This week's 20th anniversary of the release of "Rudy" (which hit theaters on October 13, 1993) is a fitting excuse for an honest look at a genre we'd like to pretend doesn't exist: Movies That Make Men Cry.
Let's face it, if you're a guy who sheds a tear during the sequence where the team members leave their jerseys on the coach's desk one by one so that no-brawn-but-all-heart Rudy Ruettiger (Sean Astin) can finally suit up and live his dream of playing Notre Dame football with his father watching in the stands, then you're in good company. No need to be ashamed if you start blubbering right then and continue for the rest of the movie.
In fact, movies about sports often make guys cry. So do movies about fathers and sons. "Rudy" hits both nerves and then some. If you want to make a movie that makes men cry, make it about athletics, dads, dogs, war, male bonding, lost love, horrible catastrophes, or some combination of these. So grab the Kleenex because here are 15 such movies that'll get the waterworks flowing.
