# Great movie monologues **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 20, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263 "2011-10-20T15:45:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/61 "2011-10-23T22:26:23Z")
I’ve got to add [the confession in American Psycho](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuXvl9EFGFw) - some of the finest acting I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/62 "2011-10-23T23:16:48Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > I’ve got to add [the confession in American Psycho](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuXvl9EFGFw) - some of the finest acting I’ve seen. [Do you like Huey Lewis and The News?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1mSJpOBXFU) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/63 "2011-10-23T23:17:50Z")
[You can’t handle the truth!!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j2F4VcBmeo) [Let me give you a little inside information on God…](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGR4SFOimlk) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/64 "2011-10-23T23:29:37Z")
[Ed Norton tells NYC FUCK YOU!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Za2k5wA3sk) [Tyler Durden’s pep talk (starting at 1:00)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJdfWdIBfE8) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/65 "2011-10-24T02:20:38Z")
[Sick Boy’s Unifying theory of life](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQD-dXfHrvk), not grand but good anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/66 "2011-10-25T23:35:22Z")
Thomas Colpepper, JP: \*Well, there are more ways than one of getting close to your ancestors. Follow the old road, and as you walk, think of them and of the old England. They climbed Chillingbourne Hill, just as you. They sweated and paused for breath just as you did today. And when you see the bluebells in the spring and the wild thyme, and the broom and the heather, you’re only seeing what their eyes saw. You ford the same rivers. The same birds are singing. When you lie flat on your back and rest, and watch the clouds sailing, as I often do, you’re so close to those other people, that you can hear the thrumming of the hooves of their horses, and the sound of the wheels on the road, and their laughter and talk, and the music of the instruments they carried. And when I turn the bend in the road, where they too saw the towers of Canterbury, I feel I’ve only to turn my head, to see them on the road behind me. \* - **Powell and Pressburger: A Canterbury Tale** ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/67 "2011-10-26T18:06:29Z")
The Lion in Winter: John: It’s not so hard. Try saying after me; John wins, I lose. Richard: What if John died? John: What’s that? Richard: What if he left us suddenly? John:You wouldn’t dare. Richard: (going for his dagger) Why on earth wouldn’t I? John: A knife! He’s got a knife! Eleanor of Aquitaine: Of course he has a knife. He always has a knife. We all have knives. It’s 1183 and we’re barbarians. How clear we make it. Oh, my piglets, we’re the origins of war. Not history’s forces nor the times nor justice nor the lack of it nor causes nor religions nor ideas nor kinds of government nor any other thing! We are the killers; we breed war. We carry it, lke syphilis, inside. Dead bodies rot in field and stream because the living ones are rotten. For the love of God, can’t we love each other just a little? That’s how peace begins. We have so much to love each other for. We have such possibilities, my children; we could change the world. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/68 "2011-10-26T18:12:17Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner: [Spencer Tracy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yt0wxoFl4o). Reading your OP, that’s exactly what popped into mind. I think it’s one of the best ever and am glad to see I’m not alone. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/69 "2011-10-28T14:50:21Z")
For a completely wordless “monologue,” how about Milla Jovovich’s scene in _The Fifth Element_ where, as a complete innocent, she first [learns about war](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WxAlIPSxlE)? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/70 "2011-10-28T17:08:47Z")
The climatic speech from [The Great Dictator](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvjoWOwnn4) (the speech itself starts ~1:00 in.) It’s too long to quote, but when you get a few spare minutes to watch it, do so…it’s chilling. There’s even a couple “mashup” versions that I like that set it to music: [Set to the music from Inception.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j34IrtLZrmY) [Set to the music from 28 Days Later.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDTZcgAWWeg) Another of my favorite monologues: [“I’m mad as Hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WINDtlPXmmE&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/71 "2011-10-28T19:27:52Z")
If I were the man I was five years ago, I’d take a _flame-thrower_ to this place! [Al Pacino’s Scent of a Woman speech](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH4p9BQ3V9o) ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/72 "2011-10-28T20:28:22Z")
[Danny DeVito’s defense of capitalism in Other Peoples’ Money](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfL7STmWZ1c) ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/73 "2011-10-28T22:01:15Z")
How about Dennis Leary as Edgar Friendly in _ **Demolition Man** _, explaining how he became an enemy of the system: > [@](#): > > You see, according to Cocteau’s plan… I’m the enemy, 'cause I like to think; I like to read. I’m into freedom of speech and freedom of choice. > > I’m the kinda guy who likes to sit around in a greasy spoon and wonder, “Gee, should I have the the T-bone steak, or the jumbo rack of barbecue ribs with the side order of gravy fries?” I _want_ high cholesterol. I wanna eat bacon, and butter, and buckets of cheese, OK? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section. I want to run through the streets naked with green Jell-O all over my body reading _Playboy_ magazine! > > _Why?_ Because I suddenly might feel the need to, OK, pal? > > I’ve _seen_ the future, and you know what it is? It’s a 47-year-old-virgin sitting around in his beige pajamas drinking a banana-broccoli shake and singing “I’m an Oscar-Meyer Weiner.” ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263/74 "2011-10-29T16:58:32Z")
Not a movie monologue, but rewatching Season 1 of _The Shield_ I came across this and thought it qualified. [The Shield - S1E7 - "I Need Someone To Listen To Me!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLUTaRWhOkE) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-monologues/600263.md?page=3)