In her 1961 pop hit “Sad Movies (Make Me Cry),” Sue Thompson sang about weeping in a movie theater. Actually, it wasn’t the movie that brought the tears, however, but the sight of her boyfriend making out with her best friend a few rows in front of her.
Sad movies, however, do make people cry for reasons that have nothing to do with who’s doing what to whom in another part of the theater.
Defining sad movies isn’t easy. Films in which a beloved individual (human or animal) dies almost always qualify, of course, as do those in which two people in love are torn apart irrevocably by challenges they can’t overcome. But what about poignant coming-of-age stories, speaking to lost innocence or changing identities? What about portraits of dysfunctional families, depictions of mental illness, hard-to-watch portrayals of lives destroyed by alcohol, drugs, infidelity, or bitterness?
Films with all these plot lines, and others, can qualify; a wide range of movies can bring tears to the eyes of those who watch them. But we probably all have at least slightly different ideas of what is and isn’t sad (just as we do with what is and isn’t funny). With that in mind, 24/7 Tempo has assembled a list of what might just be the saddest movies of all time — with the proviso that viewers will have to judge for themselves the degree to which each one brings tears.
We started by consulting the various lists of movies identified as “sad” or “saddest” by IMDb, an online movie and TV database owned by Amazon, then added our own choices based on decades of movie-going, and used editorial discretion to make our final decisions.
We’ve included choices going back almost a century, and have tried to cover as many styles and genres of motion pictures as possible. This is hardly an exhaustive list of sad movies — there are probably thousands that could qualify, and some of your favorites are probably missing — but if you sit down to watch any of these, you might want to have the Kleenex handy. (For a different list of downer flicks, read about the greatest tragic movies of the 21st century.)
Scroll down to read about the saddest movies of all time.
City Lights (1931)
The legendary Charlie Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, penned the music for, and starred in this early sound film about mistaken identity, false accusations, a blind flower girl, and of course Chaplin’s comic but often heart-rending signature character, The Tramp.
Tokyo Story (1953)
This family drama, directed by the esteemed Japanese filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu, appears frequently on critics’ lists as one of the greatest movies of all time. Parent-child relationships, the perils of advanced age, and the weight of solitude are all key elements.
Dark Victory (1939)
Bette Davis is a self-indulgent socialite with an inoperable brain tumor. She falls in love with her doctor, who keeps the diagnosis from her, but finally embraces her fate. Humphrey Bogart and Ronald Reagan are among the supporting actors.
The Yearling (1946)
A boy and his beloved orphaned deer in 1870s Florida…. You know what’s going to happen to the animal. If only he hadn’t messed with the crops.
An Affair to Remember (1957)
The American Film Institute included this Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr classic on its list of the most romantic movies ever made. A man and a woman, both otherwise involved, meet on an ocean liner and fall in love. Six months later, a tragic accident and a missed rendezvous at the Empire State Building seem to doom their romance.
Old Yeller (1957)
Old Yeller is a heroic canine who fends off bears, wild hogs, and wolves, and Travis is the farm boy who loves him — but eventually has to shoot him, after the dog contracts rabies.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
Catherine Deneuve is the luminous co-star of the musical romance about young lovers who are separated by circumstance, go on to marry others, and meet accidentally for one last time years later in a tear-inducing finale. Michel Legrand’s score, including the often covered “I Will Wait For You,” helps turn on the waterworks.
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
This multiple Oscar winner stars Omar Sharif (in the title role) and Julie Christie as star-crossed lovers during the Russian Revolution. Sudden disappearances, a fatal heart attack, and a lost daughter are among the emotion-evoking ingredients here.
Love Story (1970)
Another of the AFI’s most romantic movies, “Love Story” features Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw as a couple whose future is doomed by her fatal disease. The film’s famous catchphrase, uttered by O’Neal’s character, is “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
Clair de Femme (1979)
Clumsily titled “Womanlight” for its America release, this Costa-Gavras romance is about two strangers who spend a night together — a woman aching from a recent tragedy and a man whose terminally ill wife has decided to kill herself. Laughter is in short supply.
