# Great Movie Speeches **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860 "2009-03-26T12:54:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/21 "2009-03-26T15:34:43Z")
"Son, we live in a world that has walls and those walls need to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and curse the Marines; you have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives and that my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use then as the backbone of a life trying to defend something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said “thank you,” and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest that you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to. " ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/22 "2009-03-26T15:41:09Z")
If Shakespeare had had R. Lee Ermey to perform his works, maybe English Lit classes would have been more [inspirational.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFNeBRc7W7s) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/23 "2009-03-26T17:05:03Z")
I like: Baldwin’s motivational speech from _Glenngarry Glenn Ross_. Ned Beatty’s Primal Forces speech from _Network_. George C. Scott’s opening in _Patton_. R. Lee Ermey’s introduction in _Full Metal Jacket_. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/24 "2009-03-26T17:27:29Z")
Though I haven’t seen it in many years, Jack Nicholson’s rant against women at the end of _The Witches of Eastwick_ was pretty damned memorable. Pick any courtroom scene – hell, any scene in _Inherit the Wind_ and you’ll find at least one damned fine speech. Salieri declares war on God in _Amadeus_. Rosencrantz’s soliloquy on the absurdity of fearing death in (what else?) _Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead_. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/25 "2009-03-26T18:57:52Z")
Alec Baldwin in [Malice](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqeC3BPYTmE). Great scene in an otherwise ridiculous movie. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/26 "2009-03-26T19:06:17Z")
The courtroom dialog from [Inherit the Wind.](http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechinheritthewind.html) Brady: _Is it possible that something is holy to the celebrated agnostic?_ Drummond: _Yes. The individual human mind. In a child’s power to master the multiplication table, there is more sanctity than in all your shouted “amens” and “holy holies” and “hosannas.” An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man’s knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters._ ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/27 "2009-03-26T19:14:28Z")
[What about Bluto’s speech in Animal House?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8lT1o0sDwI) > [@](#): > > **D-Day** : War’s over, man. Wormer dropped the big one. > **Bluto:** Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! > **Otter:** Germans? > **Boon:** Forget it, he’s rolling. > **Bluto:** And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the goin’ gets tough… > [thinks hard] > **Bluto:** the tough get goin’! Who’s with me? Let’s go! > [runs out, alone; then returns] > **Bluto:** What the fuck happened to the Delta I used to know? Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you’re gonna let it be the worst. “Ooh, we’re afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble.” Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I’m not gonna take this. Wormer, he’s a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer… > \*\*Otter: \*\*Dead! Bluto’s right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part. > **Bluto:** We’re just the guys to do it. > **D-Day:** Let’s do it. > **Bluto:** _Let’s do it_! ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/28 "2009-03-26T19:33:22Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#): > > Ma Joad’s final words at the end of \*The Grapes of Wrath \*ending with “We have to go on. We’re the people.” Great film, but I would have picked Tom’s final speech: Ma Joad: How am I gonna know about ya, Tommy? Why they could kill ya and I’d never know. They could hurt ya. How am I gonna know? Tom Joad: Well, maybe it’s like Casy says. A fellow ain’t got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, then… Ma Joad: Then what, Tom? Tom Joad: **Then it don’t matter. I’ll be all around in the dark - I’ll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there’s a fight, so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad. I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready, and when the people are eatin’ the stuff they raise and livin’ in the houses they build - I’ll be there, too.** Ma Joad: I don’t understand it, Tom. Tom Joad: Me, neither, Ma, but - just somethin’ I been thinkin’ about. Unlike many other dramatic speeches, the whole thing is delivered in a whisper. See the last 30 seconds or so of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYFJmm0aK-8&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYFJmm0aK-8&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/29 "2009-03-26T19:35:55Z")
Al Pacino, as Satan, giving his mea culpa in _Devil’s Advocate_. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RGR4SFOimlk/hqdefault.jpg "Al Pacino Speech on Devil's Advocate") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGR4SFOimlk) ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/30 "2009-03-26T19:50:05Z")
[I’ve always been a pretty big fan of Pacino’s speech in The Insider](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIjpP-XngKA) [I’m also a pretty big fan of Anton Ego’s review in Ratatouille](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IvnptQJ__U) ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/31 "2009-03-26T19:55:54Z")
