We all can use a cathartic ugly-cry sometimes, and if you’re feeling that need, you could open the floodgates with a viewing of the movies and TV shows below. On the r/askgaybros forum, Reddit users said these titles — some LGBTQ-related, some not — broke their hearts.
Of course, we have to preface this sob-fest with a couple of notes of caution: One, spoilers abound. And two, some of those movies and TV shows are so sad that the gay bros who nominated them won’t rewatch them again.
Brokeback Mountain
“The end of Brokeback Mountain, where you see that Ennis still has Jack’s shirt, hanging on the same hanger with one of his.”
“Yeah, this scene floors me. When that movie came out, I saw it in the [movie theater] a couple of times. I would leave at the point where Ennis is driving away with his horse trailer and it’s the last time they would meet. I can’t watch the rest. … That’s why [with] every gay love movie, I go to the end. If the couple is still together at the end of the movie, I’ll watch the whole thing. If not, I won’t even watch the beginning.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Marley & Me
“The whole f*cking movie.”
Prayers for Bobby
“It kinda hit close to home because I was also raised in a religious family.”
“I love that movie. When Sigourney Weaver is sobbing in the bathroom at work, it kills me every time.”
“Prayers for Bobby, when Sigourney’s character realizes how badly she f*cked up as a mother and would do anything to have her son back.”
Related: This meme drags the “sad gay countryside movie” genre
Heartstopper
“The scene in Heartstopper where Charlie tells his sister he feels like, ‘Maybe it’d be better if I didn’t exist,’ I can remember being a teenager and feeling that exact same feeling and almost acting on it. I burst into tears after he said it.”
The Magicians
“When they sing ‘Take On Me.’”
“Oh, so much this. And I also sobbed like a bitch over the ending, too.”
Luca
“Luca, the triathlon scene and the ending. I watched this on the plane, and luckily, I had the entire row to myself, as I couldn’t stop the tears, lol.”
I Am Legend
“Sam’s death in I Am Legend hit me so g*ddamn hard, I had to leave the theater ‘cause I just couldn’t stop crying.”
Boy’s Don’t Cry
“Such a good movie, but I can’t bring myself to rewatch it.”
Related: Film buffs name the gay-themed movies they hated
Redwoods
“There was a gay movie from a while back called Redwoods. One of the two soon-to-be lovers is introduced as a husband in a strained gay marriage with an adopted special-needs son. He goes away for the weekend to clear his head and meets a traveling writer with whom he falls in love, and they have a passionate affair. … Ultimately, the ending is even sadder than you imagine and made me cry more than the final scene of Brokeback Mountain.”
And… The Devil Wears Prada?
“That Paris scene in The Devil Wears Prada where Andi threw her work phone into the river. You could’ve had a life filled with couture, glamorous travel, and gorgeous men, you stupid B!”
FreddieW
Definitely the end of Brokeback Mountain. It gets me every time.
I started crying at the opening scene, the 2nd time I went to the theater to see A Single Man, and I came out of the theater with wet eyes at the end. And every time I watch it, I get emotional when Colin Firth adjusts the blanket over Nicholas Holt and finds he’s taken the gun.
And I really, really hate watching the beginning of John Wick, where his puppy is killed.
Diplomat
I would venture to say BBMt is the saddest movie I’ve ever seen. It’s the only movie I really have to be careful with watching bc I know it’s emotional dynamite.
All I need is to hear the first note of that guitar twang and I’m done for.
NateOcean
“Beautiful Thing” deserves to be on this list.
LumpyPillows
Great movie.
oaksong
At a 10th anniversary screening of Brokeback I was interviewing Dianna Osanna, McMurtry’s writing partner, when I suddenly realized we were going to be talking about Heath. To get a feeling as to how close they might have been I asked her how much time she spent on the set. She replied, “For the whole shoot.”
I knew that either of us was in imminent danger of breaking down in tears. Somehow we kept it together for 20 minutes, particularly when I asked about the shirts, the part that even thinking about makes me tear up.
Herman75
I heard Osanna shared that it was Heath Ledger’s idea to reverse the shirts at the end, to put Jack’s shirt on the inside. He really was devoted to his character.
Paris in Santiago
Brownback Mountain – but it’s the scene where Ennis travels to Jack’s homestead. It’s a tense moment with Jack’s parents, but then Ennis is granted permission to visit Jack’s bedroom as a child. It’s sparse, the view outside the window is sparse, and there’s a carved wooden horse that belonged to Jack. And Ennis stares out the window, possibly understanding why Jack joined the rodeo to get away. I cannot watch that scene. It destroys me to think about Jack’s childhood with a miserable father and a trembling mother.
