professorecho Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Forgive me if this has already been covered, but I've been feeling kind of down lately and, as I am wont to do being a cinephile, I began tracking down in my memory sad characters in films to make me feel less alone. The first one that came to my mind was the long-suffering wife of the Scottish farmer in Alfred Hitchcock's THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS. She is so heartbreaking and her fate, as much as we see of it, is tragic. She may not be the saddest character of all time in a film, but she is one of the most memorable for me. Without specifically giving away any endings, who do you think of when you think of sad characters in the movies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bansi4 Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Two characters that come to mind are Viven Leigh in "Waterloo Bridge" and Jane Darwell in "The Grapes of Wrath". Mongo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spencerl964 Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I must agree with me pal Mongo & The legendary Joad Family in *Ford's magnificent 1940 "Grapes of Wrath" There are of course many, many, more *Chaplin's come to-mind, but he always still seems somewhat happy-("The Little Tramp") with his lot in life. Thanks & 4 star vote to Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
venerados Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I think of Jose Ferrer, first as Toulouse-Lautrec in "Moulin Rouge" then as Cyrano de Bergerac. Lon Chaney also comes to mind a lot: in "Hunchback or Notre Dame" "Phantom of the Opera" "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" and "He Who Gets Slapped." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moviegeek3000 Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Frankenstein's monster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feaito Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 The doomed Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) in "La Strada" comes to my mind... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeanddaisy666 Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Wow, good question, professorecho. Hope all our answers cheer you up a mite. I was trying to think of a human character who so impressed me that I felt enough emotion to cry for them in a 'sad' way, and I couldn't. I think I cried the first time I saw 'On Borrowed Time', but had turned cynical for the second viewing. I have a feeling I'd feel the same way if I watched 'Wuthering Heights' again. Horatio in 'The Time of their Lives' makes me tear, but he'll get into heaven eventually! And I always felt FOR death in 'Death Takes A Holiday' so I can't feel badly for anyone in that movie (and who is hotter as 'death' than Fredric March? The same goes for Paul Muni in 'Angel On My Shoulder', I feel badly for the antagonist, so I'm not sure that counts. Fantasy movies most bring out the waterworks in me, I love them to pieces (Beyond Tomorrow, Stairway to Heaven, The Bishop's Wife). But although they make me cry, no one in these movies was 'sad'. Then it hit me! It's the NON-human characters who make me cry, that make me feel badly for them, that qualify as 'sad'. I sobbed when I was little and I'd sob again.......for King Kong and Godzilla. Poor tormented creatures who only wanted to be left the heck alone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayresorchids Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Burt Lancaster as Doc Delaney in Come Back, Little Sheba. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slappy3500 Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Angelo Maggio in "From Here to Eternity". The guy didn't feel sorry for himself and he didn't take any crap but you just knew that the evil Fatso Judson was going to grind down his body if not his spirit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ayresorchids Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Quite an acting job by a fella who started out as a big-band singer and teenagers' heartthrob! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bggalaxy Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Stoney stated my first thought - King Kong. Others: Potter in It's a Wonderful Life Kane in Citizen Kane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
path40a Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Come Back, Little Sheba is an excellent choice ayresorchids, though I felt sad (perhaps it was pity?) for both Shirley Booth's and Burt Lancaster's characters. However, the biggest reaction I've had lately along these lines was to Chaplin in his masterpiece City Lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bggalaxy Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 Wow that reminds me: Lancasters character in "The Swimmer" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgm80s Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I don't know if these fit, but I thought of two drunks right away. Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend and newer Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garboloygrant Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 A couple of characters to mind.. Sarah Jane and her mother Annie from Imitation of Life (I've seen both versions several times and bawl everytime) Oscar Schindler from Schindler's List Garbo in Camille Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 There's a wistful sadness to Boris Karloff's Frankenstein and a sad resignation to Ethel Barrymore's character in None But the Lonely Heart. Though happy endings are meant to brighten the ending of Frank Capra's films, the central characters were often deeply in despair. This is particularly true of Meet John Doe with Gary Cooper's disillusioned character and there's a profound hopelessness to Jimmy Stewart's character in It's A Wonderful Life, especially in the scene in Martini's bar when he wishes that he'd never been born. The acting by James Stewart in that one scene was splendidly real. I've read that Meet John Doe's original ending included the central character's suicide leading the newspaper reporter and the others to realize the error of their ways, but, preview audiences and studio pressure led to the rather false denouement. It probably would've been pretty unbearable to see Gary Cooper kill himself. Though he's heroic despite his regrets about