Greatest Tearjerkers - Scenes and Moments

Umberto D. (1952, It.)

#39

• the melodramatic plight of government pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari (Carlo Battisti), whose slashed monthly pension eventually caused his heartless city of Rome landlady Antonia Belloni (Lina Gennari) to evict him and rent out his cheap furnished room to prostitutes and their johns
• the close-knit, dependent relationship between Umberto and his faithful spotted terrier Flike
• Umberto's touching lone friendship and relationship with caring young pregnant house-maid Maria (Maria-Pia Casilio) of the boarding house - with the transcendent scene of her morning routine in the kitchen making coffee
• the tearjerking, ambiguous ending in which Umberto D., unable to give away his dog (or raise money by selling his books and watch), contemplated suicide by stepping in front of a speeding train near a park while holding Flike in his arms -- the dog yelped, and squirmed away before Umberto could step in front of the train, and for the first time ran away in abject fear from his beloved master
• Umberto coaxed the forgiving Flike back to him by having the dog perform tricks with a pine cone ("Flike, look at the pinecone. Come on, here, boy. Come on, stand up")
• he played with the dog (trained to stand on its hind legs) in a long shot as the film ended, despite having no place to stay and no income

An Unmarried Woman (1978)

• the film opened with a title sequence that was backgrounded by a couple during an early morning jog through parts of the Upper East Side of NYC near where they lived; the two were mid-30s wife/mother Erica Benton (Oscar-nominated Jill Clayburgh), a part-time Soho art-gallery worker, with her stockbroker husband Martin Benton (Michael Murphy); Martin was quickly disgruntled after stepping in dog poop on the sidewalk with his expensive 35ドル dollar "sneakers" ("F--king city's turned into one big pile of dog s--t! Come on out and take a crap on me! Everybody else is!"); when she complained that he was about to smoke a cigarette, he criticized her - an ominous foreshadowing: "The longer I'm married to you, the more you sound like my mother"
• after making love ("a little quickie") in the bedroom before Martin left for work, she performed a giddy dance in only her T-shirt and panties, pretending that she was performing a pas de deux for "Swan Lake"; that evening, she was casually nude as she changed her clothes and they chatted together in their bedroom
• she was therefore entirely unprepared the next day when he suddenly stopped and began sobbing on the street after lunch together. She first asked: "Marty, Marty, come on, what is it, honey? What's the matter? What is this? What, tell me?" - he delivered a tearful admission about his year-long affair with another woman whom he met at Bloomingdale's: ("I'm in love with somebody else. I'm seeing another woman, for over a year. At first, you know, I thought it was just a-a fling. But it isn't. I love her. I want to live with her. Oh God, I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt Patti. But I-I can't...She's not a whore or anything. Her name's Marcia Brenner. She's, she's a teacher. She's twenty-six. I met her at Bloomingdale's, for Christ's sake. I was standin' there buying a shirt, you know, and she-she was standing next to me. She asked me if I liked this shirt that, uh, that she was buying for her father. Oh, God! I'm so sorry")

• Erica's first stunned words were to have him confess to their precocious 15 year-old daughter Patti (Lisa Lucas) attending private school: "You tell Patti, you tell Patti that you're sorry." Martin repeated: "I'm in love with her." Erica asked a stony question: "She a good lay?" and then fled down the street and soon vomited; she was accompanied by her obvious confusion, humiliation, and anger towards all men
• the scene in which Erica began to 'erase' Martin's memory (over 16 years of marriage) by removing his belongings and piling them into the living room, and also removing her gold-band wedding ring from her finger
• after the breakup, she continued to meet regularly with her gossipy girlfriends at an upscale bar, including bitter, man-hating divorcee Elaine (Kelly Bishop), Sue (Patricia Quinn) who was barely tolerating her asexual marriage, and another middle-aged divorcee Jeanette (Linda Miller) engaged in an affair with a "very mature" 19-year-old still living at home with his parents, and admitted that she had an eye massage with him: "There ain't nothin' wrong with a good, old-fashioned eyeball orgasm"
• while seeking a divorce, she had a number of uncomfortable experiences including a "definite f--kin' pass" made at her by family physician Dr. Jacobs (Daniel Seltzer), who claimed he only invited her out for a drink. She sarcastically told others how it happened: "My husband left me for a younger woman. Ha, ha, ha....He was buying a shirt in Bloomingdale's and he fell in love." She felt depression, confusion, fear and loneliness, and was overwhelmed by having to see other men or to pursue dating, although she was open to it: "I'd risk it with some new men." A blind date with an infatuated and clueless Bob (Andrew Duncan) at a luncheon went poorly.
• in ongoing therapy with lesbian psychiatrist Tanya Berkel (Penelope Russianoff), she was advised to continue on with her life, and that it was OK to feel angry, jealous, and depressed, but not guilty ("I would like to see you... take a vacation from guilt")
• in a difficult and argumentative meeting with Martin, he noticed her bitterness and asked: "How can you hate somebody that you were in love with for 16 years?" Feeling demeaned by the break-up, she snapped back that they had made love almost 2,000 times during their marriage: "Did you fall out of love with my, my flesh, my body, or me - with Erica? Did you fall out of love with Erica?...I was your hooker, Martin. I was a bright, high-priced, classy hooker. Upper East Side by way of Vassar hooker, but I was your hooker."

• she agreed to a one-night stand ("Take me to your loft, Charlie") with smooth, gold necklace-wearing co-worker and womanizing swinger Charlie (Cliff Gorman). At first, she nervously blurted out: "Charlie, let's just do it, okay? Now, before I change my mind." He set the terms for their relationship: "Let's just get something straight right off the top, babe, huh? I don't get involved with my women. I'm a short-term guy. I don't fall in love. I don't wanna get married.... The only thing you can count on me for is sex. I am what I am. I make no bones about it." And then she confided in him: "Charlie, I've only slept with one man in 17 years." He told her (as he touched her breasts) that she had a "beautiful body."

• later, she found a more reciprocal loving relationship with handsome and respectful, divorced strong-willed English abstract artist Saul Kaplan (Alan Bates) and slept with him almost immediately, but noted that although the sex was "very good", it was "sort of empty": ("I just slept with a man that I barely know. I mean, casual sex is not my...I'm experimenting. I'm, well, I know it sounds a little cold, but that's the way it is these days. I just want to see how it feels to make love to someone that I'm not in love with") - she also added how she really felt: "As soon as the sex was over, I wanted to leave"
• toward the conclusion of the film, Martin confessed to Erica that he had broken up with his mistress: "I broke up with Marcia...Well, the truth of it is she left me. I don't know. I mean, the minute I moved in there, we stopped having fun" - he asked to come back, but Erica refused: "It doesn't work that way, you know?"
• in the end (although she was "going steady" with Saul), she decided to part ways with him during the coming summer, when he proposed that she join him in Vermont. She finally realized that they were two very independent individuals, and she had to be in control of her life as an unmarried, self-fulfilling and independent woman.

