Manly Tears / Live-Action Films

Manly Tears in live-action movies.

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• When Mel Gibson's characters cry, it's usually closer to Maximus' reaction described below than the tough-guy "single tear." From Lethal Weapon to The Patriot (2000), it's clear that Gibson portrays soul-crushing grief like few actors can.

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• In 9/11, after the attacks happen in New York City, the fire crews of Engine 7/Ladder 1 return to their firehouse to find everyone still alive, shedding these kinds of tears and embracing in Man Hugs.
• The 1958 film version of The 47 Ronin has Manly Tears moments sprinkled liberally throughout its almost three-hour length. A lot of them fall into Tear Jerker category.
• At the end of The Amazing Spider-Man, Dr. Curt Connors cries as he watches his right arm disintegrate again.
• A rare aversion (i.e. a supposedly macho male character crying because of his own pain/humiliation, not for any legitimately "manly" reason) comes in American History X, when muscle-packed, hardcore White Supremacist Derek cries in the hospital ward after getting gang-raped in prison so violently he needed stitches.
  • Again when he finds the body of his brother Danny after he was shot to death by another student in his high school's bathroom.
• Following the Rule of Three in Annie:
  • Stacks gets teary-eyed but doesn't mention it.
  • When he shows Annie where he grew up in Queens, he plays it off as pollen or dust.
  • When he's about to lose Annie to her "real parents", she asks him if it's dusty and he says it's not. He then admits on TV that he's actually crying.
• Apollo 13, with Gene Kranz. When the capsule splashes down and he knows his astronauts are safe, he falls back into his chair and holds his hand up to his face in relief—then proceeds to wipe away his well-hidden Manly Tears.
  • This scene was actually based on an interview with the real Gene Kranz, who got visibly choked up while describing Apollo 13's homecoming; the interview took place over 20 years after the mission, but the events still had a strong effect on him.
  • Very likely a case of Manly Tears of Joy—the mission nearly ended in total disaster, but everyone came out alive.
• One of the most affecting scenes in Babel is when Richard, who has just gotten out of a very harrowing ordeal involving his wife getting shot and nearly dying, breaks down into tears while listening to his kids talk about their day over the phone.
• In Battle: Los Angeles, when Nantz is reciting the name, rank, and serial number of every Marine who died under his command, Lockett, the brother of one of those dead Marines, starts to silently weep when he realizes that he and Nantz share similar pain.
• The Big Lebowski - Mr. Lebowski summons The Dude to his mansion and gives him the job of delivering ransom money to the kidnappers of his trophy wife. He sits by the fireplace in solemn tears, telling The Dude "Strong men also cry". Subverted as he is crying Crocodile Tears to mask the fact that he's pulling a scam, using foundation money for the ransom and keeping it for himself.
• 'The Book of Revelation: Daniel bursts into tears near the end when Olsen realizes what he's been through and hugs him tightly.
• In Breaking Point (1976), Michael cries when he learns that his sister's fiancé was shot to get revenge on him.
• One of the best is in the complete Tear Jerker of a movie Brian's Song when Gale Sayer reveals to the entire Chicago Bears locker room that Brian Piccolo is dying of cancer. Every single man in that room (and those watching at home) breaks down in tears that simply will not end all the way through the ending of the movie with Brian Piccolo's death.
• Bright: Jakoby sheds tears of joy when he gets “blooded” by the Fogteeth gang, showing that he’s gained the respect by his people and gotten his family recognized as true orcs. Meanwhile, Ward never outright cries, but is on the verge of doing so after watching Jakoby get shot by Dorghu.
• The Browning Version (1951):^note  the best-known adaptation of Rattigan's play of the same name On his last day of teaching, retiring schoolmaster Andrew Crocker-Harris (played by Michael Redgrave) receives a small gift from one of his students. Having suffered a string of disappointments, Crocker-Harris is so moved by this little act of kindness that he sends the student away on the pretext of fetching his medicine bottle and bursts into sobs. He doesn't quite manage to hide his tears before the student returns, and apologises for "this little exhibition of weakness." The scene can be watched here on YouTube.
  • In the 1994 version featuring Albert Finney as Crocker-Harris, the scene plays out during a cricket match instead but is still very effective. Also available on YouTube.
• Cast Away: "I'm sorry, Wilson!" Only Tom Hanks could yell that line, believably, at a volleyball, and then be seen sobbing over the loss of that volleyball, without making it sound stupid. Mind you, we don't actually see any tears, but we hear a grown man not just crying, but bawling.
