TOP TEN TEAR-JERKERS

The Editor

1. The Closing Montage Of Six Feet Under
As a TV show that dealt with death and heartbreak on a weekly basis, there was only ever one way for Six Feet Under to bow out. A closing montage set to Sia's breathtaking Breathe Me intersperses clips of Claire Fisher driving to a new life with flash-forwards showing the characters we've all grown to love growing up, getting married, getting old and dying. That might sound depressing, but like the whole show that proceeded it, the ending was beautifully-judged and absolutely heartbreaking.

2. Johnny Cash's Hurt Video
A music video of an old man whose creative peak was almost 50 years earlier isn't the kind of thing that normally gets much attention, but Johnny Cash was never one to be told what to do. His cover of the Nine Inch Nails song had already massively surpassed the original, but the decision to film the video in his house, surrounded by the fading memories of his life was inspired. The clincher is when Cash's wife June appears on the stairs behind him, not long before both passed away. Almost fittingly, the house recently burned down before Bee Gee Barry Gibb could move in...

3. Grandad's Funeral In Only Fools And Horses
What made Only Fools And Horses one of the greatest sitcoms of all time was the way John Sullivan managed to work in the kind of pathos and emotion that you wouldn't find in most other sitcoms. He could make you laugh very easily, but he could also make you cry and the best example of this was Grandad's Funeral in Series Four. Filmed just days after the real funeral of actor Lennard Pearce, the raw emotions of David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst are clearly very real, but Sullivan's writing is also excellent, using the very sad situation to cut right to the heart of Del Boy, making him so much more than just the flash market trader cliche.

4. The End Of Blackadder Goes Forth
Another sitcom! Unlike Only Fools... Blackadder was never big on pathos, but that only made it more remarkable that Ben Elton and Richard Curtis chose to end on such a sombre note. The whole last episode was full of grim humour as the men in the WWI trenches prepared to make The Big Push. The cruel way that the characters are given a last minute sniff of a reprieve before being sent to their deaths in a moving finale is very British and very well done. You wouldn't get that in Friends.

5. Hotel Rwanda
Tears of rage and shame as much as grief, Hotel Rwanda is a brutal and moving film throughout, but the most affecting scene is when the staff and local 'residents' of the besieged hotel see UN troops seemingly coming to their rescue, only to discover that the soldiers are only there to help get the foreign journalists, photographers and guests to safety, leaving the Rwandans completely at the mercy of the machete-wielding killers. The guilt of those being saved and those doing the saving as well as the sheer desperation of those being forsaken make this scene almost unbearable.

6. Stand By Me
As if a film named after Ben E. King's beautiful song wasn't enough, Stephen King's nostalgic tale of childhood has plenty of moments to make you tear up, not least the more touching scenes between the friends. However, it's River Phoenix's performance as the doomed Chris Chambers that really stands out, not least when he breaks down and reveals just how much he wants to escape the destiny that his no-good family seem to have for him. With the knowledge of the fate of the awaited that talented young actor, it's all the more upsetting.

7. Midnight Cowboy
One of the best films of all time, Midnight Cowboy has two great performances from John Voight and Dustin Hoffman, a legendary soundtrack, plenty of atmosphere and bucketfuls of pathos. It's also got a really tragic ending that, like so many already in this list, is all about false hope and cruel reality. With Ratso Rizzo finally getting the trip of a lifetime to Florida, no-one could possibly not cry at the tragic moment when Joe Buck tells him that they're there and realises that Ratso isn't there at all.

8. Norma's Death In The Royle Family
The final special of The Royle Family started off as a fairly normal episode, with plenty of trademark humour from Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash, but halfway through, the jokes just stop as the tears start to flow for the dying Norma. The performances are all fantastic, the script is spot-on and there's not a dry eye in the house. Literally.

9. A.I.
Not one of Steven Spielberg's more lauded films, A.I. confused and irritated movie-goers and critics alike, and there's no doubt it has its flaws, mostly coming from the strange mish-mash of Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick. One of the more criticised aspects is the slightly surreal ending with the robots/aliens and the return of little Haley Joel Osment's long-dead mum. It was accused of being a hopelessly schmaltzy ending, but anyone with a mum can relate to the emotions involved and when you get past the cynicism, it's really very sad.

10. Dumbo
Another 'mum' moment, the scene where Dumbo's mother is unfairly chained up and locked away by the circus staff and struggles to comfort her son is a real choker. The death of Bambi's mum is the more famous moment, but the wrench of seeing mother and child so cruelly separated is arguably more affecting, particularly when they managed to connect and Dumbo is rocked to sleep by his mother's trunk.


