|
 Introduction:
Film speeches are normally delivered orally and directed at an audience
of three or more people, although there can be exceptions. They are
usually persuasive-type speeches, either designed to promote or to dissuade,
and they are highly quotable.
Greatest Film Speeches and Monologues: Video store
chain Blockbuster Video (in the UK) held a series of polls in
late 2003 with its customers to determine the 20 Greatest Film Speeches
and Monologues in cinematic history. These are marked in the following
lists with this symbol --  and
by their original ranking number in the top 20. Although
there were some excellent choices in their poll, the results almost
completely ignored early films, and entirely disregarded films with
speeches made by female characters. Greatest Films has provided
this expanded listing of Best Film Speeches and Monologues here
of deserving, best film monologues and speeches.
Note: The films that are marked with
a yellow star 
are the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100
Greatest Films.
| |
| Film
and Brief Title |
Speech |
Example |
Annie Hall (1977)
 "How I Feel About Life" Opening
Monologue
|
Comedian Alvy Singer's (Woody Allen) opening monologue
(composed of jokes) told directly into the camera, before launching
into a narrated autobiography about his life growing up in Coney
Island: ("There's an old joke. Uhm, two elderly women are
at a Catskill Mountain resort. And one of 'em says: 'Boy, the
food in this place is really terrible.' The other one says: 'Yeah,
I know. And such small portions.' Well, that's essentially how
I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering
and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly...") |
|
| A
"Cultural Stereotype" Assessment |
Alvy's "cultural
stereotype" assessment of first wife-to-be Allison Porchnik
(Carol Kane): ("You're like a New York, Jewish, Left-Wing,
Liberal, Intellectual, Central Park West, Brandeis University, Socialist
summer camps, and the father with the Ben Shahn drawings, right?
Really, you know, strike-oriented, kind of Red-...please stop me,
before I make a complete imbecile of myself!") |
|
| Closing
Thoughts About Relationships |
Alvy's closing
monologue, reminiscing about his relationship with Annie Hall (Diane
Keaton): ("After that, it got pretty late and we both had to
go, but it was great seeing Annie again and I realized what a terrific
person she was and how much fun it was just knowing her, and I thought
of that old joke, you know, the, this, this guy goes to a psychiatrist
and says, 'Doc, uh, my brother's crazy, he thinks he's a chicken,'
and uh, the doctor says, 'Well why don't you turn him in?' And the
guy says, 'I would, but I need the eggs.' Well, I guess that's pretty
much now how I feel about relationships. You know, they're totally
irrational and crazy and absurd and - but uh, I guess we keep going
through it...because...most of us need the eggs.") |
|
(National Lampoon's) Animal House (1978)
"Nothing
Is Over Until We Decide It Is!"
|
Bluto's (John
Belushi) factually inaccurate motivational speech after the Delta
House Fraternity has been closed: ("Over? Did you say 'over'?
Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans
bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!...What the f--k happened to the Delta
I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? '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...") |
|
Coming Home (1978)
"There's
a Choice to Be Made Here"
|
Disabled, wheelchair-bound, partially paralyzed Vietnam vet Luke Martin's
(Jon Voight) famous impassioned, tearful "there's a choice
to be made here" speech to high school students, to provide a different perspective, after they listened to a Marine recruiter: ("And
now I'm here to tell ya that I have killed for my country, or whatever. And I don't feel good about it. Because there's not enough reason,
man, to feel a person die in your hands or to see your best buddy
get blown away. I'm here to tell ya it's a lousy thing, man. I
don't see any reason for it. And there's a lot of s--t that I did over
there that I find f--king hard to live with. And I don't want to
see people like you, man, comin' back and having to face the rest
of your lives with that kind of s--t. It's as simple as that. I
don't feel sorry for myself. I'm a lot f--kin' smarter now than
when I went. And I'm just tellin' ya, there's a choice to be
made here.") |
|
Halloween (1978)
A
Chilling Description of the Evil Michael Myers
|
Dr. Sam Loomis'
(Donald Pleasence) chilling description of the unredeemable, unreachable
Michael Myers: ("I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there
was nothing left. No reason, no, uh, conscience, no understanding
and even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, of good or
evil, right or wrong. I met this six year old child with this blind,
pale, emotionless face, and the blackest eyes, the devil's eyes.
