|
 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.
Key to Iconic Symbol:
 - Entries in Blockbuster Video's Top 20 Best Film Speeches and Monologues with ranking number (#)
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
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Film and Brief Title |
Speech |
Example |
The Muppet Movie (1979)
 Kermit
Talking to Himself
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The enchanting,
revelatory internal dialogue Kermit the Frog (voice of Jim Henson)
has with himself (or his conscience) when stranded in the desert late at night: ("I didn't promise anybody anything. What do I know about Hollywood anyway? Just the dreams I got from sitting through too many double-features. [Kermit's inner self speaks in response] Then why did you leave the swamp in the first place? 'Cause some agent fella said I had talent. Hmm. He probably says that to everybody. On the other hand, if you hadn't left the swamp, you'd be feeling pretty miserable anyhow. Yeah, but then it would just be me feelin' miserable. Now I got a lady pig, and a bear and a chicken, a dog, a thing -- whatever Gonzo is. He's a little like a turkey. [Kermit's inner self becomes a literal second Kermit, sitting on a rock] Yeah, a little like a turkey. But not much. No, I guess not.Anyhow, I brought 'em all out here into the middle of nowhere. It's all my fault. Still... whether you promised them something or not, you gotta remember they wanted to come. But that's because they believed in me. No, they believed in the dream. Well, so do I, but-- You do? Yeah! Of course I do. Well then? Well, then...I guess I was wrong when I said I never promised anyone. I promised me.") After the internal monologue, Kermit gives a thoughtful "Hmm" as a shooting star flies over the horizon |
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| Kermit's
"I've Got a Dream" |
In their last
showdown - in homage to the classic western High Noon, Kermit (dressed in cowboy gear) delivered a diatribe to the persistent Doc Hopper (Charles
Durning) - the owner of the Doc Hopper's French Fried Frog Leg Restaurant
chain - who had a dream of owning a thousand frog-leg restaurants: ("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.") |
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Rocky II (1979)
What I Got to Lose?
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The hospital chapel scene of Mickey (Burgess Meredith), the cantankerous manager/trainer of Philadelphia bum/fighter Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), urging his disheartened boxer-friend to train and properly prepare for his championship bout rematch against Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) on Thanksgiving 1976, although Rocky was distraught over his ailing wife Adrian (Talia Shire) and was unresponsive while she was suffering from a coma after hemorrhaging during the premature, one-month early birth of their first child, a baby son: ("Well, Rocky, you got another shot. It's a second shot at the, I don't know, the biggest title in the world. And you're gonna be swapping punches with the most dangerous fighter in the world. And just in case, you know, your brain ain't workin' so good, all this happens pretty soon and you ain't ready. You're nowhere near in any shape. So I say, you know, for God's sake, why don't you stand up and fight this guy hard like you done before? That was beautiful. But don't lay down in front of him like this! Like, I don't know, like some kind of mongrel or something. 'Cause he's gonna kick your face in pieces, you know that? That's right. This guy just don't wanna win, you know. He wants to bury you, he wants to humiliate you. He wants to prove to the whole world that you was nothing but some kind of a freak the first time out. And he said you're a one-time lucky bum. Well, now, I don't, I don't wanna get mad, in a biblical place like this, but I think you're a hell of a lot more than that, kid. A hell of a lot! No, wait a minute. If you wanna blow it, if you wanna blow this thing, dammit, I'm gonna blow it with you. If you want to stay here, I'll stay with you. I'll stay with you. Yeah. I'll stay and pray. What I got to lose?") |
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Caddyshack (1980)
Caddying
for The Dalai Lama
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Speech-impaired, wacky Bushwood Country Club greenskeeper
Carl Spackler's (Bill Murray) recounting, to another incredulous caddy, of how he once caddied for the Dalai
Lama in Tibet: ("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 'em 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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The
Empire Strikes Back (1980)
"My
Ally is the Force"
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Jedi Master Yoda's (voice
of Frank Oz) response to young Jedi trainee Luke Skywalker's (Mark Hamill) claim that
his submerged X-wing fighter ship is too large to levitate with the Force: ("Use the force. Yes. Now, the stone...Feel it. Concentrate!...(Luke: "Oh, no. We'll never get it out now.") So certain are you. (sighs) Always with you it cannot be done. Hear you nothing that I say? (Luke: "Master, moving stones around is one thing. This is totally different.") No! No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned. (Luke: "All right, I'll give it a try.") No! Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try. (Luke fails: "I can't. It's too big.") Size matters
not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmph! And well
you should not, for my ally is the Force. And a powerful
ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds
us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.
