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Movies That Make Your Dad Cry: 13 Films That Explain the ‘Male Weepie’
Is there such a thing as a Steel Magnolias for men? What makes tough guys cry?
In The Champ, a pre-code film actually penned by female screenwriter Marion Davies, melodrama is king: a down-and-out former fighter (Wallace Beery) is deep in the bottle, but jumps at the chance to fight one more time to prove himself and win custody of his adoring but scrappy young son (Jackie Cooper). But scratch the surface and Saturday Night Fever is a film about alienation and aspiration, about what it means to be a man and to find your masculinity questioned for your passion; its downbeat conclusion and ugly portrait of Tony’s dissolution hardly bodes well for the future of the young American male. But this coming-of-age story is also zeroed in on Black masculinity and friendship in a way which makes it special: It’s about camaraderie, tenderness, and care between a disparate group of tough adolescents like Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.), Ricky (Morris Chestnut ) and Doughboy (Ice-T).
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