History TearJerker / FilmNToS

* ''Film/RedDawn1984'' was a {{Narm}}ful movie in some places, but [[spoiler:Erica's death scene, where she asks Jed to kill her so she won't be interrogated, and he breaks down]] and [[spoiler:when the mortally-wounded Jed sits on an old swing set and holds his likewise-dying brother, telling him, "Daddy'll be here soon, Matty"]] always get me.

* The [[spoiler:death of Mickey]] in ''Film/RockyIII'' and later [[spoiler:Apollo Creed]] in ''Film/RockyIV''.
** Admit it, you at LEAST teared up when, upon against incredible odds, winning by a margin of ONE SECOND the Heavyweight Title from Apollo Creed, Rocky gives a shout-out to his wife watching at home: "Yo Adrian! I DID IT!!"
** This troper couldn't feel anything for the Rocky-sequels, but teared up at the end of the first one. [[spoiler:All he wanted all along was to "go the distance" and not get KO'd. So he doesn't even want to know if he has won. When the points are read all he does is search for "ADRIAAAAN!"]]

* The ending of ''Film/SilentRunning''... *sob*

* ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'':
** When the rockbiter is describing being unable to hold onto his friends and keep them from being pulled into The Nothing. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0VxGRWPh28 "They look like big, strong hands, don't they?"]]
** The sinking of Artax, half TearJerker, half horrific. So much worse when you find out that in the making of the film the horse actually died due to melted machinery!

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'' has one in Rango's HeroicBSOD, after Rattlesnake Jake calls him out on his tall tales and runs him out of town. He wanders alone across the desert night with a lost and forlorn look on his face, until he gets to the highway. Rango finds his [[CompanionCube imaginary friends]], then sits there watching the traffic for a bit before finally saying to himself "[[ArcWords Who am I?]] ...I'm nobody."

* ''TheRugrats Movie'': Near the end of the movie, Tommy Pickles had practically lost it all: he's lost in the middle of the woods with his brother, Dil, and his friends have abandoned him because he wanted to protect his brother over sticking with them. When Tommy tries to take care of Dil during the storm, Dil's newborn greediness kicks in, drinking the last bottle of milk down, then hogs a blanket Tommy was trying to share. When the two rip it and Dil finds it funny, Tommy ''snaps'', tossing away his "'Sponsertility" (a pocket watch Stu Pickles gave him), then dragging Dil out into the rain blaming him for everything wrong that's happened since they got lost. Tommy plans to dump a jar of banana baby food for the circus monkeys to come in and take Dil away, but before he does, Dil looks up at Tommy in pity and fear: his big brother was ''scaring'' him! When Tommy sees himself in a puddle, he realizes what he's become and embraces Dil, apologizing for what he was going to do. Tommy, then, takes them back to their little shelter, retrieves the pocket watch and falls asleep with Dil, singing a small version of a lullaby Stu and Didi were singing in the beginning.
--> "Dil wants the monkeys, and the monkeys want the nanners, ''everybody gets what they want''!"

* ''Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron''. "Sound the Bugle". That is all.
* In ''The WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Movie'', when Spongebob and Patrick end up ''dying'' in the Shell City Giftshop.

* The farewell scene in ''Film/TheNameOfTheRose'' (with outstanding "Epilogue" by James Horner).

* ''Film/{{Nell}}'', as you learn to listen to the gibberish -- it becomes actual speech. The real reason she talks that way, and ''what'' she is saying. [[spoiler: It was a twin sister -- who had been dead for years, ''and she was still interacting with her as though she were right there''.]] And never mind the Natasha Richardson/ Creator/LiamNeeson chemistry.

* ''Film/{{Newsies}}''

* ''Film/ANightToRemember'': It's the originator of a lot of the death scenes from ''Titanic'', including the band playing their last song, the lost boy, the young couple being crushed by the falling funnel, plus it has a few more of its own - and the many acts of sacrifice that preceded them. Mr Andrews just standing and waiting alone not even ''trying'' to get to a boat, while the Strauses decide to remain {{together in death}}.
* Oliver Stone's ''Film/{{Nixon}}'' has two amazing scenes, the first is when Nixon breaks down the night before his resignation and the other is when he stands before a portrait of JFK, who was always the specter of his presidency and political life, and he says, "When they look at you, they see what they wanna be. When they look at me, they see what they are."
* ''Film/TheNotebook.''

* Perhaps the biggest tearjerker ever: the final scene in ''One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest."

* ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'' and Terry Malloy's taxi ride with his brother Charley the Gent. Today, most folks may know the powerful line "I could have been a contender ..." as a throw away quote, as if a hackneyed joke. In context, however, it's quite different. It sums up Terry's entire life of lost and stolen chances and his realization of just who he was and how he got there and that for all his tough bravado he really was nothing but a bum, a pawn in someone else's game. It sets the stage for his climb out of futile nothingness to his own final crowning moment of glory. It is also a reminder of just how good an actor a young Marlon Brando was.

* ''Film/PatchAdams''

* ''Film/PennySerenade'' (1941) with Creator/CaryGrant and Creator/IreneDunne.

** Also, Roger and Mary fighting about [[spoiler:what happened the night of the death of one of their twin sons]] and the last scene when Peter reveals that [[spoiler:he's HIV-positive.]] God-damn it, Stephen Fry...

* The BBC documentary "The Pink Floyd And Syd Barrett Story", of all movies. When they played "Shine On, You Crazy Diamond" at the end they very nearly had me in tears...

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePolarExpress''

* The ending of ''[[Film/TheProfessional Leon/The Professional]]''. Leon's far from a good man, given his job, and there's a certain grim satisfaction in seeing the villain brought low, but [[spoiler:Leon getting shot after thinking he killed the villain, and having to kill both of them with grenades to finish the job, leaving poor Matilda all alone as well]] was pretty harsh.
** ''"This is for Matilda." Cue tears.''

* ''Film/PetSematary''

* The ''Franchise/StarTrek'' movies have more than a few:
** The scene between Data and Picard near the end of ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' as Data says goodbye and makes his HeroicSacrifice.
*** When Riker recalled the first time he and Data had met: in a holodeck, with Data trying in vain to whistle. The heartbreaking bit, though, was that Riker just couldn't remember what song it was Data had been humming... The audience'' knew, and several of them started whistling it right then and there.
*** And just to make it worse: B4, trying to sing "Blue Skies" - with some help from Picard. (Brent Spiner is a freaking ''genius''.)
** ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''. Spock's HeroicSacrifice, his moving farewell to Kirk, Kirk's eulogy at the funeral, Scotty playing Amazing Grace on the bagpipes...''James T. Kirk'' struggling to keep it together will do that to a man:
---->'''Kirk:''' Of all the souls I encountered over the years, his was the most... * voice cracks* ...human.
*** Kirk racing desperately through the ''Enterprise'' to get to his friend -- and then [=McCoy=], Scotty, ''and'' someone else having to use all their strength to keep him from going in there himself.
** Or ''The Search for Spock''. "[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone My God, Bones, what have I done?]]"
*** [=McCoy=]'s response could probably count as this, a [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome CMOA]] and a [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments CMOH]] all wrapped into one.
--->'''[=McCoy=]''': What you had to do. What you always do: turn death into a fighting chance to live.
** Kirk and Klingon Chancellor Azetbur's reconciliation at the end of ''The Undiscovered Country'':
--->'''Azetbur''': You've restored my father's faith.
--->'''Kirk''': And you've restored my son's.
*** The last scenes are also very sad, and much more so to those who have watched the entire original series and the rest of the films. Enterprise is about to be decommissioned, meaning that it is the final voyage of Kirk and his crew, and the end of an era. The fact that they also decide to 'take their time' in getting back to Earth also makes this a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}.
** ''Film/StarTrekInsurrection'' features an interstellar dispute over a FountainOfYouth planet. Geordi LaForge, blind since birth, suddenly generates the ability to see without the aide of his visor while on the planet. Captain Picard finds him on a hill asking, before they leave, to watch a sunrise for the first time. Then you see [[TheWorldIsJustAwesome the sunrise itself]]. ''Then'' you see [[ManlyTears the tears welling up]].
** The first ten minutes of the new ''Star Trek'' movie, where [[spoiler: new daddy Kirk makes an epic HeroicSacrifice to save his wife and the rest of the escaping ''Kelvin'' crew]].
*** Kirk and old Spock were in the cave [[spoiler:talking about the existence where Spock came from and where Kirk knew his father]].
*** Spock introducing himself with: "I have been, and always shall be, your friend."
*** Papa Kirk's [[spoiler:last words and the delivery thereof: "I love you so much... I love you-"]]
*** A short shot in this scene from Papa Kirk's perspective, [[spoiler:showing red "Systems Failed" messages across the Kelvin's screen while explosions and destruction goes on around]]. All this being set to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZSQJ-XnR78 a piece of music]] that is a tear jerker all on its own.
*** And the opening scene comes back later to gut-punch you with the line:
----> '''Pike:''' Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including yours and your mother's. I ''dare'' you to do better.
** And then later on, when [[spoiler:Vulcan is being destroyed and Chekov is beaming up the elders that Spock has gathered, his mother among them, and the ground collapses under Spock's mother, and she screams for her son]]--especially [[spoiler: Chekov's frantic repetition of "I'm losing her! I'm losing her!" and then his shell-shocked face after the remaining Vulcans appear on the pad, with Spock's arm stretched out, reaching at nothing]].
** In a crossover with both SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments and an SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome, [[spoiler:Leonard Nimoy's voiceover of the famed TOS narration, which then segues into a grand orchestral recapitulation of Alexander Courage's original theme]], is wrenching.
** [[spoiler:Spock Prime: As he was helpless to save his planet, I would be helpless to save mine. *shot of him staring up into the sky with heart-broken expression* Billions of lives lost, because of me, Jim. Because, I failed.]]
** Kirk's death in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations''. In a film which missed so many chances to be one of the best Star Trek films ever, Kirk's death, set to a beautiful and touching piece of music is heartbreaking.
--> '''Kirk:''' It was the least I could do... for the captain of the Enterprise. [[GoOutWithASmile It was... ''fun''.]] Oh my...