Up (2009)

• the emotionally deep, powerful and effective wordless 4-minute montage of 'married life' -- a man's entire relationship with his wife up until her death - in the person of two young kids who met and later married: balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen (voice of Ed Asner) who worked in a zoo and adventurous, tomboyish Ellie (voice of Elie Docter)
• their lives were a journey of growing old, including buying and fixing up a dilapidated two-story home (soon threatened by encroaching city developers), painting their names (and leaving handprints) on their mailbox, taking frequent picnics to a hillside where they laid on their backs and observed cloud animal shapes, dreaming of having a family and setting up a nursery room but experiencing childlessness (miscarriage), his presentation of "My Adventure Book" to her with their mutual dream of going to Venezuela's Paradise Falls by saving spare coins for the journey (but they were never able to go, due to other obligations and debts), her tying of his necktie (numerous times to indicate the passage of time) as their hair greyed, his purchasing of tickets to Venezuela but the abrupt interruption of her failing health and death, and his expression of bereavement at her funeral before returning home alone - as the montage ended

Walkabout (1971, UK/Australia)

• in the shocking opening scene, suicidal Australian businessman (John Meillon) tried to murder his teen-aged, 14 year-old schoolgirl daughter (17 year-old Jenny Agutter in her film debut) and six-year-old son (Lucien John) in the bush during a picnic and then committed suicide in front of them
• the two were forced to struggle and adapt to the blazing hot and hostile climate of the Australian outback and its terrain. They were fortunately saved when aided by a teenaged adolescent Aboriginal Black Boy (David Gumpilil), who was involved in his ritualistic 'walkabout' (to prove his manhood and mark his entrance into adulthood)
• during the native aborigine's 'walkabout' at a deserted farmhouse - with a painted skeleton on his body - he performed a stunning, silent, ritualistic mating dance for the civilized, repressed teenaged girl stranded in the outback, where he glimpsed her half-undressed

• she ignored and resisted his (and her own) sexual rite of passage, by continuing to treat him as a detached servant -- with disastrous results. After the aboriginal danced all night and became saddened and weary (with tears in his eyes), she found him the next morning hanging dead in a mango tree, and she barely reacted to his death
• the film ended years later with the young girl now married and returned to civilization, living in a high-rise apartment complex. She was wistfully daydreaming back to her idyllic days in the outback when she happily swam naked with the aborigine and her young brother. They were long-gone days of paradise lost, reflected in a voice-over quote from Part 40 of A.E. Housman's 'A Shropshire Lad':

  Into my heart an air that kills From yon far country blows: What are those blue-remembered hills, What spires, what farms are those? That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, The happy highways where I went And cannot come again.

WALL-E (2008)

• the final scene of Pixar's and Disney's animated science-fiction film - an odd-couple love story
• a crushed and 'dead' WALL-E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class) (voice of Ben Burtt), the last lone garbage-compacting robot on Earth, was rebuilt by EVE (short for Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) (voice of Elissa Knight), a sleek, white-shelled probe droid-robot, who used WALL-E's own spare parts collection to reconstruct him, but he appeared to have lost his acquired sentience, personality and memories
• she attempted to stir his memory by placing a lightbulb and Rubik's Cube in his grasp and by playing his favorite Hello, Dolly! tape recording - with no luck. He turned and began his robotic task of trash-compacting. She tried to shake some sense into him, but it still didn't jog his memory - he stared back blankly.
• but then he remembered who she was after they touched 'hands' together and she caused a small spark to occur when she touched or 'kissed' his forehead; EVE realized that WALL-E wasn't letting go when he continued to tightly hold onto her hand - a sign that he had come to life; he focused his eyes on her, and they enjoyed a second 'kiss' together

Waterloo Bridge (1940)

• the opening sequence - setting up a flashback - at the start of WWII, General Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor) stood mid-span on the Waterloo Bridge in London after emerging from a limousine; he was again readied to be deployed to the war front in France; as he stood on the bridge and pulled out of his coat a keepsake and symbol of a long-lost love of his life, he reminisced about the same setting years earlier in 1914 during WWI when he was a young man; the object was a small ceramic, good-luck charm-doll (or billiken); he remembered during an air raid how he had retrieved the dropped purse and lucky charm of 19 year-old Myra Lester (Vivien Leigh), a virginal ballet dancer, and helped her to an underground station shelter; as they parted after an all-clear was announced, she gave him her good-luck charm

• in the film's most romantic sequence, after attending Myra's evening ballet performance (and missing an invitation to a Colonel's dinner), WWI Army Capt. Roy Cronin met with Myra for dinner and waltzed with her in candlelight in the Candlelight Club to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne" as groups of musicians extinguished their lights - and they experienced their first kiss, when they parted at about 4 am, he requested: "Please leave me first..." as he went off to war
• however, his departure was delayed by two days and he and Myra met again the next late morning, when he impetuously insisted on marrying Myra: ("Now, listen, darling. None of your quibbling. None of your questioning. None of your doubts. This is positive, you see. This is affirmative, you see. This is final, you see. You're going to marry me, you see!"); he went to receive proper permissions from his military superiors, including Roy's wealthy uncle the Duke (C. Aubrey Smith) who reluctantly agreed to Roy's proposed marriage to Myra, although she was of a lower class
• after they bought a ring and flowers, they went to St. Matthew's Church, where he affirmed: "I was never so sure of anything in my life. The moment you left me after the air raid, I knew that I must find you again, quickly. I found you and I'll never let you go"; however, they had to postpone the marriage until 11 am the next day - but then again shortly later that evening, Capt. Roy's orders were changed and he phoned Myra, informing her he was leaving from Waterloo Station in 25 minutes; Myra arrived at the station and was only able to wave goodbye to Roy as his train departed
• Myra missed her evening performance in order to be with him and as a result was dismissed from her job by Madame Olga Kirowa (Maria Ouspenskaya), the tyrannical mistress of the troupe in an international ballet school; when her best friend/roommate Kitty (Virginia Field) stood up for Myra: ("I'm sick of you and your tyranny. You treat us like a lot of slaves and call it discipline"), she also lost her position; Myra and Kitty both found themselves unemployed and quickly growing penniless: ("We can't get jobs in a show, we can't get them anywhere else")
• during Roy's deployment, Myra was scheduled one afternoon to be introduced to Roy's rich, socially-conscious, aristocratic mother Lady Margaret Cronin (Lucile Watson) in a tea room; while waiting, Myra noticed Roy's name on a casualty list of "FALLEN OFFICERS" in a newspaper - and she fainted; sickened by the thought and drinking brandy, she avoided telling Lady Margaret, who arrived a half hour late, the distressing news and thereby offended his mother with her strange, stand-offish and incoherent behavior; she left abruptly with a cold goodbye: ("Forgive me, my dear, but are you quite well?...Myra, I want you to remember that I tried to be your friend. I've come because Roy wanted me to come and because I wished to. Perhaps we'll try again someday")

