Part II: Fish's List
Okay, here goes, in descending order of the most tears:
5. You Can Count on Me
The Academy could've given both Best Actor and
Best Actress to this movie. Mark Ruffalo is incredible as the
tortured Terry Prescott. His sister Sammy (Laura Linney) is just as
phenomenal. For anyone who has a sibling, it's a study in support,
embarrassment, and mostly unconditional love. At the heart of their
difficult relationship is the two-line setup of their parents' deadly
car accident. Dialogue has never been better -- it's simply written the
way people talk. Terry tries so hard to fix the problem with the
plumbing, he ends up ripping up all the floorboards upstairs to find
the root of the problem, and Sammy lets him do it. They both know he
won't fix the plumbing, but it's paramount for Terry to feel useful,
to somehow feel important. So Sammy lets him destroy the house until
it becomes ridiculously impractical.
4. The Bicycle Thief
Or, for snobs, Ladri di Biciclette. Antonio loses his job in post-war Depression Italy. After a prolonged unemployment, he somehow lands a low-paying job of putting up posters. The only thing he needs is a bicycle, so his wife sells the sheets
from their bed to pay for the bike. The bike is summarily ripped-off
on his first day on the job, and he takes his son Bruno to the streets
to try and track it down. When Antonio takes Bruno to lunch, trying
to keep Bruno's spirits up and be a responsible man ... my eyes just fill
writing out the plot. I won't give away the ending, but it ranks in
the most devastating of all-time. It's beautiful, this movie.
3. Glory
So many great performances, so many great scenes, so
much opportunity to become a weepy bitch. I defy anyone to get
through this one on first-viewing without some CVS-brand Kleenex.
Like Shawshank, Glory illustrates what a man must to do develop any
sort of pride or sense of self, from the ground up. Denzel's whipping
scene is a study in film acting and should be shown at every
conservatory around the world; he goes from anger to defiance to pain
to shame to fear to humiliation without speaking a word. Morgan
(another sighting) Freeman's "if there's any nigga 'round here it's
you" speech to Denzel is enough to make you just surrender. It's such
a proud movie. What amazing subject matter.
2. Hoosiers
Even though I potentially stole this from Rob's
list, I have a feeling a certain Al Michaels-announced event will take
its place. Everyone knows the story (the best underdog story ever,
even if a lot of it's not accurate), so I'll just give you the best
lines:
"I would ask that you judge us on who we are, not who we are not."
"Coach, what you're doin with my Dad ... I'm just not seein' it."
"Gods come rather cheap these days. All you have to do is put a round
ball through an iron hoop."
"You know, some people would kill to be treated like a god, just for a
few moments."
"Didn't know they grew them so small down on the farm."
"I'll make it."
"I love you guys."
Waterworks.
1. Field of Dreams
Duh. Alright, I'll preemptively address the
Frequency and The Rookie honorable mentions now (see below), and their correlation
with my number one choice for movies that make men weep. I don't think I'm alone in this, but although I have a terrific
relationship with my Dad, every man in America has dad issues. And by
dad issues, I mean that whether they were a good father or not, men
will always seek the approval of their father. American men seem to have an in with their dads through sports. For example, you can approach any conversation about anything with my Dad by talking about the Red Sox bullpen.
Along these lines, there's lots of dads and sons who struggle to
communicate deeper issues of family, relationships and career just by
the nature of guys and how/what they communicate. The theme in Field
of Dreams, with Ray Kinsella and his father having a falling out and
never reconciling their argument, is
one that guys can really check into. Ray's second chance to "have a
catch" with his Dad is the most emotional I've ever been at the
movies. And it's my clear number one because I've seen it more than 30 times and I cry every time I watch it. Hell, I'm gone with the first few James Horner piano rolls
over the black and white stills, as Kevin Costner reviews his entire
history with his father in two minutes.
But as to Frequency and The Rookie, baseball and dads are often enough
at this point to make me lose it. Maybe it's a Pavlovian reaction because I've seen Field of Dreams 30 times ...
Fish's Honorable Mentions:
- Frequency - See Field of Dreams entry, above.
- The Sixth Sense - Like Hoey's pick for Seven, this is on my honorable mention
list for one scene only, and you guys know which one it is. In an eloquently written scene in which Cole (Haley Joel Osment) finally proves his supernatural ability by describing his communications with his grandmother to his
Mom (Toni Collette). "She says she's sorry for taking the bumblebee pendant. She just
likes it a lot." Turns out they talk about Toni Collette, too: "She
said you went to the place where they buried her, and you asked her a
question? She said the answer is 'every day.' What did you ask her
Mama?" "Do ... do I make you proud?" Hit the salt water. Plot,
character, and dialogue doesn't get any better than that.