• Theo in Children of Men, a while after Julian is killed. It's really convincing.
• Cinderella (2015): Prince Kit is a classic Prince Charming, but still cries as his father dies, curling up next to him on the bed like a little boy. Ella's father also has tears in his eyes at his wife's deathbed near the beginning.
• Clara: Isaac cries in sadness mixed with joy at hearing a Bob Dylan song he listened to with Clara sent by the aliens after she's died.
• When Gabe failed to save his best friend's girlfriend in Cliffhanger.
• Subotai in Conan the Barbarian (1982), who weeps on behalf of Conan, who is too manly even for Manly Tears.
• The Covenant (2023): main character Ahmed sheds some while spending days pushing other main character John in a wheelbarrow. Over and through mountain passes. While being hunted by Taliban.
• John Proctor breaks down during Act Four of The Crucible, overwhelmed with guilt, utterly humiliated, socially dead by virtue of being accused of witchcraft, and unable to stomach saving his own life at the cost of his name. He sobs in desperation and ultimately decides to die by hanging, rather than make a confession and save his own life, when others could not. This is played to particularly heart-wrenching extremes in the film version, by Daniel Day-Lewis
• In The Daisy Chain, Tomas cries as he recounts his infant daughter's death and its effect on his wife.
• Dating Amber: Ian seems to care deeply for "being a man", but still breaks down crying unashamedly in front of his son over his marriage problems.
• Deepwater Horizon: After getting off the rig and back in a nice, safe hotel room, Mike collapses in a sobbing heap on the floor, where his wife and daughter eventually find him.
• In Deewaar, both Vijay and Ravi shed these at their father Anand's funeral.
• John McClane bitterly wept when he failed to save a plane of innocents from being murdered in Die Hard 2, and the audience wept with him.
• In District 9, Wikus breaks down sobbing when he sees the extent of his body's transformation after two days of coming in touch with the alien fluid. He also starts tearing up while watching Christopher reach the mothership, relieved but realising his human life is over.
• At the end of Donnie Darko, Eddie Darko is holding his youngest daughter Samantha and trying (but failing) to hold back tears after his son's death.
• Gloriously averted in Equilibrium where upon witnessing Mary's death, Preston calmly leaves the building and collapses into a completely undignified heap of sobs on the steps.
• Everest (2015): Beck Weathers, who had clawed his way back up and staggered back to camp after being frozen stiff all night, has to hold back tears upon finding out that fellow climber Doug Hansen died the day before.
• The Expendables
  • Even The Expendables has a moment where Tool lets out a few, at the end of his story about a time he saw a woman about to jump from a bridge and decided to turn his back on her. He heard the splash moments later.
  • In the sequel most of the Expendables let out a few tears during Billy's funeral.
• Suicidal Roy breaks down a few times in The Fall, but mostly when he visits Alexandria after she has broken her arm trying to get the medicine he requested to kill himself with, and he continues telling her the story, making it steadily more tragic. ("Why are you making everybody die?" she asks.)
• Field of Dreams: "Hey Dad. You wanna have a catch?" "I'd like that."
• John Rambo's final breakdown in First Blood is perhaps the one moment in movie history that defines this trope.
• In Ford V Ferrari, Shelby takes Henry Ford II for a very intense high-speed ride in the new GT40. Afterwards, Ford breaks down crying... not because the experience terrified him, but because he wishes his father had lived to see his company build such an incredible car.
• First Man: At his daughter Karen's funeral, Neil is stoic the entire time, never once breaking his composure, until he goes up to his study, completely alone, and breaks down in tears.
• Richard Kimble breaks down several times in The Fugitive, most notably during and after his futile attempts to revive his wife (who's been choked to death by Frederick Sykes, the one-armed man), then as the cops are interrogating him and the full impact of everything begins to sink in. To make matters worse, the police interpret this reaction as a de facto admission of guilt, and he is quickly convicted thereafter.
• In Gladiator, Maximus races home desperately...to find his farm burned and his wife and son crucified. He collapses in front of them, tears flowing. Spittle as well! Lots of discomfort-inducing spittle and mucus. The plan was for him to do a normal discreet-few-tears-down-each-cheek dignified cry... but he and Ridley Scott agreed that what Maximus was seeing demanded (as Russell Crowe put it) a full-blown snot-fest.
