and everyone laughing and giving and Donna Reed hugging all the children. But the scene with grief-stricken Mr. Gower where he slaps poor little George has also made us start bawling. The same goes for when George saves his brother Harry after he falls through the ice. And, silly as it seems, we've even cried during the OPENING CREDITS. Just the anticipation of what's to come (including the praying montage near the beginning) gets us watery.

Any of these are awesome selections if you want to avoid the rampant consumerism that is Black Friday and just stay home and have a good cry.

So what flicks cause you to make like Niagra?