30 Most Heartbreaking Movies

Vada Sultenfuss is obsessed with death. Her mother died during childbirth, and her father runs a funeral parlor. She is also in love with her English teacher, and joins a poetry class over the summer just to impress him. Thomas J, her best friend, is "allergic to everything", and sticks with Vada despite her hangups.

When Vada's father hires Shelly, a makeup expert, in his funeral parlor, and begins to fall in love with her, Vada is outraged by their sudden engagement, trying to find a way to split them up, but after a terrible tragedy, Vada realises that Shelly isn't so bad, as she's the only person she can really talk to.

The only film that can still make me cry. I love how it builds up the friendship between Vada and Thomas J throughout the movie. Their friendship is so adorable and sweet, right from the beginning.



The characters are very real and respond to things just as normal people would, unlike a lot of other movies.

Although it is a great movie, it turns into a very sad tale, making the auidence really feel what Vada is feeling.

Based on a true story from Japan, a moving film about loyalty and the rare, invincible bonds that occasionally form almost instantaneously in the most unlikely places.



'Richard Gere' plays a college professor, who forms a bond with an abandonned dog at a train station, who he takes home for the night, with no intention of keeping him. He just wants to return him to his owner, but he soon becomes quite attached, especially after no one claims the missing dog.

Hachiko becomes very attached to Parker Wilson too, waiting for him at the train station after work everyday, where he then walks with him back home.

When Parker suddenly dies while at work, Hachiko is still waiting at the train station for him to return, but he never does. It's a very sad story, as the poor dog doesn't understand that he's gone, so he continues to go back day after day, only making the audience feel even more sympathetic towards the dog, as each day his owner never returns.



A true story of faith, devotion and undying love.

Ripped straight from the headlines!

On December 4, 1972, seven-year-old Steven Stayner got into a car with a stranger who convinced the boy that he was his new dad. Steven was mentally and physically abused in the most horrifying ways.



Seven long years later, Steven miraculously finds his way home. But his nightmare isn't over yet — not until his captor is brought to justice.

A woman discovers the truth about her former lover from the diary that his first wife wrote to their son, Nicholas.

I love how the movie is shown from mostly Kate's point of view reading the diary that Suzanne had written. It's very cleverly written and a very heartbreaking tale.

Young Trevor McKinney, troubled by his mother's alcoholism and fears of his abusive but absent father, is caught up by an intriguing assignment from his new social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet.



The assignment: think of something to change the world and put it into action. Trevor conjures the notion of paying a favor not back, but forward--repaying good deeds not with payback, but with new good deeds done to three new people.

Trevor's efforts to make good on his idea bring a revolution not only in the lives of himself, his mother and his physically and emotionally scarred teacher, but in those of an ever-widening circle of people completely unknown to him.

Scott Turner has 3 days left in the local police department before he moves to a bigger city to get some "real" cases, not just misdemeanors. Then Amos Reed is murdered, and Scott Turner sets himself on the case. The closest thing to a witness in the case is Amos Reed's dog, Hooch, which Scott Turner has to take care of if it's going to avoid being "put to sleep".



I love this movie. It was made the year I was born, but I watched it like once a year growing up. When the dog died, it always made me cry, as he was the most loveable character on the whole movie.

A mentally retarded man fights for custody of his 7-year-old daughter, and in the process teaches his cold-hearted lawyer the value of love and family.



A great story, of a really sad tale of a mentally retarded father trying to keep his daughter. Made me cry at a few points, as its so real.

The story of a forbidden and secretive relationship between two cowboys and their lives over the years.



A raw, powerful story of two young men, a Wyoming ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy, who meet in the summer of 1963 sheepherding in the harsh, high grasslands of contemporary Wyoming and form an unorthodox yet life-long bond--by turns ecstatic, bitter and conflicted.

Professional assassin Leon reluctantly takes care of 12-year-old Mathilda, a neighbor whose parents are killed, and teaches her his trade.



Mathilda, a twelve-year old New York girl, is living an undesirable life among her half-family. Her father stores drugs for two-faced cop Norman Stansfield. Only her little brother keeps Mathilda from breaking apart. One day, Stansfield and his team take cruel revenge on her father for stretching the drugs a little, thus killing the whole family. Only Mathilda, who was out shopping, survives by finding shelter in Léon's apartment in the moment of highest need. Soon, she finds out about the strange neighbour's unusual profession - killing - and desperately seeks his help in taking revenge for her little brother. Léon, who is completely unexperienced in fatherly tasks, and in friendships, does his best to keep Mathilda out of trouble - unsuccessfully. Now, the conflict between a killer, who slowly discovers his abilities to live, to feel, to love and a corrupt police officer...

