Greatest Tearjerkers Films - Scenes and Moments

Greatest Tearjerker Films, Scenes and Movie Moments
of All-Time

Introduction: There are many names for tearjerker films - 'women's pictures', 'weepies' or weepers, melodramas, soap operas (or soapers), and more recently, 'chick flicks'. There are many kinds of touching, emotionally stirring films and dramas that bring a tear to the eye, and cause a swelling in the heart. Pathos-filled tales of doomed or short-lived romance, tragic deaths or losses (loss of life, loss of love, loss of dignity, etc.), recovery (recovery of life, recovery of love, recovery of dignity, etc.), or difficult domestic situations are common plot themes in these kinds of films.
Many sites and film books have attempted to compile listings of the most tearjerking moments, scenes and films throughout cinematic history. See various choices of great tearjerkers in Entertainment Weekly's choices for the Top 50 Greatest Tearjerkers, UK's Channel 4 website of 100 Greatest Tearjerkers (see below), and O Magazine's compilation of 50 Greatest Chick Flicks. The following sources are indicated by icons in this site's compilation:

- UK's Channel 4 website of the 100 Greatest Tearjerkers

- Entertainment Weekly's November 28, 2003 issue of the 50 Greatest Tearjerkers

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films.

Greatest Film Tearjerkers, Moments and Scenes
(alphabetical by film title) - Part 28
Intro | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20
Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30

Movie Title
Brief Scene Description Example

Superman: The Movie (1978)

Superman's (Christopher Reeve) discovery of a dead Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) after tumbling into a cravasse while in her car during a nuclear warhead-induced earthquake - he reacted by pulling her out of the car, and upon realizing her demise, and his inability to save her, he inarticulately spoke: "Why? Why? Why? Why?" before heart-stoppingly howling with a primal scream, and flying directly into the air to attempt to change the past - to circumnavigate the globe at light-speed to reverse time in order to bring Lois back to life.

The Sweet Hereafter (1996)

The distressing, long-shot image at the mid-point of the film of a yellow schoolbus filled with children skidding off the road and falling through ice on a frozen lake - and the effects of the tragic accident on the residents of a Canadian town.

A Tale of Two Cities (1935)

The final scene of Sydney Carton's (Ronald Colman) self-sacrifice to the guillotine in order to save another life, holding hands with another victim, a seamstress (Isabel Jewell) as they ascend the scaffold, and Carton's noble delivery of his last words: ( "It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done. It's a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known...")

Terms of Endearment (1983)
#1
#16

Texas widow Aurora Greenway's (Shirley MacLaine) hospital scene when she panicked and shrieked over her 30 year-old daughter Emma Greenway Horton's (Debra Winger) terminal cancer and demanded that the nurses give her dying daughter her overdue shot of morphine: ("My daughter is in pain, can't you understand that! GIVE MY DAUGHTER THE SHOT!!"); and the most tearjerking scene of all - Emma's hospital goodbye scene with her children when youngest son Teddy (Huckleberry Fox) told off his bratty older brother Tommy (Troy Bishop): ("Why don't you shut up, shut up!") as she explained to them that she wouldn't be around for her family in the future, that reluctant Tommy should "be sweet" and how he would eventually admit that he loved her ("And stop trying to pretend that you hate me...You're gonna realize that you love me...I know that you love me!"); also the nurse's words to Emma's awakened husband Flap (Jeff Daniels): ("She's gone"), and the final scene of raunchy ex-astronaut neighbor Garrett Breedlove (Jack Nicholson) providing needed support to the older boy following Emma's death.

They Died With Their Boots On (1941)

In the film's tear-inducing, poignant ending, infamous cavalry officer General George Armstrong Custer (Errol Flynn) gave a heart-rending farewell goodbye to his wife Elizabeth "Libby" Bacon (Olivia de Havilland) - Note: it was the stars' final screen pairing also! - she sensed disaster and had written about her fears in her diary (he reacted with astonishment to her written words) - the couple shared a few extended looks and kisses - and then after he left, she stood and watched him go - and then collapsed to the floor.

