The Saddest Movies of All Time for Guys

When it comes to movies guys don't like to admit that any of them might make them weep. Men are supposed to be tough. The weeping is supposed to go on with the women they take with them to the movies. Sure, this is the 21^st Century and men are supposed to be more in touch with their feelings, but don't let them fool you. If a man is caught by his friends shedding a tear at most traditional tear-jerker movies, they spend the next several years being mercilessly teased by those same friends.

However, there are some movies that will make men cry. These are movies that are likely to make women cry too, but if a woman really wants to get to their man, these are the movies to pop into the DVD player. Often times the best way to get to a man is by combining sports and something sort of sad or something likely to get you choked up and, before you know it, he will be clearing his throat and acting like he has something in his eyes.

"Brian's Song" is a made-for-TV movie about Brian Piccolo who played for the Chicago Bears. Then he got cancer. Get the version with Billy Dee Williams as Gale Sayers and James Caan as Piccolo and then wait for the moment when Williams says "I love Brian Piccolo..." That's the point where the damn bursts, ladies.

"Rudy" is another movie about football. It stars Sean Astin as a kid who dreams of playing for Notre Dame. He just wants to get out and play one game. Time and again he is disappointed in this endeavor. The scenes likely to get a man choked up include the time when the entire team tosses their jersey on the coaches' desk in protest over Rudy's treatment or the big climax. Then there is the scene where Ned Beatty, as Rudy's father, looks out at the football field and says, "This sight is the most beautiful thing these eyes have ever seen." Only a man will understand how a sports arena could be that.

"Field of Dreams" is every baseball fan's fantasy. Ultimately, however, it becomes the fantasy of every man who ever had a father, wished they had a father, lost a father, dreamed of having a father or just wanted to play catch with their father. It's the story of a farmer who hears a voice that tells him to build a baseball diamond where his crops were. When the main character, played by Kevin Kostner, looks at his deceased dad at the end and says, " Hey, Dad, wanna have a catch?" Well, you had better have a tissue handy for your man.

"Hoosiers" is the movie that really made the whole "last-second-to-win-the-game" thing into an art form. This one perhaps doesn't have as many tear-jerking scenes as some of the others, but most of the parts that will at least get a man choked up involve Dennis Hopper as the alcoholic father trying to redeem himself in front of his son's eyes.

"Bang the Drum Slowly" is a baseball movie about a man who's dying. That man is played by Robert DeNiro in one of the few movies where he wasn't a psycho or some kind of cop. Another buddy film, too, in a the "Brian's Song" vein, but with a different sport and, as far as I know, not based on reality.

"Newt Rockney: All American" is another football movie. It even has Ronald Reagan in it as "The Gipper." This is the movie where the phrase, "and tell them to win, just one, for the Gipper" comes from. Again, your man will be unable to swallow his popcorn for the lump in his throat.

Of course, there are other genres that will also get to men. Nothing makes a man cry like the relationship he has with his dog, so "Old Yeller" is probably a good one. I was in a room full of men when we watched "Powder" and when the father ran outside to hug his estranged son after the mother died the tears flowed like leaky taps. I ran into a similar situation after the movie "My Life" with Michael Keaton ended.

Just remember, whatever happens, if your guy starts to cry, try not to rub it in. Don't stop the movie and shine a light in his face and laugh. Sure, he might do something like that to you, but you don't really want to stoop to his level, do you?