|
 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 |
The Abyss (1989)
 "LIVE!"
|
The famous,
emotionally raw resuscitation scene in which husband Virgil "Bud"
Brigman (Ed Harris) valiantly refuses to accept estranged wife Lindsey's
(Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) death by drowning while trying to
revive her: ("No! No, she has a strong heart! She wants to
LIVE! C'mon, Linds! C'mon baby! Zap her again! Do it!... Do it!...
Come on baby, come on baby!... Come on, breathe baby. Goddamn it,
BREATHE! Goddamn it, you bitch, you never backed away from anything
in your life! Now fight! Fight! Fight! Right now! Do it! FIGHT,
GODDAMNED IT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Fiiiiiiiiiiight!") |
|
"I'll
Always Be With You" |
Lindsey's
heartfelt message to her husband Bud, relayed to him as he descends
dangerously into a deep ocean trench: ("It's not easy being
a cast-iron bitch. It takes discipline, years of training... A lot
of people don't appreciate that... I know how alone you feel...
alone in all that cold blackness... but I'm there in the dark with
you. Bud, you're not alone. You remember that time, you were pretty
drunk, you probably don't remember... the power went out at the
old apartment, the one on Orange Street... and we were staring at
that one little candle, and I said something really dumb like that
candle is me, like every one of us is out there alone in the dark
in this life... and you lit another candle and put it beside mine
and said 'that's me'... and we stared at the two candles, and then
we... well, if you remember any of it, I'm sure you remember the
next part. Bud, there are two candles in the dark. I'm with you.
I'll always be with you.")
|
|
Crimes & Misdemeanors (1989)
Thoughts
on Moral Choices
|
Professor
Louis Levy's (Martin S. Bergmann, a non-actor and therapist friend
of Woody Allen) closing monologue about moral choices during the
montage finale of characters: ("We're all faced throughout
our lives with agonizing decisions, moral choices. Some are on a
grand scale, most of these choices are on lesser points. But we
define ourselves by the choices we have made. We are, in fact, the
sum total of our choices...") |
|
Field of Dreams (1989)
"That's
My Wish"
|
Dr. Archibald
"Moonlight" Graham's (Burt Lancaster in his last theatrical film role) poignant wish to fulfill his dream: a chance
to bat in the major leagues: ("A chance to squint at a sky
so blue that it hurts your eyes just to look at it. To feel the
tingle in your arms as you connect with the ball, to run the bases,
stretch a double into a triple, and flop face-first into third,
wrap your arms around the bag. That's my wish, Ray Kinsella. That's
my wish. And is there enough magic out there in the moonlight to
make this dream come true?") |
|
| The
One Constant Through All the Years - Baseball, and "People
Will Come" |
Disillusioned
and elusive author Terence Mann's (James Earl Jones) poignant "People
will come" speech to Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) - an elucidation
about the purpose of the game of baseball in American history: ("Ray.
People will come, Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't
even fathom. They'll turn into your driveway, not knowing for sure
why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door, as innocent as
children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you
look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass
over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they
have and peace they lack...And they'll walk off to the bleachers
and sit in their short sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find
they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines where
they sat when they were children, and cheered their heroes. And
they'll watch the game, and it'll be as if they'd dipped themselves
in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they'll have to
brush them away from their faces... People will come, Ray...The
one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America
has rolled by like an army of steamrollers; it has been erased like
a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has
marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray.
It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again.
Ohhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come...") |
|
Glory (1989)
"So
Full of Hate"
|
Sgt. Maj. John
Rawlins' (Morgan Freeman) angry chastisement and dressing down of
Trip (Denzel Washington) after he calls Rawlins "the white
man's dog": ("And who are you? So full of hate that you
have to fight everybody, because you've been whipped and chased
by hounds. Well that might not be living, but it sure as hell ain't
dying. And dying's been what these white boys have been doing for
going on three years now, dying by the thousands, dying for you,
fool. And all this time I keep askin' myself, when, O Lord, when
gonna be our time? Gonna come a time when we all gonna hafta ante
up and kick in like men, LIKE MEN! You watch who you callin' nigger!
