Introduction: There are many names for tearjerker films - 'women's pictures', 'weepies' or weepers, melodramas, soap operas (or soapers), and more recently, 'chick flicks'. There are many kinds of touching, emotionally stirring films and dramas that bring a tear to the eye, and cause a swelling in the heart. Pathos-filled tales of doomed or short-lived romance, tragic deaths or losses (loss of life, loss of love, loss of dignity, etc.), recovery (recovery of life, recovery of love, recovery of dignity, etc.), or difficult domestic situations are common plot themes in these kinds of films.

Tearjerker plots with heart-tugging, emotional storylines (requiring multiple hankies) usually emphasize sensational situations or crises of human emotion, failed romance or friendship, strained familial situations, tragedy, illness, neuroses, or emotional and physical hardship within everyday life. Victims, couples, virtuous and heroic characters or suffering protagonists (usually heroines) in tearjerkers are presented with tremendous social pressures, threats, repression, fears, improbable events or difficulties with friends, community, work, lovers, or family. The melodramatic format allows the character(s) to work through their difficulties or surmount the problems with resolute endurance, sacrificial acts, and steadfast bravery. Sports films tend to be for men what melodramas are for women, and both often share the same attributes.

Key to Iconic Symbols: The following sources are indicated by icons in Filmsite's compilation:

- Entries in UK's Channel 4 website of the 100 Greatest Tearjerkers - with ranking number (#)

- Entries in Entertainment Weekly's November 28, 2003 issue of theTop 50 Greatest Tearjerkers - with ranking number (#)

Many other sites and film books have attempted to compile listings of the most tearjerking moments, scenes and films throughout cinematic history. Films selected on both lists (and on Filmsite's list), all definitive tearjerkers, included the following (in alphabetical order): An Affair to Remember (1957), Bambi (1942), Brief Encounter (1946), Cinema Paradiso (1989, It.), Dead Poets Society (1989), E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Field of Dreams (1989), Gallipoli (1981, Aus.), Ghost (1990), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Jerry Maguire (1996), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Life is Beautiful (1997, It.), Love Story (1970), Now, Voyager (1942), Ordinary People (1980), Philadelphia (1993), Romeo and Juliet (1968), Sophie's Choice (1982), Terms of Endearment (1983), Titanic (1997), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Truly Madly Deeply (1991), and The Way We Were (1973). Oddly, the other two polls selected two different versions of The Champ (1931 and 1979).

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that
"The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films.