'Rated the saddest movie ever created' in a study by pyschologists.
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Wu Ming — 1 year ago(December 29, 2024 08:21 PM)
The Saddest Movie in the World
How do you make someone cry for the sake of science?
The answer lies in a young Ricky Schroder.
Used in psychology laboratories when scientists want to make people sad.
In 1979, director Franco Zeffirelli remade a 1931 Oscar-winning film called
The Champ
, about a washed-up boxer trying to mount a comeback in the ring. Zeffirelli’s version got tepid reviews. The Rotten Tomatoes website gives it only a 38% approval rating. But
The Champ
did succeed in launching the acting career of 9-year-old Ricky Schroder, who was cast as the son of the boxer.
At the movie’s climax, the boxer, played by Jon Voight, dies in front of his young son.
"Champ, wake up!"
sobs an inconsolable T.J., played by Schroder.
The performance would win him a Golden Globe Award.
It would also make a lasting contribution to science. The final scene of
The Champ
has become a must-see in psychology laboratories around the world when scientists want to make people sad.
The Champ
has been used in experiments to see if depressed people are more likely to cry than non-depressed people (they aren’t). It has helped determine whether people are more likely to spend money when they are sad (they are) and whether older people are more sensitive to grief than younger people (older people did report more sadness when they watched the scene). Dutch scientists used the scene when they studied the effect of sadness on people with binge eating disorders (sadness didn’t increase eating).
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https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-saddest-movie-in-the-world-33826787/
July 20, 2011
It's a longer article and a good read.
The Champ (1979) Crying Scenes -
ClayCat — 11 months ago(April 21, 2025 05:33 AM)
Not everyone likes the same movies. I didn't think it was cheesy. I thought Jon Voight's character was very manly and real. A very dysfunctional little family in Billy and T.J. but very real. I understand when people go on message boards to talk about actors and movies they LIKE, but I never understand when they want to talk about movies and their stars that they DON'T like. Why waste your time and energy…?