9 Best "Tear-Jerker" Movies from Every Year of the 1970s
The 1970s movies that made everyone cry.
'A Star is Born' (1976)
If a movie makes you cry, something in it rings true.
While 1970s cinema is remembered for its experimentation with violence and bold themes (the Vietnam War, civil rights, shifting gender roles, rock and roll), it also produced some of the most emotionally honest portraits of human relationships ever put on screen.
The decade had a lot to be sad about. Vietnam had ended badly, and a prolonged economic recession had ground down ordinary life. Films absorbed that mood.
Below are nine 1970s movies that reflect it.
9 Movies From the 1970s That Will Make You Cry
1. Love Story (1970)
When people talk about sad '70s movies, Love Story is the inevitable starting point. It's a simple tale of romance between a wealthy university student, Oliver (Ryan O'Neal), and a middle-class music major, Jennifer (Ali MacGraw).
When Jennifer is diagnosed with a terminal illness, the film earns every tear it asks for. The quote "Love means never having to say you're sorry" ranks No. 13 on the AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes list. O'Neal and MacGraw both received Oscar nominations for their performances.
2. The Deer Hunter (1979)
With an outstanding cast including Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage, with Meryl Streep in a key supporting role, Michael Cimino's war epic The Deer Hunter is one of the most devastating films of the decade. It takes a hard look at the political, emotional, and physical toll of the Vietnam War on a small Pennsylvania steel town.
Three lifelong friends are drafted, thrown into horrific circumstances, and come back fundamentally broken. The Russian roulette sequence remains one of the most harrowing scenes ever committed to film.
3. Watership Down (1978)
Written, produced, and directed by Martin Rosen, who took over after the original director, John Hubley, departed during production, Watership Down follows a young rabbit named Fiver (Richard Briers) who has a vision that his warren is in danger. He leads a group on a desperate search for a new home, encountering hunters, dogs, and rival warrens along the way.
Many characters die in the movie, bringing the total to 62. That’s more than several classic horror films combined. Although this is an animated movie featuring cute rabbits as the main characters, it is far from a children’s movie, given the violence and misery it depicts.
4. A Star Is Born (1976)
There have been four versions of A Star Is Born: the original in 1937, a 1954 remake, a 1976 remake, and the most recent, released in 2018 with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga as the main characters. While all these tragic romantic films are great in their own right, nothing captures the spirit of the 1976 remake of A Star Is Born.
Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson star in this timeless musical romantic tragedy that follows a rock star at a career crossroads. When he falls for an aspiring singer, he sacrifices his own career to help her achieve her dreams. The ending will tear you apart.
5. Being There (1979)
Hal Ashby’s dark satirical comedy, Being There, is about a not-so-intelligent gardener, Chauncey (Peter Sellers), who stumbles his way into an advisory position for the President of the United States.
On the surface, Being There doesn’t seem like a sad movie. It’s the complex and melancholic journey Chauncey sets out on—especially when the childlike gardener experiences the death of someone close to him. Being There points out how patently easy it is to fool people, often with their own willful and enthusiastic participation.
6. Brian’s Song (1971)
There are several football movies, but few match Brian's Song. Directed by Buzz Kulik, it's based on the true story of Brian Piccolo, a Chicago Bears running back who died of cancer at 26.
The film follows the friendship between Brian (James Caan) and teammate Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams), drawn from Sayers' autobiography I Am Third, which recounts, among other things, the famous speech Sayers gave at the George S. Halas Award ceremony, dedicating the honor to Piccolo. Both Caan and Williams received Emmy nominations for their performances.
7. Harold and Maude (1971)
Released in 1971, Harold and Maude is the story of a friendship between Harold (Bud Cort), a brooding teenager who has an obsession with death, and Maude (Ruth Gordon), a 79-year-old woman who shares Harold’s obsession.
Gradually, their quirky friendship turns into romance. But as certain truths about Maude’s tortured past resurface, Harold realizes that their relationship isn’t built to last. The scene where Harold observes Maude’s tattoo hints at her survival through the concentration camp, a terrifying reminder of the Holocaust’s long-term effects on people. Overall, Harold and Maude is anti-war, anti-repression, and full of fun.
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is one of the most tense and heartbreaking movies ever made. It features Jack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy, a patient at a mental institution, whose free-spirited nature liberates the patients. As he becomes a threat to the institution’s policies, he is brutalized and abused by the ruthless Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher).
9. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Directed by Robert Benton, Kramer vs. Kramer works as well as it does because it refuses to take sides. The film follows a custody battle between Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman) and Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep) after their marriage ends, and rather than framing it through the child's suffering, it stays with the parents, showing how both can be right and both can cause harm.
Hoffman and Streep's performances make that moral complexity feel lived-in rather than constructed. The film won five Oscars at the 1980 ceremony, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress.
Summing It Up
Did we miss out on any of your favorite tear-jerkers from the ‘70s?
Let us know in the comments.
