|
 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.
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Film and Brief Title |
Speech |
Example |
Irreconcilable
Differences (1984)
 "Don't
Treat Your Kid Like a Dog"
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Neglected
nine year-old Casey Brodsky's (Drew Barrymore) "Don't treat
your kid like your dog" speech with a lawyer - about why she
wanted to sue her parents Albert and Lucy (Ryan O'Neal and Shelley
Long), a bickering Hollywood couple - for divorce: ("I'm just
a kid, and I don't know what I'm doing sometimes. But I think you
should know better when you're all grown up. I think you should
know how to act, and how to treat people. And I think if you once
loved someone enough to marry them, you should at least be nice
to them, even if you don't love 'em any more. And I think if you
have a child, you should treat that child like a human being and
not like a pet. Not like you treat your dog or somethin'. You know,
when you have a dog sometimes you forget he's there, and then when
you get lonely suddenly you remember him, and you remember how cute
he is and stuff, and you kiss him a lot, but then the next day when
you're busy again you don't notice him. That's how I've been treated
for the past four years, and you don't treat your kid like your
dog. It's not right.") |
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Love Streams (1984)
"I Know This Looks Crazy, But..."
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In a comic-pathetic scene, recently divorced Sarah Lawson's (Gene Rowlands) nervous, upbeat explanation to her alcoholic writer brother Robert Harmon (John Cassavettes) about why she purchased and adopted farm animals and brought them in a cab to his house, to give him "something to love": ("I know this looks crazy, but... but... I just got carried away. I mean, I couldn't resist these! These... are miniature horses! Aren't they small? I was only going to get one, but then I figured they'd get lonely, and if you have one, you may as well have two, and so I just - come on, sweetheart! - Anyway, the goat... the goat gives milk so that's not a waste. And the chickens, and the duck, well, uh, they'll have eggs... eventually and we can eat those. And they'll all live here at the park! Well, we'll talk about it in a minute. I'm going to take these in, and... and give them a little food and water, because it was really hot coming over.") |
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Paris,
Texas (1984)
"I
Knew These People"
|
One of the
best monologues in recent film history, Travis' (Harry Dean Stanton)
8-minute "I knew these people" monologue to Jane (Nastassja
Kinski), a summation of their own life together, while separated
by a one-way peep-show mirror, where Jane is unable to see Travis
until the climactic moment when he turns off the light so she can
view him: ("I knew these people. These two people. They were
in love with each other. The girl was very young, about 17 or 18,
I guess. And the guy was quite a bit older. He was kind of raggedy
and wild. And she was very beautiful, you know. And together they
turned everything into a kind of adventure. And she liked that....") |
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The
Terminator (1984)
Warning
About the Terminator - "It Absolutely Will Not Stop..."
|
Kyle Reese's
(Michael Biehn) description and warning about the unemotional,
relentless cyborg killer T-100 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to Sarah
Connor (Linda Hamilton), while driving: ("The Terminator's
an infiltration unit, part man, part machine. Underneath, it's
a hyper-alloy combat chassis - microprocessor-controlled, fully
armored. Very tough. But outside, it's living human tissue - flesh,
skin, hair, blood, grown for the cyborgs...The 600 series had
rubber skin. We spotted them easy. But these are new, they look
human. Sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot...");
then he famously warns her harshly: ("Listen, and understand!
That Terminator is out there! It can't be bargained with. It can't
be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And
it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead!") |
|
2010:
The Year We Make Contact (1984)
"A
World of Two Suns"
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Heywood Floyd's
(Roy Scheider) letter to his son while returning to Earth from Jupiter,
in the film's finale: ("Your children will be born in a world
of two suns. They will never know a sky without them. You can tell
them that you remember when there was a pitch black sky with no
bright star, and people feared the night. You can tell them when
we were alone when we couldn't point to the light and say to ourselves
there is life out there. Someday the children of the new sun will
meet the children of the old. I think they will be our friends") |
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The
Goonies (1985)
True
Childhood Confession
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The confession
by fat kid Lawrence 'Chunk' Cohen (Jeff Cohen) when interrogated
by the Fratellis: ("Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade,
I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle
Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew
School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs
and I blamed it on the dog... When my Mom sent me to the summer
camp for fat kids and then they served lunch, I got nuts and I pigged
out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done -
I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie
theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and
then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa
- and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the
audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting
sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in
my entire life.")
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Out
of Africa (1985)
"I
Had a Farm in Africa"
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The opening
flashback monologue of Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep) reflecting back
on her love of Africa, in this sweeping epic: ("...You see,
I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills. But it really
began before that; it really began in Denmark. And there I knew
two brothers. One was my lover, and one was my friend. I had a farm
in Africa...I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills.