A family learns important life lessons from their adorable, but naughty and neurotic dog.



After their wedding, newspaper writers John and Jennifer Grogan move to Florida. In an attempt to stall Jennifer's "biological clock", John gives her a puppy. While the puppy Marley grows into a 100 pound dog, he loses none of his puppy energy or rambunctiousness. Meanwhile, Marley gains no self-discipline.



Marley's antics give John rich material for his newspaper column. As the Grogans mature and have children of their own, Marley continues to test everyone's patience by acting like the world's most impulsive dog.



The first time I watched it, I cried.

A lonely landscape architect (Ruffalo) falls for the spirit of beautiful woman (Witherspoon) who used to live in his new apartment.



Elizabeth Masterson, a dedicated doctor in San Francisco, had almost no time for anything. When her sister with two kids set her up on a date, she gets into a tragic car crash and gets in a coma. Meanwhile, an landscape architect named David Abbott moves into San Francisco and coincidentally, into Elizabeth's apartment for rent.

While at the apartment, Elizabeth's spirit haunts him. She doesn't remember who she is, who her family is, and what she did - All that she remembered was her apartment and where everything was. To settle the arguments, David agrees to figure out who Elizabeth really is. When they get close to figuring out who she is, they eventually find love with one another and as they finally know who she really is, they learn that fate really has put them both together.

A fast-lane investment broker, offered the opportunity to see how the other half lives, wakes up to find that his sports car and girlfriend have become a mini-van and wife.



A modern-day Frank Capra story. Jack Campbell, a successful and talented businessman, is happily living his single life. He has everything, or so he thinks. One day he wakes up in a new life where he didn't leave his college girlfriend for a London trip.



He's married to Kate, lives in Jersey and has two kids. He, of course, desperately wants his life back for which he has worked 13 years for. He's president of P. K. Lassiter Investment House and not a tire salesman at Big Ed's. He drives a Ferrari and not a mini-van that never starts. And most importantly he doesn't wake up in the morning with kids jumping on the bed.



After a bad start, day by day he's more confident in his new life and starts to see what he's been missing. Turns out money's good to have but that's not everything.



What if you made different choices? What if you said yes, instead of no? What if you got a second chance?

An IRS auditor suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire life, from his work, to his love-interest, to his death.



Everybody knows that your life is a story. But what if a story was your life? Harold Crick is your average IRS agent: monotonous, boring, and repetitive.

But one day this all changes when Harold begins to hear an author inside his head narrating his life.



The narrator it is extraordinarily accurate, and Harold recognizes the voice as an esteemed author he saw on TV. But when the narration reveals that he is going to die, Harold must find the author of the story, and ultimately his life, to convince her to change the ending of the story before it is too late.



First time I watched it, it really did pull at the heart strings.

A workaholic architect finds a universal remote that allows him to fast-forward and rewind to different parts of his life. Complications arise when the remote starts to overrule his choices.



The architect Michael Newman has a typical middle-class family with his lovely and gorgeous wife Donna and their son Ben and daughter Samantha, and a constant visit of his parents. However, Michael is workaholic and under stress, trying to satisfy his boss with overwork and get a partnership in his company, giving priority to his work and neglecting the family issues.



When the tired Michael goes to a department store to buy an universal remote control, he rests on a bed and he meets the weird salesman Morty that offers him a remote control capable of controlling his own universe. Michael uses too much and loses the control of the device, having his own life controlled by the remote control.



Then Michael sees the worthwhile parts of his personal life he missed while working, and in the end of his life he lately concludes that the family comes first.



This scene made me cry the first time I saw it.

Rural Louisiana, summer of 1957, Elvis is King. At 14, Dani is coming of age. Her older sister is beautiful, smart, and off to Duke in the fall; her mom's pregnant with number four (Dad wants a son), and Dad's pretty strict.



Life gets sweeter when 17-year-old Court Foster, his widowed mom, and two little brothers move into the vacant farm next door.



Court likes Dani's high spirits and direct way, and though he has a man's responsibilities on the farm, they go off swimming sometimes. The waters of adolescence are deeper than Dani realizes as hers and Court's feelings get jumbled.



