Ever sob your eyes out at a 50-year-old movie?

[Deb in IA]

We did this weekend.


DH has been taking voice lessons (he has a wonderful baritone voice), and his teacher wants him to sing the famous "Soliloquy" from "Carousel". He has been listening to soundtrack in the car. Well, the kids wanted to know what happened in the story, so we got the movie . . . it's on DVD now.

I'd forgotten what a tear-jerker it was.

You all remember this one, don't you? Gordon MacRae as Billy Bigelow, the carousel barker, who falls in love with Julie Jordan (Shirley Jones). They marry, he loses his job, she gets pregnant. He turns to crime to support his family, and in a bungled burglery attempt, he is killed. In heaven, he gets one day to return to earth, and goes back for his daughter's graduation.

Oh my gosh, I cannot listen to "You'll Never Walk Alone" without being reduced to a whimpering mess.

DD Jennifer too. When Billy dies, she was sobbing, "Tissues!!!!"

Interestingly, the movie was considered a flop when it came out in 1956, and lost an then-unprecedented $2 million. Audiences were not ready, apparently, for a musical that deals with wife beating, violent crime, and death. Subsequent years have shown this to be an under-appreciated movie, with more complex characters than normally found in more standard musicials.

 

[Reflection]

"Oh my gosh, I cannot listen to "You'll Never Walk Alone" without being reduced to a whimpering mess. "

I feel the exact same way! Carousel is one of my favorites (I go out of my way to see a live production).

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I like that song too, but the musical is a real hard sell these days. The HS where I work did it 3 years ago, and I had a difficult time explaining to my daughters (then 11 and 8) why there should be sympathy for a guy who hits his wife. Then I had a hard time figuring it out! I try to teach them domestic violence is never OK and if a boy hits them to break if off that very second.
I do remember the older one crying when Billy got killed though--my students sitting near me were laughing about me saying "It's just a play, honey".
Robin M.

 

[luvmydogs]

The original 1939 Wuthering Heights with Sir Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon.

I've seen it a million times and read the book a million times, so I know how it ends. I'm not really emotional or sentimental either, but when Cathy dies in Heathcliff's arms, and then their spirits are seen walking hand in hand through the heather, I'm reduced to mush.

 

[diznygirl]

I'm a cryer and I've never seen Carousel and won't. I'll just sit here crying just thinking about it!

 

[Evil Genius]

I cry everytime I watch West Side Story. Just can't help myself.

 

[lisajl]

Count me on on those....Wuthering Heights, Carousel, West side Story, too.
Has anyone ever seen Penny Serende? Another tear jerker...it's about a couple that adopt a child and it dies, then they adopt another. They have a wonderful life with her until she is about 8 and is killed in a car accident.
It stars Cary Grant. Wonderful yet, very sad movie.

Ok...where are the kleenex?

 

[Deb in IA]

I like that song too, but the musical is a real hard sell these days. The HS where I work did it 3 years ago, and I had a difficult time explaining to my daughters (then 11 and 8) why there should be sympathy for a guy who hits his wife. Then I had a hard time figuring it out! I try to teach them domestic violence is never OK and if a boy hits them to break if off that very second.

I think that is one of the reasons this character is so complex. Yes, he's a slimy lout who won't look for a job and hits his wife, yet we feel sorry for him.

Another old movie that makes me bawl is "Imitation of Life" with Lana Turner and Juanita Moore. It's the story of two girls, one white, the other a light-skinned black, and their relationships with their mothers.

 

[mtblujeans]

I saw a movie when I was in high school that made me cry 'til my head hurt called "The Four Poster" and I have not been able to find it. I am not even sure when it was made. It was a play with Rex Harrison and his, then, wife, Lili Palmer. They were in the play and then made the movie.

It is basically about the lifetime of a married couple (at the turn of the century, I think) shown in just one room of their house: the bedroom. The four poster bed was the largest piece of furniture in the room. I remember one scene was that they had just received news that their son was killed serving in a war. They went to their bedroom to break down and openly grieve for their baby!

It was such a touching movie and some of it was so very funny - just typical married life!! I would love to see it again.....

 

[BelleMcNally]

It's a Wonderful Life...enough said.

 

[DawnCt1]

IMITATION OF LIFE with Elizabeth Taylor. She is a light skinned black woman who turns her back on her mother and passes as white. I have been crying over this movie since I was in sixth grade and watched it when I was home sick from school. I loved the funeral.