I spent eight years trying to reach him and then another seven trying
to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind
that boy's eyes was purely and simply evil...") |
|
Superman: The Movie (1978)
Flying
Over Metropolis with Superman
|
Lois Lane's
(Margot Kidder) internal monologue as she flies over Metropolis
with Superman (Christopher Reeve): ("Can you read my mind?
Do you know what it is you do to me? I don't know who you are. Just
a friend from another star. Here I am like a kid out of school.
Holding hands with a god. I'm a fool. Will you look at me, quivering,
like a little girl, shivering. You can see right through me. Can
you read my mind? Can you picture the things I am thinking of. Wondering
why you are. All the wonderful things you are? You can fly. You
belong to the sky. You and I can belong to each other. If you need
a friend, I'm the one to fly to. If you need to be loved, here I
am. Read my mind.") |
|
Watership Down (1978)
The
Rabbit Creation Myth
|
The opening
narration - a rabbit creation myth: ("Long ago, the great Frith
made the world. He made all the stars, and the Earth lived among
the stars. He made all the animals and birds, and at first, he made
them all the same. Now, among the animals in these days was El-Ahrairah,
the prince of rabbits. He had many friends, and they all ate grass
together. But after a time, the rabbits wandered everywhere, multiplying
and eating as they went. Then Frith said to El-Ahrairah, 'Prince
Rabbit, if you cannot control your people, I shall find ways to
control them'...”). |
|
Apocalypse Now (1979)
"The
Smell of Napalm in the Morning"
|
# 1
Lt. Col. Kilgore's (Robert Duvall) beachside monologue
during a raid: ("You smell that? Do
you smell that? ... Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells
like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know,
one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all
over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin'
dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole
hill. Smelled like ... victory. Someday this war's gonna end ...") |
|
| "I've
Seen the Horror" |
Col. Kurtz'
(Marlon Brando) 'horror' speech about hacked-off arms of inoculated
children: ("I've seen the horror. Horrors that you've seen.
But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have no right to
call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right
to do that, but you have no right to judge me... It's impossible
for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know
what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face, and you must make
a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If
they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly
enemies...") |
|
Being
There (1979)
Contempt
Toward Chauncey
|
Black cook
Louise's (Ruth Attaway) contemptuous speech as she watches TV and
sees the adoration by society for Chance-Chauncey Gardiner (Peter
Sellers): ("It's for sure a white man's world in America. Look
here: I raised that boy since he was the size of a piss-ant. And
I'll say right now, he never learned to read and write. No, sir.
Had no brains at all. Was stuffed with rice pudding between th'
ears. Shortchanged by the Lord, and dumb as a jackass. Look at him
now! Yes, sir, all you've gotta be is white in America, to get whatever
you want. Gobbledy-gook!") |
|
The
Jerk (1979)
That's
All I Need
|
The dim-witted,
long drawn-out bumbling of the 'jerk' Navin R. Johnson (Steve
Martin) about keeping some trivial possessions in his "That's
All I Need" speech to Marie Kimble Johnson (Bernadette Peters):
("Well, I'm gonna go then. And I don't need any of this.
I don't need this stuff and I don't need you. I don't need anything
-- except this, this ash tray, and that's the only thing I need
is this! I don't need nothin' but this - just this ash tray, and
this paddle game. The ash tray and the paddle game - and that's
all I need, and this - the remote control. The ash tray, the paddle
game and the remote control, that's all I need. And these matches.
The ash tray, and these matches, and the remote control, and the
paddle ball. And this lamp. That's right. This paddle game, and
the remote control, and the lamp and that's all I need. And that's all I need too! I don't need one other thing. Not
one - I need this - the paddle game and the chair and the remote
control and the matches, for sure. Well, what are you looking
at? What do you think I am, some kind of a jerk or something?