• In The Godfather when the godfather himself learns of Sonny's death, and then later when he takes the corpse to the undertaker. Marlon Brando plays it amazingly well, showing a man struggling not to cry but unable to stop it.
• Gods and Generals:
  • General "Stonewall" Jackson breaks down into Manly Tears upon being informed of the death of the child Jane Corbin from scarlet fever. A watching officer remarks in surprise that he has never previously cried after the deaths of any of his comrades or men and wonders why he's crying now. Another officer speculates that he's actually crying for all of them.
  • The commander of a Confederate Irish regiment also sheds manly tears at the Battle of Fredericksburg at the slaughter of his fellow Irishmen, after a disastrous assault by the Union Irish Brigade.
• The Green Mile:
  • The chief when John Coffey is healing his wife
  • The three guards during Coffey's execution.
• What happens in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle when Harold and Kumar actually made it to White Castle and feasted on those tiny, delicious burgers.
• The Emperor in Hero (2002) is the historical Qin Shi Huang, who unified China and built a great big chunk of what would become the Great Wall by being a really, really nasty guy. He sheds a single, extremely manly tear when he realizes the man who most understands him is his most hated enemy.
• High and Tight features a lot of this from its male cast.
  • In a flashback to his break-up with Becky, Vinnie can be seen burying his face in his hands.
  • Shane is seen welling up with Manly Tears as he hugs Scott goodbye, accepting his brother's decision.
  • Scott himself bypasses this and goes straight to Inelegant Blubbering the night before he's to leave.
• I Am Legend: Will Smith manages to cry and beg a mannequin to "say hello to [him]" and not only make it not narmy but downright devastating. To be fair, he's really crying over the death of his infected dog Samantha, the only living creature left in the world who still cares about him—or so he thinks—who he just had to euthanize with his bare hands.
• The most powerful and heartbreaking scene in It: Chapter Two is directly after the remaining Losers’ Club members finally kill IT and escape its lair, they dive into the lake they loved as kids to wash off. When they resurface Ben, Bill, Beverly and Mike speak their peace about Eddie who fell in the battle, Richie however who loved Eddie and never told him before he died, instead of speaking for once just bursts into tears, at which his friends give him a group Cooldown Hug.
• The Impossible has a rare instance of Inelegant Blubbering that also qualifies as Manly Tears. Ewan McGregor's character, Henry, calls his father-in-law to tell him that his wife and older son are missing in the aftermath of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Halfway through the phone call, Henry is so overcome with crying that he can't get the words out and has to hang up.
• In the ridiculously Mood Whiplash-y In Bruges, Colin Farrell again cries very convincingly when he confesses that he accidentally murdered a little boy during a hit, and is distraught to the point of suicide over it.
• Inglourious Basterds: the opening scene goes from oddly funny to horribly chilling when Landa passively intimidates LaPerdite into admitting that he is sheltering the Dreyfus family, and he begins to cry - out of shame, presumably.
• Matthew McConaughey again in Interstellar, when his character, Cooper, receives the video messages from his children. Cooper starts to cry when it really sinks in that 23 years have gone by in his children's lives, while he has only been away for about 45 minutes.
• Isn't It Shocking?: Barnes cries when he finds the body of his deputy Jesse, one of the victims.
• James Bond:
  • On Her Majesty's Secret Service: after Blofeld and his crony kill Bond's wife. There were two takes of the scene: the one without actual tears was chosen.
  • And now there's Skyfall: Bond begins tearing up as M dies. To date, he is the only Bond to ever have actual tears coming out of him on-screen.
• In the historical drama Japan's Longest Day, the Japanese Emperor finally breaks down when he comes to the realization that the American forces won't give them the chance to defend their homeland in a final decisive ground battle, and that if he wants to save his people from more nukes he has no choice but to surrender unconditionally. The sight of their Emperor, a symbol of their country's strength and divinity, breaking down causes many generals and leaders in the room - themselves hard and implacable men - to cry, some even falling to their knees in tears.
• Jason's Lyric: The main character, Jason, bursts into tears when he opens up to Lyric, about his tragic past: accidentally killed his abusive dad, Mad Dog, that explains why he feels obligated to his family (particularly his troubled brother, Joshua) and almost gives up their relationship. Later, he cries again while watching his family pictures through the slide projector, in memory of his dad.
