The film industry is one of the largest markets in the world and has a significant impact on local economies and none is larger than Hollywood, California. According to a report from the Motion Picture Association, the industry disperses $33 billion each year to more than 240,000 businesses in cities and small towns across America.
Throughout the world, there are more than 2,000 films released each year in 13 primary genres – horror, comedy, romance, action, crime, drama, science fiction, fantasy, sports, mystery, western, war, and thriller. With this incredible variety, there is typically something for everything across all genres. Not all films are blockbuster hits, but some are considered outstanding not only for the period they were released in but for all time.
Many of these also happen to fall into the tragic category. Whether about war, heartache, illness, or more, these films tend to have a significant impact on us, but also stand the test of time. A considerable amount of people thoroughly enjoy sad movies, a film that resonates so deeply it feels as though we’ve lived the journey alongside each character.
But what elicits sadness differs for everyone. The personal struggles the hero or heroine is facing onscreen may strike a chord, whether a doomed romance, dashed hopes, the demise of something cherished, the death of a loved one, a heroic sacrifice, or even animal mistreatment.
To compile a list of what we believe could be considered the saddest movies ever made, 24/7 Tempo researched published lists of sad movies on the film site Internet Movie Database (IMDb). We chose films based on our own film-going experiences and definitions of “sad.” We began with more than 600 movies shown on user-created lists of sad films on IMDb to determine the saddest movies of all time.
The list was then narrowed down by choosing films that were the most popular with both amateur and professional viewers, considering the Rotten Tomatoes average critic and audience ratings and the IMDb average user ratings. To be included on the list, films needed at least 10,000 user ratings between IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes along with 10 approved Tomatometer critic reviews.
Editorial discretion shaped the final rankings. Movies that lacked sufficient emotional impact were omitted, while others that were deemed essential viewing were added. The list spans genres from animation to exceptional biopics and true stories (Don’t miss the 50 best movies based on true events.)
Here are the greatest tragic movies of the 20th century
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
- IMDb rating: 8.1 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 98%
- RT audience score: 89%
Hailed as one of the best war movies ever made, this World War I epic follows young German schoolboys who enlist in the army and witness the horrors of battle, who soon realize there’s nothing glorious or romantic about war.
The Way We Were (1973)
- IMDb rating: 7.1 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 64%
- RT audience score: 81%
This film follows an unlikely couple with radically different personalities — she a liberal, Jewish political activist, and he a Waspy writer who couldn’t care less about politics — as their differences put immense strain on their relationship.
The Towering Inferno (1974)
- IMDb rating: 7.0 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 70%
- RT audience score: 72%
On the night of its grand opening, a poorly built office building catches fire in this seminal disaster flick. Not everyone makes it out alive.
Autumn Sonata (1978)
- IMDb rating: 8.1 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 87%
- RT audience score: 92%
An aging world-famous pianist travels to a small village to visit a daughter she hasn’t seen for years. To her dismay, her second daughter, who is mentally disabled, is present in the house. Despite the tragedies all have endured, the mother and the first daughter reveal long pent-up feelings to each other opening the road to reconciliation.
The Elephant Man (1980)
- IMDb rating: 8.1 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 92%
- RT audience score: 93%
This film examines the life of John Merrick (John Hurt), a disfigured man with an intelligent disposition who encounters different forms of exploitation as he transitions from circus sideshow to high society.
Sophie’s Choice (1982)
- IMDb rating: 7.6 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 78%
- RT audience score: 85%
In this film based on William Styron’s novel of the same name, Sophie, a Polish immigrant living in Brooklyn just after World War II, recounts to a young writer the horrible circumstances of her “choice.” Arrested and sent to Auschwitz with her two children, she is forced to decide which one will be killed and which will survive.
Silkwood (1983)
- IMDb rating: 7.2 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 74%
- RT audience score: 78%
This real-life biographical drama about whistleblower Karen Silkwood follows her efforts to uncover safety violations at her place of employment, the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant. She soon finds herself the target of vicious harassment with tragic consequences.
Mask (1985)
- IMDb rating: 7.2 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 93%
- RT audience score: 83%
This award-winning drama is the true story of teenager Roy L. “Rocky” Dennis (played by Eric Stoltz), who suffers from craniodiaphyseal dysplasia. With support from his no-nonsense mother (Cher), Rocky learns to overcome prejudices and gain acceptance from his peers.
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
- IMDb rating: 8.5 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 100%
- RT audience score: 95%
Animated films are rarely among the saddest, especially when they involve children. “Grave of the Fireflies” is the major exception. The harrowing anime follows the lives of a young brother and sister in Japan during the final days of World War II. Film critic Ernest Rister has called it “the most profoundly human animated film [he’s] ever seen.”