This is the Army (1943)

Kate Smith's (as Herself) moving, patriotic rendition of "God Bless America" during the World War II-era, morale-boosting film.

Titanic (1997)
#15
#3

The heartbreaking moment when Jack Dawson's (Leonardo Di Caprio) corpse slipped into the cold Atlantic ocean, having sacrificed his live to save Rose DeWitt Butaker (Kate Winslet), and the elderly Rose (Gloria Stuart) tossing the priceless amulet overboard that she had shared with Jack; and the final dream sequence in which the young Rose and Jack kissed at the top of the elegant Grand Staircase surrounded by an applauding audience of all those who died on the ship -- together forever.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
#27
#23

The scene in which lawyer Atticus Finch's (Gregory Peck) listened to his children discussing their dead mother; Atticus' touching speech to six year-old daughter Scout (Mary Badham) about his father's urging him to not shoot mockingbirds "because mockingbirds don't do anything but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat people's gardens, don't nest in the corncribs, they don't do one thing but just sing their hearts out for us"; and Atticus' moving closing argument, urging the jury to look beyond race and prejudice: ("In the name of God, do your duty. In the name of God, believe Tom Robinson"); the scene of the blacks in the balcony of the courtroom standing to respectfully honor the defeated lawyer with Rev. Sykes' (William Walker) words to Scout: "Miss Jean Louise, stand up, your father's passin"; and the moving coda in which Scout sat on the porch swing with the timid Boo Radley (Robert Duvall), and then walked - with his hand in hers - to the Radley gate and up their front walk, accompanied by Elmer Bernstein's melancholy music score and Jean Louise's narration as the adult Scout: ("Neighbors bring food with death, and flowers with sickness, and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a knife, and our lives...One time Atticus said you never really knew a man until you stood in his shoes and walked around in them. Just standin' on the Radley porch was enough. The summer that had begun so long ago had ended, and another summer had taken its place, and a fall, and Boo Radley had come out. I was to think of these days many times. Of Jem and Dill and Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson - and Atticus. He would be in Jem's room all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning") - with the camera pulling out of the window in Jem's room, where Scout was cradled in her father's arms, to a long shot of the Finch house.

Touching the Void (2003)

#89

The moment when mountain climber Simon Yates, while returning from an unprecedented climb up the Peruvian mountain Siula Grande, was forced to cut the line - thinking his broken-legged climbing partner Joe Simpson had passed away when he didn't respond to rope tugging (he had actually been accidentally suspended over the side of a cliff and was unable to respond), sending Simpson deep into a crevasse; and the moving description of Simpson "touching the void", feeling utterly alone in the universe, as he stared death in the face.

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Jesse's (voice of Joan Cusack) touching torch song: "When She Loved Me", describing how her beloved owner Emily matured into a teenager - and no longer played with toys - thereby abandoning Jesse under her bed - years later when the toy was rediscovered, Jesse's hopes were dashed when Emily left her in a charity donation box on the side of the road.

Trois Coleurs: Bleu (1993, Fr./Pol.) (aka Blue)

The raw, intensely emotional tale of composer-wife Julie Vignon-de Courcy (Juliette Binoche) who unexpectedly lost her husband Patrice de Courcy and daughter Anna in a car accident that she survived, and her inability to cope with the tragedy - unable to outwardly display any sense of loss or grief except the most subtle displays; the scene at her hospital bed in which she watched the funeral - with the dark shadow of her finger tracing the image of her daughter's coffin on a tiny LCD TV screen; also the scene of her reaction to a neighbor touching her daughter's blue crystal mobile; and the scenes in which Julie - attempting to commit "spiritual suicide" by disassociating herself from her past - swam in a swimming pool bathed in a blue light to escape, destroyed her late husband's last composition and gave his estate to his pregnant mistress Sandrine (Florence Pernel), in the first segment of Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Three Colors" Trilogy.

Created in 1996-2008 © by Tim Dirks. All rights reserved.

