Guy-cry film

A guy-cry film is a film that generally addresses a male audience, but has strong emotional material.[1][2] Sports films are important to the guy-cry genre, but sports action is not necessarily essential to qualify a film as a genuine guy-cry.[1][2] War movies and biographical films of a male character tend to also be guy-cry films.[1][2] Some notable films that could be defined as guy-cry would be Field of Dreams, Rudy, Brian's Song, The Best Years of Our Lives and The Wrestler.[1][2]

Guy-cry is a neologism applied to a pre-existing type of film.[1][2][3] This is mainly due to the financial and often critical successes of films that fall within this genre.[1][2]

Early popular guy-cry films date back to the early 1970s with films such as Five Easy Pieces and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.[1][2] Important themes to the guy-cry genre are concepts of brotherhood, sacrifice, loyalty, and family.[1][2]

The Oregonian compiled a list of "films that make men cry",[4] that includes Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, and The Passion of the Christ, among many others.

Although guy-cry films are typically live action films, some animated films such as Snoopy, Come Home and Toy Story 3 have been described as such.[5]

Popular guy-cry films

In 2005, Entertainment Weekly ran a reader poll of the top guy-cry films.[5] Their choices were as follows:

  1. The Shawshank Redemption
  2. Armageddon
  3. (3-way tie—"Chick Flicks") Terms of Endearment; Love Story; Steel Magnolias
  4. Field of Dreams
  5. (4-way tie—"Movies with Dogs") My Dog Skip; Snoopy, Come Home; Old Yeller; Where the Red Fern Grows
  6. Good Will Hunting
  7. Brian's Song
  8. Big Fish
  9. Backdraft
  10. Hoosiers
  11. Saving Private Ryan
  12. Dead Poets Society
  13. Hotel Rwanda
  14. Turner and Hooch
  15. Marley & Me

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 MSN Entertainment, by Richard T. Jameson, "The Big Guy Cry", accessed 02-19-2009
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Fox News, by Amber Milt (Amber Milt), "The Guy Cry Genre: Chick Flicks for Men", accessed 02-19-2009
  3. ↑ Chicago Tribune, by John Kass (April 13, 2007), "Reel Guys: Not a dry 'I' in the house.", accessed 02-19-2009
  4. ↑ The Oregonian (June 12, 2008), "Sad scenes: Movies that make a guy cry", accessed 02-19-2009
  5. 1 2 Entertainment Weekly, "Reader Picks: Movies That Make Grown Men Cry", accessed 02-19-2009
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