You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you, me, the tree, the
rock, everywhere! Yes, even between the land and the ship. (Luke: "You want the impossible." (Yoda levitates the ship and sets it on dry land) Mmm. (Luke: "I don't, I don't believe it") That is why you fail") |
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9 to
5 (1980)
Threatening
Words Toward a Chauvinistic Office Boss
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Doralee's
(Dolly Parton) threatening words to her chauvinistic office boss
Franklin Hart (Dabney Coleman) about her compromised reputation and his bragging about their having an affair:
("Well, that explains it. That's why these people treat me like some dime store floozy...They think I'm screwin' the boss...And you just love it, don't you? It gives you some sort of cheap thrill like knockin' over pencils and pickin' up papers...Get your scummy hands off of me. Look, I've been straight with you from the first day I got here. And I put up with all your pinchin' and starin' and chasin' me around the desk 'cause I need this job, but this is the last straw...Look, I got a gun out there in my purse, and up until now, I've been forgivin' and forgettin' because of
the way I was brought up. But I'll tell you one thing: if you ever say
another word about me or make another indecent proposal, I'm gonna
get that gun of mine and I'm gonna change you from a rooster to
a hen with one shot! Don't think I can't do it." His one word response after she left his office: "S--t!") |
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The
Shining (1980)
"You're
Distracting Me"
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Jack Torrance's
(Jack Nicholson) foul-mouthed, annoyed reaction to wife Wendy (Shelley
Duvall) invading his personal space while writing on his typewriter:
("Wendy, let me explain something to you. Whenever you come
in here and interrupt me, you're breaking my concentration. You're
distracting me. And it will then take me time to get back to where
I was. Understand?...I'm gonna make a new rule. Whenever I'm in
here, and you hear me typing, whether you don't hear me typing,
whatever the f--k you hear me doing in here, when I'm in here, that
means that I am working. That means don't come in. Now do you think
you can handle that?...Why don't you start right now and get the
f--k out of here?") |
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| "I'm
Not Gonna Hurt Ya" |
Jack's infamous
giggling, murderous reaction to Wendy swinging at him with a bat
on the stairwell: ("...I'm not gonna hurt ya. Wendy, darling,
'light of my life'. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish
my sentence. I said, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just gonna bash
your brains in. I'm gonna bash 'em right the f--k in!") |
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Clash
of the Titans (1981)
Immortalized
as Constellations of Stars
|
One of the
legendary Laurence Olivier's last great monologues, as Zeus decreeing
that the characters from the story be immortalized as constellations
of stars: ("Perseus and Andromeda will be happy together. Have
fine sons...rule wisely...And to perpetuate the story of his courage,
I command that from henceforth, he will be set among the stars and
constellations. He, Perseus, the lovely Andromeda, the noble Pegasus,
and even the vain Cassiopeia. Let the stars be named after them
forever. As long as man shall walk the Earth and search the night
sky in wonder, they will remember the courage of Perseus forever.
Even if we, the gods, are abandoned or forgotten, the stars will
never fade. Never. They will burn till the end of the time.") |
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Mad Max 2 (1981) (aka The Road Warrior)
"All That Remains Are Memories" Opening
Voice-Over
|
The opening voice-over by the Narrator
(Harold Baigent) (Australian version): ("My life fades, my
vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of
chaos, ruined dreams, this wasted land. Most of all, I remember
the man we called Max, the road warrior. To understand who he was
we have to go back to the other time. When the world was powered
by the black fuel, and the desert sprung great cities of pipe and
steel. Gone now, swept away. For reasons long forgotten two mighty
warrior tribes went to war and touched off a blaze which engulfed
them all. Without fuel they were nothing. They'd built a house of
straw. Suddenly their machines sputtered and stopped. Their leaders
talked and talked and talked, but nothing could stem the avalanche.
