# Most Effective Movie Speeches **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279 "2012-07-24T20:32:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/1 "2012-07-24T20:32:42Z")
I think Charlie Chaplin’s closing speech from _The Great Dictator_ takes the cake: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvjoWOwnn4&list=FLVjwqObyhx\_NeZgajyw-sfQ&index=12&feature=plpp\_video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvjoWOwnn4&list=FLVjwqObyhx_NeZgajyw-sfQ&index=12&feature=plpp_video) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/2 "2012-07-24T21:15:40Z")
Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws about the USS Indianapolis is not really a speech, more a monologue, but I saw a restored version of the movie on the big screen a couple of weeks ago and it’s still as powerful as it ever was. ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/3 "2012-07-24T21:42:04Z")
[“A sword day! A red day… ere the sun rises!”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdnqZcmWk8U&feature=player_detailpage#t=59s) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/4 "2012-07-24T21:42:38Z")
I show Michael Douglas’ [speech](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3NI5sE3KeY) at the end of _The American President_ to my Government classes every year. ---
**Author:** ![Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pine_Fresh_Scent)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/5 "2012-07-24T22:31:35Z")
[Alec Baldwin - “Coffee’s for Closers!” VERY NSFW (language).](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7zHF19n2qE) If not for the language, I’d fully recommend showing this to as many students as possible for a unique perspective on how the professional world views individual workers. Here’s a [recent article](http://www.avclub.com/articles/why-glengarry-glen-ross-alec-baldwin-scene-is-so-u,82782/) for more details on this terrifying, but very effective motivational speech. “First prize, a Cadillac. Second prize, a set of steak knives. Third prize, you’re fired.” The fear of ending up in an office like this keeps me up some nights. This is my favorite horror movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/6 "2012-07-24T23:18:30Z")
George C. Scott as [Patton](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b5g1avyCSA). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/7 "2012-07-24T23:34:26Z")
> [@Tanbarkie](#): > > [“A sword day! A red day… ere the sun rises!”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdnqZcmWk8U&feature=player_detailpage#t=59s) I prefer [the original version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-yZNMWFqvM&t=0m30s), and I expect even Tolkien would agree. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/8 "2012-07-24T23:42:59Z")
[It Just Doesn’t Matter.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9mf3Bypyk8) ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/9 "2012-07-25T00:41:09Z")
St. Crispin’s Day speech, Kenneth Branagh? Brilliant- I’d follow him to battle. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-yZNMWFqvM&feature=youtube\_gdata\_player](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-yZNMWFqvM&feature=youtube_gdata_player) ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/10 "2012-07-25T01:21:20Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws about the USS Indianapolis is not really a speech, more a monologue, but I saw a restored version of the movie on the big screen a couple of weeks ago and it’s still as powerful as it ever was. I just watched JAWS for the 1st since I saw it back in the 70s.The whole way through,I kept thinking how horrible it was,until Quint’s speech.It is very powerful,made the movie worth watching just for that. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/11 "2012-07-25T01:47:55Z")
Mal’s “I aim to misbehave” speech is small, but eloquent in it’s own way: > [@Capt. Malcolm Reynolds](#): > > - > > “Y’all got on this boat for different reasons, but y’all come to the same place. So now I’m asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They’ll swing back to the belief that they can make people… better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin’. **I aim to misbehave**.”\* ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/12 "2012-07-25T01:54:14Z")
“Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?” ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/13 "2012-07-25T01:57:01Z")
Well there’s the [_ **Braveheart** _ pregame speech](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3oz0zhEwZk), of course. The [closing argument from _ **To Kill a Mockingbird** _](http://youtu.be/k8TgqenWW0I). [Summation from _ **The Verdict** _](http://youtu.be/zVZFlBJftgg). ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/14 "2012-07-25T02:02:24Z")
[President’s speech from Armageddon…](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zje91xTd6Lc) ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/15 "2012-07-25T02:05:03Z")
No cheesy, over-the-top Presidential speech can ever top [Bill Pullman’s.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l31UUl5SyXk) _Today… we celebrate… our INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!_ ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/16 "2012-07-25T02:08:59Z")
> [@Tanbarkie](#): > > No cheesy, over-the-top Presidential speech can ever top [Bill Pullman’s.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l31UUl5SyXk) > > _Today… we celebrate… our INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!_ Yeah I came in to mention that one. It’s pretty awesome 😃 And I like Bill Pullman. Also, Sam’s speech in The Two Towers movie, where he’s inspiring Frodo to keep going on. And they are shouting ‘victory!’ in the background. “I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.” “What are we holding onto Sam?” “That there’s some good in the world Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.” I LOVED that speech. It’s probably why I think The Two Towers is the best of the 3 films. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/17 "2012-07-25T02:13:34Z")
Would I burn in hell if I also said that Jack Nicholson’s speech to the aliens in Mars Attacks is also one of my favorites? Why… are you doing this? Why? Isn’t the universe big enough… for both of us? Ha ha ha ha. What is wrong with you people? We could work together. Why be enemies? Because we’re different? Is that why? Think of the things that we could do. Think how strong we would be. Earth… and Mars… Together. There is nothing that we could not accomplish. Think about it. Think about it. Why destroy… when you can create? We can have it all, or we can smash it all. Why can’t we… work out our differences? Why can’t we… work things out? Little people… why can’t we all just… get along? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/18 "2012-07-25T02:14:37Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?” [No! It wasn’t!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlzIPoRbF_A&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/19 "2012-07-25T03:02:16Z")
[Supervillains tend to be a good source](http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL472AA1EEEBEB1FDF), if that’s your frame of mind. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279/20 "2012-07-25T03:59:35Z")
Pacino’s from Oliver Stone’s football movie is considered one of the classics. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-effective-movie-speeches/629279.md?page=2)