King Kong/Tear Jerker

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• The death of Kong. Yes, It Was His Sled applies in full, but the two main versions still wring it out for all its worth. The 1933 version had this happen unintentionally, as technically, Kong is the villain, but the way the music is used and the "Performance" Willis O'Brian gives Kong really rank up the sympathy, and even though it's inevitable--everyone still felt sorry for the poor beast. the 2005 version's music and performance are equally evocative.
  • You can argue that Kong being so sympathetic wasn't unintentional. You can argue the original is designed to be a tragedy; even when the monster is killed, the famous last line makes it that there's no sense of accomplishment or victory. In the end, you can only feel heartbroken for Kong.
• The coffee-table book A Natural History Of Skull Island, in its description of Kong's species, includes a heartbreaking illustration of an orphaned baby Kong, uncomprehendingly clutching the fur of his dead mother. See it here, in the lower righthand corner.
• Jimmy's reaction to Hayes' death.
• Also, Lumpy's reaction to Choy's.
• "It was Beauty killed the Beast."
• How is it that in this whole movie that person you sympathize most with is Jack Black's ruthless film director? Virtually everything he did from the moment someone tells us that his character "destroys everything he loves" was given such a heartbreaking gravitas as we realize that he really does care about things (including the monkey) and yet he never changes his course of action to save it.
• I was nearly moved to tears by the scene of Ann and Kong in Central Park, because it showed that they were far more than their archetypes of damsel in distress and monster. The tear jerker factor here was derived from the fact that I knew how the film would end (like the remake would change it), and so knew that there was no hope for a happy ending for them.
  • Nearly? That scene is the one that always makes me cry whenever I see the film.
• 1933 and 2005 versions of Kong's final battle on the Empire State Building get this troper all water-y eyed to this day. His last moments are spent looking at Ann for comfort and then the last plane swoops in and...(sob)
• Seventeen peopl] died to rescue Ann, yet she doesn't give a damn and only cares about Kong. This troper always gets sad that all the Too Cool to Live characters like Lumpy and Hayes died and she doesn't even care.