Then Mother Nature throws wrenching surprises at Dani, and she must come to terms with new emotions.

17-year-old Natalie thinks she's got it all figured out until she falls for a guy who has nothing to lose.



Natalie has it all: yearbook editor, scholarship to college, star athlete, reigning social queen. Then Keith enters her life. Secretive and enigmatic, he slowly lures her from her comfort zone.



The more Keith holds back, the more Natalie becomes intrigued with figuring him out. In her head, she's determined to keep him at arm's length, but in her heart she can't resist him.



As Natalie's world slowly unravels, both their lives are changed forever in this powerful love story.

Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure.



Robert Neville is a scientist who was unable to stop the spread of the terrible virus that was incurable and man-made. Immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and perhaps the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there.

But he is not alone.



Mutant victims of the plague -- The Infected -- lurk in the shadows... watching Neville's every move... waiting for him to make a fatal mistake. Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood.



But he knows he is outnumbered... and quickly running out of time.

Forrest Gump, while not intelligent, has accidentally been present at many historic moments, but his true love, Jenny, eludes him.



Forrest, Forrest Gump is a simple man with little brain activity but good intentions. He struggles through childhood with his best and only friend Jenny. His 'mama' teaches him the ways of life and leaves him to choose his destiny.



Forrest joins the army for service in Vietnam, finding new friends called Dan and Bubba, he wins medals, starts a ping-pong craze, creates a famous shrimp fishing fleet, inspires people to jog, create the smiley, write bumper stickers and songs, donating to people and meeting the president several times.



However this is all irrelevant to Forrest who can only think of his childhood sweetheart Jenny. Who has messed up her life. Although in the end all he wants to prove is that anyone can love anyone.

The dog everyone loves now leaps into the '90s in this all-new exciting, updated version of Lassie! Determined to start a new life in the country, the Turner Family - Dad, stepmom, little Jennifer and teenager Matt - leaves the city for the wilds of Virginia.



The move creates problems for everyone, especially Matt, who feels lost and alone in his new surroundings. Fortunately, the Turners are helped by a homeless collie who becomes part of their lives - and Matt does a lot of growing up as a result of the dog's unflinching loyalty.



Watch the extraordinary collie protect Matt from a snarling wolf, rescue him from a raging waterfall or just nuzzle up for affection, and you'll know Lassie is more than a story of a boy and his dog - it's the story of a boy and the most remarkable dog in the world!

To stop an elusive criminal, a maverick detective enlists the aid of a police dog who's an unusually intelligent partner.



The extravagant cop Michael Dooley needs some help to fight a drug dealer who has tried to kill him. A "friend" gives him a dog named Jerry Lee, who has been trained to smell drugs.



With his help, Dooley sets out to put his enemy behind the bars, but Jerry Lee has a personality of his own and works only when he wants to. On the other hand, the dog is quite good at destroying Dooley's car, house and sex-life...

A woman's survivor's guilt from a Columbine-like event twenty years ago causes her present-day idyllic life to fall apart.



A dramatic thriller about Diana, a suburban wife and mother who begins to question her seemingly perfect life--and perhaps her sanity--on the 15th anniversary of a tragic high school shooting.



In flashbacks, Diana is a vibrant high schooler who, with her shy best friend Maureen, plot typical teenage strategies--cutting class,fantasizing about boys--and vow to leave their sleepy suburb at the first opportunity. The older Diana, however, is haunted by the increasingly strained relationship she had with Maureen as day of the school shooting approached.



These memories disrupt the idyllic life she's now leading with her professor husband Paul and their young daughter Emma. As older Diana's life begins to unravel and younger Diana gets closer and closer to the fatal day, a deeper mystery slowly unravels.

Brutal cold forces two Antarctic explorers to leave their team of sled dogs behind as they fend for their survival.



In the Antarctic, after an expedition with Dr. Davis McClaren, the sled dog trainer Jerry Shepherd has to leave the polar base with his colleagues due to the proximity of a heavy snow storm.



He ties his dogs to be rescued after, but the mission is called-off and the dogs are left alone at their own fortune.



For six months, Jerry tries to find a sponsor for a rescue mission while his dogs fight for survival.

A boy who communicates with spirits that don't know they're dead seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.



Malcom Crowe is a child psychologist who receives an award on the same night that he is visited by a very unhappy ex-patient.



