Top 20 movies that can make men cry like a baby

LONDON - Male-bonding, paternity, pets and even cars can get even the most macho men sobbing like a baby in a movie theatre-that’s what a survey for the most heart-wrenching movies for men has revealed.

They are the common themes among the 20 films most likely to leave even the most macho of viewers in floods of tears, according to a poll.

The survey comes after the recent release of Toy Story 3, which has become as known for leaving men sobbing uncontrollably as it has for its box office success.

Top of the list is ‘Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’, as the adventurers look back on what has happened in the long film while a stirring score plays over the top.

Second is the scene on the beach at the end of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ in which the two prisoners are reunited after one has escaped and the other freed on parole.

At the third spot is the heart-rending relationship between an elderly man and a boy in animated film ‘Up’.

Fourth in the list is the distinctly unromantic ending to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest starring Jack Nicholson as an inmate of a mental asylum.

Animals feature strongly in the list- Owen Wilson saying goodbye to his dying dog in ‘Marley and Me’ is placed fifth in the list.

And the pig who thinks he’s a sheepdog in ‘Babe’ also features in the list.

And a scene that would probably never feature on a similar list for women also makes it, thanks to the emotional attachment men have with beautiful cars-it is the scene early on in ‘The Italian Job’, when the Mafia destroy two E-Types and an Aston Martin to warn off Michael Caine.

The list was compiled from the feedback to the BBC Magazine website and ranges from boxing classics ‘Rocky’ and ‘The Champ’ to the Finnish documentary ‘Steam of Life’.

“In response to the discussion about why Toy Story 3 makes men cry male readers have been getting in touch with their emotional side and opening up about their own private tear-jerkers,” the Scotsman quoted a BBC spokesman as saying.

The top ten

1. ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ - The Grey Havens scene as the film - and the trilogy - climaxes, to the sound of a stirring score

2. ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ - The reunion between the two former prisoners on the beach in Mexico

3. ‘Up’ - The heart-rending relationship between an elderly man and a boy

4. ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ - The Indian chief kills Jack Nicholson and escapes from the psychiatric institution to freedom

5. ‘Marley and Me’ - Man played by Owen Wilson says goodbye to his dying dog

6. ‘The Champ’ - A retired boxer has one last fight for the sake of his son

7. ‘The Notebook’ - The final scene in the rest home where the old lovers die together

8. ‘Babe’ - Where the farmer ends the movie by saying: ‘That’ll do, pig’

9. ‘Field of Dreams’ - Kevin Costner plays catch with his father

10. ‘Chariots of Fire’ - When the British atheletes win their Olympic races against the odds. (ANI)