The Writer

1. ET: The Extra-Terrestrial
People often accuse Steven Spielberg of manipulation and over-sentimentality, with E.T frequently cited as a prime example. But what those critics fail to notice is that the film is more than cheap theatrics; it's a melancholic tale of a boy growing up and having to face up to the fact that life isn't always perfect. The 'Come...Stay' scene is simply magnificent, but it's the moment when Spielberg cuts from Elliot and E.T to Dee Wallace Stone as Elliot's mother which really gets me, as she kneels powerlessly watching her son endure the terrible pain of losing a friend. Perfect.

2. Radiohead’s Street Spirit
The greatest album closer ever written, Street Sprit is Radiohead at their bittersweet best. Yeah, that’s right, I said bittersweet. The ‘depressing’ aspect of Britain’s Best Band is well documented, but fails to grasp their more optimistic side which is heard in Thom Yorke’s closing cry of ‘immerse your soul in love’. Not miserable, but tearjerking in its idealistic beauty.

3. The Apartment
Tears can be jerked from happy occasions rather than just sad ones, as the final scenes of Billy Wilder’s masterpiece The Apartment prove. The film finds Jack Lemmon’s business drone Bud Baxter renting out his apartment to his superiors so they can enjoy affairs without their wives knowing. Sadly one of the flings is with the apple of Baxter’s eye, Shirley McClaine’s Fran. All hope seems lost for Buddy boy until Fran hears that he’s stood up to his bosses and refused them access to the flat. As she runs down the road to his apartment, Adolph Deutsch’s music swells and the boy finally gets the girl. If only real life were as good.

4. Will Eisner’s Sewers
Found in his short story anthology New York: The Big City, this one-page, four-panel strip is graphic novel maestro Will Eisner at his very best. We focus on a New York sewer grate as the rain washes away traffic notices, adverts, lottery tickets and, tragically, a letter from a bride-to-be to her ex-boyfriend explaining she will be married in a week. A masterfully told short about the insignificance of human relationships in modern cities, this proves why Eisner is so well-loved in the comic book industry.

5. The Death of Bill Hicks
Sure, Bill Hicks' style was confrontational, but what made his stand up - and untimely death at the age of 32 - so affecting is that he was ultimately a humanitarian who was simply aghast that people couldn’t just, you know, get along with each other. Read the ‘Love All The People’ collection for some stinging observations on George Bush Snr, Iraq Part 1 and the corruption of capitalism and then shed a tear as you realise that the idiots in power didn’t actually listen.

6. Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
No, no, it’s not in here for its emotional content (don’t be so silly), but for the crushing realisation that George Lucas didn’t have a clue what he was doing with the prequels all along. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment that it dawns on you. Is it the part when you notice that General Grievous serves no real purpose at all? Or the bit where Lucas circles his camera around Anakin and the newly unveiled Emperor in a last gasp bit to be dramatic. Or maybe it’s the moment when we’re told (by a computer generated robot no less) that Padme has ‘lost the will to live’, despite the fact she’s just given birth (to twins!!!) and believes ‘there’s still some good in Anakin’. Probably a bit of all three to be honest.

7. Requiem for a Dream
Good god this is a depressing film. A (very) cautionary tale about the perils of drug-taking, Darren Aronofsky’s sophomore effort is so gut-wrenching because our protagonists are not druggie bastards, but normal people sucked into a downward spiral by the pursuit of their dreams. Particularly haunting is Ellen Burstyn, whose pitch-perfect performance as a woman who gets hooked on diet pills so she can fit into her best dress for a TV appearance was overlooked by the Academy in favour of Julia Roberts’ turn in Erin flippin’ Brockovich. Now THAT’S depressing.

8. The final Calvin and Hobbes strip
Tearjerking more for its poignancy than out-and-out sadness, the final strip of Bill Watterson’s wryly witty comic Calvin and Hobbes is the perfect way for the bratty boy and his beloved stuffed tiger to bow out. The mischievous pair stand in a snow-covered meadow with their trusty sledge in tow. ‘It’s a magical world, Hobbes ol’ buddy,” says Calvin as the duo ride into immortal childhood, “let’s go exploring.”

9.Post season 4 Happy Days
It’s always tragic when a great TV show comes to an end, but it’s even worse when a formerly great one plods along for endless seasons long after its sell by date. Case in point: Happy Days. In the first few seasons, the show was untouchable: crisp writing, memorable characters and rose-tinted nostalgia all blended to make the perfect sitcom. The warning sign came at the end of season four when The Fonz was inexplicably baptised, and it continued its irrevocable slide from then on in: jumping the shark, writing out Richie and eventually burning down the original Arnold’s. The show in its final few seasons was more cheap, tacky and soulless than a Gwen Stefani song.

10. Writing Top Ten tearjerkers lists
Great, now I’m depressed!