Five for Friday, Vol. 5: Boys Do Cry

Inspired partly by a drive-time radio show I heard while in Dallas, then by seeing October Sky again on cable the other night, I offer up this Friday’s list. It’s five movies (plus 6 bonus choices) that make me tear up, cry, weep, get choked up or blubber like a little baby.

I’ll admit it. I’m a melodramatic guy. I’m not afraid to get caught up in emotion. I’ve been shedding tears over movies since seeing Bambi and Old Yeller as a kid. As you’ll see, I’m a sucker for epic historical pieces where one person tries to make a difference against the odds. Sure it’s cliché but only because it’s touchstone of the human experience.

1. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Together with the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies, the LOTR movies are my favorite movie experiences. So after evil has been vanquished and the king crowned, King Aragorn approaches Frodo and the other hobbit heroes, who start to bow. The king stops them, “My friends, you bow to no one” and then he and everyone else bow to the four Halflings. And I am getting choked up just typing this. Of course by this time in the movie, I've teared up several times not the least of which is during Faramir's mournful march to certain death juxtaposed with Pippin singing a sad accapella tune to Faramir's father who had just told Faramir that he loved Faramir's dead older brother more.

2. Braveheart – Mel has slipped a little in my eyes for his "Passion" self-righteousness but he was in fine form here as William Wallace, fighting a losing cause for a free Scotland in the 13th century. At the end, during his torture, when Wallace believes he sees is dead true love (his beloved Scotland personified) walking through the crowd…that’s when the tears come.

3. Saving Private Ryan – Honor, duty and courage. It wasn’t the graphic and gripping D-Day sequence that gets me or the storyline of the group hunting the war torn French countryside for one soldier…until the end. After a dying Capt. Miller tells Pvt. Ryan to “earn this” and the movie jumps back to present day with an old Ryan falling his knees in front of Miller’s tombstone and asking his wife to “Tell me I led a good life. Tell me I’m a good man.” Boy, it taps into, I think, everyone’s natural fear of not living a life that matters…in this case amplified by war.

4. October Sky – This isn’t a sweeping epic tale, this is a small story with a big heart. It’s as much about the difficult relationship between a father and son (who are more alike than they want to admit) as it is about a boy’s dreams of escaping a West Virginia coal mining town in 1957 with dreams of rockets and space. After winning the national science fair, when Homer goes home to launch his final rocket and his dad shows up unexpectedly and is offered the chance to push the ignition button, I lose it. By the time we hit the epilogue, when we discover that Homer and his friends did escape and graduated college and that he went to work for NASA and the space program, I’m sobbing.

5. Rudy – One of the greatest sports movies. Like Rudy, I was never blessed with athletic talent, but tried do my best. Rudy’s best, along with his perseverance against all odds led him to his dream of playing football at Notre Dame. I love it when most of the players offer to give up their spot on the game day roster so Rudy can suit up for the last game of the year – his last shot at his dream. Then he gets in the game right at the end and is ultimately carried off the field. But the kicker is when you read that since then no other Fighting Irish player has been carried off the field by his teammates. There’s no better recruiting tool for that storied program than this.

Honorable Mentions (What, 6 more? See, I'm a big movie wuss.):
Mr. Holland's Opus: Since my Dad is a retired high school choir director, this always hits me at the end when Mr. Holland’s students from throughout his career perform his music for him.

Schindler's List –A movie I’ve only seen once and may never see again because it’s so powerful and heartbreaking. It brings tears throughout, but now I’m a tad contaminated by the Seinfeld spoof of the Close Talker who could’ve shown Jerry’s parents so much more of NYC.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: During Kirk’s eulogy for Spock. Undermined a bit by Spock’s later resurrection in ST III.

Return of the Jedi: When Luke sees an apparation of his father join those of Yoda and Obi Wan.

Forrest Gump: When Forrest is at Jenny’s grave.

Field of Dreams: When Kevin Costner’s character plays catch with his father.