Tear Jerker / Who Framed Roger Rabbit

"You wanna know? I'll tell ya! A toon killed my brother!"

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• Marvin Acme's death.
• Basically, anything having to do with the murder of Teddy Valiant and Eddie's memory of him. It's the heart of the film, after all, and is what transformed Eddie into a grumpy, alcoholic, washed-up has-been in the eyes of others. The only reason Roger came to him for aid at all is because he seemingly never realized Eddie's changed and was under the impression he still helps toons.
  • The first time Eddie's loss is remarked upon. Eddie has just chewed out a wisecracking patron at the bar mocking him over his old profession. After Eddie storms out, Dolores recalls, with visible pain in her face, how much Teddy's death left him affected.
    • Even the patron - who’d been angrily glaring in the direction of Eddie’s departure - seems visibly shaken after hearing what happened.
  • The scene in the movie theater signals the start of the bond between Eddie and Roger. It's the first time we hear of how Teddy died... and foreshadows Judge Doom's real identity. Roger, heart-broken and convinced that Eddie hates him and wants to kill him, may be hammy, but still tugs at the heartstrings.
  • Roger crying, period. He's such a sweetheart. When he cries, our hearts ache.
  • Hell, even the scene of Eddie alone in his office, when the camera pans across the memorabilia of the Valiant brothers' successful cases.
    • Viewers will notice that Teddy's side of the desk is entirely untouched, covered in dust and whatever Teddy had put there. Eddie had refused to clean it up or put anything away, for fear of disturbing what had become a shrine to his brother. He goes ballistic when Roger attempts to sit on Teddy's chair.
    • The most heartbreaking scene is when Eddie is looking at his newly-developed vacation photos and smiling at all the pictures of him and Dolores. Only to look crushed when he finds one of Teddy.
    • Look carefully and you can see Eddie's lip quivering as he looks at the pictures. Then we see his eyes glistening as he looks up, thinking about his brother.

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  • Note that Eddie and Teddy had made their careers out of helping toons together. One can sense the betrayal Eddie feels at having lost his brother to one.
  • When it's revealed that Judge Doom isn't just any old toon, but the one that killed Teddy, the look of absolute terror on Eddie's face while being confronted by his brother's murderer is nothing short of heartbreaking.
  • The sweeping track that plays during these scenes, and kicks off the end credit sequence, is called "Eddie's Theme" for good reason.
• Judge Doom dipping that shoe!
  • Especially because the shoe was so innocent and acted like a little defenseless puppy... and, good God, the sounds it made when Judge Doom dipped it!
  • It was snuggling up next to Judge Doom's shoe! The poor little thing just wanted to be friends!
  • Knowing that there's another shoe out there that will always be alone now.
• Seeing Roger sobbing desperately after he believes Jessica has cheated on him with Marvin Acme, especially when he pulls out pictures of their wedding and honeymoon. To see Roger, normally so cheerfully wacky, obviously completely heartbroken really hits you...

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  • The fact that, in between sobs, he even does his trademark "P-p-p-please?" It's a small reminder that, yes, this is the same Roger you just saw bouncing off the walls for our amusement.
• Wheezy's death. As he's dying, his angelic soul floats from his body. He desperately tries to grab it back, but it flutters off, and he dies.
  • This could double as a Moment of Awesome for Wheezy, as he is the only weasel who at least tries to avert his death.
• In a meta way, Eddie's line, "Who needs a car in LA? We've got the best public transport system in the world," when you compare it to the gridlock of today and understand that the auto industry deliberately dismantled LA's streetcar system to force people to buy cars.
• Jessica's line about how difficult it is to go around looking the way she does. If the hooting in the nightclub is any evidence, she doesn't get much respect.
  • It could also be interpreted as her stating that people don't take her seriously because she's a toon. Needless to say, such a notion isn't much better.
  • Alternately, other toons don't take her seriously because she's sexy--and sexy isn't funny. There's a reason she's considered the lucky one for snagging Roger as a husband by other toons such as Betty Boop.
  • Or, perhaps, all of the above at once. Poor Jessica's got it pretty bad regardless of how you interpret her statement, really.
• Toontown is home to all toons, no matter the animation studio. If Judge Doom had succeeded, Snow White, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and every other Disney character kids love—along with the likes of characters such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck—would be dead forever.
  • For a bigger bit of Fridge Horror, that also means that Warner Bros. and Disney's future accomplishments would have completely ceased to be. And considering the time period this is set in, that also means that Hanna-Barbera characters like Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, and Jonny Quest would have never come about. It really is a good thing that Eddie put a stop to Doom's plans.
• Even though he was a greedy and manipulative Jerkass, R.K. Maroon did care for toons and not just from a business standpoint. He ultimately wanted Acme's will to ensure their safety making him a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  Maroon: I'VE BEEN AROUND TOONS ALL MY LIFE, I DIDN'T WANNA SEE 'EM DESTROYED!
  • The passion in his voice when shouting the above line; you could tell that toons made a big impact on him since childhood. Alan Tilvern's solid performance just nails it.
  • His terror through the entire scene as Eddie punches him out for answers, reduced to a frantic and sobbing mess who's clearly in fear for his life, and Eddie is not there to pull his ass out of the fire.
  • The way he cries out when he's shot in the back. He'd thought Eddie shot him.
• If you know Betty Boop's history in regards to her anthropomorphic dog boyfriend (short explanation, her boyfriend Bimbo was changed to being her pet when the Hays Code deemed their relationship to be a promotion of bestiality), then the part where she is staring wistfully at Jessica as she comments on how lucky Jessica is might tug at your heartstrings a little.
  • Likewise, crossing over into a meta-tearjerker, we get the fact that Boop is also working as a cigarette girl in a nightclub, as she had been put out of business by cartoons going to color.^note She has one cartoon in color, Poor Cinderella (1934), where she plays a Significant Greeneyed Redhead in it. Granted, she isn't too upset about it, although she does assure Eddie that she still has it, to which he replies "Yeah. You've still got it." One could thank this movie for reviving her career, albeit as a merchandising icon.
• Meta: The fact that we'll never see another Roger Rabbit project due to the fact that the current staff of not liking Roger's wife, Jessica would bring tears to those that had wished for more from him.