  • In the climax, Jason breaks into sobs after watching in horror that his girlfriend is shot (by accident) by his own younger brother, Joshua. He weeps over her unconscious body while reminding her about their plan to escape town together, then carries her injured body outside, ignoring Joshua's apology and plea to not give up on him.
• In JFK, Jim Garrison gets choked up during his summation at the end of Clay Shaw's trial, stopping just short of sobbing.
• John Wick: One-Man Army he may be, even John can't help but finally cry while reading his late wife's final letter to him.
• Kingdom of Heaven gives us two examples, though one shown. Balian's father Godfrey was said to have wept giving the news to king Almaric I of Jerusalem that his son Baldwin IV was a leper. Having seen Godfrey in action, it's safe to say they were Manly Tears. Later in the film during the siege of Jerusalem, Saladin recites the funeral prayers for hundreds of his men personally and presumably in the middle of them, he stopped to weep at the loss of so many. Clearly A Father to His Men, that man.
• Nathan Algren in The Last Samurai does this twice towards the end of the movie. Of course, he was very much justified in doing so (and any members of the audience with at least one functioning tear gland were probably already way ahead of him).
• Wu Luan sheds some for his father after performing a play that accuses his uncle of murder in Legend of the Black Scorpion.
• In Legend of the Eight Samurai, Shinbei barely holds it together when, after rescuing the orphaned Princess Shizu from Tamazusa's clutches, he must return her to the care of a neighboring daimyo, knowing that he won't be welcome in their company and an Arranged Marriage for her is a foregone conclusion. After he convinces her to go, he turns away with misty eyes and a manly lip quiver.
• The Libertine: Elizabeth dumps out Rochester's alcohol, and he, sick and dying, dives for it, only to stop and realize that he's hit rock bottom. He bursts into sobs as Elizabeth holds him. It's incredibly heartbreaking.
  • This is actually a clear case of Inelegant Blubbering and a rare aversion of the Manly Tears trope, since Rochester is crying because of personal physical suffering and self-pity, not for any of the "legitimate" reasons listed above. Doesn't mean it's not heartbreaking, though.
• In Lincoln, Rep. Asa Litton has such a moment. When the black people enter the gallery to hear the vote on the 13th amendment outlawing slavery forever, Litton's voice goes rough and cracks as he greets them.
  Litton: We welcome you, ladies and gentlemen, first in the history of this people's chamber... to your House!
  • Rep. James Ashley has a moment of Inelegant Blubbering after the amendment passes.
• The Lord of the Rings:
  • After seeing how Merry and Pippin were apparently caught up in the Rohirrim's slaughter of Uruk-Hai, Aragorn furiously kicks a helm, and collapses in tears after seeing how his friends were apparently killed. Viggo Mortensen broke two toes when he kicked the helm and actually collapsed in pain, but used it; Peter Jackson thought it looked appropriate. He does cry in the book (and the extended edition) immediately after Boromir's death. Most Middle-Earth societies don't have such a taboo against men crying, and there are many instances of manly men weeping.
  • Éomer cries desperately when he discovers Éowyn's body on the battlefield (in the Extended Edition). Given slightly more context in the book, which points out that he while he knew Theoden had died, he didn't expect to see his sister at the battle at all, much less dead, and thus on seeing her he thinks that his last living family member is dead. Turns out she was just badly wounded, though.
  • King Théoden in front of Théodred's barrow. His son had been mortally wounded in an Uruk-Hai ambush while he was bewitched almost into a coma by Saruman; Gandalf tries to comfort him.
  • Grima Wormtounge shows despite his slimy conniving nature he's still a human being as he shreds a tear◊ overlooking the end of Humanity (an army of Orcs). Made even better by the fact the tear wasn't intentional Brad Dourif just started welling up.
  • The entire group breaks into manly tears following Gandalf's Heroic Sacrifice against the Balrog in Moria. He gets better eventually but it takes away none of the emotional power from the Tear Jerker that follows their desperate escape from the mines.
  • Aragon again lets a Single Tear run down his face during the Final Battle.
• Ladies, take note: Johnny Depp hasn't had too many crying scenes to date but in The Man Who Cried, he weeps as he holds a sleeping Suzie (Christina Ricci) the night before they must part forever.
• Mars Attacks!: The Martian Leader gets a Single Tear variant after hearing the president's speech before killing him.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe knows how to make every little boy and big tough man cry like babies... i.e by showing your heroes cry as well.