After this encounter, Crowe takes on the task of curing a young boy with the same ills as the ex-patient. This boy "sees dead people". Crowe spends a lot of time with the boy (Cole) much to the dismay of his wife. Cole's mom is at her wit's end with what to do about her son's increasing problems.



Crowe is the boy's only hope.

After an attack leaves him in limbo -- invisible to the living and also near death -- a teenager discovers the only person who might be able to help him, is his attacker.



Nick Powell is an excellent high-school student who raises money by selling homework and results of quizzes to his schoolmates. He aims to travel to London for a writer's course - telling his best friend, Pete Egan, that he has already bought the airplane ticket but he has not told to his mother yet.



Annie Newton has a problem with Pete, who owes money to her. As events unfold, due to a case of mistaken identity Nick takes a severe beating from Annie and her gang, his body dumped in a sewer. The next morning, he discovers he cannot be seen - he is now a spirit in a state of limbo and can only observe as the events of that day unfold.



How do you solve a murder when the victim is you?

A boy brings a yellow dog home. The dog loves the family as much as they love him, but can the love last?



Young Travis Coates is left to take care of the family ranch with his mother and younger brother while his father goes off on a cattle drive in the 1860's.



When a yellow mongrel comes for an uninvited stay with the family, Travis reluctantly adopts the dog. After a series of scrapes involving raccoons, snakes, bears and all manner of animals, Travis grows to love and respect Old Yeller, who comes to have a profound effect on the boy's life.

In Mexico City, a former assassin swears vengeance on those who committed an unspeakable act against the family he was hired to protect.



A wave of kidnappings has swept through Mexico, feeding a growing sense of panic among its wealthier citizens, especially parents. In one six-day period, there were twenty-four abductions, leading many to hire bodyguards for their children.



Into this world enters John Creasy, a burned-out ex-CIA operative/assassin, who has given up on life. Creasy's friend Rayburn brings him to Mexico City to be a bodyguard to nine-year-old Pita Ramos, daughter of industrialist Samuel Ramos and his wife Lisa. Creasy is not interested in being a bodyguard, especially to a youngster, but for lack of something better to do, he accepts the assignment.



Creasy barely tolerates the precocious child and her pestering questions about him and his life. But slowly, she chips away at his seemingly impenetrable exterior, his defenses drop, and he opens up to her.



Creasy's new-found purpose in life is shattered when Pita is kidnapped...

A shadowy freedom fighter known only as "V" uses terrorist tactics to fight against his totalitarian society. Upon rescuing a girl from the secret police, he also finds his best chance at having an ally.



The futuristic tale unfolds in a Great Britain that's a fascist state. A freedom fighter known as V uses terrorist tactics to fight the oppressive society.



He rescues a young woman from the secret police, and she becomes his unlikely ally.

An eastern immigrant finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.



Viktor Navorski, a man from an Eastern European country arrives in New York. However after he left his country war broke out. Suddenly Navorski is a man without a country - or one that the U.S. cannot recognize, thus he is denied entrance to the U.S.



However, he also can't be deported so he is told by the Security Manager that he has to remain in the airport until his status can be fixed. And also Navorski doesn't speak English very well, so he cannot talk to or understand anyone.



But he somehow adapts and sets up residence in the airport, which makes the man who placed him there unhappy, as it seems he is in line for a promotion but Navroski's presence might complicate that. So he tries to get Navorski to leave but Navorski remains where he is.



Navorski makes friends with some of the people who work in the airport and is attracted to a flight attendant he runs into whenever she comes in.

Four brothers look to avenge their mother's death.



Four adopted brothers come to avenge their mother's death in what appears to be a random killing in a grocery store robbery.



However, the boys' investigation of the death reveals more nefarious activities involving the one brother's business dealings with a notorious local hoodlum.



Two cops who are trying to solve the case may also not be what they seem.

Anna Fitzgerald looks to earn medical emancipation from her parents who until now have relied on their youngest child to help their leukemia-stricken daughter Kate remain alive.



In Los Angeles, the eleven year old Anna Fitzgerald seeks the successful lawyer Campbell Alexander trying to hire him to earn medical emancipation from her mother Sara that wants Anna to donate her kidney to her sister.



She tells the lawyer the story of her family after the discovery that her older sister Kate has had leukemia; how she was conceived by in vitro fertilization to become a donor; and the medical procedures she has been submitted since she was five years old to donate to her sister.



Campbell accepts to work pro bono and the obsessed Sara decides to go to court to force Anna to help her sister.