life, Ronald Colman's Sidney Carton in The Tale of Two Cities is a very sad person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveoldmovies04 Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 The main one thats coming to mind right now has already been mentioned, but Vivien leigh in Waterloo bridge.. I just always feel so terribly bad for her when I see that movie. -phoebe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie71664 Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Funny that I should see this now. I'm watching the movie "Imitation of Life" and when Delila's daughter denies her Ive never seen anyone sadder. Eddie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveoldmovies04 Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Your right I am watching it now too and it is very sad, especially cause you see how happy they were together in the beginning. -phoebe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickdimeo Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 My vote is for Lillian Gish in Broken Blossoms. The girl that Gish plays, has to use her fingers to force a smile on her face because all she has known in life is abuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spencerl964 Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 4 star candidate on the Frankenstein Monster! However someone voted for *Chaplin's "Little Tramp," in "City Lights" (1931) & as I had said, in my humble opinion, he still always seems happy with his lot in life-(the grand finale & one of the all-time great endings in any motion picture up there with: *"Casablanca" Is his 1936 "Modern Times!") & TCM just aired a very, very, sad flick, however with a happy ending>"Penny Serenade" (1941)-(P.S. Cary Grant, ridiculously only won 2 total shots at the ACADEMY AWARD & that was his first. His 2nd was voted by another here>1944's "None But the Lonely Heart" & *Ethel Barrymore's character-(for which she won a well deserved OSCAR) (TRIVIA: Of what was once called "The Fabulous Barrymore's," she's the most nominated. 1 for 4. & *Lionel B. won Best Actor in "A Free Soul" But his only other nod. way back, even before the latter, but for Best Director for "Madame X" As for John Barrymore, he was never even nominated?) Other ultra-depressing character's>"The Pawnbroker"-(*Steiger role)/ "Ironweed" (1987) (both: *Jack Nicholson & *Meryl Streep's characters) & a huge cult film from the 60's "Repulsion" (1965 to be exact) & Catherine Deneuve's character was only about "just that!" Mental breakdown Also, the recent & powerhouse: "House of Sand & Fog," was not exactly a barrel of laughs Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classicsfan1119 Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Nick, I absolutely have to agree with you about Lillian Gish in Broken Blossoms. I've only seen this movie once, and simply could not watch it again because of how it vibrated within me. And, Spencer, I finally have been able to start catching up with new movies that were Oscar contenders a year ago, including "House of Sand and Fog" (some of them are showing up on HBO now). Although I will say that this was an excellently acted film, here too it is not one that I taped because it was entirely too depressing for me to want to view more than once. Maybe I'm nuts, but when I'm feeling blue, sad, down, or outright depressed, the LAST thing I want to sit and spend two more hours with is a movie that sinks me even deeper in that kind of muck! Give me a great screwball comedy instead, please, and then send me on my way feeling a whole lot more like myself again! ;ML Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slappy3500 Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Another character that makes me sad is Harold, the sailor who lost his hands in combat. His disability is heart-rending but the saddest thing is the terror he feels that when his girl Wilma sees just how truly helpless he is when he prepares for bed and takes off his hooks, she won't love him any more. He would rather be uncertain forever than suffer this rejection. Another sad moment is when the **** in the bar (full of self-righteous pity) tells him he's a "sucker" and that he lost his hands "for nothing", so that money could be made off the war. (The same kind idiot who would scream "no blood for oil" to him today)This breaks me up even though he does belt the sob. Is it possible to say anything WORSE to a disabled vet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therealfuster Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 in life or in films, from a bit different angle, like a 90 degree one...so the people who seem the saddest to me in movies, are not the ones who usually act sad by their actions, or instill sympathy in others since they are being abused or whatever. It is often the person who seems totally successful or together, who will strike me as being really the sad one deep down, like Charles Foster Kane in CK. So, on that note, the person who seems the saddest to me, on first speculation is the one played by Richard Harris in the film, "This Sporting Life". I think his name is Frank in the movie, and he is a very strong and macho person, who is beginning to be a star on the local rugby team. He can get most things he wants with his brutish, and loud personality...but when he meets up with a potential girlfriend who is a widow [as played by Rachel Roberts] Frank's inability to ever be anything but forceful and tough, defeat him in his quest to show her his interest and love. Which is very sad to watch. He only knows how to act in bombastic ways. He reminds me of the Beverly Hillbillies episode, where they think Jethro is a great golfer, because he can hit the ball in one stroke almost getting a hole in one every time. But when he tries to putt, he instead wallops the ball a mile instead of a foot, as he can only hit the ball at one power level. Another person in films, who seems sad to me because he seems so happy originally, is Kirk Douglas in "The Bad and the Beautiful". Great question! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bggalaxy Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Another sad character in one of my favorite films, Holiday, is Edward "Ned" Seton played by Lew Ayers. The ending (spoiler) Does give him some hope when Hepburn promises to come back for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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