I had a farm in Africa...") |
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Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
How
to Fake Out Parents and Avoid School
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The opening
monologue from smug and confident Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick)
about how to avoid school: ("The key to faking out the parents
is the clammy hands. It's a good non-specific symptom; I'm a big
believer in it. A lot of people will tell you that a good phony
fever is a dead lock, but, uh... you get a nervous mother, you
could wind up in a doctor's office. That's worse than school.
You fake a stomach cramp, and when you're bent over, moaning and
wailing, you lick your palms. It's a little childish and stupid,
but then, so is high school...Incredible! One of the worst performances
of my career and they never doubted it for a second") |
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| "Anyone?
Anyone?" |
The droning
and dry Economics teacher's (Ben Stein) lecture to bored students,
prompting often with 'Anyone?': ("In 1930, the Republican-controlled
House of Representatives, in an effort to alleviate the effects
of the... Anyone? Anyone?... the Great Depression, passed the...
Anyone? Anyone? The tariff bill? The Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? Which,
anyone? Raised or lowered?... Raised tariffs, in an effort to collect
more revenue for the federal government. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone
know the effects? It did not work, and the United States sank deeper
into the Great Depression. Today we have a similar debate over this.
Anyone know what this is? Class? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone seen this
before? The Laffer Curve. Anyone know what this says? It says that
at this point on the revenue curve, you will get exactly the same
amount of revenue as at this point. This is very controversial.
Does anyone know what Vice President Bush called this in 1980? Anyone?
Something-d-o-o economics. 'Voodoo' Economics") |
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The
Fly (1986)
"Insect
Politics"
|
The infamous
"insect politics" speech made by a decaying -- both physically
and mentally -- Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) to girlfriend Veronica
Quaife (Geena Davis): ("You have to leave now, and never come
back here. Have you ever heard of insect politics? Neither have
I. Insects... don't have politics. They're very... brutal. No compassion,
no compromise. We can't trust the insect. I'd like to become the
first... insect politician. Y'see, I'd like to, but... I'm afraid,
uh... I'm saying... I'm saying I - I'm an insect who dreamt he was
a man and loved it. But now the dream is over... and the insect
is awake... I'm saying: 'I'll hurt you if you stay'") |
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Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
"God,
She's Beautiful"
|
Elliot's
(Michael Caine) opening "God, she's beautiful" monologue
in which he lusts after his married sister-in-law Lee (Barbara
Hershey): ("God, she's beautiful. She's got the prettiest
eyes, and she looks so sexy in that sweater. I just want to be
alone with her and hold her and kiss her and tell her how much
I love her and take care of her. Stop it, you idiot. She's your
wife's sister. But I can't help it! I'm consumed by her. It's
been months now. I dream about her. I, I, I think about her at
the office. Oh, Lee. What am I gonna do? I hear myself mooning
over you, and it's disgusting. Before, when she squeezed past
me in the doorway, and I smelled that perfume on the back of her
neck, Jesus, I, I thought I was gonna swoon!") |
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| Disgust
at American Culture |
Bitter and
reclusive artist Frederick's (Max Von Sydow) dismissal of contemporary
American culture to his younger lover Lee (Barbara Hershey): ("It's
been ages since I sat in front of the TV... just changing channels
to find something. You see the whole culture - Nazis, deodorant
salesman, wrestlers, beauty contests, the talk shows -- can you
imagine the level of a mind that watches wrestling, hmm? -- but the worst are the fundamentalist
preachers, third-rate con men, telling the poor suckers that watch
them that they speak with Jesus... and to please send in
money. Money, money, money! If Jesus came back, and saw what's going
on in his name, he'd never stop throwing up") |
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| Life
Affirmation |
Suicidal Mickey
Sach's (Woody Allen) life-affirming monologue when he almost kills
himself and then finds refuge in a movie theatre that is playing Duck Soup (1933) - and his climactic
epiphany: ("One day about a month ago I really hit bottom.
