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Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - Page updated at 09:10 P.M.
Movies By Moira Macdonald
Gentlemen, get out your handkerchiefs — it's autumn, and a couple of male weepies are on the horizon. Usually it's women who have a reputation for crying at the movies, and not just at "Boys Don't Cry." (Yes, of course I cried at that one. Didn't you?) And there are plenty of movies that can cause sniffling from both genders. But there's a particular type of film aimed squarely at the male tear ducts, of which the 1971 sports-and-cancer saga "Brian's Song" is the most famous. Often involving themes of heroism, loyalty, sports-related triumph against odds, fathers and sons, or extremely faithful and photogenic animals, these are known as male weepies (as opposed to the more generic "weepie," which generally means a movie with sad music and pretty pictures).
This season brings to the art houses "Finding Neverland," with Johnny Depp as "Peter Pan" author J.M. Barrie (opening Nov. 12). At the multiplexes, Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta play heroic firefighters who risk their lives together in "Ladder 49" (Friday).
Whatever merits or failures these two very different films may otherwise have, they share one common quality: They both make grown men cry. I know: I was at the screenings, and I heard the sniffling — behind me, beside me, in front of me. A rare example of male seasonalallergy synchronization? I doubt it. Why cry?
Not that there's anything wrong with crying at the movies. Most of us do it, to one extent or another, and I — the sort who mists up at just about anything, particularly any scene involving a sad child, music with an excessive number of string instruments, or an exceptionally pretty Victorian costume — am hardly one to judge. Not all tears are fairly earned, as some directors are all-too-skillful at using shortcut techniques (like those strings) to set off our tear ducts. But most are a tribute to the filmmaking. Something on that screen has touched us as a real event might or reminds us of something in our own lives — an actor's perfectly captured emotion, an inspiring story, a moment of such beauty that it sweeps over our senses — and we respond, if only for a moment, in the way that we might respond in our own lives. (Or maybe even more so. The cinema's dark, and as long as we're discreet with the sniffling, the tears are a secret known only to the movie gods.) Men mist, women weep?
So yes, we're all human, we all have emotions, we all cry. (Some of you say you don't. Hmm. Lying's a fairly universal trait, too.) But nonetheless, men and women tend to cry at different things in movies. How do I know this? Well, I go to a lot of movies, and I have eyes and ears.
Let us examine a test case. "Sense and Sensibility," the 1995 Ang Lee movie full of romance, winsome ringlets (Hugh Grant's are especially nice) and fine English character actors. This movie does me in every time, particularly when Grant tells Emma Thompson that he's not married, and ... well, it's just lovely, and if I said any more, I'd need a handkerchief myself.
But listen to Thompson's commentary on the "Sense and Sensibility" DVD: Of the scene where Kate Winslet, having just recovered from near-death, finally notices the noble Alan Rickman standing broodingly at the door, Thompson says, "This is where the men cry." It's not a romantic moment but an acknowledgment of his quiet, heroic deeds — a moment of great dignity, suitable for a few manly tears.
Not wanting to rest an entire thesis on the opinions of myself and Thompson (though you know Emma wouldn't lie), I conducted a thoroughly unscientific little survey, asking dozens of male co-workers and friends to name the movie(s) that made them cry. About 60 men responded, providing more than 80 titles. And what was most noteworthy about this list, other than the fact that an awful lot of you haven't gotten over "Brian's Song"? The near-absence of romantic movies, though a couple of swoony ones did sneak in. I did find a rare gentleman who admitted to weeping at "An Affair to Remember" — and no, I won't pass along his phone number. And one man said he'd cried at "Jerry Maguire" but was quick to specify that he meant the scene where Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr. hug after the football game, not the mushy "You complete me" stuff. The Spielberg touch Romance aside, my poll revealed some unsurprising categories: father/son movies ("Field of Dreams," "Frequency," "Road to Perdition," "Kramer vs. Kramer"), animal movies ("Old Yeller," "The Yearling"), war movies ("The Killing Fields," "Glory"), sports movies ("The Rookie," "Pride of the Yankees," "The Natural," "The Champ," and, of course, "Brian's Song"), classics ("It's a Wonderful Life," lots of Disney movies), and semi-classics ("that Star Trek movie where Spock dies"). (See list.)
And it's no surprise that one director's films kept popping up: Steven Spielberg, who may have done more for the sale of Kleenex than anyone else working in movies today, was represented with "Saving Private Ryan," "Schindler's List," "E.T." and "The Color Purple," all multiple vote-getters. Spielberg has the art of tear-plucking so thoroughly refined, you'd almost think he's cheating — but it's because he knows how to pare his movies down to their emotional center. When Elliott flies with E.T. on his bicycle, or the survivors quietly amass at the end of "Schindler's List," you can't help but get caught up in the moment as it soars, whatever your gender.
Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company
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