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, Furious 7, 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:
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Armageddon
- (3-way tie—"Chick Flicks") Terms of Endearment; Love Story; Steel Magnolias
- Field of Dreams
- (4-way tie—"Movies with Dogs") My Dog Skip; Snoopy, Come Home; Old Yeller; Where the Red Fern Grows
- Good Will Hunting
- Brian's Song
- Act Of Valor
- Backdraft
- Hoosiers
- Saving Private Ryan
- Dead Poets Society
- Hotel Rwanda
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 MSN Entertainment, by Richard T. Jameson, "The Big Guy Cry", accessed 02-19-2009
- 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
- ↑ Chicago Tribune, by John Kass (April 13, 2007), "Reel Guys: Not a dry 'I' in the house.", accessed 02-19-2009
- ↑ The Oregonian (June 12, 2008), "Sad scenes: Movies that make a guy cry", accessed 02-19-2009
- 1 2 Entertainment Weekly, "Reader Picks: Movies That Make Grown Men Cry", accessed 02-19-2009