You know, I just felt that in a godless universe, I didn't want
to go on living. Now I happen to own this rifle...which I loaded,
believe it or not, and pressed it to my forehead. And I remember
thinking, at the time, I'm gonna kill myself. Then I thought ...what
if I'm wrong? What if there is a God? I mean, after all, nobody
really knows that....I went into a movie house. I-I didn't know
what was playing or anything. I just, I just needed a moment to
gather my thoughts and, and be logical, and, and put the world back
into rational perspective. And I went upstairs to the balcony, and
I sat down and, you know, the movie was a-a-a film that I'd seen
many times in my life since I was a kid, an-and I always u-uh, loved
it. And, you know, I'm, I'm watching these people up on the screen,
and I started getting hooked on...on the film, you know? And I started
to feel how can you even think of killing yourself?...") |
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Hoosiers
(1986)
"We're
Gonna Be Winners!"
|
Coach Norman
Dale's (Gene Hackman) stirring motivational speech before the Indiana
state finals game: ("Forget about the crowds, the size of the
school, their fancy uniforms, and remember what got you here. Focus
on the fundamentals that we've gone over time and time again. And
most important, don't get caught up thinking about winning or losing
this game. If you put your effort and concentration into playing
to your potential, to be the best that you can be, I don't care
what the scoreboard says at the end of the game. In my book, we're
gonna be winners!") |
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True
Stories (1986)
"No
Concept of Weekends Anymore"
|
VariCorps Corporation's
founder Earl Culver's (Spalding Gray) astonishing, magical speech
on business and changing lifestyles (explaining the disappearance of weekends due to a new work ethic), told over his family's dinner table, consisting of
a meal of lobster, asparagus, and pigs in blankets; he explained about how scientists and engineers in Virgil,
Texas had fled from corporations and government jobs to start
their own businesses, creating confusion and chaos: ("They don't work for money anymore,
but to earn a place in heaven, which was a big motivating factor once upon a time, believe you and me. They are working and inventing because
they like it! Economics has become a spiritual thing. I must admit
it frightens me a little bit. They don't seem to see the difference
between working and not working. It has all become
a part of one's life. Linda! Larry! There's no concept of weekends anymore!") |
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Lying Woman's Tall-Tale Claims
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The Lying Woman's (Jo Harvey Allen) funny, bizarre, increasingly outrageous claims (about having amazing psychic powers due to the presence of a tail) told during a date with incredulous, lonely, and shy panda bear-shaped bachelor and country-western singer Louis Fyne (John Goodman) who has a "Wife Wanted" sign on his front lawn: ("Yeah, I'm in the construction business. Got work goin' on at five sites right now. Bought me a condo last week! Shoot, real close to here, as a matter of fact. And next week, I just think I might buy me another house. Darlin', I'll tell you what now, I just have a feel for it, do you know what I mean? Of course, bein' overly psychic sure doesn't hurt anything. It's paid off for me! Listen, Mr. Fry ... Fine, ... Louis, darlin', listen, I'll tell you somethin' if you promise not to tell another livin' soul. Now, I'd never tell this to anybody else, but I believe that part of my extra-psychic ability's connected up with the fact that I was born with a tail. Little ol' bitty hairy thing about that long - had it surgically removed when I was just five years old. My Momma kept it in a fruit jar, up in the medicine cabinet, right between the 4-Way Cold Tablets and the monkey blood. I'd get up every morning - first thing I'd go in there in the bathroom brush my teeth and stare at my own tail at the same time. Now, somethin' like that can give you power - and that's the truth. Then Momma got a wild hair one Sunday and she decided to go make a lot of money off of it, you know. Took it out to a big ol' swap meet and sold it to Lyndon Johnson's top Secret Service agent. And he told a good personal friend of mine that he was gonna sell it for even more money to the Smithsonian Institute. Shoot, he might as well, it wouldn't do him any good. It wasn't HIS tail! Gee, I tell you, I could write a book. That thing would be a best seller... Songs are easy. I wrote "Billie Jean" and half of Elvis' songs...Hell, yes! You know, they pay me and I keep quiet. Somebody's got to do it!") |
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Broadcast News (1987)
"It
Was Like Great Sex"
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Handsome news
reporter Tom Grunick's (William Hurt) delighted thanks to news producer
Jane Craig (Holly Hunter) for talking through a crucial live news
report and feeding him information about Libyan jets attacking an
American military base in Sicily: ("You're an amazing woman.
What a feeling having you inside my head... Indescribable -- you
knew just when to feed me the next line the second before I needed
it. There was like a rhythm we got into... it was like great
sex") |
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| Sour-Grapes
Prediction of the Future |
Insecure network
TV reporter Aaron Altman's (Albert Brooks) bitter and sour-grapes
prediction of everyone's future, including the future of his unrequited
love interest Jane Craig (Holly Hunter): ("I'll be walking
with my wife and two children. We'll bump into you on the street.
My youngest son will say something, and I'll tell him it's not nice
to make fun of single, fat ladies") |
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BEST FILM SPEECHES AND MONOLOGUES