Quint’s \*Indianapolis \*speech from _Jaws_: Hooper: You were on the _Indianapolis_? Brody: What happened? Quint: Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin’ back from the island of Tinian to Leyte… just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn’t see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that when you’re in the water, Chief? You tell by looking from the dorsal to the tail. What we didn’t know, was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn’t even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin’, so we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know, it was kinda like old squares in the battle like you see in the calendar named “The Battle of Waterloo” and the idea was: shark comes to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin’ and hollerin’ and screamin’ and sometimes the shark go away… but sometimes he wouldn’t go away. Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark… he’s got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll’s eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn’t seem to be living… until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then… ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin’. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin’ and the hollerin’, they all come in and they… rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don’t know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday morning, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain’s mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he’d been bitten in half below the waist. Noon, the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us. He swung in low and he saw us… he was a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and he come in low and three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and starts to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened… waitin’ for my turn. I’ll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/32 "2009-03-26T20:13:17Z")
Pacino again, this time in the locker room as a football coach in “Any Given Sunday”: > [@](#): > > I don’t know what to say, really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives all comes down to today. Either we heal as a team or we are going to crumble, inch by inch, play by play, till we’re finished. > > We are in Hell right now, gentlemen, believe me, and we can stay here and get the shit kicked out of us or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb out of Hell. One inch, at a time. > > Now I can’t do it for you. I’m too old. I look around and I see these young faces > and I think … I mean I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make. > I uh…. I pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who has ever loved me. And lately, I can’t even stand the face I see in the mirror. > > You know when you get old in life things get taken from you. That’s, that’s part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out that life is just a game of inches. So is football. Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small. I mean one half step too late or too early, you don’t quite make it. One half second too slow or too fast and you don’t quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in every break of the game, every minute, every second. > > On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us, to pieces for that inch. We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch. 'Cause we know when we add up all those inches that’s going to make the fucking difference between WINNING and LOSING, between LIVING and DYING. > > I’ll tell you this. In any fight, it is the guy who is willing to die who is going to win that inch. And I know, if I am going to have any life anymore, it is because I am still willing to fight and die for that inch, because that is what LIVING is. The six inches in front of your face. > > Now I can’t make you do it. You gotta look at the guy next to you. Look into his eyes. Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. > You are going to see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows when it comes down to it, you are gonna do the same thing for him. > > That’s a team, gentlemen, and either we heal now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That’s football, guys. That’s all it is. Now, whattaya gonna do? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/33 "2009-03-26T20:13:43Z")
The world is full o’ complainers. An’ the fact is, nothin’ comes with a guarantee. Now I don’t care if you’re the pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin’ can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y’know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, ‘n watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else… that’s the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an’ down here… you’re on your own. (Blood Simple) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/34 "2009-03-26T20:19:36Z")
Great Imaginary Presidential Speeches [Armageddon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCJeR0UebR8) [Independence Day](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRGUqd_M6Mg) * * * [Pacino’s speech from Scent of a Woman](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqsf0XynGz8) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/35 "2009-03-26T20:21:13Z")