• afterwards, Myra was grief-stricken and fell ill believing that Roy had been killed in battle; Kitty had secretly turned to prostitution to pay for their food expenses and medical care for Myra, while excusing her loose behavior: ("What difference does it make as long as we live?") with men "who wanna kill a few hours because they know it may be their last"; soon after, the heartbroken Myra joined Kitty and also became a street-walker and was soon picking up male clients on the Waterloo Bridge
• a year later at the London train station, Myra was shocked by the appearance of the returning Captain (who was not dead after all); he had only been injured with a head wound and became a German prison-camp POW; during the unexpected reunion, the guilt-ridden Myra pretended that she was there to greet a friend and was overwhelmed by his warm welcome: ("It's over, darling. It's all over. And we're together for always"); he vowed: "I'm not going to let you out of my sight, not till we're married. You understand that?...I'm going to make it up to you. I'm going to make things easy for you. I never want to see you cry again - except with happiness"
• Roy proposed taking her to his family's estate in Scotland to again meet with Lady Margaret; she became very embarrassed and avoided telling Roy about her profession as a prostitute; when he became suspicious, she confessed that there was no one else: "Oh, Roy, of course there isn't anyone else. There couldn't be. I loved you. I've never loved anyone else. I never shall. That's the truth, Roy"
• however, Myra soon realized that her deceptive ploy would not work, and would only bring shame to Roy's family; by calling Roy's consoling mother Lady Margaret "naive" about her life, she was able to confess her unworthy profession: ("I can't marry Roy...I must go away. I should never have come here. I knew it was impossible but I kept deceiving myself. I've got to go away. I must never see him again...That thought which is now in your mind which you are telling yourself can't be true is true"); she had Lady Margaret promise not to tell Roy, and then in the hallway, Roy returned her good-luck charm to her: ("I think you'd better have it from now on because now that we're both, as they say, one")
• by the next morning, Myra had left a farewell note for Roy: ("You have been more to me than I will ever say in words. But there is no future for us. I am grateful to you for what you are and for what you have meant to me. I cannot write - Goodbye my dearest darling") and then returned to London
• to prove that Myra had told the truth, her roommate/best friend Kitty first asked Roy if he could handle the truth ("Roy, can you take it no matter what you find out about her?"); she revealed the reality of Myra's nightlife to a disbelieving Roy by taking him through one seedy bar after another, but they were unable to find her; Kitty admitted: "She couldn't go through with it. She was too honest"

• in the film's most tragic scene on a foggy night, the impoverished and depressed Myra eluded Roy and deliberately walked into oncoming traffic on Waterloo Bridge, where she was struck and killed by a truck; the good-luck charm fell from her hand onto the pavement
• the film returned to the beginning, as General Roy Cronin was on the bridge and clutching her good-luck charm before leaving for the front; in his memory years later, he tearfully recalled her earlier words in the film's final melodramatic moments: (Myra's voice-over) ("I loved you. I've never loved anyone else. I never shall. That's the truth, Roy. I never shall"); the playing of "Auld Lang Syne" rose on the soundtrack

Watership Down (1978)

#15

• the "Bright Eyes" sequence in which Fiver (voice of Richard Briers) found out that his older brother Hazel (voice of John Hurt) had been badly wounded by a shotgun during the farm raid; Fiver chased with the ghostly Black Rabbit (voice of Joss Ackland) to reach Hazel before the angel of death could claim him, as Art Garfunkel's melancholy song about death was played: ("Bright eyes, burning like fire. Bright eyes, how can you close and fail? How can the light that burned so brightly suddenly burn so pale? Bright eyes")

• in a mystical, tearjerking, and touching old age death sequence, the heroic, tired and elderly bunny Hazel was visited by Black Rabbit - the shadowy angel of death, requesting: ("I've come to ask if you would like to join my Owsla [police force]. We shall be glad to have you, and I know you'd like it. You've been feeling tired, haven't you? If you're ready, we might go along now")
• before falling asleep on the grass and passing away, the Black Rabbit had reassured Hazel that the young rabbits cavorting in the warren at Watership Down would be safe and all their offspring: ("You needn't worry about them. They'll be alright, and thousands like them. If you come along, I'll show you what I mean"); this was followed by Hazel's quiet death (after two deep breaths) when his spirit freely rose from his dead body to join the Black Rabbit
• the Narrator concluded, repeating the creator god Frith's parting advice to the rabbits' folk hero El-ahrairah: ("Prince with a Thousand Enemies") about how rabbits had been given the gifts of speed and cunning to avoid their predators: "All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you. digger, listener, runner, Prince with the swift warning. Be cunning, and your people will never be destroyed"

Way Down East (1920)

• the setting of this classic silent melodrama - a remote village in New England, where young Anna Moore (Lillian Gish) lived with her poor mother (Mrs. David Landau); the innocent young country girl departed to live with her rich (and condescending) relatives in Boston, the Tremonts; there, Anna met the "dashing" Lennox Sanderson (Lowell Sherman), who reportedly had three specialties: "ladies - Ladies - and LADIES"

• near the country estate of the Sanderson family was Bartlett Village, where 21 year-old daydreaming son David Bartlett (Richard Barthelmess) lived with his Puritanical parents
• during the Tremont's grand social ball, Anna's appearance and "delicate beauty [is] a whip to Sanderson's jaded appetite" - the callous city playboy quickly flattered her beauty, and became "obsessed by a new desire" for Anna
• Sanderson lured Anna to his apartment under false pretenses, and made a physical advance, followed by a marriage proposal ("I want you to - to marry me"); Anna reacted ecstatically to the proposal, soon followed by the revelation that her marriage to him as "husband" was only a faked and mock ceremony
• after their sham "marriage," their horse-drawn carriage took them for their honeymoon to their "bridal suite at Rose Tree Inn" where he seduced and despoiled her (off-screen) in the bedroom
• shortly later, Anna returned home (keeping her marriage a "great secret") with promises from Sanderson to visit; she was finally able to reveal to him that she was pregnant - and that their secret marriage had to be revealed; he demanded: "You musn't tell anyone!" and then admitted to her the truth about their sham marriage: "Well - if you must know the truth - because we aren't married at all!"; at first, she thought that he must be joking; she held out her ring (in a necklace around her neck) and blurted out - "WE MUST be married - see-see- our ring!", he pushed her away and then when she became hysterical, he coldly told her: "For Heaven's sake, don't make a scene! I'll let you have lots of money and you can go away"; the duplicitious scoundrel Sanderson abandoned her - walking out on her, and forcing Anna to reveal her situation to her mother

