I’m a pretty sentimental person. Certain things make my eyes tear up almost automatically:
–old AT&T commercials
—“Lara’s Theme” from the movie “Doctor Zhivago” (each of the 250 times it’s played during the course of the movie)
–watching old footage of Ekaterina Gordeeva skate with (the late) Sergei Grinkov
–when someone wins on “Wheel of Fortune” (unfortunately, I’m dead serious.)…
I’m sappy, what can I say?
Yesterday, I was flipping channels and caught the middle of the movie “A League of Their Own”. This movie is to my tearing up as the sound of a crying baby is to the lactating rate of a nursing mother (sorry, men). I don’t have to start it from the beginning, I don’t have to be in a melancholy mood, I don’t even have to be watching an emotional scene: the tears are flowing off and on all the way through. What is UP with that? I guess it’s just a really well-made movie (I should send Penny Marshall the bill for my Kleenex or something).
Now, at first glance, the trailer would indicate that this film is indeed a comedy:
And so it is, for most people. Well, it is for me as well: I do laugh heartily throughout. However, when I think of this movie, the first thing that comes to mind is me CRYING, not LAUGHING.
I try not to cry, especially because Tom Hanks says that “There’s no crying in baseball!”
But shoot, there totally is, in my house.
The tears usually begin right around the time that Mr. Lowenstein tells the girls that the league isn’t doing very well and he needs for them to give it all they’ve got because a photographer from Life magazine is in the stands.
I tear up when Mae (Madonna) is teaching Helen (Anne Ramsay) to read, even though it’s from a Victorian romance novel and it’s supposed to be funny. She’s teaching her to READ, you guys!!!
I cry when Marla (Megan Cavanagh) gets married.
I cry when the girls sing the song that Evelyn (Bitty Schram) writes for them. (“We’re the members of the All-American League…”)
I cry when Kat (Lori Petty) gets traded.
I cry HUGE, crocodile tears when Betty Spaghetti (Tracy Reiner) gets the news from Jimmy (Tom Hanks) in the locker room about her husband dying. When he has the telegram and the girls are waiting to see who he is going to give it to, and then he walks over to her, it’s all over for me. I’m getting watery just thinking about it.
But the part that puts me way over the edge with the big, ugly tears? The end. The combination of the events in the end of the movie and the amazingly similarities (in looks, speech, and mannerisms) between the actresses playing the older versions of the main characters never fails to blow me away. I watch this scene (yes, the entire seven and a half minutes) with my mouth hanging open and tears streaming from my face, always. Each. And. Every. Time. I’m a mess.
When the stars and the moon align, sometimes you get something that can affect you down to the deepest parts of your soul. That’s a pretty deep statement, especially because it refers to my connection to a movie from the early 90’s. But it’s true, for me.
I’m not alone, I’m sure. Is there a movie, song, or something else that jabs at the very core of your being? Discuss.
10 Comments
Tara R.
I really didn't want to like that movie, cuz I have a hate-on for Madonna. But it is a great flick.
I'm the same about 'The King and I' with Yul Brenner and Deborah Kerr.
Daddy Files
Sweet Lord…you're crying over "A League of Their Own?!?!!?" Yikes…
The list of movies that has made me shed a tear are few:
Rudy: C'mon, he recorded a sack at the end.
Braveheart: "Freeeeeedom!"
Glory: Matthew Broderick, Denzel and cast delivered the shit out of that movie.
Dances With Wolves: I cried when I was a kid and they shot Two Socks the wolf.
And lastly, every time I watch my DVDs of the Patriots 2001 season and the Red Sox winning it all in 2004 I end up in tears.
terri
I have to agree with you. A League of Their Own is one of the best movies around. I've never cried though.
I'm embarrassed to say what movie makes me cry. It's the new version of Freaky Friday (with Lindsay Lohan & Jamie Lee Curtis.) Near the end of the movie, there's a scene where mom and daughter suddenly and finally "get" each other. Makes me tear up EVERY damn time.
I'm totally serious.
Melissa
When we went to see Up! I cried when the old guy lost his wife. I almost fell over but then I looked at my daughter and saw her tearing up, too.
Made me not feel quite so odd.
surprised mom
The movie that makes me cry is Sabrina, the Harrison Ford version. The scene where he tells her that everything was a lie after kissing her and telling her he wants her to go to Paris with him. His guilt overwhelms him and then he devastates her. It's lump in the throat and tears in the eyes time.
Other than that, I can't remember what movies make me tear up.
A League of Their Own is one of my favorite movies.
Sue
Love this movie! Especially because I wanted to be the first female Red Sox player when I was younger.
The movies Beaches and Ghost make me cry like a baby.Then again, so do commercials sometimes.
Andie
Forrest Gump
Beaches
songs: In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel
Michelle
Soooo… have you ever seen Man In The Moon? Or Hope Floats? Ohhhhh do I float a river when I watch those. But the first ones you mentioned? Is it bad that I can't place those?
WeaselMomma
I'm not even going there! I don't feel like crying today. Maybe I will send you a hallmark card just to laugh as you cry about the sappy sentiments of 'you are eveything to me that blogger can be'.
Heather
Oh I LOVE that movie!
For me, Steel Magnolias, EVERY.SINGLE.TIME!
I knew we were alike, I'm a crier too!