  • Tony Stark aka Iron Man is interesting as he achieves this trope without letting a single tear run down his face, if you look closely in certain scenes Robert Downey Jr.'s eyes are noticeably moist.
    • Such as Yensin's death in Iron Man but rather than weeping he vents his anger out on the men who did it.
    • In Iron Man 3 after Pepper's supposed death he looks devastated and bends his head down in grief without shedding actual tears.
    • In Captain America: Civil War he comes the closest to actually bursting into tears as you can literally see the tears◊ welling up in his eyes when he sees his parents get brutally murdered by Bucky on a video, then promptly connects the dots that Captain America was keeping it a secret from him.
    • Played straighter (look closely) in Avengers: Infinity War when Peter Parker is clutching onto Tony and sobbing in fear of his own death, pleading with him that he doesn't want to go, before vanishing into dust in Tony's arms; Tony loses it completely and weeps for the loss of someone who was pretty much a son to him.
    • Then, in Avengers: Endgame, while he's managed to get back into his groove and hold them back, he still very noticeably wells up when Thanos' victims are all finally resurrected and he finds Peter, not only alive again but none the worse for wear, and they reunite with a proper, joyful embrace.
  • In Thor, Loki's face is visibly wet with tears after he discovers from Odin that he's actually a Frost Giant. He also sheds a tear when he asks Thor, "Is it madness?", which is a sign of his emotional breakdown. In The Avengers: Loki displays a rare moment of vulnerability right after he stabs Thor his brother. A tear falls from his eye◊ as he says, "Sentiment."
  • Odin in the same movie sheds a Single Tear during the Odinsleep when Thor sacrifices himself against the Destroyer, but even more heartbreaking is in Thor: The Dark World where upon he seeing his wife Frigga's dead body you can see the wetness in his eyes and even more tear-jerking is when he cradles Frigga silently on the floor. It's probably the most well-acted scene from Anthony Hopkins in the Thor films.
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier Bucky's eyes are noticeably moist when Cap says "I'm with you till the end of the line".
  • Thor himself breaks down when Loki seemly dies in Thor: The Dark World, taken up to eleven in Avengers: Infinity War as Thor loses Heimdall, his brother Loki and his race the Asgardians to Thanos in a short space of time, and he can only cradle his little brother's body as the ship explodes as he's left drifting in space. But the real Tear Jerker is later when he's reflecting later to Rocket Raccoon about the fact he's lost his entire family and at that moment Thor's bravado slips and we see how much he's hurting. Thor also breaks several times in Avengers: Endgame but especially upon reuniting with his mother Frigga again.
  Thor: How much more can I lose?.
  • Captain America: Civil War: Steve Rogers is in tears as he serves as a pallbearer at Peggy Carter's funeral, after she dies of old age.
  • Doctor Strange: Kaecilius tears up as he espouses his worldview and motivation for his evil deeds, making it clear that there is real pain and emotion behind his actions. Strange later cries after the Ancient One dies and he says goodbye to Christine.
  • Peter Quill aka Star-Lord hasn't been afraid to shed some tears in both, Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Probably the three most tear-jerking moments are when Peter cries hysterically when his mother passes away in front of him as a kid before he could hold her hand, then in the Final Battle of the first movie, when clutching the Power Stone Peter sees a vision of his mother offering her hand again and a tear runs down his face◊. In the second movie when his father Ego grabs his mother's Walkman which is playing Looking Glass’s Brandy- (You're a Fine Girl) Peter is crying softly in despair Forced to Watch as Ego crushes the Walkman in his hand. Peter also breaks down during Yondu’s Heroic Sacrifice to save him.
    • Then in Infinity War, he's clearly just barely holding it together when he and Gamora exchange a Dying Declaration of Love before he shoots her in the head, fulfilling a promise he made to her in order to keep Thanos from getting information out of her. (Un)fortunately, Thanos stops him.
  • T'challa early in Captain America: Civil War cries deeply, at the assassination of his father, and is left clutching his father hand in the rubble of conference in Vienna.
  • Peter Parker aka Spider-Man, like his previously mentioned namesake, is also a very openly emotional person without losing any points for it. In Spiderman Homecoming, he cries when telling his Aunt May he lost the Stark “Internship”, which was actually Iron Man, his hero, taking away his suit and effectively disowning him as his protegee after he disobeyed him one too many times and nearly got an entire boat of people killed. Then, later in the film, he is pinned beneath the rubble of a fallen building and cries for help in a moment of Despair Event Horizon, then remembers the words Tony left him with when he took the suit and regains his Heroic Spirit, lifting the rubble off himself.