• soon after, Anna's mother died, and she had to hide herself "away with her shame" in the village of Belden; she gave birth to a nameless, illegitimate baby that was very sick; her stern-faced Belden landlady Maria Poole (Emily Fitzroy) reminded Anna that if the baby died without being baptized, it would never see God
• in one of the film's most emotionally and poignantly-acted scenes, fearing for her baby's soul, Anna held her dying baby close to her breast as she performed the sacred ritual and baptized it - just before it died in her arms ("the little hands grow cold upon her breast")
• now ostracized and without work, Anna arrived at the Bartlett home to find work; the religious and kind Mrs. Bartlett (Kate Bruce) took pity on her and gave her refuge as a serving girl; then in an awkward situation, she found herself face-to-face with her former "husband" Sanderson; threatened by the awkward coincidence, he immediately asked her to leave because his estate was nearby; although Anna wanted to leave immediately, son David persuaded her to stay and she soon became a beloved member of the Bartlett family; David slowly began to fall in love with Anna ("David [was] thrilled with the thought that she is the virginal white flower of his dreams")
• they experienced an innocent love scene by the river together, accompanied by the title card: "One heart for one heart, One soul for one soul, One love for one love, Even through Eternity" - Anna was reluctant to fall in love with David when reminded of the "stark ghosts of her past" - she sadly could not allow him to say such things (he told her he loved her), feeling unworthy of him due to her checkered past: "So she tells him he must never speak like this again"

• in town, Anna's former landlady Maria Poole from Belden recognized the wayward girl, and then whispered the evil story of Anna's past life to Martha Perkins, the town's gossip; meanwhile, the dastardly Sanderson again became worried about Anna's presence, and demanded that she leave: ("Suppose they find out about your past life? You'd have to get out then!"); Anna reminded him of the double-standard: "Suppose they find out about YOUR past life!"; Sanderson was uncaring: "Oh, it's different with a MAN! He's supposed to sow his wild oats"
• the news of Anna's past reached the Bartlett family; at the same time, David confessed his love to her: ("I love you! I want you to be my wife"); shamed by her past, Anna told David: "I can never be ANY MAN'S WIFE!"; when the scandalous tale of Anna's unwed pregnancy and baby was confirmed, she was condemned as a fallen woman by David's prudish, self-righteous father, Squire Bartlett (Burr McIntosh)

• during a classic casting-out scene, Anna was thrown out of the house by Squire Bartlett: ("She ain't fit to be here! She's the mother of a baby - but she ain't got - NO HUSBAND!"); David was incensed and crazed by the incomprehensible accusation, but Anna confirmed that it was true, but then denounced Sanderson before leaving: ("You found out so much! Why didn't you find out the whole truth? That I was an ignorant girl betrayed through a mock marriage. (Pointing at Sanderson) This man - an honored guest at your table - why don't you find out what HIS life has been? For HE is the man who betrayed me!")
• in the final sequence, Anna departed and entered into a fierce, freezing snowstorm-blizzard; the finale was Anna's daring, last-minute rescue by David from floating ice floes that were perilously close to a precipitous waterfall; he nimbly jumped from ice block to ice block to try to reach her before the ice jam gave way - rushing to the falls. As Anna regained consciousness after falling exhausted, she started to sink into the frigid water at the edge of the falls; David scooped her up and saved her, running perilously upstream on unstable blocks of ice to reach the shore

• David warmed Anna in a nearby sugar shack, and soon after when the family gathered together, the Squire asked forgiveness and Anna obliged; Anna rejected Sanderson's conciliatory offer of marriage, while David claimed Anna as his bride and they were married with others in a triple wedding ceremony as the film concluded

The Way We Were (1973)

#28
#64

• the film's highlight was the on-and-off, star-crossed romance-marriage-divorce between two radical opposites over a lengthy period of time: a liberated, Jewish political activist and pacifist Kate Morosky (Barbra Streisand) and handsome WASP writer Hubbell Gardner (Robert Redford); they were associated with each other from their college days in the 30s, through the war years of WWII, to the post-war period and McCarthy-era 1950s, during which time they were married and divorced
• in the tearjerking final scene, they met accidentally in New York as she was handing out "Ban the Bomb" leaflets, to the strains of Streisand's performance of the title song: (Oscar-winning music from Marvin Hamlisch - "Mem’ries, Like the Corners of my Mind / Misty Water-Colored Memories of The Way We Were"), when she characteristically brushed the hair back on his brow

West Side Story (1961)

#31

• the opening prologue featured breathtaking aerial shots of Manhattan from a bird's eye view that captured the city with its bridge traffic and highway ramps, its waterfront docks, parks and skyscrapers; the camera passed over recognizable landmarks as it moved steadily to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and then speedily zoomed down and plunged into a concrete playground
• the remarkably energetic Jerome Robbins' choreography (filmed in New York's Hell's Kitchen district) was especially evident in the opening balletic sequence; the 'cool' white, second-generation American teenaged Jets led by finger-clicking, brown-haired Riff (Russ Tamblyn), were poised in a rivalry with the new immigrant Puerto Rican Sharks led by black-haired, darker-skinned Bernardo (George Chakiris); the Caucasian gang performed the highly-stylized dance-song "The Jet Song" ("When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way...") with daring, high-stepping moves to demonstrate that they owned the turf and the streets; shortly later, there was a challenge by the Jets against the Sharks to a decisive "winner take all" rumble
• a dance at the gymnasium marked the first meeting of star-crossed lovers Maria (Natalie Wood) and Tony (Richard Beymer); it was obvious that they were entranced with each other and it was 'love at first sight,' although they were from the opposing, warring factions

