These sob stories will have you grabbing for a box of tissues.

Read on for our picks of the best 25 best tearjerkers ever made.

Kleenex moment:When Katherine dies in childbirth and Chips wanders off to his classroom.

Titanic (1997) Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet; GHOST (1990) Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore; The Notebook (2004) Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams

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There he sits, dazed, while a choked-up student stumbles through the Latin lesson.

Donat plays the scene with immense restraint, and that only makes it all the more heartrending.

Academy members couldn’t keep dry eyes either: Robertson won the Best Actor Oscar.

Greer Garson, Robert Donat | We know that the beloved Brit teacher Mr. Chips (Robert Donat) is a kind man by the way he comforts the boy on the train

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Turns out, he can’t bear it for one minute and, truthfully, neither can we.

21.Steel Magnolias(1989)

Dying and death have been done (see half our list).

The titular gauche protagonist (Barbara Stanwyck) is an embarrassment to the stiff, well-bred husband she snagged.

Charly, Claire Bloom, … | Based on Daniel Keyes' novel Flowers for Algernon , Charly tells the simple story of Charlie Gordon (Cliff Robertson), a learning-disabled man who can’t even

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Her triumphant departure from the wedding afterward hits you in a way only Stanwyck was capable of.

She’s in total denial, and Moore delivers a walloping performance.

Hutton: “I hung on”).

The Joy Luck Club, Kieu Chinh | The stories of four Chinese women and their difficult relationships with their daughters are explored in director Wayne Wang’s relentlessly emotional adaptation of Amy Tan’s

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In 1970, this killed, and if you give into the kitsch, it still will.

It’s a reminder that some things are worth dying for.

as the regiment marches toward their inevitable bloodbath, the full-body sobs begin.

Mark Lamos, Bruce Davison, … | In 1981, an article in The New York Times identified the ‘‘gay cancer’’ that would ultimately ravage the homosexual population. That item’s appearance opens Companion

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She lets go of his hand, and he slips into the dark, unyielding sea.

Nothing can prepare you for the gunshots that follow.

If you destroy that, it may be irreparable.

Steel Magnolias, Sally Field, … | Dying and death have been done (see half our list). But Sally Field took grieving to a new level in Herbert Ross' Southern drama about

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Joanna, don’t do that, kindly."

Kleenex moment:When, in their final days together, Alec knows Laura is slipping away.

“I shall love you always,” he promises, “until the end of my life.”

Stella Dallas, Barbara Stanwyck | There are many movies about parental love, but few can match this one’s fierce sentiment. Gauche Stella Dallas (Barbara Stanwyck) is an embarrassment to the

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And we boohoo through every last word, knowing they are, indeed, among the last between them.

Simple: its firm statement that love truly never dies.

Forget about choking up at all the kids' stuffthis is when the real tears start flowing.

Timothy Hutton, Mary Tyler Moore, … | Timothy Hutton won an Oscar for his film debut as a suicidal high schooler haunted by his older brother’s accidental drowning. But the movie’s true

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10.Field of Dreams(1989)

You want to know the honest truth?

Guys are the bigger babies.

He was curious-looking, superintelligent, and possessed wacky magical powers.

Ali MacGraw, Ryan O’Neal | Erich Segal’s melodrama reveals the story of two lovers — a rich Harvard jock (Ryan O’Neal) and a middle-class Radcliffe music geek (Ali MacGraw) —

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But in him, we also saw ourselves.

Kleenex moment:When E.T.

And I’d like all of you to love him, too.

Glory, Denzel Washington | The story of the Civil War’s first African-American regiment, the 54th Massachusetts volunteers, is more than a moving history lesson. It’s a reminder that some

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And tonight when you hit your knees, c’mon ask God to love him."

After all, “it’s the nearest thing to heaven.”

She’s hit by a car on her way to meet him.

David Warner, Kate Winslet, … | It’s easy to dismiss James Cameron’s Oscar-hogging tragedy as a one-trick pony, the sort of bombastic love story that made a gazillion dollars precisely because

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There he stands for hours, never noticing the sirens on the street below.

Terry may never walk again but she insists Nicky never know until she can stand to greet him.

Kleenex moment:When Nicky confronts his beloved but she still refuses to share her secret.

Life Is Beautiful, Giorgio Cantarini | The uniqueness of writer-director-star Roberto Benigni’s Italian Oscar winner lies in the theory that by using comedy to enhance the highs, the low points emerge

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He paces and accuses, all while she remains supine on the sofa.

It is only as he prepares to leave her forever that he finally grasps the truth.

But the real poignance lies in Sophie’s tremulously maintained illusion of hope.

Kramer vs. Kramer, Dustin Hoffman, … | It defined ‘‘yuppie angst’’ before the term was even invented. After wife Joanna (Meryl Streep) abandons her family to ‘‘find herself’’ (give her a break

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You don’t cry for Sophie because she dies so young, but because she has suffered so long.

This scene stays with you forever, regardless of when you first saw it.

1.Terms of Endearment(1983)

Blame it all on Huckleberry Fox.

Brief Encounter, Celia Johnson, … | What could be more of a heartstring-tugger than a love that can never be? That’s the case in David Lean’s tale of two marrieds who

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Old Yeller | When the stray mutt they name Yeller shows up on a dirt-poor family farm, he quickly becomes a loyal companion and gallant protector. While bonding

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The Notebook, Rachel McAdams, … | Why has this unassuming romance — about a young Southern girl (Rachel MacAdams) and a young Southern boy (Ryan Gosling) who struggle to be together

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Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner | You want to know the honest truth? Guys are the bigger babies. Get them rattling on about old baseball players, mystical reclusive authors, or having

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Ghost, Demi Moore, … | Who could forget that titillating pottery scene set to the Righteous Brothers' ‘‘Unchained Melody,’’ or Whoopi Goldberg’s Oscar-winning performance as a medium who finally meets

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E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Henry Thomas | In many ways, the extra-terrestrial in E.T. was just like all the other aliens who had appeared on screen before him. He was curious-looking, superintelligent,

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Brian’s Song, Billy Dee Williams, … | Yes, it was made for TV. But, really, there’s no way to omit Buzz Kulik’s ultimate straight-male love story, the Emmy-winning true-life drama of Chicago

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Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, … | Ang Lee’s awe-inspiring Western masterpiece follows Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger), a tight-mouthed tough guy who falls in love with his fellow cowpoke Jack Twist

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It’s a Wonderful Life, Donna Reed, … | The misty awwws for Frank Capra’s crisp holiday classic start as soon as the film opens with prayers for George Bailey (James Stewart). Bewildered angel-in-training

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An Affair to Remember, Cary Grant, … | Mention the top of the Empire State Building and women everywhere swoon. After all, ‘‘it’s the nearest thing to heaven.’’ Romantics know it’s the meeting

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Sophie’s Choice, Meryl Streep | Almost from the instant you meet Sophie (Meryl Streep, who earned, along with an Oscar, her Queen of the Accents crown here, with mastery of

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Bambi | From the stillness of a doe and her newborn fawn to the fade-out, in which he watches over his own newborn offspring, Bambi enchantingly touches

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Terms of Endearment, Debra Winger | Blame it all on Huckleberry Fox. The towheaded tyke was only 8 years old when Terms of Endearment was filmed, but Fox, who played Debra

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