Been reading through the message boards on this film that I watched last night and there are many many posts about tears and made me cry and how much it resonated and all that ...
I am curious to know if these emotions are predominantly felt by men .. as I am a woman, and although touching, I was nowhere near the weeping that I did at the end of Life is Beautiful ...
Thoughts? Does this movie emotionally touch men more than women?
I'm male and I would ask you how you felt about Field of Dreams.
Both movies I would call tear jerkers for men, and the connection is both are are father/son films.
Captains Courageous turns me into a puddle. I would suggest the people most affected would be men with problematic relationships with their own fathers.
Field of dreams made me cry as well because of the ability to visit wih his dad - I lost my dad at a young age and any movie that speaks to this gets me everytime. The Champ, although father/son had me wailing like a banshee, but again, the loss of father being the hot button.
Thank you for answering. I never really thought about male tearjerker movies but of course there would be.
I remember reading somewhere a "tear test" of some sort was given to movie viewers by playing them several classic tear jerkers and measuring their response.
The Champ was the champ.
Yeah I can see that - must because it speaks to the universal theme of loss. It's a box of tissue that's for sure !!!
shareAs a male, I did tear up in this movie. I could feel the pain of losing my best friend again (which I did some years ago) and the confusion, anger and grief that comes with it.
shareAh yes and they had a friendship and deep bond between the two. Have you ever seen Brian's Song? Made for tv i think movie - about friendship and love and of course loss.
shareWatched Brian's Song as a child because it was about a football player. I liked it then but definitely will be viewing it again sometime in the future.
shareHave you ever seen Brian's Song?
I'm a guy and I cried the friggin Biblical flood out watching this.
But since the OP said she cried more from Life is Beautiful, a nice film, I think personally Captains Courageous has far greater character development than Life is Beautiful, and thus makes for a more emotional journey. Roberto Benigni seems to just stay the same clown throughout the film, while the journey Freddie Bartholomew goes on in Captains Courageous is just spectacular. And how Spencer Tracy in 3 months teaches him the lessons his dad should have given him over the years, and how he then loses his new father-figure, followed by the way his real dad struggles to win back his son at the end... Oh man, it has to be the most emotional movie about parenting I have ever seen (and I've seen my fair share of "the classics" - old and new). Not to mention the way Bartholomew manages to go from annoying spoiled brat you wanna slap in the beginning and then slowly turning into one of the most lovable movie kids in history, well that performance is in a league of its own.
I totally agree - Freddie Bartholomew is so incredibly good in this film - what a talent he was !!!
The Life is Beautiful resonance, for me, I think is the "bitter sweetness" at the end of it as well as the non-reality of the narrative in the sense that it is fairy-talish - bur what I really like is being able to bring a level of silliness and the ridiculous to subject matter of such gravitas.
Thank you for posting - I am always interested to better understand why certain films resonate so deeply to bring on, as you aptly put "the friggin Biblical flood". Well said :-)
Love your take on Captain Courageous. Yes the character development is fantastic. The "chance" meeting of the spilled brat meeting just what he needs is perfect. This iconic story is an eternal classic about what is truly important in life!
shareI know this film made my father cry, along with me and my three sisters. My daughter is an absolutely basket case at the end of this movie. My husband starts to cough and leaves the room. So, in my experience the emotion created by the film is not specific to one gender.
"...for singing is in my people as sight is in the eye."
I am male and I did not cry at this movie or even come close. Barely even a twinge of emotion at any point. I would not have guessed that anyone would but on reading some of the comments, I guess I see where it comes from. I forget that old movies usually work better on the masses than me.
I found the Spencer Tracy character to be so poorly, cartoonishly done that I couldn't get invested in him - and the father/son relationship was so undeveloped, I didn't really care about it either.
Then there was the big funeral scene and the whole issue of fishermen who go out and don't make it home which apparently is an every-frickin-year thing. It's probably just me but I kinda feel like if you got a family, unless someone is holding a gun to your head, stop being stupid and get a safer job.
There are many things I cry at but holy crap, not this.
Clyburn, occupations exist in this world, and all of them have their rewards and their hazards. Some of those occupations involve somebody or a lot of somebodies who take all the risks and do all the dirty work in harvesting the food that ends up on your plate and mine. Fishing for a living, by your own admission, ain't for you -- and it ain't for me, either. But some people are of a different breed and they love the high seas and are willing to work themselves ragged in their chosen occupation because that's what THEY are good at doing and because they love doing it.
I'm guessing you've probably seen the much more recent THE PERFECT STORM, where similar themes to those found in CC are explored and the same site or setting is used for the memorial services in both movies. The fishing trade is as old as time itself and as long as we humans continue to occupy the planet it, also, will continue. But, fear not! You and I both can stick to our own mundane jobs that are much safer than the kind of work on which others live and sometimes even die for in order to keep us landlubbers well fed. But methinks those in the fishing industry and the bereaved families of those who have perished in the line of their work deserve a little more respect than you appear to be affording them, here.
Okay folks, show's over, nothing to see here!
I've seen the movie countless times and always cry buckets. Saddest movie, along with Stella Dallas, ever made.
sharePerfectly stated, vinidici, and I applaud your post!
I would further add that any person, male or female, who isn't moved by some of the exquisitely done scenes between Spencer Tracy and Freddie Bartholomew as well as the film's heart-wrenching ending should check to see if they still have a pulse. And in Clyburn's case, he should check to see if he has a heart. He's entitled to his opinion, wrong as it is, but in my opinion there's something not quite right with that oddball.
Watching the interaction between Tracy and Bartholomew in this film is acting at its best. Tracy's Best Actor Oscar for this role was more than deserved, and Bartholomew should have been awarded a special juvenile Oscar. Of the films that always get to me no matter how many times I watch them, "Captains Courageous" is in the Top 5.
Watching the interaction between Tracy and Bartholomew in this film is acting at its best. Tracy's Best Actor Oscar for this role was more than deserved, and Bartholomew should have been awarded a special juvenile Oscar. Of the films that always get to me no matter how many times I watch them, "Captains Courageous" is in the Top 5.
I forget that old movies usually work better on the masses than me.
It's probably just me but I kinda feel like if you got a family, unless someone is holding a gun to your head, stop being stupid and get a safer job.
in my experience the emotion created by the film is not specific to one gender.