Introduction: There are many names for tearjerker films - 'women's pictures', 'weepies' or weepers, melodramas, soap operas (or soapers), and more recently, 'chick flicks'. There are many kinds of touching, emotionally stirring films and dramas that bring a tear to the eye, and cause a swelling in the heart. Pathos-filled tales of doomed or short-lived romance, tragic deaths or losses (loss of life, loss of love, loss of dignity, etc.), recovery (recovery of life, recovery of love, recovery of dignity, etc.), or difficult domestic situations are common plot themes in these kinds of films. Many sites and film books have attempted to compile listings of the most tearjerking moments, scenes and films throughout cinematic history. See various choices of great tearjerkers in Entertainment Weekly's choices for the Top 50 Greatest Tearjerkers, UK's Channel 4 website of 100 Greatest Tearjerkers (see below), and O Magazine's compilation of 50 Greatest Chick Flicks. The following sources are indicated by icons in this site's compilation: - UK's Channel 4 website of the 100 Greatest Tearjerkers - Entertainment Weekly's November 28, 2003 issue of the 50 Greatest Tearjerkers Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films.
Greatest Film Tearjerkers, Moments and Scenes (alphabetical by film title) - Part 28 Intro \| Part 1 \| Part 2 \| Part 3 \| Part 4 \| Part 5 \| Part 6 \| Part 7 \| Part 8 \| Part 9 \| Part 10 Part 11 \| Part 12 \| Part 13 \| Part 14 \| Part 15 \| Part 16 \| Part 17 \| Part 18 \| Part 19 \| Part 20 Part 21 \| Part 22 \| Part 23 \| Part 24 \| Part 25 \| Part 26 \| Part 27 \| Part 28 \| Part 29 \| Part 30
Movie Title	Brief Scene Description	Example
Superman: The Movie (1978)	Superman's (Christopher Reeve) discovery of a dead Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) after tumbling into a cravasse while in her car during a nuclear warhead-induced earthquake - he reacted by pulling her out of the car, and upon realizing her demise, and his inability to save her, he inarticulately spoke: "Why? Why? Why? Why?" before heart-stoppingly howling with a primal scream, and flying directly into the air to attempt to change the past - to circumnavigate the globe at light-speed to reverse time in order to bring Lois back to life.
The Sweet Hereafter (1996)	The distressing, long-shot image at the mid-point of the film of a yellow schoolbus filled with children skidding off the road and falling through ice on a frozen lake - and the effects of the tragic accident on the residents of a Canadian town.
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)	The final scene of Sydney Carton's (Ronald Colman) self-sacrifice to the guillotine in order to save another life, holding hands with another victim, a seamstress (Isabel Jewell) as they ascend the scaffold, and Carton's noble delivery of his last words: ( "It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done. It's a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known...")
Terms of Endearment (1983) #1 #16	Texas widow Aurora Greenway's (Shirley MacLaine) hospital scene when she panicked and shrieked over her 30 year-old daughter Emma Greenway Horton's (Debra Winger) terminal cancer and demanded that the nurses give her dying daughter her overdue shot of morphine: ("My daughter is in pain, can't you understand that! GIVE MY DAUGHTER THE SHOT!!"); and the most tearjerking scene of all - Emma's hospital goodbye scene with her children when youngest son Teddy (Huckleberry Fox) told off his bratty older brother Tommy (Troy Bishop): ("Why don't you shut up, shut up!") as she explained to them that she wouldn't be around for her family in the future, that reluctant Tommy should "be sweet" and how he would eventually admit that he loved her ("And stop trying to pretend that you hate me...You're gonna realize that you love me...I know that you love me!"); also the nurse's words to Emma's awakened husband Flap (Jeff Daniels): ("She's gone"), and the final scene of raunchy ex-astronaut neighbor Garrett Breedlove (Jack Nicholson) providing needed support to the older boy following Emma's death.
They Died With Their Boots On (1941)	In the film's tear-inducing, poignant ending, infamous cavalry officer General George Armstrong Custer (Errol Flynn) gave a heart-rending farewell goodbye to his wife Elizabeth "Libby" Bacon (Olivia de Havilland) - Note: it was the stars' final screen pairing also! - she sensed disaster and had written about her fears in her diary (he reacted with astonishment to her written words) - the couple shared a few extended looks and kisses - and then after he left, she stood and watched him go - and then collapsed to the floor.
