 OCTOBER SKIES (1999)
- Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Laura
Dern, and Chris Cooper
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- Synopsis
A father and son movie about a coalminer's boy looking to escape
the coal fields of West Virginia by studying rocket science.
This one hits every major tearduct-emptying opportunity.
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 UNCOMMON
VALOR (1983)
- Starring Gene Hackman and Patrick
Swayze
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- Synopsis
- This one came out during the
Rambo craze. It looks like standard actioner, the rescue-the-POWS
type movie that was a subgenre in the 80s. It has Gene Hackman
and a stellar cast looking for his son in a Laotian prison camp.
It has real emotional depth and the final moments reduced an
audience of men in flannel shirts to blubbering weinies.
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- EMPIRE OF THE SUN (1987)
- Starring Christian Bale and
John Malkovich
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- Synopsis
- Spielberg's charms never worked
on me with the exception of this story of a British boy interred
by the Japanese when they occupiied China during WWII. The ending
of the film reaches an emotional pitch that is excruciating.
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- HAMBURGER HILL
(1987)
- Starring Anthony Barrile and
Michael Boatman
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- Synopsis
- Perhaps the most realistic of
the Vietnam films of the 80s. It deals with the intense suffering
and dogged courage of the Army units in the Au Shua Valley. But
it's strongest emotional pull is its
sense of loss felt by the survivors and the audience. The guys
I saw this with were nearly psychotically depressed by the time
the end credits rolled.
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- SHE'S HAVING A BABY (1988)
- Starring Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth
McGovern
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- Synopsis
- John Hughes schmaltz that always
ends with me weeping like a…well, a baby.
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- MY DOG SKIP (2000)
- Starring Frankie Muniz and Kevin
Bacon
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- Synopsis
- A boy and his dog. Need I say
more? Plus lots more stuff like guys sacrificing everything for
their country and all that. This one rivals October Sky for pulling
out all the stops in the last ten minutes. There's even a brilliant
revelation from the very beginning of the film, a moment that
didn't seem relevant at all until it's meaning hits you like
a ton of peeled Bermuda onions. Copious tears here.
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- FREQUENCY
(2000)
- Starring Dennis Quaid and James
Caviezel
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- Synopsis
- Another story about fathers
and sons. But it's a complex time paradox tale that reaches a
crushing emotional finale. But long before that anyone who's
a son (especially if you're a dad now with sons of your own)
has gotten misty at several story points. Back to the Future
meets a Hallmark Card commercial. Tell everyone the stains on
your t-shirt came from a spilled soda.
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- PLANES, TRAINS,
AND AUTOMOBILES (1987)
- Starring Steve Martin and John
Candy
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- Synopsis
- John Hughes again. Perhaps his
funniest movie. But John Candy's story takes a painfully poignant
turn that we should have seen coming but we didn't. Hey, guys
suffer loss too, man!
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- THE
CHAMP (1931)
- Starring Jackie Coogan and Wallace
Beery
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- Synopsis
- Not the remake with Ricky Schroeder.
The original with Wallace Beery (was there ever a guy more aptly
named?) and Jackie Coogan. A boxer and an orphan. Man…If
the waterworks aren't flowing at the overwrought ending of this
one then you're suffering from terminal dehydration.
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- NOBODY'S FOOL (1995)
- Starring Paul Newman, Jessica
Tandy, Melanie Griffith, and Bruce Willis (in an uncredited role)
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- Synopsis
- Father and son stories are guaranteed
to make a guy bawl like a toddler. But this one's a grandfather/father/son
flick! You don't stand a chance! This movie is SO aimed at guys
that women don't even understand it. You'll weep tears of testosterone
as Paul Newman stars as a smalltown handyman trying to reconcile
himself with the mistakes of his past. Solid cast with Jessica
Tandy, Melanie Griffith and Bruce Willis (in an great uncredited
role)..
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