  • There is a great moment in Black Panther where Erik Killmonger after usurping the throne, goes into the Ancestral Plane and speaks with his deceased father N'jobu. Killmonger reverts back to a child and is very stoic while talking to his father who says "No tears for me?" child Erik says he has none to shed but then there's a cut to adult Erik who’s openly crying but quickly wipes his eyes. This scene cements that Killmonger despite his cruelty and misdeeds is still very much a Tragic Villain at heart.
    • From the same film, T'Challa himself is audibly welling with emotion both times he visits the Ancestral Plane, first because he is briefly reunited with his father, and then later when he confronts all of his ancestors about their decision to hide Wakanda from the world, now that said secret has led to catastrophe. This scene, in particular, is a highlight of Chadwick Boseman's acting, as he is clearly welling up not only out of sadness and guilt but also anger at his father's stubbornness and pride.
  • Even Thanos the ultimate Big Bad of the MCU, cries in Avengers: Infinity War when Red Skull tells him he has to sacrifice a loved one to get the soul stone.
    Gamora: [scoffs] Really? Tears?
    Red Skull: They are not for him.
  • Played for Laughs in Ant-Man and the Wasp as ex-con Scott Lang cries gently while reading The Fault in Our Stars.
  • Cap is once again shown crying◊ in Avengers: Endgame following the Heroic Sacrifice of Black Widow, a close friend and teammate of his. Her best friend, Clint, didn't handle it any better, especially since he had to do it in order for the sacrifice to be effective. Steve also tears up again when Tony is passing away.
  • Perhaps one of the most effective examples in Endgame is Rhodey who up to this point has been completely stoic and not prone to emotion even when his allies die around him, weeps openly when watching Tony's (his best friend) hologrammatic last goodbye to his loved ones after his death.
  • In Spider-Man: No Way Home: Webb-Verse Peter/Peter 3 weeps these tears when he saves MJ from falling to her death in the Final Battle, symbolically letting him redeem himself after failing to save Gwen.
• In Les Misérables (2012), when Eponine dies, Marius cries, Gavroche is silently weeping, and a single tear falls off of Enjolras's eyelashes.
  • Marius also cries during his solo, "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables". Furthermore, Jean Valjean cries desperate Tears of Remorse during "Valjean's Soliloquy", and sheds a few during his own death scene too. And when Gavroche is killed, student revolutionary Courfeyrac sobs uncontrollably. This movie is a fountain of Manly Tears!
• In Murder by Decree, Holmes sheds tears over Annie Crook's situation in the Bedlam House.
• Jason's apology in Mystery Team makes him do this. Granted, he WAS drunk.
• October Sky After Homer Hickam wins the National Science Fair and returns home, his father says he heard that Homer met Dr. Wernher von Braun, his "big hero" without knowing it. Homer finally has a brief heart-to-heart with his father saying that "Sure, Dr. von Braun's a great scientist, but he isn't my hero." His father is seen holding back tears.
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: After Rick delivers one hell of a good performance in the television pilot he's filming, Trudi, the young child actress he's befriended, tells him that that was the best acting she's ever seen in her life. This moves Rick so much that he begins to cry Tears of Joy, overjoyed that he's still got it.
• A kind of sick reference; in Once Upon a Time in Mexico Sands after he's been blinded strongly resembles this trope in the silent, still body but with streams flowing down each cheek aspect, only instead of tears, it's blood.
• Gerard Butler in The Phantom of the Opera (2004) indulges in a few in the Bittersweet Ending. Give him credit, he manages to still look manly whilst crying and simultaneously wearing a frilly shirt.
• Phone Booth: when forced to confess his almost-affair to his wife, Stu breaks down and tells her that he's sorry and he "just loves her so fucking much." Surprisingly effective, especially considering that Colin Farrell pulled it off in one take.
• The whole 'manly tears' thing is skillfully averted in Reservoir Dogs; when we see the wounded Mr Orange and later Mr White in tears, it's decidedly unmacho, undignified, and all the more effective for it.
• In a rare comedic example, Polish cult classic Sami swoi (All Friends Here) portraying two feuding families invokes this trope. When the main protagonists decide to reconcile, one of them says to the other, through the tears: Cry Casimir, because when the real man cries, something great is about to happen.