If there's any niggers around here, it's YOU, just a stupid-ass,
swamp-runnin' nigger! And if you not careful, that's all you ever
gonna be!") |
|
| "I
Love the 54th" |
Trip's heartfelt
acknowledgement that the Massachusetts 54th is his only family during
a pre-battle spiritual: ("...I ain't much about no prayin',
now. I ain't never had no family, and... killed off my mama. Well,
I just... Y'all's the only-est family I got. I love the 54th. Ain't
even much a matter what happens tomorrow, 'cause we men, ain't we?...") |
|
Lean on Me (1989)
Address to Eastside High School Staff and then to the Eastside
High School Students
|
# 19
Principal Joe Clark's (Morgan Freeman) two addresses:
first to the Eastside HS Staff, and then to the school's students:
("You tried it your way for years. And your students can't
even get past the Minimum Basic Skills Test. That means they can
hardly read!! They've given me less than one year, one school
year to turn this place around, to get those test scores up, so
the State will not take us over to perform the tasks which you
have failed to do! To educate our children! Forget about the way
it used to be. This is not a damn democracy. We are in a state
of emergency and my word is law. There's only one boss in this
place, and that's me - the "HNIC". Are there any questions?")
("I want all of you to take a good look at
these people on the risers behind me. These people have been here
up to five years and done absolutely nothing. These people are
drug dealers and drug users. They have taken up space; they have
disrupted the school; they have harassed your teachers; and they
have intimidated you. Well, times are about to change. You will
not be bothered in Joe Clark's school. These people are incorrigible.
And since none of them can graduate anyway, you are all expurgated.
You are dismissed! You are out of here forever! I wish you well...
My motto is simple: If you do not succeed in life, I don't want
you to blame your parents. I don't want you to blame the white
man! I want you to blame yourselves. The responsibility is yours!") |
|
When Harry Met Sally...
(1989)
Men
and Women Can't Be Friends - Amendment to the Rule
|
Harry Burns'
(Billy Crystal) discussion with his best friend Sally Albright (Meg
Ryan) with an amendment to his "rule" that men and women
can't be friends: ("Yes, that's right, they can't be friends.
Unless both of them are involved with other people, then they can.
...This is an amendment to the earlier rule...If the two people
are in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted") |
|
| Remembering
a Previous Relationship |
Sally's resigned
explanation to Harry about her relationship and subsequent divorce
with Joe (Steven Ford): ("...Joe and I used to talk about it,
and we'd say we were so lucky we have this wonderful relationship,
we can have sex on the kitchen floor and not worry about the kids
walking in. We can fly off to Rome on a moment's notice. And then
one day I was taking Alice's little girl for the afternoon because
I'd promised to take her to the circus, and we were in the cab playing
'I Spy' - I spy a mailbox, I spy a lamp-post - and she looked out
the window and she saw this man and this woman with these two little
kids. And the man had one of the little kids on his shoulders, and
she said, 'I spy a family.' And I started to cry. You know, I just
started crying. And I went home, and I said, 'The thing is, Joe,
we never do fly off to Rome on a moment's notice.'"); when
Harry inquires about "the kitchen floor", Sally says wistfully:
("Not once. It's this very cold, hard Mexican ceramic tile...") |
|
| All
the Ways That I Love You |
Harry's "why
I love you" speech to Sally at a New Year's Eve party: ("How
about this way? I love that you get cold when it's seventy-one degrees
out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich.
I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're
lookin' at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with
you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that
you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at
night. And it's not because I'm lonely. And it's not because it's
New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you
want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the
rest of your life to start as soon as possible!") |
|
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Scissorhands
Is Still Alive
|
The fanciful
conclusion and closing monologue by an older Kim Boggs (Winona
Ryder), when she tells her grand-daughter (Gina Gallagher) how she
knows that Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp) is still alive, creating ice sculptures in the castle/mansion above the town, and causing snow showers, with a concluding flashback of a younger Kim dancing in the snowflakes: ("I
don't know. Not for sure. But I believe he is. You see, before
he came down here, it never snowed. And afterwards, it did. If he
weren't up there now, I don't think it would be snowing. Sometimes...
you can still catch me dancing in it.") |
|
The Exorcist III (1990)
A
Fish Story
|
The humorous,
deadpan story Detective Bill Kinderman (George C. Scott) tells friend
Fr. Joseph Dyer (Bill Flanders) about a fish his mother-in-law bought:
("My wife's mother is visiting, Father, and Tuesday she's cooking
us a carp. It's a tasty fish, I'm not against it. But because it's
supposedly filled with impurities, Mary's mother buys it alive,
and for three days now it's been swimming in my bathtub. Up and
down. Cleaning out the impurities. And I hate it. I can't stand
the sight of it moving its gills. Now, you're standing very close
to me, Father. Have you noticed? Yes. I haven't had a bath in days.
