"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. "
If Shakespeare had had R. Lee Ermey to perform his works, maybe English Lit classes would have been more inspirational.
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.
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.
Alec Baldwin in Malice. Great scene in an otherwise ridiculous movie.
The courtroom dialog from Inherit the Wind.
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.
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
Al Pacino, as Satan, giving his mea culpa in Devil’s Advocate.
I’ve always been a pretty big fan of Pacino’s speech in The Insider
I’m also a pretty big fan of Anton Ego’s review in Ratatouille
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.
Pacino again, this time in the locker room as a football coach in “Any Given Sunday”:
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)
Great Imaginary Presidential Speeches
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):
If you want to read along (advised) to Terence Stamp in a great scene of Soderbergh’s The Limey then click here.
This is one of the better movies.
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
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 can probably recall how this went over…
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