This is the Army (1943)	Kate Smith's (as Herself) moving, patriotic rendition of "God Bless America" during the World War II-era, morale-boosting film.
Titanic (1997) #15 #3	The heartbreaking moment when Jack Dawson's (Leonardo Di Caprio) corpse slipped into the cold Atlantic ocean, having sacrificed his live to save Rose DeWitt Butaker (Kate Winslet), and the elderly Rose (Gloria Stuart) tossing the priceless amulet overboard that she had shared with Jack; and the final dream sequence in which the young Rose and Jack kissed at the top of the elegant Grand Staircase surrounded by an applauding audience of all those who died on the ship -- together forever.
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) #27 #23	The scene in which lawyer Atticus Finch's (Gregory Peck) listened to his children discussing their dead mother; Atticus' touching speech to six year-old daughter Scout (Mary Badham) about his father's urging him to not shoot mockingbirds "because mockingbirds don't do anything but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat people's gardens, don't nest in the corncribs, they don't do one thing but just sing their hearts out for us"; and Atticus' moving closing argument, urging the jury to look beyond race and prejudice: ("In the name of God, do your duty. In the name of God, believe Tom Robinson"); the scene of the blacks in the balcony of the courtroom standing to respectfully honor the defeated lawyer with Rev. Sykes' (William Walker) words to Scout: "Miss Jean Louise, stand up, your father's passin"; and the moving coda in which Scout sat on the porch swing with the timid Boo Radley (Robert Duvall), and then walked - with his hand in hers - to the Radley gate and up their front walk, accompanied by Elmer Bernstein's melancholy music score and Jean Louise's narration as the adult Scout: ("Neighbors bring food with death, and flowers with sickness, and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a knife, and our lives...One time Atticus said you never really knew a man until you stood in his shoes and walked around in them. Just standin' on the Radley porch was enough. The summer that had begun so long ago had ended, and another summer had taken its place, and a fall, and Boo Radley had come out. I was to think of these days many times. Of Jem and Dill and Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson - and Atticus. He would be in Jem's room all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning") - with the camera pulling out of the window in Jem's room, where Scout was cradled in her father's arms, to a long shot of the Finch house.
Touching the Void (2003) #89	The moment when mountain climber Simon Yates, while returning from an unprecedented climb up the Peruvian mountain Siula Grande, was forced to cut the line - thinking his broken-legged climbing partner Joe Simpson had passed away when he didn't respond to rope tugging (he had actually been accidentally suspended over the side of a cliff and was unable to respond), sending Simpson deep into a crevasse; and the moving description of Simpson "touching the void", feeling utterly alone in the universe, as he stared death in the face.
Toy Story 2 (1999)	Jesse's (voice of Joan Cusack) touching torch song: "When She Loved Me", describing how her beloved owner Emily matured into a teenager - and no longer played with toys - thereby abandoning Jesse under her bed - years later when the toy was rediscovered, Jesse's hopes were dashed when Emily left her in a charity donation box on the side of the road.
Trois Coleurs: Bleu (1993, Fr./Pol.) (aka Blue)	The raw, intensely emotional tale of composer-wife Julie Vignon-de Courcy (Juliette Binoche) who unexpectedly lost her husband Patrice de Courcy and daughter Anna in a car accident that she survived, and her inability to cope with the tragedy - unable to outwardly display any sense of loss or grief except the most subtle displays; the scene at her hospital bed in which she watched the funeral - with the dark shadow of her finger tracing the image of her daughter's coffin on a tiny LCD TV screen; also the scene of her reaction to a neighbor touching her daughter's blue crystal mobile; and the scenes in which Julie - attempting to commit "spiritual suicide" by disassociating herself from her past - swam in a swimming pool bathed in a blue light to escape, destroyed her late husband's last composition and gave his estate to his pregnant mistress Sandrine (Florence Pernel), in the first segment of Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Three Colors" Trilogy.