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[ToxicAdam]

Big Fish
Field of Dreams
Saving Private Ryan



It's not really a good movie, so it doesn't make my list. But I went to see The Notebook with my wife last summer, and I had a great time watching all the guys in the audience try to fight back thier tears. I wanted to jump out of my seat and yell "Pussies, you're all pussies!"

 

[Matt_09]

# In the Mood For Love
# Twilight Samurai
# The Empire Strikes Back

 

[Macam]

The House of Sand & Fog? I mean, I suppose if you could buy into the sudden forced twist near the end it may be sad, but at that point the movie lost any connection with me and I just watched it throw away everything it built up miserably until the credits. It was well acted, but I just couldn't get into that one.

I'd certainly say Irreversible is up there. Though it technically ends on a happy note, the way the movie is set up actually drives home the point of how tragic the movie is and compounds the sadness in a really hard way. Carlito's Way and Leon (The Professional) also both managed to be downers, although in very similar ways.

 

[saelz8]

The Iron Giant.

+1 This excellence is often overlooked.

Dead man walking
Mystic River

 

[Kabuki Waq]

Grave of the Fireflies
Oldboy
Deer hunter

 

[J2 Cool]

Yet the films you listed are sad? You do realize these are simply people portraying a story, right?

Grave of the Fireflies is the saddest movie I have ever seen, far and away. I don't see how the fact that it is animated makes a damned difference. There are sad movies with actors, sad books that are simply printed word, and there are sad cartoons as well.

agreed. Anyway, Terminator 1 and 2 are kinda sad. Bronx Tale is a fantastic movie with a sad ending. Another nod for Iron Giant you son of a bitch. And... something else.

 

[Geek]

25th Hour - Although it's hard for some people to be sympathetic to Ed Norton's character, I found the ending super-depressing. I sobbed like a little girl.

I mean....

 

[belgurdo]

Wow...12 monkeys was the first thing I thought of. The final shot just stayed with me for days

The Iron Giant

But is it really sad? The world is saved, the government gets owned total, the kid

Spoiler

gets a family or something...been too long to remember

, and it's implied that

Spoiler

the robot revives

, so it's all good in the end

 

[radioheadrule83]

Backing up these ones:

Life is Beautiful
The Iron Giant ( i think i remember it being a bit sad too )
Twelve Monkeys
Big Fish
Requiem for a Dream (whole film is miserable. And ass to ass!?)
American History X
Gladiator


also:

Angels with Dirty Faces
The Great Escape
Battle Angel Alita
Hana Bi / Fireworks
Brother
Carlito's Way
Sin City
Donnie Darko
Hero
The Green Mile


some maybes:

Road to Perdition
American Beauty
Sixth Sense
AI
Short Circuit 2 (steve guttenberg where art thou!? and poor johnny 5 gets wasted... he gets repaired but still, pretty traumatic for me when I was little)
Transformers (Ultra Magnus = lame)

 

[Ponn]

See, films like this don't have sad endings. They just don't have happy ones. There is nothing sad about the ending to this film...yeah, it doesn't turn out perfectly, but it's not sad.

Well, that's your opinion. I did find the ending sad.

Spoiler

Love that never goes anywhere. That awkward moment at the end where you are yelling "kiss the fucking girl!" or something like that and then nothing and he goes off alone with no direction.

And America History X also has a sad ending. I also thought it pretty much ruined the message of the movie at the end too.

Spoiler

It kind of showed that no matter how much you change or want to change nothing matters and your life is still ruined. You can almost see it in that probation officer/counselor guys face for edward norton? That kind of hopeless look like "Ah shit how am I gonna help this guy to not go crazy now as he holds his brother shot by a car of black people." And then to just kind of end there didn't help either.

 

[sefskillz]

I'm suprised to see so many mentions of Oldboy. I didn't find the ending all that sad.. twisted, but not sad.

 

[Lo-Volt]

I second Requiem for a Dream. No one comes out of that one alright. Damn.

 

[Memles]

But is it really sad? The world is saved, the government gets owned total, the kid

Spoiler

gets a family or something...been too long to remember

, and it's implied that

Spoiler

the robot revives

, so it's all good in the end

Yeah...I think I agree with this as well. I love the movie and think there is definitely a tinge of sadness...but it's not a sad ending, damnit.

Spoiler

AS you say, the robot's signal thing goes off, the world is saved and Hogarth has himself a little happy family.

Much like the ending of Monsters Inc., the sadness is more or less alleviated by a happy conclusion, also known as a happy ending. A lot of what is being listed are sad moments in the closing parts of films. While I won't challenge anyone's opinion of what is sad or not, one sad moment does not a sad ending make.

In Good Company:

Spoiler

Love that never goes anywhere. That awkward moment at the end where you are yelling "kiss the fucking girl!" or something like that and then nothing and he goes off alone with no direction.

Spoiler

This is a little film specific, but I have to disagree with this assessment of the ending. Because, the reality was that this was NEVER a film about Scarlett Johannson's character. It was always a film about Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid. Topher's character was all about direction in the life that led him into absolute meltdown; now, he runs outside instead of inside. Dennis Quaid has a new child, a solid job and a solid future. Topher Grace has a chance to start again and a future that, while unknown and without hot sweaty sex immediately, has more promise than his destructive lifestyle. Any film that ends of the birth of a child and a cute little character development like running outside instead of inside is in no way a sad ending

 

[ckohler]

* Glory
* King Kong

..and I've been pimping this alot lately..

* Watership Down

 

[DarthMungKei]

The notebook was pretty sad

 

[StrikerObi]

The notebook was pretty sad

We played this at our campus movie theatre, and I went in during the last 10 minutes. You could hear pretty much the entire audience crying.

Also adding to the list, Finding Neverland. It was a tear-jerker (and totally fantastic).

 

[Kon Tiki]

Yet the films you listed are sad? You do realize these are simply people portraying a story, right?

Grave of the Fireflies is the saddest movie I have ever seen, far and away. I don't see how the fact that it is animated makes a damned difference. There are sad movies with actors, sad books that are simply printed word, and there are sad cartoons as well.

It was one of the funnier cartoons I have ever seen. Cartoons are not sad, they can be erased, redrawn, or distored beyond the realms of reality. They can not die or suffer. Maybe I need to be a Japophile with no balls to find this sad.

 

[marsomega]

Forrest Gump

Spoiler

The speech at the end when forest talks to her grave...had me in tears.....and just recently two months ago again...

 

[Polari]

House of Sand and Fog (2003)

Agreed.

Also, one that comes to mind is In a Lonely Place, and if they ever made Norwegian Wood, it would be one of the saddest films ever.

 

[Flakster99]

City of Angels & Big Fish - Both had me in tears, both for different reasons.

 

[Orin GA]

Jasons Lyric.


I Win

 

[ocelittle]

Tae Guk Gi

That's crazy.

 

[Bluecondor]

The ending to Million Dollar Baby is not only sad and depressing, but sad and depressing in a protracted/absolutely-no-hope-of-recovery kind-of-way. I went to see this with a buddy of mine from my softball team, and he was so disturbed by it that he didn't say a word while we were walking out of the theater. He just kept muttering to himself and shaking his head.

 

[JayFro]

Fluke


This movie will make any girlfriend/wife cry for 90 minutes straight.

 

[CrystalGemini]

Mad Phoenix.

I was bawling by the end. ; _ ; Thinking about the story makes me sad... Especially when they're based on true events/people (ie. Schindler's List) so you know it really happened...