• Saving Private Ryan: Good lord, the ending not only had Ryan crying at the Cemetery decades later asking his wife if he was a good and decent man (mindful of the captain's charge to "earn this"), but it makes an audience of veterans break down every time.
  • It's really the opening that gets people. The elder Ryan is walking through the cemetery purposefully, with his family a short distance behind him. He pauses for a lengthy shot of the rows upon rows of white crosses, then continues on until finally arriving at one cross (Tom Hanks' character's grave) where he falls to his knees and breaks down sobbing. And the audience does too.
  • The whole movie is a sobfest, and one of the few movies where it's okay for men to watch and weep bitterly: Mrs. Ryan finding out that 3 of her sons were killed in action at the same time, Irwin Wade's death where he lays bleeding to death in the arms of his squadmates crying out for his mother, and Private Mellish's death when he is slowly stabbed through the chest by a German soldier that comforts him as he is killing him... ouch...
    • Not to mention Hanks' character shortly after Wade's death, when he hides from his squad and breaks down crying for a few moments before he gets control of himself.
  • Private Ryan's own restrained tears when he finds out about his brothers' deaths ("Which ones?" "All of them.") are just as heartbreaking.
  • Mellish breaks down into outright sobbing in the aftermath of Omaha beach, when he receives the Hitler Youth knife - whether it's a reminder of what was happening with Jews at the time that hit close to home, the realization that he just shot a kid or just a general Heroic BSoD from the battle is up for interpretation. One clear thing though is nobody, in the audience or The Squad, is judging him for it.
    • And the first Private James Francis Ryan (Not from Iowa) they find, being mistakenly told all his brothers are dead also breaks down. He gets confusion layered in with shock and grief since his youngest brother was too young to serve. The relief of being told they got the wrong guy didn't take immediately.
  • The Art of Manliness even listed it as one of 18 movies that warranted Manly Tears from the audience.
• Crying at the end of Schindler's List is acceptable, as Oskar Schindler himself demonstrates. As he frees his factory workers and prepares to go on the run (though his actions were of the highest degree of selflessness, it still appears to the world that he was a war profiteer), he suddenly berates himself for not trading his fancy car to Amon Göth for more Jewish workers. He has a catastrophic meltdown over not saving more people and breaks down in tears. The people he did save crowd around him to hold him.
  "This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this. I could have gotten one more person... and I didn't! And I...I didn't!"
• In Season of Miracles, Rafer's dad cries over his son's fatal blood disease.
• Seven Samurai: The titular seven samurai are deeply angered when the villagers they were hired to protect give them war-quality armor and weapons...realizing that the poor peasants could only possibly have obtained them by killing lone samurai on the run after losing battles and looting their corpses for anything of value. The flinty Kyuzo even remarks that he thinks they should kill every peasant in the village. The seventh "samurai", Kikuchiyo, then gives an epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech passionately accusing that the peasant classes have only been reduced to beasts who would sink to such lows because they are so badly oppressed by the samurai class themselves, who take everything they have and kill them if they resist. The speech ends with Kikuchiyo breaking down crying. Silently and subtly, the emotions of the six samurai in the room switch from anger to shame. The elder lead samurai Kambei, normally stoic but now with tears welling in his eyes, finally breaks the silence by acknowledging "You're a farmer's son, aren't you boy?" The six samurai then agree to continue their defense of the village.
• In Sleepless in Seattle, it's played for laughs, when Sam and Greg tear up while reminiscing about The Dirty Dozen.
• In Snow White & the Huntsman, the Huntsman cries over Snow White's unconscious body. Doubles as Tears of Remorse as he laments the fact that he failed to protect both Snow White and his late wife.
• A big Tear Jerker occurs in Soylent Green, when Sol is committing suicide, bringing Thorn to tears. The real kicker about the scene? Sol's actor, Edward G. Robinson was dying of cancer. Only Charlton Heston knew. Those tears aren't good acting; they are real.
• Spartacus: As a result of the famous I Am Spartacus scene, seeing so many of his followers ready to die for him moves our hero to tears.
• Spock weeps for V'Ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Kirk cries at Spock's funeral in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and also the "You Klingon bastard! You killed my son!" part in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
• In order, Kirk, Harrison, and Spock, each get a single tear in Star Trek Into Darkness. From the same eye, even. The good guys are looking at the reason for their tears, while the bad guy is looking away from the good guys. Kirk also cries really hard at Pike's death, his head bowed over his mentor's body, shaking with tears.
