5 Memorable Moms in Movie History
Rusty Dennis (Cher, 'Mask')
If you haven't seen the 1985 drama about Rocky Dennis (played by a young Eric Stoltz), a teen with an Elephant Man-like facial deformity, you've missed one of Cher's finest performances. A biker chick with a questionable past (she's a recovering drug addict), Rusty is far from perfect, but she loves Rocky with an unmitigated devotion that proves all sorts of women can be amazing mothers. Rusty never lets her son be limited by his deformity and delights in his brilliant mind and sharp wit. Memorable Quote: "You let that negative dreck in and it'll put ya away. You can be a chicken sh*t and die or be a mensch and keep makin' yourself well."
Mrs. Gump (Sally Field, 'Forrest Gump')
Yes, Mama Gump does give that principal some afternoon delight in exchange for a spot in school ("Well, your mama sure does care about your schoolin', son," the jerk tells Forrest afterward), and she seems utterly unrepentant about it. But that's not what makes her a remarkable Mama. Mrs. Gump refuses to let anyone, including Forrest himself, make him think he's incapable of greatness. She's Forrest's biggest fan, and instills in him the idea that "You have to do the best with what God gave you." Memorable Quote: "Life's a box of chocolates, Forrest. You never know what you're gonna get."
Molly Weasley (Julie Walters, 'Harry Potter')
With good reason, most Harry Potter fans adore Lily Potter, who sacrificed her life to save baby Harry from Voldemort's Killing Curse. But Molly Weasley also deserves credit for being an awesome mum to seven precocious gingers. On top of raising her own wizards and witches, she dotes on Ron's two best friends, Harry and Hermione, who each have to learn their way around the wizarding world. And Molly isn't just quick with the cooking spells -- when it comes to her children, she can unleash her inner warrior (take that, Bellatrix LeStrange). Memorable Quote: "Not my daughter, you bitch!"
Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton, 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day')
We may not all possess Sarah's guns (or the muscles, or the weapons), but every mom is able to tap into her inner warrior and kick some arse if it means rescuing her kids (and in this case, the entire universe). Sarah has to bear the unthinkable burden of knowing exactly what will cause an impending apocalypse and her own son's role in the future war against the machines. But instead of acting powerless, Sarah single-mindedly devotes herself to trying to change the future and save young John from his doomed fate. Memorable Quote: "You think you're so creative. You don't know what it's like to really create something; to create a life; to feel it growing inside you. All you know how to create is death and destruction."
Aurora Greenaway (Shirley MacLaine, 'Terms of Endearment')
My own late mother was a lot like Aurora: beautiful, vain, critical but also fiercely protective whenever her children were at risk. Aurora and her daughter Emma don't have the smoothest of relationships, but they're extremely close in their own way. They're brutally honest with each other, and when Emma is diagnosed with cancer, Aurora is by her daughter's bedside until the heartbreaking end. It's easy to dismiss James Brooks' drama as the quintessential tearjerker, but there are few movies about the complicated but overwhelming love between a mother and adult child as "Terms of Endearment." Memorable Quote: "My daughter is in pain. I don't understand why she has to have this pain. All she has to do is hold out until ten, and IT'S PAST TEN! My daughter is in pain, can't you understand that! GIVE MY DAUGHTER THE SHOT!"