Their world crumbled. Cities exploded. A whirlwind of looting and
a firestorm of fear. Men began to feed on men. On the roads it was
a white-line nightmare. Only those mobile enough to scavenge, brutal
enough to pillage would survive. The gangs took over the highways,
waging war for a tank of juice. Good brave men were battered and
smashed. Men like Max, who ruled the highways in the name of the
law. Who became a lover, husband, father. And with the roar of an
engine, he lost everything, his woman, his child, his world. He
wandered out into the wasteland, and here he would learn, amid the
dark wreckage, that the fire which burns in the heart of man, will
endure. Hope survives.") |
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Mommie
Dearest (1981)
"No
Wire Hangers!" Outburst
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Physically-abusive mother and star actress Joan Crawford's (Faye Dunaway) famous, unintentionally funny but violent rant to cowering daughter Christina (Mara Hobel) in her bed, in this cult film classic: "NO...MORE.. WIRE... HANGERS! What's wire hangers doing in this closet when I told you: no wire hangers EVER?! I work and work 'till I'm half-dead, and I hear people saying, "She's getting old." And what do I get? A daughter... who cares as much about the beautiful dresses I give her... as she cares about me! What's wire hangers doing in this closet? Answer me! I buy you beautiful dresses, and you treat them like they were some dishrag. You threw a three hundred dollar dress on a wire hanger! We'll see how many you've got if they're hidden somewhere. We'll see... we'll see. Get out of that bed. All of this is coming out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. Out. You've got any more? We're gonna see how many wire hangers you've got in your closet. Wire hangers, why? Why? Christina, get out of that bed. Get out of that bed. You live in the most beautiful house in Brentwood and you don't care if your clothes are stretched out from wire hangers. And your room looks like some two-dollar-a-week furnished room in some two-bit back street town in Oklahoma. Get up. Get up. Clean up this mess." |
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Time
Bandits (1981)
Recreating
the World as a Technocracy
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Evil's (David
Warner) bragging about how he would recreate the world as a nightmarish
technocracy, if he was given the chance: ("When I have the
Map, I will be free, and the world will be different, because I
have understanding... of digital watches. And soon I shall have
understanding of videocassette recorders and car telephones. And
when I have understanding of them, I shall have understanding of
computers. And when I have understanding of computers, I shall be
the Supreme Being! God isn't interested in technology. He knows
nothing of the potential of the microchip or the silicon revolution.
Look how he spends his time! Forty-three species of parrots! Nipples
for men!... Slugs! He created slugs. They can't hear! They can't
speak! They can't operate machinery! I mean, are we not in the hands
of a lunatic?... If I were creating a world, I wouldn't mess about
with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers,
eight o'clock, day one!") |
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Blade Runner (1982)
"Time
to Die"
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Roy Batty's
(Rutger Hauer) closing thoughts before dying - a moving swan song as he eloquently spoke about his own memories
of the distant outposts in space that would be lost forever after his death; his
android memories, as a top-of-the-line combat model, spoke of violent and
aggressive attacks (attack ships, C-beams) that he presumably witnessed: ("I've seen things
you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder
of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser
gate. All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain.
Time to die") |
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Fast
Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
A
Five-Point Plan to Score With Girls
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Lecherous ladies-man
Mike Damone's (Robert Romanus) five-point plan of tips on how to
score with girls: ("...And five, now this is the most important,
Rat. When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on
side one of Led Zeppelin IV") |
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First Blood (1982)
"Civilian Life is Nothing!"
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Ex-Green Beret Vietnam vet John
Rambo's (Sylvester Stallone) final impassioned, preachy speech to Green Beret Col. Samuel Trautman (Richard Crenna), his former commander, about his hostile, unjust reception as a returning Vietnam War Vet: ("Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it off! It wasn't my war! You asked me, I didn't ask you! And I did what I had to do to win! But somebody wouldn't let us win! And I come back to the world and I see all those maggots at the airport, protestin' me, spittin'. Calling me baby killer and all kinds of vile crap! Who are they to protest me, huh? Who are they? Unless they've been me and been there and know what the hell they're yelling about!...For me, civilian life is nothing! In the field, we had a code of honor: You watch my back, I watch yours. Back here, there's nothin'!...Back there, I could fly a gunship, I could drive a tank, I was in charge of million dollar equipment. Back here, I can't even hold a job parking cars!") |
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The
Last Unicorn (1982)
"Where
Have You Been?"
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Weary, middle-aged
Molly Grue's (voice of Tammy Grimes) powerful diatribe at the Unicorn
(voice of Mia Farrow) [reminiscient of Ruth Popper's (Cloris Leachman)
explosive tirade at Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) in the conclusion of The
Last Picture Show (1971)]: ("No, it can't be. Can it
be? Where have you been? Where have you been? Damn you! Where have
you been?...where were you twenty years ago? Ten years ago? Where
were you when I was new? When I was one of those innocent young
maidens you always come to? How dare you! How dare you come to me
now, when I am this!") before forgiving the Unicorn (as Ruth forgave Sonny) ("That's all right. I forgive you. I forgive you...") |
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| "They
are MINE!" |
Dangerously
obsessive King Haggard's (voice of Christopher Lee) long, sublime
speech to disguised unicorn Lady Amalthea (Farrow): ("I know
you! I almost knew you as soon as I saw you on the road coming to
my door. Since then, there is no movement of yours that has not
betrayed you! A pace, a glance, a turn of the head, the flash of
your throat as you breathe... even your way of standing perfectly
still - they were all my spies!") before telling her why he
captured all the unicorns in the world: ("...they are MINE!