• in the conclusion of the gymnasium sequence, Tony subsequently sang the lyrical love song "Maria" - about his newfound love, as he walked from the dance in a love-sick daze and the settings changed behind and around him
• with the entire Puerto Rican cast on the rooftop, hot-blooded Anita (Oscar-winning Rita Moreno) sang and danced (with passionate skirt-tossing and with biting wit and humor), about her love for her new homeland in the rousing, lively and aggressive "America" - she viewed the 'land of the free' both a land of opportunity and enmity for new immigrants:the scene of Anita's passionate skirt-tossing dance with other Puerto Ricans on the rooftop in the singing of "America"
• that same evening, Tony visited with Maria on the tenement fire escape outside her bedroom - the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene; they embraced, sang to each other, and joined in unison to express their love to each other with the love duet "Tonight"; after the song, they decided to see each other the next day after Maria's work in Madame Lucia's Bridal Shop across the street from her home
• the next bowdlerized song featured the biting satire of "Gee Officer Krupke" that mocked the police and blamed multiple sources for the causes of juvenile delinquency among youth
• in the bridal shop the following day, Maria modeled fancy hats, coyly agreeing that she was "crazy" in love, "looks somehow different," and "is up to something." She told her gossipy Puerto Rican girlfriends "what is going on" by singing "I Feel Pretty": "I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and gay, And I pity, any girl who isn't me today I feel charming, oh so charming, it's alarming how charming I feel And so pretty, that I hardly can believe I'm real See the pretty girl in that mirror there? Who can that attractive girl be? Such a pretty face, such a pretty dress, such a pretty smile, such a pretty me!..."
• Tony arrived in the bridal shop to see Maria after hours, knowing that they were defying loyalties and breaking the rules of their respective societies; the couple sensitively exchanged love vows during a make-believe wedding between them in "One Hand, One Heart"; they playfully pantomimed their engagement and wedding with mannequins that represented the in-laws and other members of their families; with a bridal veil on her head, and a black top hat on his head, they walked down an imaginary aisle in the store and enacted their wedding. As a couple, they kneeled and exchanged marital vows
• in an action-oriented rumble/dance sequence, the Sharks and Jets moved toward their eventual confrontation at the rumble, sung by all gang members; they met face-to-face under a highway, where the conflict escalated to deadly proportions when switchblades were pulled out; Sharks leader Bernardo accidentally killed Riff with a single plunge of the knife to his mid-section. As he fell, Riff passed his switchblade to Tony. In retaliation to counter Riff's death, Tony vengefully and passionately stabbed and killed Bernardo

• Maria was dismayed when she heard news of a fight and was stunned to learn of her brother's death, and numbed by the tragic turn of events; she couldn't believe that her boyfriend had killed her own brother. She prayed in her bedroom before the Virgin Mary: "Make it not be true!...I will do anything. Make me die"
• Tony arrived and Maria forgave him and vowed to steadfastly stand by him: "Stay with me. Don't leave me...Hold me...Tighter." Tony remained blinded and rebelliously-indifferent to their plight, believing and hoping that there was still "Somewhere" they could run away to and find peace together for their forbidden love; the two sang "Somewhere" together
• in the film's untimely twist of fate, Anita's message of reconciliation between the two lovers failed to get through, and then spitefully, she lied and claimed that Maria's ex-boyfriend Chino (Jose de Vega) had killed Maria in anger; when Tony heard the rumor, not wanting to live without Maria, Tony came out of hiding to challenge Chino
• in the shocking ending, Tony raced through the streets crying out for Chino to kill him: "Come on Chino, get me too...There's nobody here but me...I'm waitin' for ya." Tony learned the truth that Maria was alive too late - dressed in red, she was on the other side of the chain-fenced playground. She rushed joyfully toward him to embrace him, but he had already been spotted by Chino. Just before they reached each other's arms in a tiny spot of light (and in the only area of dry pavement) on the playground, he was shot by Chino as revenge for Bernardo's death (and as retribution for being thwarted in his love for Maria)
• in the melodramatic finale, the anguished and grieving Maria held the dying Tony in her arms and knelt by his side (and sang a reprise of Somewhere: "Hold my hand and I'll take you there"); then, she ranted at gang members - accusing all of them for being responsible for Tony's senseless death, and lecturing them at how hate breeds more hate, as she wielded Chino's murder weapon: ("...You all killed him!...Not with bullets and guns! With HATE! Well, I can kill too, because now I have hate!")
• she fell to her knees, weeping, and then tenderly kissed the lips of Tony one last time and expressed her love for him in Spanish: "Te adoro, Anton."

• the two gangs, confused, stunned, ashamed and sobered by the unnecessary triple killings, finally put aside their enmity. As some of the Jets struggled to bear Tony's body away, a few of the Sharks assisted them. Together, they solemnly carried Tony's body down the street, with Maria following. For once, the opposing groups were united and reconciled - by the heart-breaking tragedy

Whale Rider (2002, NZ)

#66

• in the opening scene of this film, a crisis of leadership in a small Maori village was described (in a voice-over) by a young 12 year-old Maori girl Paikea or "Pai" (Keisha Castle-Hughes); she told about how the leadership of the Ngati Konohi was called into question when at birth, she had survived while her twin brother died - and her grandfather Koro (Rawiri Paratene) refused to acknowledge her destiny as a female leader - as a descendant of Paikea, a whale rider: "In the old days, the land felt a great emptiness. It was waiting. Waiting to be filled up. Waiting for someone to love it. Waiting for a leader. (childbirth sequence) And he came on the back of a whale. A man to lead a new people. Our ancestor, Paikea. But now we were waiting for the firstborn of the new generation, for the descendant of the whale rider. For the boy who would be chief. There was no gladness when I was born. My twin brother died, and took our mother with him"

• the foreshadowing scene in which a confident Paikea dove into the deep ocean water and retrieved the rei puta (whale tooth) that Koro had deposited into the sea; according to traditional legend, the one who was successful in that task was rightfully worthy of becoming the leader

• the scene in which Paikea gave a speech during a school's evening program of Maori chants; she spoke about her ancestors, holding back tears and profoundly disappointed as she delivered it because her grandfather - Maori chief Koro, who she had invited as the guest of honor, was shunning her and was not in attendance: "This speech is a token of my deep love and respect - for Koro Apirana, my grandfather. My name is Paikea Apirana. (pause) And I come from a long line of chiefs, stretching all the way back to Hawaiiki where our ancient ones are, the ones that first heard the land crying and sent a man. His name was also Paikea and I am his mo-most recent descendant. But I was not the leader my grandfather was expecting, and by being born, I broke the line back to the ancient ones. It wasn't anybody's fault. It just happened. (Cutaway to Koro discovering beached whales, and asking himself: "Who is to blame?") But we can learn. And if the knowledge is given to everyone, we can have lots of leaders. And soon, everyone will be strong - not just the ones that've been chosen. Because sometimes, even if you're the leader and you need to be strong, you can get tired. Like our ancestor, Paikea, when he was lost at sea, and he couldn't find the land, and he probably wanted to die. But he knew the ancient ones were there for him, so he called out to them to lift him up and give him strength. This is his chant. I dedicate it to my grandfather"
• the mass beaching of whales and the desperate and valiant attempts by the Maori tribe members to keep them alive
• and the mystical scene in which Paikea climbed up on and literally rode the back of the largest beached whale out to sea, having coaxed it and restored its will to live so it could unbeach itself: (she courageously said: "I wasn't afraid to die"); she saved the whales when the massive whale led the entire pod back to the sea - but also dragged Paikea underwater - and she was feared drowned by her family

• the scene of Koro's acceptance of Paikea as a new Maori chief or leader as she lay unconscious in a hospital bed - he asked for her forgiveness: "Wise leader, forgive me. I am just a fledgling new to flight"; she briefly opened her eyes to acknowledge him
• the final shot of grandfather, uncle, father and granddaughter together at sea on the maiden voyage of their Maori long canoe (waka), as Paikea led the chant while wearing Koro's whale tooth necklace

