1. The Lord of the Rings*: Boromir’s death, Sam’s voice over, Sam hauling Frodo up Mount Doom, the reunion of the Fellowship, and the reunion of Aragorn and Arwen all do too great a job assaulting my tear-sacs. In the case of FOTR and TT, I am getting better at getting through those--but ROTK just keeps great scenes coming and I am no match for that.
2. It’s A Wonderful Life: Another classic that is superb at building emotion via a story that I think most anyone can identify with year ‘round.
3. Up*: Several touching scenes throughout. Some of the tears are from outright laughter too so...
4. Luther: The Father of the Reformation is one of my all-time heroes. I can really identify with his struggles of faith early-on, so it’s never a shock to me when I feel my eyes burn.
5. Ben-Hur: This classic does an outstanding job building on the emotions of the viewer. So when the healing scene occurs towards the end it a pretty natural thing to get choked up.
6. Disney’s Beauty & The Beast: The transformation scene at the end is truly magic, and begets well-earned emotion.
7. The Nativity Story: This film does such a superb job capturing the birth of Christ. That scene is so profound that I’d be ashamed if my eyes were dry.
8. A Christmas Carol/Scrooge: Any incarnation of one of my favourite stories ever will get the job done at the end.
9. Field of Dreams*: Oh yeah. This movie simply means too much to me for me to be able to hold the emoton when the father-son catch scene comes at the end.
10. The Patriot: There’s a couple heart-rending scenes in this one for me: when the daughter speaks, when Benjamin loses his favourite son, and when he rallies then Continental Army with a ragged “Betsy Ross” flag.
11. Pollyanna: Probably one of the most heart-warming stories ever, and the ending gets to me every time.
12. The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe: This film is #1 on my list for fastest to make me choke up--and it’s everytime too, and just before the scene. Which scene? When the kids are put on the train to be sent out of bombed-out London. I think it’s a mix of the separation and being jealous that they are going to discover a doorway to a remarkable fantasy world. I wish I could just walk through a closet and into Narnia...
13. Frosty the Snowman: When Frosty melts, so do the ol’ baby blues. Doesn’t matter that I know Frosty gets remade by Santa. If anything, that makes worse!
14. Terminator 2 - Judgment Day: The scene at the end between the T-800 and John Connor. This scene is a tearjerker as much because of the great score playing during the scene as the emotion of the scene itself.
15. Tombstone: Doc Holliday’s “dying scene” is one of the finest acted scenes in cinema, and really touching between to best friends.
16. Hook: Wow...yeah.... There is such a deeply touching family moment at the end that I can never keep my eyes from watering up.
17. Forever Young: One of my favourite feel-good romance dramas that does such a great job unravelling the story.
18. Rocky*: Arguably one of the most emotional sports dramas ever made.
19. Angels in the Outfield: Disney’s remake of this baseball story has got several touching moments, but the end is really special.
20. Dragonheart: I was a bit surprised that I needed to reach for a tissue, but reach I did.
"It's a Wonderful Life" gets me every.single.time. Always at the same spot: "I bust-a da juke box!"
Posted by: Dawn | 05 August 2010 at 10:35