20 Sad Movies That Men Are Allowed to Cry At

Turner & Hooch (1989)
Director: Roger Spottiswoode. Stars: Tom Hanks, Mare Winningham, Craig T. Nelson, Reginald VelJohnson. For whatever its worth, Turner & Hooch is by far the best cop-and-his-canine-partner movie out there. The premise is admittedly goofy: An uptight police investigator (Tom Hanks) teams up with a slobbering, disobedient Dogue de Bordeaux, a doggy witness to its owner’s murder, to apprehend an unidentified criminal. The humor mainly comes from slapstick animal gags, such as Hooch tearing up the inside of Hanks’ car, or Hooch drooling all over Hanks’ CD collection and home entertainment center. Somehow, though, within the flick’s rampant “That dog is crazy!” scenes, Turner & Hooch establishes a believably loving bond between owner and pooch. And when director Roger Spottiswoode’s action-comedy reaches its shoot-’em-up climax, Hooch gets hit by a fatal bullet and dies in Hanks’ arms. How about some more hyperbole: Beasley the dog (Hooch) is one of the great canine actors of our time.