• the last lines of dialogue (in voice-over): "My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the whale rider. I'm not a prophet, but I know that our people will keep going forward, all together, with all of our strength" - similar to the words that Paikea had spoken in her school speech

What Dreams May Come (1998)

• the opening scene of vacationing pediatrician Dr. Chris Nielsen (Robin Williams) meeting and falling in love at first sight with future wife Annie Collins (Annabella Sciorra) in Italy where they shared a picnic together: ("When I was young, I met this beautiful girl by a lake")
• the tragic early scene in which Chris and artist wife Annie lost their two children Marie (Jessica Brooks Grant) and Ian (Josh Paddock) in an off-screen car crash, with his melancholy voice-over narration: ("It was the last time Annie and I saw them alive")
• later, Chris experienced a flashback to his son Ian's funeral and his own moving and emotional eulogy delivered for him: "There's a man Ian never got to know - the man he was growing up to be. He's a good-looking, clear-eyed young fella, about 25. I can see him. He's the type of guy that men want to be around, because he has integrity, you know? He has character. You can't fake that. He's a guy women want to be around, too, because there's tenderness in him, respect, loyalty, and courage. And women respond to that. Makes him a terrific husband, this guy. I see him as a father. That's where he really shines. See, when he looks in his kid's eyes and that kid knows that his dad really sees him, he sees who he is. Then that child knows that he is an amazing person. He's quite a guy that I'll never get to meet. I wish I had." - there was shot of his son Ian inside his coffin
• and then four years later, the scene in which Chris died in a multi-car crash in a tunnel; he had safely stopped his own vehicle, and rushed ahead on foot to find cars ahead of him turned upside down. When he was asking questions of a survivor needing help, he was smashed into by a white automobile catapulting toward him, before the screen turned black; now, he was also deceased and in the afterlife but lingering on Earth

• the next shot was "the mythical light" at the end of the tunnel, and then a top-shot as Chris' body was placed on a stretcher by ambulance paramedics. A voice asked: "Chris, do you know what's happened?" He replied, jokingly: "Yeah, I had a bad piece of fish before bed"; the screen turned to a blinding white light - as he lingered on Earth in a hospital bed. Although Chris didn't want to accept it and thought he was dreaming, he had died and couldn't be seen by his family members, relatives, and friends at his home, who were mourning his passing. His blurry mentor-spiritual guide Albert Lewis (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) told him: "You've died, Chris."
• Chris attended his own funeral and comforted his still-living wife Annie; he attempted to force despondent Annie to acknowledge his continued existence (after whispering in her ear: "This is Chris. I still exist," he made her scrawl the words: "ISTILEXST" in her diary, and then later tried to contact her at his gravesite: "Don't worry, baby, I'm not leaving you alone. I'm not goin' anywhere") -- and her violent sobbing reactions, forcing Chris to reluctantly leave her and Earth and journey to the afterworld to prevent any more harm: (Albert: "The reality is it's over when you stop wanting to hurt her")

• the scenes of an Expressionist painting world in Chris' imagined heaven (using surreal Oscar-winning CGI effects) were modeled after Annie's paintings; Chris' concept of the great afterworld was manifested in his wife's art; there were very imaginative vistas and scenarios of Heaven: (Chris noted: "Nice place you got here") and an imprisoning dark Hell; Albert told him: "You're making all of this. See, we're all pretty insecure at first, so we see ourselves somewhere safe, comforting. We all paint our own surroundings, Chris, but you're the first guy I know to use real paint"
• his mentor-guide Albert also told Chris: "We're seeing what we choose to see" and helped him create a "real" afterlife by carving a hole in his dreamhouse's wall to see out ("This is your world now. Thought is real. Physical is the illusion. Ironic, huh?")
• a second guide then accompanied Chris named Leona (Rosalind Chao), a stewardess whom Chris once admired in the presence of his daughter Marie - and Leona came to represent her
• despairing Annie (his "soul-mate" - "sort of like twin souls tuned into each other") committed suicide due to overwhelming grief and devastation, foreshadowed by the death of her purple-flowered tree in the 'heavenly' painting, and because she had killed herself, she journeyed to her afterlife in Hell: ("You never see her. She's a suicide. Suicides go somewhere else...The real Hell is your life gone wrong")
• Chris risked taking a journey from Heaven to Hell in the afterlife to rescue his beautiful wife Annie's soul; he made a desperate quest to bring her back - to rescue her tortured and lost soul from the torment with the help of the dark-cloaked Tracker (Max von Sydow), and the view of a vast and dark Hell (Tracker: "In Hell, there's real danger from losing your mind"); he encountered the Sea of Faces where dozens of pale and tortured souls were buried up to their necks in sand

• when Chris discovered the location of Annie in Hell, he delivered a sentimental apology to her for all the things he couldn't give her: ("I'm sorry, babe, but there's some things I have to say. I've only got a few moments left. I'm sorry for all the things I'll never give you. I'll never buy you another meatball sub with extra sauce -- that was a big one! I'll never make you smile. I just wanted us to be old together, just two old farts laughin' at each other as our bodies fell apart, together at the end by that lake in your painting. That was our Heaven, see? There's lots of things to miss: books, naps, kisses, and fights! God, we had some great ones. Thank you for those. Thank you for every kindness. Thank you for our children. For the first time I saw them. Thank you for being someone I was always proud to be with. For your guts. For your sweetness. For how you always looked, for how I always wanted to touch you. You were my life. I apologize for every time I failed you. Especially this one.")

• he decided to share his wife's insanity rather than abandon her in Hell (she had earlier told him: "Sometimes, when you lose, you win")
• due to Chris' self-sacrifice, he was reunited with wife Annie and their dead children in his heavenly afterlife during the tear-jerking 'feel-good' Hollywood finale: ("Travel here is like everything else, it's in your mind. All you have to do is close your eyes if you know where you're going. Looks like we did")
• she vowed to Chris: ("I want us to grow old together. Can we do that here? I want it all. As long as it's with you"), and they experienced a spiritual reawakening or reincarnation in the bodies of two young children by a lake: ("When I was young, I met this beautiful girl by a lake") - similar to their first meeting in Italy

When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

• in the crowd-pleasing, tearjerking finale between Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan), Harry delivered an at-long-last "Why I Love You" speech to Sally at a New Year's Eve party in the film's conclusion, just after the stroke of midnight: "How about this way? I love that you get cold when it's seventy-one degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're lookin' at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely. And it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible"
• Sally reacted with a moving mixture of frustration, longing, loving, wariness and desperation, feeling manipulated, but she also was gradually melting to him; she responded, after which they passionately kissed: ("You see. That is just like you, Harry. You say things like that, and you make it impossible for me to hate you, and I hate you, Harry. I really hate you. I hate you"); they had finally conquered their doubts over the budding romance born of an initially platonic friendship years earlier