I never go home until the carp is asleep. I'm afraid that if I see
it while it's swimming... I'll kill it.") |
|
| Decapitation
Without Spilling Blood |
Patient X's
(Brad Dourif) horrific description of how he decapitated victim
Father Dyer: ("It's too bad about Father Dyer. I killed him,
you know. An interesting problem, but finally... it worked! First,
a bit of the ole succinylcholine to permit one to work without,
ah, annoying distractions, then... a three foot catheter threaded
directly into the inferior vena cava -- or, superior vena cava.
It's a matter of taste, I think, don't you? Then the tube moves
through the vein, under the crease of the arm, into the vein that
leads directly into the heart, and then, you just hold up the legs
and you SQUEEZE the blood manually into the tube from the arms and
the legs. There's a little shaking and pounding at the end for the
dregs -- it isn't perfect, there's a little blood left I'm afraid.
BUT, regardless, the overall effect is astonishing! And isn't
that REALLY what counts in the end? Yes, of course, GOOD SHOW BIZ,
Lieutenant, the EFFECT! And then, off comes the head without spilling
one single drop of blood. Now I call that SHOWMANSHIP, Lieutenant!") |
|
| "I
Believe" |
Kinderman's
over-the-top "I believe" speech to possessed Patient X
(now Jason Miller), who asks him if he'd helped his unbelief: ("Yes,
I believe... I believe in death. I believe in disease. I believe
in injustice and inhumanity and torture and anger and hate... I
believe in murder. I believe in pain. I believe in cruelty and infidelity.
I believe in slime and stink and every crawling, putrid thing...
every possible ugliness and corruption, you son-of-a-bitch. I BELIEVE...
in you.") |
|
GoodFellas (1990)
"I
Always Wanted to Be a Gangster"
|
Gangster Henry
Hill's (Ray Liotta) "As far back as I can remember, I always
wanted to be a gangster" monologue in the opening: ("As
far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster. To
me, being a gangster was better than being President of the United
States...Even before I first wandered into the cabstand for an after-school
job, I knew I wanted to be a part of them. It was there that I knew
that I belonged. To me, it meant being somebody in a neighborhood
that was full of nobodies. They weren't like anybody else. I mean,
they did whatever they wanted. They double-parked in front of a
hydrant and nobody ever gave them a ticket. In the summer when they
played cards all night, nobody ever called the cops") |
|
| Intoxicated
With Drugs Before Being Busted |
The famous
"drug bust" sequence in which Henry narrates a paranoid,
hyperactive monologue while heavily intoxicated with drugs as he
has to sell guns and ammunition, plan a drug courier trip with his
kids' babysitter Lois (Welker White), and prepare a large Italian
dinner for his family while being surveyed overhead by an FBI helicopter
in the space of a caption-timed 16 frantic hours: ("...I had
to start braising the beef, pork butt and veal shanks for the tomato
sauce. It was Michael's favorite. I was making ziti with the meat
gravy and I'm planning to roast some peppers over the flames and
I was gonna put on some string beans with some olive oil and garlic,
and I had some beautiful cutlets that were cut just right, that
I was going to fry up before dinner just as an appetizer. So I was
home for about an hour. Now my plan was to start the dinner early
so Karen and I could unload the guns that Jimmy didn't want, and
then get the package for Lois to take to Atlanta for her trip later
that night..."); the monologue ends when Henry is busted by
the DEA, and he coolly says with relief: ("For a second, I
thought I was dead, but when I heard all the noise I knew they were
cops. Only cops talk that way. If they had been wiseguys, I wouldn't
have heard a thing. I would've been dead.")
|
|
| Living
Like a Schnook |
Henry's closing monologue while testifying in court about his criminal life
before it all came to an end: ("I had paper bags filled with
jewelry stashed in the kitchen. I had a sugar bowl full of coke
next to the bed..."), and finishing his monologue at his witness-protected
suburban doorstep: ("...Right after I got here I ordered some
spaghetti with marinara sauce and I got egg noodles and ketchup.
I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a
schnook") |
|
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BEST FILM SPEECHES AND MONOLOGUES