Cry, Laugh and Sing-along?

Like with last week’s books, how to choose just three favourite movies from so many? So how about one to make me cry, one to make me laugh, and one to sing along to?

The movie where I ALWAYS cry at the end, no matter how many times I watch it, is ‘Apollo 13.’ I know how it ends, I know they get back safely. After all, I watched the whole thing ‘for real’ back in 1970 and I still remember punching the air in relief when Jim Lovell’s voice came over the radio after the agonisingly long radio silence. When I’m watching the movie, though, I always fill up at all the reactions of the family and the flight engineers at Houston (especially Gene Kranz, played by Ed Harris).

The one to make me laugh is ‘Forrest Gump’ – I didn’t see this in the cinema when it first came out, but caught it on television one night, and found myself laughing out loud at so many of the wonderful comments he makes. I then bought the DVD and continue to laugh every time I watch it. Tom Hanks is brilliant!

To sing along to, my choice would be the National Theatre production of ‘Oklahoma’. This was the stage show which first gave me my love of musical theatre (many, many years ago!), and I have seen it countless times on stage (and also the screen version, of course). But Trevor Nunn’s production at the National Theatre is by far and away the best I have ever seen. Not just because of the gorgeous Hugh Jackman and his fabulous singing voice (well, partly!) but also because of the superb interpretation of some of the songs.

Here’s one of the songs I'd join in with!

In about 6 months’ time, however, I would probably exchange this choice for the movie  version of Les Miserables which is my favourite musical ever! I’ve seen it 10 times on stage, in London and Manchester, and have both the 10th and 25th Anniversary concerts on DVD. Sometime last year, my daughter called to tell me it was being made into a movie and said ‘Guess who’s playing Jean Valjean?’ When she told me it was Hugh, I was over the moon. I’ll be first in line to see it when it’s released here next January. Here’s the trailer:

Reduced to Tears

I'm a cryer. I have to admit it. There are some Hallmark and AT&T commercials that make me cry. Beautiful music can move me to tears.

The first time I ever recall crying over a book was when Beth dies in "Little Women". I was probably in fourth/fifth grade, and I remember sitting at the kitchen table reading. Mom was making dinner. I distinctly remember getting to that part in the book, feeling the tears welling, and escaping to my room so no one would see I was crying over a book. Since then, I've cried over lots of books: sad parts, happy parts...

I was deeply honored when a review of my first book indicated readers should keep plenty of tissues nearby. To be able to move someone else to tears with my words is an unbelievingly humble thing.

Certain movies make me cry no matter how many times I've seen them. In college my roommate and I watched the movie "Beaches" with Bette Midler. We each lay on our respective dorm room beds, crying silently until the movie was over. It was then we turned to each other and saw tears streaming down the other's cheeks. To this day, if I even see or hear something about that movie, I call my roommate to say hello and tell her how much her friendship means to me. (I'm going to have to give her a call.)

"Apollo 13" is another one that does it for me. The tears start to trickle as soon as the space craft enters the atmosphere. And we wait. And we wait. And the time comes for them to have reemerged, and still we're waiting. When they finally splash down, the tears are coursing in earnest with the sheer cathartic relief of having the crew safely back on Earth.

The first time we saw "Titanic" - the James Cameron version - in the theater, I cried for half the movie. Now this is a three hour and then some movie, so basically I was crying for over an hour and a half. I started when Jack gets accused of stealing the "Heart of the Ocean" necklace and gets carted off. I didn't stop until the credits rolled. Now the tears start in various places: when the sweet old couple is laying on their bed wrapped in each other's arms; when the Irish immigrant mother is reading to her children on a third class bunk: when Jack slips away beneath the waves...

You know...sometimes a good cry is just the thing.

Until next time,

Happy Reading and Happy Thanksgiving!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com