• after discussing the meaning of the song Auld Lang Syne, they kissed again as the camera pulled up and away from them, showing them engulfed by others on the dance floor as the film concluded

White Christmas (1954)

• the concluding scene of a holiday show-benefit prepared on Christmas Eve at the Columbia Inn in Pine Tree, Vermont, to respected, popular and now-retired Major General Thomas F. Waverly (Dean Jagger) - the financially-struggling innkeeper and landlord
• the retired General was tricked into reluctantly wearing his old uniform to the opening of the show held in the lodge's ballroom; he was completely surprised when he entered and was greeted by a standing round-of-applause from veteran soldiers from his former division (his entire 151st division), and a 10th Anniversary Cake
• he stood amazed as the on-stage show began - he listened as they sang a chorus of the Irving Berlin tribute song, "The Old Man"; tears formed in his eyes
• after the song was performed, ending with two rows of soldiers forming a path to the stage, Waverly walked between the two rows in a mock inspection, when he firmly stated: "I am not satisfied with the conduct of this division. Some of you men are under the impression having been at Anzio entitles you not to wear neckties. Well, you're wrong. Neckties will be worn in this area! And look at the rest of your appearance. You're a disgrace to the outfit. You're soft! You're sloppy! You're unruly! You're undisciplined!" - and then he disclosed his real feelings: "And I never saw anything look so wonderful in my whole life! Thank you all"

• he also listened as they performed the number: "Gee! I Wish I Was Back in the Army," performed by Private Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) and Capt. Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby): ("A soldier out of luck / Was really never stuck / There's always someone higher up where you can pass the buck / Oh, gee, I wish I was back in the army"); they were joined by the sister singing act, Betty Haynes (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy Haynes (Vera-Ellen), who sang: ("The Army was the place to find romance / Soldiers and WACs / The WACs who dressed in slacks / Dancing cheek-to-cheek and pants-to-pants")
• to top off the evening, the General was notified that snow had begun to fall - it would be a perfect Christmas
• the film's finale was a declaration of love between Bob and Betty, and Phil and Judy, wearing Santa Claus costumes for the singing of "White Christmas"

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

• Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) gave an anguished reaction to the "death" of her fictional son ("NOOOOOOoooooooo!") and her plaintive, accusatory words to husband George (Richard Burton): ("There was no need. There was no need for this!...You didn't have to kill him!")
• the long, monosyllabic exchange between the two after their late-night guests Nick (George Segal) and Honey (Sandy Dennis) had left their company: (..."It was time." "Was it?" "Yes." "I'm cold." "It's late."...)
• in the closing of the film, Martha's admission when George sang "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" -- "I am, George...I am"

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

#35

• the quintessential scene of lonely Kansas teenaged farm girl Dorothy Gale's (Judy Garland) singing of the melancholy "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (the Best Original Song Oscar winner)
• when Dorothy, the Tin Woodsman (Jack Haley), the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) were at the evil Witch's (Margaret Hamilton) mercy - her plan was to do away with each of them: "WELL - the last to go will see the first three go before her - and her mangy little dog too." First, the Witch set the Scarecrow's straw arm on fire by jabbing it with the lighted end of her broomstick: "How about a little fire, Scarecrow?" Dorothy tossed a nearby bucket of water on his arm to extinguish the flame, also accidentally splashing and drenching the Witch's face
• the Witch shrieked piteously in horror, her cries trailing off as she slowly dissolved, twisted, and melted in a memorable death scene. Her "wickedness" was reduced to a puddle of vaporous clothing in front of everyone by the application of a simple substance - water: "Oh! You cursed brat. Look what you've done. I'm melting! Melting! Oh, what a world! What a world! Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness. Oh, I'm gone, I'm gone, I'm going. Oh. Oh."

• Dorothy bid farewell to all of her newfound friends in the Land of Oz: especially a sad goodbye with the Tin Woodsman: ("Now I know I've got a heart, because it's breaking") and with the Scarecrow - highlighted by her final hugs and kisses reserved for him and her whispered sentiment: ("I think I'll miss you most of all")
• the closing scene when Dorothy awakened from her fantastic dream in her own bedroom (where she was surrounded by family and friends) - she denied that she was only dreaming her adventures in the Land of Oz, and repeatedly exclaimed: "There's no place like home"

Wuthering Heights (1939)

• the opening scene in director William Wyler's melodramatic romance - a brooding screen adaptation of Emily Bronte's 1847 romantic Victorian novel about a haunted love story and doomed lovers with inseparable spirits, set on the windy Yorkshire moors of pre-Victorian England
• a solitary traveler, known as Mr. Lockwood (Miles Mander), staggered through a raging blizzard, a bitterly-cold snowy night on the Yorkshire moors, to find refuge at the estate of Wuthering Heights; he was given lodging by the landlord Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier) (the master of the house) and his wife Isabella (Geraldine Fitzgerald)
• in an upstairs "bridal chamber" guest room, Lockwood called out to Heathcliff that he had heard a "phantom" woman calling out named Cathy, and felt someone clutch his hand in an icy cold grasp at the window

