This weekend I watched The Time Traveler’s Wife. I bawled. A lot. This, after I’d already read the book. For the love of Pete, I knew what was going to happen!
I remember the first movie I ever cried in. I must have been about six and my family rented The Incredible Journey. Thank heavens we weren’t at a theatre. (Yes, I like the British spelling.)
You know why there’s a waterfall in the picture? Because the cat falls over the waterfall.
This. Was. Bad.
I screamed and ran to my room, shedding tears the whole way. My mom had retrieve me, finally drawing out of me that I was a blubbering mess of tears because the cat was dead.
Dead!
Yes, in my six-year-old’s world that poor little kitty was dead as a doornail. No cat has enough lives to survive that kind of plunge. It took a lot of convincing on my mom’s part to convince me otherwise. Cat actors? This is all pretend? Really?
Granted, I was only six, but my reaction to The Incredible Journey and recent Kleenex-fest with The Time Traveler’s Wife just goes to show that a good story can suspend reality. Characters really do marry, have kids, and die. Or go on long journeys with dog friends and fall over waterfalls.
What about you? Are there any books or movies that never fail to make you tear up? Do your stories suspend reality?
Harold and Maude is a movie that gets me everytime I see it. I haven't seen it in several years but I think it might be time again. Thanks for the reminder.
I cry during the first ten minutes of the newest Star Trek movie. I also have been known to tear up at the end of The Little Mermaid, often! And yes– The Time Traveler's Wife definitely got me weepy!
Oh don't even get me started! 🙂 I bawled during The Incredible Journey too! Each and every time I watched it! It didn't help matters that I had a golden retriever that looked exactly like Shadow!
I also cried when I read Old Yeller, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and more recently, The Forest of Hands and Teeth.
The only other movie that I can think of that makes me cry no matter how many times I watch it is The Lord of the Rings… when Gandalf "dies". Gah!! What a nerd… 😀
A League of Their Own makes me cry SEVEN times each time I watch it. Beforehand, and after, I can't recall the specific scenes, but I always count and it is always seven.
Harry Potter book 6.
As for movies, well, the only thing that immediately comes to mind is an episode of Bones. I've seen it several times and yet I still cry at the end of it.
Man I love that show.
As for my writing. I hope my stories help readers to suspend their disbelief, if even for a brief moment. But having been the only one to read the book I don't really know.
I still can't watch the Incredible Journey. I hated those kinds of movies 🙁
Paul- I haven't seen that one. I'll add it to my list!
Amalia- I wonder if you and I cried in the same scene of Star Trek. I might occasionally shed a tear over The Lion King.
Valerie- Old Yeller! That's a tear jerker!
Rebecca- I was just referencing A League of Their Own in a lecture on WWII I did last week. Great movie!
Stephanie- I'm waiting to read Harry Potter with my daughter. I think I'm one of the only humans left on the planet who hasn't read the series.
L.T.- I think they're the worst. Where the Red Fern Grows? I hyperventilated.
For me it is Moulin Rouge. Talk about suspending reality! But you want to get swept away, and you can't help but be. It's really overwhelming.
I was a horse-lover as a child. I even had a horse for a while, Happy (I know, but I was little). So I always cried at horse movies–The Black Stallion, Black Beauty, and when the horse dies in Dancing With Wolves–that nearly killed me!
I hadn't thought about Harold & Maude, but I agree with Paul about that one. Fantastic acting and emotions.
Michele
SouthernCityMysteries
I'm so glad I'm not the only sap!!
The first one I remember making me cry was The Pied Piper – don't know if it was a tv show or movie. My mom likes to (laugh and) tell everyone I turned around with my hands over my heart saying, "It hurts right here" when the cave closed and the kid on crutches can't follow the other kids.
Still casues me to tear up 🙂
Forget supsending reality, I cry during the Olympics. The second I see someone up on that podium, listening to their anthem… *sniff* And if it is someone from a little country with barely a team to speak of, taking bronze and beaming like it more than they evered dreamed, well darn it, I practically get hysterical.
As for books, I get emotionally tied to just about everyone. My husband says it is funny to watch me read because my emotions play out on my face. Very embarrassing.
Awww! Your poor childhood self 🙁 I cried when Bambi's mom died. As an adult I'm just a watering pot in general, so I cried at the end of Monsters Inc. Don't even get me started on The Notebook … between my two friends and myself, we used up an entire box of Kleenex.
I cry, or at least get choked up, in many many books. I SOBBED reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Love Story especially. As for movies, I'm with Julie on Monster's Inc… EVERYTIME!! Also, The Time Traveler's Wife, Titanic, Narnia, The Notebook… omg I just saw Valentine's Day and a tear fell. I think I'm really easy to get to. And like Rebecca, I do cry at the end of A League of Their Own… that movie makes me paranoid to get older… and today's my BIRTHDAY! AHHHH!
KristinCreative
I cried at Old Yeller and Bambi, too. I'm not sure I want to admit I cried during Forrest Gump, but there you go. I did.
Believe it or not, I cry EVERY time I watch Mrs. Doubtfire. I think it is so sad, and my kids think I'm crazy. 🙂
"Love Actually" gets me every single time. Not the movie itself, mind you (although there are scenes which make me well up) but the end sequence with all the real people greeting each other at the airport. Every single time – and I couldn't tell you how many times I've seen it.
Oh, man, there's too many to list! I cry at the most random things. Sometimes just songs in the car. So yeah. I try to save that for my private "episodes."
every single time i read Where the Red Fern Grows i bawl like a baby. And yet it's one of my favorite books
First book: Little Women, when Beth died. First movie: Bambi. Since then: Too many to mention. The Time Travelers Wife is on my TBR, thanks for the Kleenex alert:)
I've seen Terms of Endearment probably fifty times, and I cry every time. I try so hard not to, but it is inevitable.
Um, you were six when it came out on video? Man, I feel O L D.
I don't know what first movie I cried with but I cried over plenty for sure.
My family always asks what I *don't* cry at…they say it's a shorter list. I cried at everything from a Hallmark commercial to The Iron Giant, that animated movie that came out quite a while ago about a giant robot-weapon. But I have to say that two of the movies I will probably always remember crying at are "Of Mice and Men" and "A Little Princess" (1992 version). I get so sucked into the stories–especially "A Little Princess." When her dad finally remembers who she is and screams her name, which happens to be mine, I feel it go through me completely, and I just bawl.
I prefer the British spelling, too! Shame on me, though, sometimes I 'correct' myself, and sometimes I don't, so I randomly use theatre or theater. Theater just looks WRONG though!
I love Homeward Bound. It's such a cute movie.