* ''Film/SchindlersList''
** The girl in the red coat [[spoiler: being carried off in a cart full of corpses]].
** The biography of Oskar Schindler made me cry more than the movie...
** The gift of the ring at the end. And Oskar's HeroicBSOD right after ''kills me.''
--->'''Schindler:''' I could have gotten more...
** The end of the movie where some of the ''actual'' people, or members of their family, Schindler was able to save file past his ''actual'' grave to give their respects. It would be over the top melodrama if it just weren't so damn painful to know that these are real, flesh and blood people, people with friends and family, none of whom would be there except for Oskar.
** And then when it tells you that the Schindler Jews and their descendants outnumber the Jewish population of Poland...drive home the scale of the tragedy, why don't you?
** Two Nazi soldiers were holding a boy by his arms [[spoiler:and another soldier shot the boy. And the scene where parents got to see their children being carried off for medical exams...]]
** A scene in the beginning shows a man with one arm missing coming up to thank Schindler for letting him work in the factory. He seems so pleased because he feels a sense of importance, a purpose even though he has only one arm. However, in a later scene, when the Nazi's stop the ghetto members from going to work to shovel the snow from the street. This moment isn't necessarily significant until [[spoiler: you realize that the Nazis are trying to weed out the people who are physically infirm. The one armed man from earlier is then taken, while he tries to defend that he's important to the factory so that they won't shoot him]].
** Just listen to the soundtrack- that alone is enough to bring tears to the eyes of many who have seen the movie.

* John Cameron Mitchel's ''Film/{{Shortbus}}'' may be famous for featuring explicit, non-simulated sex but good god it's an incredible emotional release. The entire ending sequence is a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}, AwesomeMusic, and pure catharsis are rolled into one. They're happy tears, to be sure, but oh there's always a lot of them.

** "Cromaggia". It may have been Blind Mag's AwesomeMoment, but it's a gut-wrenching one.

* ''Film/RussianArk'' is the first full-length single-continuous-shot movie (they got it in ''one take'' -- surely that counts as a AwesomeMoment for everyone involved) whose plot consists of an unnamed Russian guy falling through a hole in time to wander through the halls of the Hermitage -- the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg -- observing chronologically disjointed moments in the palace's history, like a series of psychic impressions. Along the way he meets a fellow [[Literature/TheTimeTravelersWife Chrono-Displaced Person]] in the guise of a cynical European, who claims to have done this sort of thing before. In any case, the entire movie can make you cry if you're really into art, architecture or history (there are tons of cameos, from Catherine the Great to Pushkin), but two stand out. One was right near the end, when the European decides to stay with the beautiful Last Ball instead of moving on with the hero. And the other happens at about the mid-point; the European chases a group of little girls down a hallway, pretending to be a ghost, until one of them gets called to have breakfast. We follow her to the dining room, where she says good morning and apologizes for being late, and it's just a cute little happy family scene until you check their clothes and realize that they're from the second decade of the 20th century, which leads you to [[ForegoneConclusion realize who they must be and what's going to happen to them]].

