Day XIX – NOT Movies that Make Me Cry

My daughters think that I never cry. I don't really understand this because I have always felt that I was one of the more sensitive guys I knew, but score a small triumph for me, they don't know.

So we were watching Rudy the other night and I told the Girl Props that there is a rule that men can cry at certain movies (I wasn't crying that time, but they may have seen my eyes get glassy watching that one before).

BTW I really like those commercials with Burt Reynolds and The Bus et al that talk about Guy Laws. I am disappointed that they outlawed the high five, but I understand why and I do respect the law.

Anyway, I thought I would do a post with a list of the movies that I know men are allowed to cry at. Then I thought, no, I won't do a post with a list of the movies that I know men are allowed to cry at. I will do a post and discuss some of the things that stick out in my head when thinking about some of the movies that I know men are allowed to cry at.

Rudy - I want to grab him and shake some reality into him. You're going to get a degree from the University of Notre F'ing Dame! Put an ND behind your name and you can write your own ticket. When I was in HS I went to ND High School for Boys in Niles, IL. All the priests harangued those of us going to Champaign, calling it Pagan U.

Old Yeller – never seen it. No. I've never seen it. I am not kidding; I have never seen that movie, now leave me alone.

Brian's Song – I'm embarrassed about this one (as I reach into my Bears cooler). As a true Chicagoan (not from a town NEAR Chicago, but from Da City itself) this movie should have been required catechism, but somehow I missed it. I was also never an alter boy so just reserve a seat for me in purgatory boys I've got a lot to atone for.

It's a Wonderful Life – I get worse every year. It's gotten to the point that I can sit through that part where they flip the pages for the credits at the beginning and then the waterworks start. Damn you Frank Capra (who filmed the battle of Midway from ON the island of Midway), Damn you Jimmy Stewart (who enlisted in the Army Air Corps and rose to the rank of full Colonel during the war and ending his career as a Brigadier General in the California Air Guard, the second highest Hollywood actor after Commander in Chief Ronald Reagan) and Damn you Lionel Barrymore (for your granddaughter).

Saving Private Ryan – At the end when Ryan values his life against the men who died to save him while he is standing at their graves with his family. I knew it was Ryan all along cuz I noticed the Screaming Eagle pin on his jacket. The Sullivan Brothers' story was one that my Dad always told my three brothers and me when we were kids.

Pride of the Yankees – Never seen it and I don't mind saying that. I know it's on the list of crylowable movies, but I hate baseball and I think that Lou, like Rudy needed a dose of reality. Lucky? Hmm, some folks get to play pro-baseball and live. That seems a little more, um, lucky.

Sound of Music – I know this isn't on the crylowable list, but stay with me. Captain von Trapp lost his wife (maybe giving birth to that adorable little girl) and it screwed him up so bad that he forbad singing. It tore him up to hear his children singing because it reminded him of his wife. He's living at home and he's a sea captain so he must have retired (maybe just before she died) and was expecting to spend many happy years with his wife and family. Now she dead and he's a mess. Then he hears his two oldest singing a song that his wife sang and he joins in. He rediscovers his children and his love for them. All that and he sticks it to the Nazis to boot (damn it I got a lump in my throat).

Monsters Inc. – Used to break me up. That came out when my youngest was Boo's age and the idea of saying goodbye to her forever hit me hard. Of course we have now watched that movie a couple (of billion) times and it passes right over.

Well, that's all I can think of today. What do you think? What makes you cry or doesn't and why?