- The Rookie - See Field of Dreams entry, above.
- Kramer vs. Kramer - Everyone knows this is one of my Top Ten
All-Time, but it's not totally a weeper or anything. It has a lot of
heart, but a lot of comedy mixed in with the heavy situation. But the
scene that gets me is when Billy (Justin Henry) falls off a jungle gym and Ted (Dustin Hoffman) runs him 20 blocks to the emergency room. Billy will keep the eye, the doctor just needs to put in a few stitches. Dustin Hoffman wants to be in the ER with him, and the doctor says "Oh, there's no need for you to be in there, Mr. Kramer."
"No, that's my son in there. I'm gonna be in there with him." This just barely got bumped from my top five.
- The Shawshank Redemption - Hoey stole it.
-- The Fish
The Film Junkies Respond to Fish's Picks
ROB: What a list. Solid selections with Glory, Hoosiers and of course,
perhaps the all-time tearjerker for guys, Field of Dreams. In
addition, You Can Count on Me is so very underrated, though I didn't
actually cry during the film. Didn't see The Bicycle Thief. As for the
honorable mentions, um, The Rookie? Yeah, my girlfriend cried her eyes
out at the end of the movie, but I didn't shed a tear. Did I mention we watched it on a flight to Seattle?
HOEY: Nice list. Nice work. I surprised myself by not finding some father/son flick that got me emotional enough to put on my list. I think Field of Dreams would do it to me, though. I haven't seen it in a while.
Since I cannot recall exactly what moved me about Braveheart (though I'm fairly certain I was moved and shed some tears), I will remove it from Honorable Mention. I would like to replace it with The Royal Tenenbaums, which I had debated about including on my Top 5, but after thinking back on it (and catching part of it on the Encore/Love Stories channel last night) it most definitely belongs here, based
again on one scene. One moment. One line of dialogue. The entire film goes by with Royal (Gene Hackman) and Chas (Ben Stiller) being totally at odds with one another. Of all the people in Royal's family, they have the most contentious, difficult relationship. And at the wedding, after the boys' dog, Buckley, gets run over by a hopped-up and face-painted Eli (Owen Wilson), Royal buys a dog on the spot from the fire
department (aptly named Sparkplug). He offers the dog to Chas to give to his young sons and as the two men crouch down and examine/pet the
dog, Chas very quietly acknowledges the pain, grief and shame that he
has been keeping bottled up for so long, but that Royal saw right off
the bat. "I've had a rough year, Dad." Oh my god. This moment is
(and will be) the high point of Stiller's career as an actor. It will
never get better than this. "I know, Chassy," Royal replies. And I'm
gone. Here's my father/son flick/scene. Classic.
And as for The Full Monty, my apologies, but it again comes down to
one scene. The main character's best friend, played by Mark Addy, is
a burly, teddy-bear of a guy who has serious self-image issues when it
comes to his weight. He tries everything to lose weight and look
better for the strip-tease, but he can't do it. Finally, he gives up
and decides that he's not going to go through with it. After
discovering the thong that he should be wearing for the show, his wife
confronts him about a possible infidelity and he denies it and she
doesn't believe him. He finally breaks down and tells her the truth,
revealing their entire insane plan to raise money by stripping. When
she asks him why he's not there, he clutches his torso and says, "Who
would want to see this - dance?" And the wife, very quietly, very
slowly leans into him. "I would." I love this moment. If you've
ever had self-esteem issues, it's so easy to identify with him. And
if you've ever had a person in your life who made you feel a bit
better about yourself, simply because they cared about you, or
believed in you, you can see them in that moment, in his wife. And I
can't help it. I get choked up and teary-eyed when this happens. So,
shoot me.
FISH: Alright, I won't shoot you. Valid points, both. And both scenes, just
excellent, I concur.
I'd like to add an Honorable Mention to my list: The Killing Fields
(1984) -- Dith Pran's return. We never talk about this movie, but holy
shit. Like Shawshank, it brings you so low, then leaves you so high.
It's a tough movie to get through. Also now with the added sadness of seeing
the late Spalding Gray.
Jump to: Part I: Hoey's List | Part II: Fish's List | Part III: Rob's List