Oh, what the hell, I’m a sucker for sappy aviation movies. The sappiest speech of all AFAIK is in “A Guy Named Joe” (1943), screenplay by Dalton Trumbo. Lionel Barrymore is “The General”, commanding a unit of angel pilots who help living men learn to fly, speaking to the late Major Pete Sandige (Spencer Tracy): > [@](#): > > Major Sandige reporting, sir. > At ease. Well? > Well, there isn’t much to say, sir. I didn’t think it would do any harm to put the kid through his paces. > That’s not the truth. You were jealous of him. > Why should I be jealous of him, sir? I’m a better flyer than he’ll ever be. > Sit down. > Yes sir. > I don’t think you’ve really grasped what our work is all about up here. > Oh, yes sir, sure I do. I know we’re supposed to follow through with these men and make better flyers out of them. > That’s only part of it. I’m sorry it wasn’t made clearer to you at the beginning. It isn’t just you as an individual helping your man as an individual; it’s all of us working together for the future. Every man that ever flew… It’s hard for me to put it into words, Sandige. You don’t feel it. > I think I understand, sir. > No, I don’t think you understand at all. Let’s put it this way. Have you ever been up in your plane at night, alone, somewhere, twenty thousand feet above the ocean? > Yes sir. > Did you ever hear music up there? > Perhaps. > Oh, no, if you’ve heard it, you remember it. It’s the music a man’s spirit sings to his heart, when the Earth’s far away and there isn’t any more fear. It’s the high, fine, beautiful sound of an earthbound creature who grew wings and flew up high and looked straight into the face of the future, and caught just for an instant the unbelievable vision of a free man in a free world. But, if you haven’t heard it, there’s no way I can talk to you. > I’ve heard it. I have heard it, sir. I used to try to explain it to some kids but I could never find words. > Oh, children would understand. Sure, because the future belongs to them. They’re already moving into it. They’re going to climb out of the dust and the muck and lift up their heads and see the sky. They’re going to fly like a generation of angels into the free air and the sunlight. Yes, sure, oh, children would always understand it. “Free as the air”. Men have said that ever since they crawled out of caves and came down from trees. That’s what they’re fighting for, the freedom of the very air we breathe, the freedom of mankind rushing to greet the future on wings. Can you understand that? Can you? > Yes, sir, I do. > No man is really dead unless he breaks faith with the future. No man is really alive unless he accepts his responsibility to it. That’s the chance we’re giving you here – the opportunity to pay off to the future what you owe for having been part of the past. Just another way of saying, “I’m glad I lived. I’m glad I was alive. Now let me give you a hand.” You thought you were choosing between life and death when you flew in over that carrier. But you weren’t. You’re choosing between them now. It’s up to you, Pete. > If you please, sir, I’d like to go back. I think I can do my job now. > Very well. You may go. > Thank you , sir. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/36 "2009-03-26T20:37:18Z")
[Gordon Gecko’s “Greed is Good” speech from Wall Street](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JZp215Bgyk) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/37 "2009-03-26T21:12:41Z")
If you want to read along (advised) to [Terence Stamp in a great scene of Soderbergh’s The Limey](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BaXPg_2FJ4) then [click here.](http://www.whysanity.net/monos/limey.html) This is one of the better movies. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/38 "2009-03-26T22:01:32Z")
This is one of my favorites, from _A Man For All Seasons_: William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law! Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil? William Roper: Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that! Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake! Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/39 "2009-03-26T22:31:20Z")
Man, it’s damn near impossible to read through these without hearing the actor saying them. _Especially_ Robert Shaw’s speech. One of my favorite scenes in the movie - can’t believe I didn’t come up with it. OK, here’s another try-and-read-without-hearing-the-actor: Jack Woltz, from **The Godfather** : > [@](#): > > You don’t understand. Johnny Fontane never gets that movie. That part is perfect for him. It’ll make him a big star. And I’m gonna run him out of the business - and let me tell you why: Johnny Fontane ruined one of Woltz International’s most valuable proteges. For three years we had her under contract - singing lessons, dancing lessons, acting lessons. I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was gonna make her a big star. And let me be even _more_ frank, just to show you that I’m not a hard-hearted man, and that it’s not all dollars and cents: She was **beautiful**! She was innocent. She was the greatest piece of ass I’ve ever had, and I’ve had 'em all over the world! > > And then Johnny Fontane comes along with his olive oil voice and guinea charm…and she runs off. She threw it all away just to make me look ridiculous! And a man in my position can’t afford to be made to look ridiculous! Now you get the hell **outta** here! And you tell that gumba that if he wants to try any rough stuff that I ain’t no band leader. Yeah! I heard that story. You can probably recall how this went over… ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860/40 "2009-03-26T22:42:21Z")
Please allow me to offer a challenge. Not that I can’t imagine any of these people delivering a perfectly acceptable speech, it’s just that none come to mind. Help me remedy that. Keanu Reeves Burt Reynolds Gene Hackman Boris Karloff Steve McQueen Steven Seagal [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-speeches/490860.md?page=3)