We know that movies can make us cry, but what about when tears are shed on screen as well as off of it?
Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 crying scenes in movies!
And nobody would help! Nobody would help! He's saying, sayin' "I wanna go home! I wanna go home!" He keeps calling my name! "I wanna go home, Johnny! I wanna drive my Chevy!"
I said "With what? I can't find your fuc**n' legs!
For this list, we’ve looked at big screen scenes where a character or characters are brought to tears.
The reason for those tears can range from happiness to sadness, anger to confusion...
As long as the emotions are high enough, then the scene is in contention!
You are just too stupid to see it !
You don't know what I can do! You don't know what I can do, what I'm gonna do, or what I'm gonna be! I'm good! I have good things and you don't know about! I'm gonna be something! I am!
Also, SPOILER ALERT.
And don't fu**ing tell me I'm not!
No one even asked me if i took milk money that time. I just got a 3 day vacation
Boys don’t cry, right? Especially not in front of their friends!
Well, boys usually try not to cry, but sometimes they just can’t help it!
River Phoenix plays Chris Chambers in this classic coming of age movie,
and in this scene his macho-man mask slips for a few seconds, reminding us all that he is just a kid after all!
I just wish... that I could go some place... where nobody knows me.
The teary trigger point is the milk money scandal... The injustice of it all has Chris wanting to disappear, and us wanting to give him a big hug!
I guess I'm just a pussy, huh?
No way
Come
Stay
We all hate goodbyes, but this farewell’s far more difficult than most!
Proving once again that little boys do cry (and it’s extremely tough to watch them do it!),
Henry Thomas plays an extremely emotional Elliott in this, one of Steven Spielberg’s most famous scenes!
E.T. has been trying to go home for the majority of this movie, but when his time to leave actually arrives, there isn’t a dry eye in sight!
Thomas teared up to perfection in his audition tape, but this final cut is an even better effort!
I'll.. be.. right.. here.
Bye
2 cm lasteration on the left eyebrow
It's okay
Okay
I want you to look at me and i want you to breathe. Do you understand?
Yeah
From small boys to big boys, and to a guy simply overcome with relief! Tom Hanks plays Captain Phillips, the unfortunate victim of a high seas hijacking!
The relentless tension felt throughout this film is finally released as the man is medically checked over by his rescuers!
No, no no that's not mine ! Alright, look at me
We're gonna lay you down. Okay, yeah, allright
Hanks is being asked all sorts of questions,
and he isn’t able to think straight enough to answer them especially effectively...
Are you in any pain right now ?
Right there, on your side
But when the wave of realization that he is alive rushes over him, he can’t help but sob... And neither can we!
It's gonna be okay
Everything's gonna be okay
It's gonna be okay
Hi, Chris. Mr. Good to see you
Nice shirt
Another example of heart-wrenching happy tears, this scene is one of Will Smith’s finest moments on screen!
Was it as easy as it looked ? No Sir it wasn't
Good luck Chris. Thank you
Playing Chris Gardner, Smith is faced with financial difficulties times a million as he tries desperately to provide for his son
who happens to be played by Smith’s real-life son, Jaden!
Of course, to get money you must first get a job, and that’s exactly what Gardner hasn’t been able to do... Until now!
Wear one tommorow though, okay ?
Because tommorow is going to be your first day
If you would like to work here as a broker
When Smith is told to keep his shirt for tomorrow, he and we are welling up big style!
So, welcome !
It’s an unthinkable situation, and it makes for an unforgettable movie moment!
The Nazis were running riot across all of Europe, and Meryl Streep’s Sophie found herself and her family caught up among the carnage...
In this scene she must make the eponymous ‘choice’ that no parent should ever have to face...
As Sophie breaks down, Streep shows her class as an actor... It takes a lot of talent to convincingly imagine the unimaginable...
And we are definitely, dreadfully convinced here!
Will Hunting is a genius. He can solve all manner of equations with his magnificent, machine-like mind!
Look
I wrote it down - its simplier this way.
But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel the same things as every other human being!
It's not your fault. Don't fu*k with me
Matt Damon plays the tortured thinker who, in this scene, is nudged into letting it all out!
It's not your fault
Robin Williams is Sean Maguire, Damon’s literal shoulder to cry on.
The pair spends the movie pushing one another intellectually, but this moment is the peak of both personal stories! It’s therapy in motion!
Sean Penn won an Oscar for this movie, and it isn’t difficult to see why as he sheds a tear or two in this scene!
I remember, I was more afraid of my little daughter than I ever was of being in prison.
His character, Jimmy Markum, is coming to terms with the murder of his 19-year-old daughter.
19 fuc**ng years old !
An ex-con with a tough persona to maintain himself, he isn’t one to show too much heart-felt emotion...
However, during this moment we watch him cry over the fact he can’t cry over the death of his daughter...
And it's really starting to piss me off, Dave! She's my own little daughter, and I can't even cry for her!
He’s a man whose nerves are shot, and it’s desperately sad to see!
When a relative dies, tears are to be expected...
But the situation in this scene is far from straightforward, and Tom Cruise’s especially dramatic cry is reflective of that!
This father/son relationship has been strained to the max, and the ill feeling is what has Cruise’s character Frank flitting between rage and regret!
As his father dies before his eyes, time is running out for answers, but it’s also running out for forgiveness!
These are by no means attractive tears, but they are very well acted!
We’re bawling our eyes out in black and white for our runner-up, in one of the most moving moments in motion picture history!
Oskar Schindler is a hero in the eyes of all those that surround him, but such is the extent of his goodness, and the extent of the enemy’s cruelty, he still cannot be satisfied!
As he works out how many more lives he might’ve saved, the pain of the man far outweighs the pleasure that he deserves...
And that’s what’s truly heart-breaking!
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
In life, as Forrest himself astutely reasons, ‘you never know what you’re gonna get’, and in this movie we probably weren’t expecting this ending!
A monumental underdog, surely Hollywood would grant Forrest Gump happiness in the end??
But no!
Making his second appearance on this cry-filled countdown, Tom Hanks here visits the grave of Gump’s beloved Jenny...
He isn’t the most articulate of characters, but even the wisest of men would struggle to sum up this grief!
The tears speak much louder than words ever could!
Do you agree with our list?
Whose big screen sadness did we skip?
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