Theweatherman
When Jack’s father cruelly tells Ennis that Jack had brought another partner up there to settle down and run the farm, it just broke my heart. Jack’s mother and father were well acted in the couple of small scenes.
Herman75
That sequence back at the ranch was so well done and so sad.
Rambeaux
“It destroys me…”.
Really? It’s a movie, you know.
LumpyPillows
Bitter and nasty.
Doug
Sounds like you’re pretty emotionally constipated.
TerryR
That final scene of Brokeback Mountain. like the scene where Debra Winger says goodbye to her kids in Terms of Endearment is one where I start to ugly cry a few minutes before it starts because I know it’s coming.
Doug
I remember that scene, and it made me cry too. “I know you like me, so you can stop pretending you don’t.”
bachy
To this day, I don’t understand why I reacted the way I did. I rented Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). In the scene where the adult Peggy Sue gets a concussion and is magically transported back to her childhood home, she climbs the staircase and enters her childhood bedroom. The music swells as she walks around the room in a state of wonder, touching the bedspread and the lamp and a shelf full of tchotchkes from her past. I completely fell apart, a flood of tears.
I’ve seen it again since and did not have that reaction.
5klp471
The Designing Women episode, Killing All The Right People with a very young Tony Goldwyn. I was born and raised in San Francisco, I knew I was gay – I must have been around ten years old or so – and I clearly remember seeing all the gay men dying all around me. It’s left me with a fair share of PTSD and other complications from that era. The ladies at the end of the episode singing “Just A Closer Walk With Thee” always make me cry. They knew what they were doing in pulling emotional heartstrings.
Darson
An episode of MASH. Margret had been feeding a stray puppy at the camp. She overheard some nurses talking about how he had been run over that morning. Margret tries to hold it together until she gets back to her tent. Runs into Hawkeye and goes off on him about trivial things. He knows shes upset about the dog and hugs her and hard hearted Hotlips breaks down.
Karlis
“Longtime Companion.” I saw it in a movie theater by myself, and when the lights came up, everyone started leaving except me, because I was a sobbing little puddle on the floor. I have tears in my eyes right now just remembering that.
abfab
The ambulance scene. Harold And Maude. I can’t share it because I’ll get all vahklempt and it’s a spoiler.
Raphael
There is a movie called “The Trip” from 2002 which is great and really sad as well.
mantus
The final scene in “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter” (1968) with Alan Arkin, Sondra Locke, and Cissy Tyson – broke MY heart. When Sondra visits Arkin’s grave and talks to him – the sadness was overwhelming. I was only 13 when I saw this in the theater with my parents (in 1968). I wouldn’t let myself cry – it took every ounce of my willpower to hold it back. I didn’t (couldn’t ) say a word afterward for fear it would open the floodgates. In the car, on the way home, my mother said “Mark you’re awfully quiet”. I might have said “leave me alone”, but I can’t be sure. I didn’t want any intrusion into what was truly a private, deeply felt experience.
When I saw “We Were Here” (2011) – a documentary on the early years of the AIDS crisis In San Francisco – I sobbed, balled my eyes out, openly. I don’t think any other work of art has ever touched me so deeply. It was profound.
bachy
Definitely going to check out “We Were Here” (2011). Thank you.
mantus
Bachy – it is more than worthwhile. I won’t say “enjoy it”. Instead, I’ll say “experience it”.
raybearoz
The most I have cried during a TV over a gay theme was “In The Flesh”… it’s a post zombie apocalypse as a thinly veiled gay analogy. The main character is a restored zombie… er.. “Partially Deceased”. The first two episodes explore the new world being like this, but the third episode dives into what happened to make him that way, and the fall out from reuniting with his past lover… Basically 20 minutes of out of control sobbing.
bachy
This sounds right up my alley, I’m going to check it out.
abfab
The ending of The Wizard Of Oz…..I won’t spoil it for everyone, but there’s no place like…….
abfab
Oh, and when Pasty Stone and Edwina Monsoon are forced to go to the supermarket because Justin has cut her off. I laughed so hard….I cried.
LumpyPillows
Patsy and Edina in a fish cart sinking in Bubble’s pool. Sad.
dbmcvey
Big Eden had me crying for what could have been.
Herman75
In Heartstopper, the scene that really tugs at the heart is where Olivia Coleman is driving and her son Nick is very upset. He tells her about the troubles with his friend Charlie. And she asks, “is he a special friend” She is so good in that scene and the few other scenes she is in.