• Obi-Wan Kenobi may be one of the greatest Jedi in all of Star Wars, but he is by no means above letting the tears flow throughout the prequel trilogy. Notable causes include the death of Qui-Gon Jinn, the destruction of the Jedi Order and the murder of numerous younglings at the hands of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, and his defeat and dismemberment of the aforementioned Anakin/Vader.
• In the otherwise silly live-action film version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), there are some pretty emotional scenes, one of the most effective being when Raphael, who has a Hair-Trigger Temper and is in various other ways quite the Jerkass, is lectured by Master Splinter that what is sad about him is not that he doesn't realize that getting angry only gives his anger more power over him, but that, alone among the Turtles, "you choose to face this enemy alone." Splinter then assures Raphael that it doesn't have to be this way, and Raphael begins to understand. He blubbers very softly as Splinter holds him - the natural reaction of a tough, angry guy who doesn't want to cry, but simply must.
• Matthew McConaughey's defense summation in A Time to Kill; done in one take. The tears were genuine and unscripted.
• In The Thin Red Line, Sgt. Welsh (played by Sean Penn) cries over the grave of Pvt. Witt.
• In Tombstone, as Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp exchange their parting words at Doc's deathbed, Doc sheds a Single Tear and Wyatt is clearly Trying Not to Cry too.
• In Top Gun: Maverick, Maverick sheds some of these when talking to a dying Iceman about his Sadistic Choice on what to do with Rooster, after he is told that it's "time to let go".
• Sam Flynn in TRON: Legacy is visibly misty after his reunion with his father.
• Unbreakable has a Deleted Scene where the superpowered protagonist David right after the train crash of which he was the Sole Survivor, comes home and has a shower where he falls to his knees and the camera cuts to his face as David sobs uncontrollably. Despite some incredible acting from Bruce Willis, Shyamalan removed the scene fearing it was “Too much, too soon”.
• Another comedic example occurs in Wayne's World 2, when Charlton Heston's one-scene cameo is so awesome it reduces Wayne to tears.
• In Werewolf: The Beast Among Us Daniel breaks down crying when he realises he himself is the werewolf they've been hunting for.
• In When Taekwondo Strikes, resistance leader and martial artist Li Jundong dabs at his eyes at Huang's mother's funeral.
• In The Winslow Boy cold and haughty Sir Robert Martin begins to cry, openly, as the titular case is resolved in his client's favor. We don't see the pivotal scene but it's mentioned explicitly in the housekeeper's relating of the tale: "Sir Robert standing there at the table with his wig on crooked and tears running down his face- running down his face they were." Later he shows up at his client's home, still very emotionally shaken, and admits to having wept "because right was done." Jeremy Northam is a genius at conveying how overcome the character is, red-eyed and stammering and trembling, whereas before he'd been all "cold clear logic."
• The Green Whiskered Soldier does this in The Wizard of Oz when hearing Dorothy cry about missing her aunt reminds him of his own beloved aunt.
• X-Men Film Series:
  • X-Men: First Class:
    • Both Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr do this in a rather touching scene where the latter is learning to control his powers through something other than rage. By telepathically finding one of Erik's happiest childhood memories, Charles helps him to see that true focus lies between "rage and serenity." Cue the tears as they both experience a bittersweet memory of Erik's long-dead mother on welcoming in their Sabbath.
    • After Charles gets shot, there is a particularly heartbreaking moment when he has to tell Erik that no, they do not want the same things when it comes to mutants and humans. Cue the Manly Tears on his part. It's an indicator of how the two men have grown apart that Erik's face just blanks of emotion in response.
  • X-Men: Apocalypse:
    • Erik openly sobs when he cradles his wife and daughter's lifeless bodies.
    • Professor X sheds a tear while he's using Cerebro to communicate with Magneto because he's able to feel the latter's grief over the deaths of Magda and Nina.
    • Scott Summers weeps when he learns that his brother Alex is dead.
  • Logan, already a cryfest for the audience, has the titular character himself succumb to tears when he buries Charles. Logan was holding himself together up until then, but when he feels the need to say something about the death of the man who accepted him into his school and changed his whole life, Logan can't find the words and starts to sob before rushing off to the truck to get away from his grief.
• In Zombieland, Tallahassee sheds theseafter revealing he lost his young son to the zombies.

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