They belong to ME! The Red Bull gathered them one-by-one and I bade
him drive each one into the sea!...I like to watch them. They fill
me with joy. The first time I felt it, I thought I was going to
die. I said to the Red Bull, 'I must have them! I must have all
of them, all there are! For nothing makes me happy but their shining,
and their grace.' So, the Red Bull caught them. Each time I see
the unicorns -- MY unicorns -- it is like that morning in the woods,
and I feel young, in spite of myself!") |
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Liquid Sky (1982)
"You Wanted to Know Where I'm From?"
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Drug-dealing, mean lesbian girlfriend Adrian (Paula E. Sheppard) dared to have intercourse with bisexual, face-painted coke-addict and New Wave punk model Margaret (Anne Carlisle) in this science-fiction cult-classic oddity, after being warned that she might die: "Adrian, just stay away from me, I'm a killer...I don't want you...cause I'm killing all the people that I f--k"...Don't do it Adrian!", but Adrian insisted: "These good people want to see me f--k you" - and as predicted, she disintegrated after orgasming; Margaret admitted: "I kill with my cunt" and then began turning off all the lights in the room; she started a long monologue about who she was, while applying flourescent makeup in blacklight; she described her traditional upbringing and how she came to New York to be a model, where she was taught or molded to fit into norms - with her view that being "fashionable" (and androgynous) was just as bad as being traditional: ("You wanted to know where I'm from? I'm from Connecticut, Mayflower stock. I was taught that my prince would come, and he would be a lawyer, and I would have his children. And on the weekends we would barbecue. And all the other princes and their princesses would come, and they would say: 'Delicious, delicious.' Oh, how boring.
So I was taught that I should come to New York, become an independent woman. And my prince would come, and he would be an agent, and he would get me a role, and I would make my living waiting on tables. I would wait - till thirty, till forty, till fifty. And I was taught that to be an actress, one should be fashionable, and to be fashionable is to be androgynous. And I am androgynous not less than David Bowie himself. And they call me beautiful, and I kill with my cunt. Isn't it fashionable? Come on, who's next? I'll take lessons. How to get into show business: Be nice to your professor. Be nice to your agent. Be nice to your audience. Be nice. How to be a woman: Want them when I want you. How to be free and equal: F--k women instead of men, and you'll discover a whole kingdom of freedom. Men won't step on you anymore. Women will. So come on, who's next? Who wants to teach me? Come on, teach me. Are you afraid? You're right, because they're all dead. All my teachers")
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Poltergeist
(1982)
The
Unseen Spirits
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The spellbinding
monologue by eccentric Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein) about Carol Anne's
(Heather O'Rourke) relation to the unseen spirits that have pulled
her into their sphere: ("There is no death. There is only a
transition to a different sphere of consciousness. Carol Anne is
not like those she's with. She's a living presence in their spiritual,
earth-bound plane. They're attracted to the one thing about her
that's different from themselves. Her life-force - it is very strong.
It gives off its own illumination. It is a light that implies life
and memory of love and home and earthly pleasures, something they
desperately desire but can't have anymore...There's one more thing
- a terrible presence is in there with her. So much rage, so much
betrayal. I've never sensed anything like it...") |
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Star
Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Spock's Final Words
|
Dying, radiation-poisoned Mr. Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) final words to Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) after giving his life for the crew of USS Enterprise: ("Ship out of danger? (Yes) Don't grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh (the needs of the few). Or the one. I never took the Kobayashi Maru test, until now. What do you think of my solution? (Spock knelt down) I have been, and always shall be, your friend. (Spock placed his hand on the chamber glass) Live long, and prosper"); Kirk placed his hand opposite Spock's hand as his friend slowly collapsed, slumped down and expired next to him; Kirk quietly said: "No" as Spock died |
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Eulogy
for Mr. Spock
|
Admiral James
T. Kirk's (William Shatner) difficult eulogy for his best friend,
Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) who had sacrificed his life (by exposure to radiation) to save the doomed U.S.S. Enterprise from the Genesis Device explosion, although his death gave birth to a new planetoid around which his casket would orbit: ("We are assembled here today to pay final respects to
our honored dead. And yet it should be noted that in the midst of our sorrow, this death takes place
in the shadow of new life, the sunrise of a new world; a world that
our beloved comrade gave his life to protect and nourish. He did
not feel this sacrifice a vain or empty one, and we will not debate
his profound wisdom at these proceedings. Of my friend, I can only
say this. Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his
was the most... human") |
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BEST FILM SPEECHES AND MONOLOGUES