I liberated this from MovieFone. While I haven't seen all the movies listed here, the ones I'm familiar with did indeed wrest tears from these old eyes. (In fact, I cried while I wrote this. Damn you, Skip!)
My mother, who died just a few weeks ago, watched some of these movies with me when I was a little girl. She believed it was important to learn about the sad inevitability that our pets never live as long as we need them to. Perhaps she was right and these films did help prepare me. But oh, watching some of these felt like open heart surgery!
1. Marley and Me (2008) "You know how we're always saying what a pain you are, you're the world's worst dog, don't believe it, don't believe it for one minute because you know we couldn't find a better dog, I love you, more than anything, you're a great dog, I love you."
2. Dances with Wolves (2000). Oh! Two Socks the Wolf, Dunbar's first friend. Playing with Two Socks is how Dunbar got his Indian name. Two Socks is murdered.
3. My Dog Skip (2000). He was that boy's first and best friend. When Skip died, he was buried in his boy's baseball jacket behind the elm tree. "But," that boy, now a man, tells us, "he really lay buried in my heart."
4. Where the Red Fern Grows (1974). I never saw this one, and that's OK because I understand two dogs die after tangling with a mountain lion.
5. Old Yeller (1957). I'll never get over this one! I didn't think it was at all funny but in fact true when Phoebe (Friends) angrily refers to this as "a puppy snuff film."
6. Bambi (1942). That sadist Walt Disney is at it again! "Man is in the forest." Then Mother tells Bambi to run and keep running and then there's a gunshot and ...
7. Born Free (1966). Has any movie ever had a more beautiful heroine than Elsa the Lioness?
8. Hachi (2009). Akitas are naturally loyal, but none more than Hachi. He waited at the train station for his owner every day to walk back home with his master. Even after his human died, Hachi went to the train and waited patiently ... every evening for nine years. Age, illness, bad weather -- nothing kept Hachi from his hopeful vigil. Based on a true story, the real Hachi became a hero in his native Japan, his loyal heart is celebrated with a statue at the train statue where he waited for his master every evening.
9. The Neverending Story (1984). I never saw this one, but I'm told a horse named Artax sinks tragically into a swamp.
10. Fatal Attraction (1987). That bunny was a completely innocent victim!
11. I Am Legend (2007). A virus wipes out 90% of New York except Will Smith and a very loyal dog named Samantha. She falls victim to an attack by infected dogs and he had no choice.
12. The Lion King (1994). Knowing that what happened to Mufasa is all part of the Circle of Life doesn't make it any easier to watch.
13. King Kong (any and all versions). Talk about misunderstood! Kong was just in love, that's all.
