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This article was originally published on March 17, 2023.
Weve updated it with more movies for Fathers Day.
Or any guy, really, no matter how macho they may be.
Male friendship and camaraderie is not an unusual subject for filmmakers to tackle.
(See: countless buddy comedies and bromances.)
But rarely do movies explore the less lighthearted side of such relationships.
Is there such a thing as aSteel Magnoliasfor men?
What makes tough guys cry?
The very nature of the male weepie is elastic.
Even the most earnest male weepies tend to approach the emotional inner life of men from unexpected angles.
Not all cultural critics areso keen on the idea of swapping mens feelings for womens melodrama.
But that jurys still out, while male tears remain, for the most part, kept inside.
Here, though, are 13 films that show the evolution of a nebulous subgenre.
The Champ(1931), dir.
King Vidor
Boxing films even ones that are 92 years old are always really male weepies at heart.
Its a credit to King Vidor and to its quality thatThe Champis genuinely as sad nearly a century on.
The Pride of the Yankees(1942), dir.
They Were Expendable(1945), dir.
Brians Song(1971), dir.
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot(1974), dir.
Saturday Night Fever(1976), dir.
Field of Dreams(1989), dir.
Boyz in the Hood(1991), dir.
The Shawshank Redemption(1994), dir.
That means theres a lot of time for male bonding (when there isnt terrible, brutal violence).
Their platonic bond is one of the strongest and most moving among men in any contemporary film.