Sophie’s Choice (1982)
Meryl Streep won an Oscar for her portrayal of the title character, a Polish immigrant to Brooklyn who conceals a terrible secret and ultimately dies by her own hand.
Terms of Endearment (1983)
Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger are mother and daughter; Jack Nicholson is a retired astronaut who woos the mom; Jeff Daniels is the daughter’s unfaithful husband. Cancer is the villain, as is often the case in sad movies.
Vagabond (1985)
This French drama starts and ends with the main character lying frozen in a ditch. In between, we see the self-chosen path that led her to her end.
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Robin Williams plays the unconventional English teacher at a Vermont boarding school. He forms a secretive club for his prize students, but one of them, bullied by his father, kills himself; the club is exposed and disbanded; the teacher is fired.
Steel Magnolias (1989)
A close-knit group of varied but quintessentially Southern women deal with the death of one of their number.
Philadelphia (1993)
Homophobia and legal maneuverings inform the plot of this Tom Hanks vehicle set during the height of the AIDS crisis.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Despite its relatively happy ending, this prison drama, starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, exudes sadness through its depiction of their many years of prison life.
The English Patient (1996)
An illicit affair, an attempted murder-suicide, a mutilation, a woman left to die alone in a cave, a man badly burned when his plane is shot down, a nurse who believes she brings death to those around her…. Sadness is everywhere here.
The Ice Storm (1997)
Ang Lee directed this somber drama, featuring Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, and Christina Ricci — the story of two affluent families in suburban Connecticut in the early 1970s whose efforts to bring meaning to their lives involve alcohol, adultery, and wife-swapping, punctuated by a deadly ice storm.
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Darren Aronofsky’s downer drama depicts a family brought low by drugs — with mental illness, reluctant sex work, and amputation adding to the tragic circumstances.
The Pianist (2002)
In this World War II drama based on a true story, a Polish-Jewish pianist (Adrien Brody) witnesses Nazi atrocities, repeatedly escapes danger, and is hidden by a music-loving Wehrmacht officer, surviving the war years, while his German patron dies in Soviet custody.
Lost in Translation (2003)
A melancholy comedy-drama starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, “Lost in Translation” concerns a socially alienated has-been movie star who meets the discontented wife of a noted photographer at a luxury hotel in Japan, and the unconsummated relationship they forge.
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Clint Eastwood directed and co-starred in this boxing drama about an ambitious female boxer (Hilary Swank) whose success in the ring turns tragic when a cheating fighter leaves her a quadriplegic.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Ang Lee’s genre-busting romantic story concerns two mid-20th-century Wyoming cowboys (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) who fall in love. Both go on to marry women and have children; both divorce; one dies.
Into the Wild (2007)
Actor Sean Penn won plaudits for directing this initially inspiring but ultimately tragic true-life tale of a man who goes too far off the grid in the Alaskan wilderness.
Marley & Me (2008)
Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston adopt a Labrador puppy named Marley, who becomes a sometimes troublesome part of their family as they pursue their career paths and have children — until ultimately, Marley…. Well, you know what happens to dogs in sad movies.
Up (2009)
Animated films can be sad, too. In this one, an aging widower keeps a promise to his late wife, attaching balloons to his house so that he can fly to a place called Paradise Falls in South America. After many adventures, the house makes it, but he doesn’t.
The Farewell (2019)
A Chinese grandmother is dying, but her Chinese-American daughter (Awkwafina) and her parents keep the truth from her so that she can attend a family wedding.
Five Feet Apart (2019)
Two teenagers fall in love. Unfortunately, both have cystic fibrosis and are immunocompromised, and thus forbidden to come close to each other to avoid the possibility of dangerous infection. They do not end up together.
Aftersun (2022)
An 11-year-old girl and her father take a vacation at a downscale Turkish seaside resort. They appear to be having a good time, but the father is dragged down by depression, and when the girl grows up, she tries to discover what was wrong with him. (Consider these warning signs that you’re neglecting your mental health.)