Crying and Jimmy Stewart

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/19/opinion/tear-jerker-movies-crying.html

("Bring Back the Tear Jerker")

Whoever said there's no crying in baseball never watched Field of Dreams. In my universe, there has always been crying, whether it be in a sports film, like Brian's Song or by way of a Love Story (Ryan O'Neal's one line that launched a somewhat checkered career). 

But while the author focuses on the 70's and 80's as the heyday of the four tissue movie, an earlier generation, in need of catharsis in response to sustained difficult times, is the one most responsible for my gushers, the ones where the emotion comes through both eyes and nose at once.

And for this unsightly phenomenon I lay principal blame on Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart. When Mr. Stewart stands on that bridge pleading to Clarence (to God) to let him live, and thereafter our hero holds Donna Reed in his arms, his children clinging to his legs,  Clarence finally getting his wings, you have to reconstruct my body as I have dissolved into a single pool of tears.

And for those who may not be familiar with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Mr. Capra and Mr. Stewart, now teamed with Jean Arthur, take crying to DEFCON 1  in the film's climactic scene. A young, naive Mr. Stewart, his eyes having been opened to the corruption in Washington, in politics, in our world, stands on the Senate floor fighting the good fight for the children. He turns the hard heart, the cynicism of Ms. Arthur soft as we watch the unstoppable power of right to overcome wrong. When Mr. Stewart collapses on the Senate floor exhausted by his effort, likewise do I on my couch. A whole box of used tissues laying beside me.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was released in 1939, this nation having suffered through a decade of our collective Depression (financially and psychologically), Germany then bringing us ever closer to another devastating war.

In 1947, It's A Wonderful Life came to the theaters, as we attempted to recover our strength and our belief in a better tomorrow after the pain and trauma of World War II.

If circumstances dictate demand, we are in dire need of a new film that requires a full supply of Kleenex on hand. However, until one comes along, I suggest we bring back movies from an era where tough times made us weep and gave us hope. And Jimmy Stewart.