• after throwing Lockwood out of the room, Heathcliff flung open the window, and cried out for his long-lost love: "Cathy, Cathy, come in, Cathy come back to me...Oh my heart's darling. Cathy. My own, my, Cathy"; half-mad, Heathcliff ran downstairs and rushed out into the raging snowstorm [Note: The film concluded when he was reunited to the ghost of his Cathy, who had come back to Wuthering Heights and was calling his name from the snowy moors.]
• the remainder of the film was a flashback - Heathcliff's housekeeper Ellen Dean (Flora Robson) told about the tragic love between Heathcliff and Cathy Earnshaw (Merle Oberon) ("a girl who died") forty years earlier, and that they were being brought together: "Maybe you'd know, as I do, that there is a force that brings them back, if their hearts were wild enough in life"
• orphaned, dirty-faced gypsy Heathcliff (Rex Downing as child) was adopted by widower Mr. Earnshaw (Cecil Kellaway) on the streets of London and brought home to Wuthering Heights to live with his two high-class, manor-born children: young daughter Catherine or "Cathy" (Sarita Wooten as child) and his son Hindley (Douglas Scott as child); although Heathcliff was the stable boy and treated harshly by the tormenting and hateful Hindley (Hugh Williams as adult), he fell in love with Cathy
• the romantic scenes of young Cathy and Heathcliff in their make-believe castle on windy Peniston Crag on the atmospheric moors where they imagined that he was a prince of noble birth, and she was his queen; they professed their eternal love to each other; when Mr. Earnshaw died, fortuned changed for Heathcliff; after many years, Hindley had turned into a dissolute alcoholic, and continued to bully, demean and order Heathcliff around, and to call him a "gypsy beggar"
• on Peniston Crag, Cathy suggested to Heathcliff - a foreshadowing: "Why aren't you a man? Heathcliff, why don't you run away?...You could come back to me rich and take me away. Why aren't you my prince like we said long ago? Why can't you rescue me, Heathcliff?"
• one night with Heathcliff while eavesdropping on a luxurious party held by their wealthy and glamorous neighbors the Lintons, Cathy was injured by guard dogs, and was taken under their care; as Heathcliff left her, he cursed the Lintons for their snobbery, promising to repay them some day for taking Cathy away from him: "I'll be back in this house one day, Judge Linton, and I'll pay you out. I'll bring this house down in ruins about your heads. That's my curse on you"
• meanwhile, Cathy fell under the seductive spell of wealthy and glamour in their household and their refined neighbor Edgar Linton (David Niven); but she was torn and did return to express her love for Heathcliff when they retreated to their favorite Peniston Crag make-believe locale; Heathcliff vowed: "Cathy. You're still my queen"; in the flashback, Ellen described the situation, in voice-over: "And as time went by, Cathy again was torn between her wild, uncontrollable passion for Heathcliff and the new life she had found at the Grange that she could not forget"
• Cathy's love for Heathcliff was eventually thwarted when he denounced Linton: ("Who turns you into a vain, cheap, worldly fool? Linton does"); and then Cathy denounced Heathcliff for his lowly status: ("The people's servant were all you were born to be, a beggar in the center of the road, begging for favors"); they violently quarreled and Heathcliff struck her twice across the face: ("That's all I've become to you. A pair of dirty hands. Well, have them then!")
• in a key scene, Heathcliff overheard Cathy in the kitchen, without her knowledge, telling Ellen that she was considering Edgar's proposal of marriage and her insulting statement about Heathcliff - that she wouldn't marry him because of his unsuitable low birth: "He gets worse everyday. It would degrade me to marry him"
• in a rage, Heathcliff left before hearing Cathy's confession that she wasn't made for Edgar's Heaven, and was more suited for Heathcliff; she dramatically stated to Ellen her feelings about him: "He seems to take pleasure in being mean and brutal. And yet, he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same. And Linton's is as different as frost from fire...Ellen, I AM Heathcliff"
• when Cathy realized Heathcliff had been listening to her initial words and then had fled, she raced in a driving rainstorm to Peniston Crag to find him - and to tell him of her long-repressed feelings and love, but Heathcliff had already disappeared; she collapsed there and suffered from a bout of pneumonia

• as a result of Heathcliff's abandonment, Cathy soon after married Edgar; Heathcliff had left for America, and then two years later, he suddenly reappeared to see Cathy - he was transformed into a worldly, refined, wealthy gentleman but also dark and troubled; he spitefully claimed to Linton and Cathy: "The truth is, I remembered that my father was an emperor of China and my mother was an Indian queen, and I went out and claimed my inheritance. It all turned out just as you once suspected, Cathy: that I had been kidnapped by wicked sailors and brought to England - that I was of noble birth"
• he had secretly bought Wuthering Heights from Hindley, to become the Lintons' neighbor; with the tables turned, Heathcliff announced to Hindley: "I'm master here now"; to find his revenge (or to incite Cathy's jealousy), he romanced Edgar's naive sister Isabella Linton, while still expressing his love for Cathy, but she refused to listen to him: ("I'm not the Cathy that was. Can you understand that? I'm somebody else. I'm another man's wife and he loves me. And I love him"); Cathy realized that Heathcliff's plan was to vindictively and lovelessly marry Isabella and then neglect and abandon her: "Don't you see what he's been doing? He's been using you to be near me"
• it was soon proven that Cathy's prediction was correct, and Isabella was treated coldly and indifferently by Heathcliff after marriage; when Cathy became ill, Isabella speculated that Cathy's death might help her own marriage and turn Heathcliff's love toward her at last
• the long-hindered, passionate love affair of Cathy and Heathcliff emerged in death; in a memorable, tragically-romantic deathbed scene in Cathy's bedroom, Heathcliff was reunited with the heartbroken and seriously-ill Cathy - she was possibly dying of a broken heart and suffering from an incurable disease
• the two pledged their enduring, undying love and became reconciled after so many years of mutual unhappiness and bitterness. They passionately hugged and kissed each other, finally revealing their truest emotions to each other. Heathcliff argued as he stood up: "Oh Cathy, I never broke your heart. You broke it! Cathy! Cathy! You loved me! What right to throw love away for the poor fancy thing you felt for him, for a handful of worthiness. Misery and death and all the evils that God and man could have ever done would never have parted us. You'd be better alone. You wandered off like a wanton, greedy child to break your heart and mine." Cathy replied: "Heathcliff, forgive me. We've so little time." He vowed to stay with his dying love as her strength ebbed: "I'll never leave you again"
• he heard her claim that he was always the only man she ever loved: "When you went away that night in the rain, I told you I belonged to him, that he was my life, my being...It's true. It's true. I'm yours, Heathcliff. I've never been anyone else's"
• she requested to be picked up: "Take me to the window. Let me look at the moors with you once more, my darling. Once more." He carried her in his arms to her bedroom window for one last look out on the moors and Peniston Crag where they had played together as children.

• before slumping at his side after breathing her last breath and dying in his arms, they made a pact to be together for eternity. She promised to wait for him there in death until they were reunited again one day: "Heathcliff, can you see the Crag over there where our castle is? I'll wait for you 'til you come."
• distraught by Cathy's death, Heathcliff gave an impassioned plea to his deceased beloved to haunt him for the rest of his days. He wished that he wouldn't have to suffer a long separation: "What do they know of Heaven or Hell, Cathy, who know nothing of life? Oh, they're praying for you, Cathy. I'll pray one prayer with them - I repeat 'til my tongue stiffens - Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest so long as I live on! I killed you. Haunt me, then! Haunt your murderer! I know that ghosts have wandered on the Earth. Be with me always. Take any form, drive me mad, only do not leave me in this dark alone where I cannot find you. I cannot live without my life! I cannot die without my soul!" - the flashback ended

• it was claimed by the family physician, Dr. Kenneth (Donald Crisp), who entered the room to find Ellen and Lockwood, that after desperately searching for Cathy's ghost in the snowy cold storm, he thought he saw Heathcliff walking with his arm around a woman, but then he was found frozen to death. Ellen informed the doctor that Heathcliff was not dead, but that his soul had joined his love in death at their favorite place forevermore: (Ellen: "No, not dead, Dr. Kenneth. And not alone. He's with her. They've only just begun to live")
• in the final memorable image, the young, ghostly spirits of Cathy and Heathcliff were re-united for eternity (super-imposed as they walked over the snow) in death on the Peniston Crag moorlands, where they had spent many happy hours together in their childhood walking joyously across the heath.