Entertainment Weekly's "50 Best Movie Tearjerkers Ever"

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"Emotional roller coaster" is a horrible, hackneyed phrase, but it’s a cliché for a reason: Something in our nature craves a ride on the ol’ manipulation machine. Nine times out of 10, we know long before pushing play that the movie involves a terminally ill loved one, or an impossible love, or a giant robot that dies for our sins. And then there are the ambushes we still haven’t gotten over…like Bambi’s mom. (Let’s not talk about Bambi’s mom, okay?) Yes, there’s something about fictitious grief — different, it must be noted, from the real thing. (That’s why you won’t find The Sorrow and the Pity, or any other documentary, on our list.) Sure, laughter may be the best medicine — but discriminating depressives know that nothing beats a good sob.

  1. 1.
    Terms of Endearment
    by James L. Brooks

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  2. 2.
    Bambi (Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by David Hand

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  3. 3.
    Sophie's Choice
    by Alan J. Pakula

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  4. 4.
    An Affair to Remember
    by Leo McCarey

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  5. 5.
    It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition)
    by Frank Capra

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  6. 6.
    Brokeback Mountain (Widescreen Edition)
    by Ang Lee

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  7. 7.
    Brian's Song
    by Buzz Kulik

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  8. 8.
    E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial (Widesceen)
    by Steven Spielberg

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  9. 9.
    Ghost
    by Jerry Zucker

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  10. 10.
    Field of Dreams (Widescreen Two-Disc Anniversary Edition)
    by Phil Alden Robinson

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  11. 11.
    The Notebook (New Line Platinum Series)
    by Nick Cassavetes

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  12. 12.
    Old Yeller (Vault Disney Collection)
    by Robert Stevenson

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  13. 13.
    Brief Encounter - Criterion Collection
    by David Lean

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  14. 14.
    Kramer vs. Kramer
    by Robert Benton

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  15. 15.
    Life Is Beautiful

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  16. 16.

  17. 17.
    Glory
    by Edward Zwick

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  18. 18.
    Love Story
    by Arthur Hiller

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  19. 19.
    Ordinary People
    by Robert Redford

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  20. 20.
    Stella Dallas
    by King Vidor

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  21. 21.
    Steel Magnolias - Special Edition
    by Herbert Ross

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  22. 22.
    Longtime Companion
    by Norman René

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  23. 23.
    The Joy Luck Club

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  24. 24.
    Charly

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  25. 25.
    Goodbye, Mr. Chips
    by Sam Wood

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  26. 26.
    The Great Santini
    by Lewis John Carlino

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  27. 27.
    The Deer Hunter
    by Michael Cimino

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  28. 28.
    To Kill a Mockingbird (Universal Legacy Series)
    by Robert Mulligan

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  29. 29.
    The Way We Were (Special Edition)
    by Sydney Pollack

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  30. 30.
    Cocoon
    by Ron Howard

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  31. 31.
    Romeo & Juliet
    by Franco Zeffirelli

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  32. 32.
    West Side Story (Special Edition DVD Collector's Set)
    by Jerome Robbins

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  33. 33.
    Imitation of Life
    by Douglas Sirk

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  34. 34.
    Saving Private Ryan (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by Steven Spielberg

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  35. 35.
    Philadelphia
    by Jonathan Demme

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  36. 36.
    Jerry Maguire
    by Cameron Crowe

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  37. 37.
    The Wizard of Oz (Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by Victor Fleming

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  38. 38.
    The Iron Giant (Special Edition)
    by Brad Bird

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  39. 39.
    Champ (1973) (Ws Sub)
    by Franco Zeffirelli

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  40. 40.
    Umberto D. - Criterion Collection
    by Vittorio De Sica

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  41. 41.
    Little Women (Collector's Edition)
    by Gillian Armstrong

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  42. 42.
    Now, Voyager (Keepcase)
    by Irving Rapper

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  43. 43.
    Sounder
    by Martin Ritt

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  44. 44.
    Dead Poets Society (Special Edition)
    by Peter Weir

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  45. 45.
    Truly Madly Deeply
    by Anthony Minghella

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  46. 47.
    Moulin Rouge! (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
    by Baz Luhrmann

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  47. 48.
    Cinema Paradiso (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition)
    by Giuseppe Tornatore

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  48. 49.
    The Shawshank Redemption (Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by Frank Darabont

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  49. 50.
    Rudy (Special Edition)
    by David Anspaugh

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Created by alyxstarr on Aug 01, 2007.
 

Comments

alyxstarr
Gaithersburg

Note re: Little Women — 2 years ago

EW referenced both the 1933 and 1994 editions of Little Women on their list, but it seemed a shame to push Rudy onto a second page and mess up the numbering just because EW couldn’t make up their minds. In their entry for the movie(s), they seemed to focus more on the 1994 one, and included a picture from same, so that’s the one I added to the list.