* ''Film/SecondhandLions''. Most of the second half of the movie is a massive [[TearJerker Tear Jerking]] CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming, but the most heartbreaking part is the speech that Uncle Hub (played by an always-terrific Robert Duvall) gives to the protagonist.

* John Cameron Mitchel's ''Film/{{Shortbus}}'' may be famous for featuring explicit, non-simulated sex but good god it's an incredible emotional release. The entire ending sequence is a HeartwarmingMoment, AwesomeMusic, and pure catharsis are rolled into one. They're happy tears, to be sure, but oh there's always a lot of them.

* The end of ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'' is a Tearjerker, a CrowningMomentOfAwesome, and a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming all rolled into one. Spartacus' large army of slaves is captured by the Roman army, who declare that they all face crucifixion unless anyone will identify which of them is Spartacus. Spartacus starts to stand up to give himself up and spare his people, when the two people to either side of him stand and both declare that [[IAmSpartacus they are Spartacus]]. Following that, every single person stands up one by one and shouts "I'm Spartacus!" A single tear falls down Spartacus' cheek as he sees just how devoted to him his men are.

* In ''Film/SpeedRacer'', [[spoiler: after Taejo reveals that the file he had offered didn't exist]], Speed goes on an [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge angsty dive]] around Thunderhead. Racer X follows him and gives him the [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming most moving pep talk EVER.]] Speed asks if X is actually Rex and X says no. [[spoiler: [[BlatantLies Which is a lie.]] Then he says, "I'm sure if he were here, he'd be immensely proud of you."]]

*** [=McCoy=]'s response could probably count as this, a [[CrowningMomentofAwesome CMOA]] and a [[CrowningMomentofHeartwarming CMOH]] all wrapped into one.

*** The last scenes are also very sad, and much more so to those who have watched the entire original series and the rest of the films. Enterprise is about to be decommissioned, meaning that it is the final voyage of Kirk and his crew, and the end of an era. The fact that they also decide to 'take their time' in getting back to Earth also makes this a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming.

** In a crossover with both HeartwarmingMoments and an AwesomeMoment, [[spoiler:Leonard Nimoy's voiceover of the famed TOS narration, which then segues into a grand orchestral recapitulation of Alexander Courage's original theme]], is wrenching.

* ''Film/{{Super 8}}'': Joe's mother locket flies, he grabs it as the thing shows the picture inside (she with baby Joe)... and decides to let go. The locket is absorbed by an alien ship, [[DramaticAlienVTOL it takes off slowly]], the end. (the only thing that makes it less sad is "[[ShowWithinAShow The]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Case]]" [[MoodWhiplash playing afterwards]])

** TearJerker and CrowningMomentOfAwesome: the end of the Fortress of Solitude sequence which features the strongest images of Jor-El as "God", John Williams' wonderful music, and the hopeful, uplifting monologue: "They can be a great people, Kal-El -- they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. It is for this reason above all, their capacity for good, that I have sent them you ... my only son." Then Jor-El's smiling face becomes a mask, which slips onto Superman's face -- the son becoming the father. And then John Williams finishes it off with a triumphant clarion call on horns to Superman's theme: DAAAA-DA-DA-DA-DAAAAAAAAHHH ... DAAAH DAAAH DAAAH ... as Superman flies for the first time in the costume.

* ''Film/SherlockHolmes'' I always nearly cry when the man Blackwood has set on fire yells "HELP ME!". It's something about the way he says it. Might not be shared by everyone, but okay...

* At the end of the 2003 version of ''Literature/PeterPan'' with Aunt Millicent. "Then I... am your mother".
** Then there's Mr. Darling trying to contain his immense relief that his children are okay in the end and tries to act formal, only shaking John's hand... which backfires in them hugging each other in tears.

* ''Film/SunsetBoulevard'' makes you feel really horrible for Norma. And it was a true story, since that was what had happened to Gloria Swanson, who played the role.

* Slim Pickens character in ''Film/PatGarrettAndBillyTheKid'' was a burned out sheriff just biding his time till he could finish his boat float down the river and out of the territory. But Garrett convinces (paid) him to help raid a cabin where Garrett suspects Billy's gang. During said raid, Pickens is gutshot (nearly always fatal in the time period, but slow) and stumbles away. The sequence ends with him siting beside the river, with his wife, [[ActionGirl who had come too]], in tears as he knows that he is certainly dead. The fact that Music/BobDylan's song ''Knocking on Heaven's Door'' was written for this scene doubles the effect.