Paperhouse (1988)
- IMDb rating: 6.6 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 100%
- RT audience score: 71%
This British drama follows sickly 11-year-old Anna in a dream world of her own creation. It’s there that she meets a young boy named Marc, who turns out to exist in real life. The story is based on a 1958 novel, which had previously inspired a six-part TV series called “Escape into Night.”
Dead Poets Society (1989)
- IMDb rating: 8.1 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 84%
- RT audience score: 92%
Social and educational dynamics at a private boys’ school in New England in the 1950s provide the setting for this mournful and inspiring Robin Williams vehicle. An unorthodox teacher (Williams), a resurrected secret society, a martinet father, and a school play lead up to a tragic suicide and the teacher’s dismissal.
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
- IMDb rating: 7.9 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 90%
- RT audience score: 91%
Director Tim Burton channels personal feelings of alienation and artistic ambition through the avatar of Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp) in this iconic fantasy. Edward is an artificial man who, with scissors for hands, struggles to find his place in the suburbs.
My Girl (1991)
- IMDb rating: 6.9 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 53%
- RT audience score: 77%
This blockbuster dramedy takes place in 1972 and centers on the adventures of a young girl (Anna Chlumsky) and her best friend (Macaulay Culkin). Chock full of coming-of-age themes, it features breakout performances and an ending that left most viewers in tears.
King of the Hill (1993)
- IMDb rating: 7.4 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 91%
- RT audience score: 84%
Steven Soderbergh directed and wrote the screenplay for “King of the Hill,” which follows a young boy living alone in a hotel after his mother is hospitalized and his father fails to return from a business trip.
Philadelphia (1993)
- IMDb rating: 7.7 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 81%
- RT audience score: 89%
This acclaimed drama is widely considered the first mainstream Hollywood film to directly tackle the AIDS crisis. Tom Hanks stars as Andrew Beckett, a lawyer and HIV victim who sues his former employer for discrimination.
Schindler’s List (1993)
- IMDb rating: 8.9 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 98%
- RT audience score: 97%
Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” is a Holocaust drama centered around Oskar Schindler, a heroic factory owner who saves countless Jews. It has amassed great critical and audience acclaim since its release, has been included on countless lists of “best movies” and is currently the highest-rated film on IMDb.
Forrest Gump (1994)
- IMDb rating: 8.8 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 71%
- RT audience score: 95%
“Forrest Gump” has everything from comedy to romance. Yet the film leaves viewers on a rather low note, related to protagonist Forrest losing the love of his life. The ending didn’t dissuade audiences from flocking to the movie, which grossed over $675 million worldwide.
The Cure (1995)
- IMDb rating: 7.7 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 45%
- RT audience score: 85%
Best friends Erik (Brad Renfro) and Dexter (Joseph Mazzello) journey down the Mississippi River in this heartfelt drama. Their destination is New Orleans, where they hope to find a cure for Dexter’s AIDS.
A Time to Kill (1996)
- IMDb rating: 7.5 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 68%
- RT audience score: 85%
Adapted from John Grisham’s debut novel, this courtroom drama takes place in the heart of Mississippi. When a young Black girl is brutally attacked, her father seeks righteous vengeance. The trial that follows examines themes of racial injustice in the Deep South.
Life Is Beautiful (1997)
- IMDb rating: 8.6 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 81%
- RT audience score: 96%
When an Italian Jewish poet and his young son are arrested by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp, the man tells his son that they’re on vacation and tries to turn the whole experience into a game.
The Ice Storm (1997)
- IMDb rating: 7.4 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 85%
- RT audience score: 82%
This acclaimed drama follows the story of two upper-middle-class families as they explore taboo behavior in early 1970s Connecticut. It “captures this place, this season, this garish and confused moment in history, with surgical precision,” wrote critic David Ansen for Newsweek.
American History X (1998)
- IMDb rating: 8.5 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 83%
- RT audience score: 96%
A high school student is assigned to write a paper about his older brother, a former neo-Nazi leader, and becomes involved with white supremacists himself. Both eventually repent, but after he turns in his paper, the younger brother is killed by a black student.
Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
- IMDb rating: 7.5 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 89%
- RT audience score: 87%
A young transgender man falls in love with a woman who is unconcerned with his sexual identity. The woman’s unenlightened male friends beat and rape the man. Later, they get drunk and decide to kill him, which they do despite his lover’s pleas.
The Green Mile (1999)
- IMDb rating: 8.6 / 10
- Tomatometer score: 78%
- RT audience score: 94%
Based on Stephen King’s serialized novel of the same name, this sprawling drama set in the 1930s, centers on the lives of Death Row guards at a Southern penitentiary. With the introduction of convicted murderer John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) comes a story of injustice, tragedy, magic, and redemption.