And this. That's all I need. The ash tray, the remote control,
and this paddle game, and this magazine and the chair...I don't
need one other thing, except my dog (The dog growls at him) I
don't need my dog") |
|
Kramer
vs. Kramer (1979)
Arguing
to Have Custody of Son
|
Separated
husband and nurturing father Ted Kramer's (Dustin Hoffman) eloquent and heart-felt court
defense of his right to have custody of son Billy (Justin Henry)
over his estranged ex-wife Joanna (Meryl Streep), and his admission
that he's not a perfect parent: ("If I understand it correctly, what means the most here is what's best for our son. What's best for Billy. My wife used to always say to me: 'Why can't
a woman have the same ambitions as a man?' I think you're right. And maybe I've learned that much. But by the same token I'd like to know, what law is it that says that a woman is a better
parent simply by virtue of her sex? I've had a lot of time to think about what it is it that makes somebody a good parent? You know, it has to do with constancy, it has to do with patience, it has to do with listening to him. It has to do with pretending to listen to him when you can't even listen anymore. It has to do with love, like she was saying. And I don't know where it's written that it says that a woman has a corner on that market, that a man has any less of those emotions than a woman does. Billy has a home with me. I've made it the best I could. It's not perfect. I'm not a perfect parent. Sometimes I don't have enough patience 'cause I forget that he's a little kid. But I'm there. We get up in the morning and then we eat breakfast, and he talks to me and then we go to school. And at night, we have dinner together and we talk then and I read to him. And we built a life together and we love each other. If you destroy that, it may be irreparable. Joanna, don't do that, please. Don't do it twice to him.") |
|
Manhattan (1979)
Struggling
to Write a Novel
|
Isaac Davis'
(Woody Allen) narration of failed attempts as he struggles to find
the perfect opening for his new novel: ("'Chapter One. He adored
New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion.' Uh, no, make
that: 'He-he...romanticized it all out of proportion. Now... to
him... no matter what the season was, this was still a town that
existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George
Gershwin.' Uh, now let me start this over...") and later: ("'He
was as... tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his black-rimmed
glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat.' -- I love
this! -- 'New York was his town. And it always would be.'") |
|
| "Why
Is Life Worth Living?" |
Isaac's idea
for a new book, dictated into a tape recorder, forcing recollections
of all the things that made life for him worth living: ("...Well,
all right, why is life worth living? That's a very good question.
Well, there are certain things I-I guess that make it worthwhile.
Uh, like what? Okay. Um, for me ... oh, I would say... what, Groucho
Marx, to name one thing... um, and Willie Mays, and um, uh, the
Second Movement of the Jupiter Symphony, and, um, Louis Armstrong's
recording of Potatohead Blues...
um, Swedish movies, naturally ... Sentimental
Education by Flaubert ... uh, Marlon Brando,
Frank Sinatra ... um, those incredible apples and pears by
Cézanne... uh, the crabs at Sam Wo's... Tracy's face...") |
|
The Muppet Movie (1979)
Kermit
Talking to Himself
|
The enchanting,
revelatory internal dialogue Kermit the Frog (voice of Jim Henson)
has with himself when stranded in the desert late at night: ("...Well,
then...I guess I was wrong when I said I never promised anyone.
I promised me.") |
|
| Kermit's
"I've Got a Dream" |
In their last
showdown, Kermit's diatribe at the persistent Doc Hopper (Charles
Durning) - the owner of the Doc Hopper's French Fried Frog Leg Restaurant
chain: ("Hopper, what's the matter with you? You gotta be crazy
chasin' me halfway across the country. Why are you doin' this to
me? ...I've got a dream too. But it's about singing and dancing
and making people happy. That's the kind of dream that gets better
the more people you share it with. And, well, I've found a whole
bunch of friends who have the same dream. And, well, it kind of
makes us like a family. You have anyone like that, Hopper? I mean,
once you get all those restaurants, who are you gonna share it with?
Who are your friends, Doc? Those guys? ...I don't
think you're a bad man, Doc. But I think if you look in your heart,
you'll find you really want to let me and my friends go to follow
our dream. But if that's not the kind of man you are and if what
I'm saying doesn't make any sense to you, well, then, go ahead and
kill me.") |
|
Caddyshack (1980)
Caddying
for The Dalai Lama
|
Speech-impaired greenskeeper
Carl Spackler's (Bill Murray) recounting of caddying for the Dalai
Lama in Tibet to anothr incredulous caddy: ("So I jump ship
in Hong Kong and I make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a
looper at a course over there in the Himalayas...A looper, you know,
a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who
do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son
of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So,
I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off
and whacks one -- big hitter, the Lama -- long, into a ten-thousand
foot crevice, right at the base of this glacier. And do you know
what the Lama says?... Gunga galunga...gunga -- gunga galunga. So
we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say: 'Hey,
Lama, hey, how about a little somethin', you know, for the effort,
you know.' And he says: 'Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when
you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.'
So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.")
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BEST FILM SPEECHES AND MONOLOGUES