* ''RoadToPerdition''

* ''ShakespeareInLove'', particularly during the end of Romeo and Juliet. And again, when the Queen forbade William and Viola from being together. And AGAIN, when it is shown that Will's next [[Theatre/TwelfthNight play]] would be a tragedy, [[spoiler: mirroring Viola's shipwreck on the way to America]]. Their play should be renamed "William and Viola".

* [[spoiler: Richie's suicide attempt]] in ''TheRoyalTenenbaums'' always leads to tears. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pyBB7y8fDU Beautifully shot,]] and especially painful considering the haunting Elliott Smith song (and the implications that go along with it).

* Both of the scenes in ''TheProposition'' that involve Sam singing "Peggy Gordon", an old Irish drinking song. The first time is [[spoiler:intercut with a scene of Mikey, a mentally-handicapped teenager, being brutally flogged]]. The second time he sings it, [[spoiler: he's raping Creator/EmilyWatson's character]]. There's also something sad about watching [[spoiler: [[AlasPoorVillain Arthur die, even if he deserves it]]]].

* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7U4EQXFMBE scene where Sol "goes home"]] in ''Film/SoylentGreen'' is this on many levels. When Sol realizes what he must to do expose the [[ItWasHisSled terrible secret of Soylent Green]], Thorn tries to stop him but finds out too late so all he can do is watch as his closest and best friend dies. Sol is also one of the few characters old enough to remember the Earth when it was still full of natural beauty. The beautiful nature footage he is shown before his death, set to classical music, deeply moves both characters (Sol: "I told you." Thorn: "How could I know? How could I ever imagine?") and drives home the film's environmental message. Finally there's the RealitySubtext that Edward G. Robinson (Sol) was dying in real life and the only other person on the film who knew was CharltonHeston (Thorn), who cried real tears during that scene.

* Toward the end of ''{{Speak}}'' (the Film of the Book), when Melinda shows Mr. Freeman all of the tree paintings/projects she's done in the old janitor's closet.

* ''Film/PennySerenade'' (1941) with Creator/CaryGrant and Irene Dunne.

* ''Penny Serenade'' (1941) with Creator/CaryGrant and Irene Dunne.

* The final church scene in ''Places in the Heart''.

* Slim Pickens character in ''Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid'' was a burned out sheriff just biding his time till he could finish his boat float down the river and out of the territory. But Garrett convinces (paid) him to help raid a cabin where Garrett suspects Billy's gang. During said raid, Pickens is gutshot (nearly always fatal in the time period, but slow) and stumbles away. The sequence ends with him siting beside the river, with his wife, [[ActionGirl who had come too]], in tears as he knows that he is certainly dead. The fact that Music/BobDylan's song ''Knocking on Heaven's Door'' was written for this scene doubles the effect.

* ''Film/ThePolarExpress''

* The ending of ''Ring0Birthday''. As a prequel, you ''know'' it's coming, but that doesn't make the ending any less powerful and gut-wrenching.

* The end of ''Film/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' when the orphans get the letter from their parents. The music that's playing while she reads it, and the terrible burned up background doesn't help.

* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInTheWest'':
** The famous "crane-on-a-crane" shot at the station when Jill arrives at Flagstone. Ennio Morricone flexes his italano melodrama muscles, and your eyes get a bit misty.
** The death of Mr. Morton. The sight of it is tragic enough, even more so if you knew what he wanted to do before his death.
** The death of [[spoiler: Cheyenne.]] The fact that he kept his composure the entire time he was with [[spoiler: Jill]] and doesn't break it until she's out of sight, and that he tells [[spoiler: Harmonica]] to go away so that he can [[DyingAlone die alone]] is really gut-wrenching.

** The scene right after Benjamin and his two youngest sons have slaughtered a platoon of English soldiers holding Gabriel, the eldest, was so extreme a MoodWhiplash His youngest son sobbing in fear and grief as his father kills the last soldiers; Mel screaming half in rage and grief as he bludgeons the body of the last English soldier who has killed his second son and destroyed his peaceful life; Gabriel (Heath Ledger) and his 3rd eldest son's expressions of muted shock and fear as they watch him doing so and then walking out of the trees covered in blood from head to toe. Roland Emmerich, thy name is {{Anvilicious}}.

* ''Penny Serenade'' (1941) with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.
* At the end of the 2003 version of ''PeterPan'' with Aunt Millicent. "Then I... am your mother".

* Joel Schumacher's adaptation of AndrewLloydWebber's ''Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera2004'' has this in spades: