|
 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 |
Fargo
(1996)
 "It's
a Beautiful Day"
|
Marge Gunderson's
(Frances McDormand) weary, bitter, disappointed diatribe at captured
murderer/kidnapper Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare), who is handcuffed
in the back of her police car: ("So that was Mrs. Lundegaard
on the floor in there. And I guess that was your accomplice in the
wood chipper. And those three people in Brainerd. And for what?
For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money,
you know. Don't you know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful
day. Well, I just don't understand it.") |
|
From Dusk Till Dawn
(1996)
All Kinds of Pussies
|
Barker Chet Pussy's (Cheech Marin) sales pitch to customers about the varieties of pussies available for purchase at the Mexican nightclub The Titty Twister that was open from dusk to dawn: ("All right, pussy, pussy, pussy! Come on in pussy lovers! Here at the Titty Twister we're slashing pussy in half! Give us an offer on our vast selection of pussy. This is a pussy blow out! All right, we got white pussy, black pussy, Spanish pussy, yellow pussy, we got hot pussy, cold pussy, we got wet pussy, we got [sniffs] smelly pussy, we got hairy pussy, bloody pussy, we got snappin' pussy, we got silk pussy, velvet pussy, Naugahyde pussy, we even got horse pussy, dog pussy, chicken pussy! Come on, you want pussy, come on in, pussy lovers! If we don't got it, you don't want it! Come on in, pussy lovers!") |
|
Independence Day
(1996)
Our
Independence Day
|
President Thomas J. Whitmore's
(Bill Pullman) speech to pilots before the final attack: ("Good
morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others
from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial
battle in the history of mankind. Mankind - that word should have
new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty
differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests.
Perhaps it's fate that today is the 4th of July, and you will once
again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression,
or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our
right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of
July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the
day the world declared in one voice: 'We will not go quietly into
the night! We will not vanish without a fight!" We're going
to live on! We're going to survive!' Today we celebrate our Independence
Day!") |
|
The People
Vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
'Pornography'
Rights
|
Larry Flynt's
(Best Actor-nominated Woody Harrelson) powerful speech before a backdrop of images of sex and violence/murder, asking why photographing sex and nudity is criminally pornographic, but violence and murder is not, and illustrating his point with
famous Pulitzer Prize-winning photos of extreme violence and gore,
and offering his thoughts on free speech: ("...If the
First Amendment will protect a scumbag like me, then it'll protect
all of you -- 'cause I'm the worst...") |
|
Trainspotting (1996)
"Choose Life"
|
# 7
Mark 'Rent-Boy' Renton's (Ewan McGregor) "choose
life" diatribe: ("Choose life. Choose a job. Choose
a career. Choose a family, Choose a f--king big television. Choose
washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin
openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance.
Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home.
Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage.
Choose a three piece suit on hire purchased in a range of f--king
fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the f--k you are on a Sunday
morning. Choose sittin' on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing
game shows, stuffing f--king junk food into your mouth. Choose
rottin' away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable
home, nothing more than an embarassment to the selfish, f--ked-up
brats that you've spawned to replace yourself. Choose a future.
Choose life...But why would I want to do a thing like that? I
chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons?
There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?
So why did I do it? I could offer a million answers, all false.
The truth is that I'm a bad person, but that's gonna change, I'm
going to change. This is the last of that sort of thing, and I'm
cleanin' up and I'm movin' on, going straight and choosin' life.
I'm lookin' forward to it already. I'm going to be just like you:
the job, the family, the f--king big television, the washing machine,
the car, the compact disc and electrical tin opener, good health,
low cholesterol, dental insurance, mortgage, starter home, leisure-wear,
luggage, three-piece suite, DIY, game shows, junk food, children, walks in the park, nine to five, good at golf, washing the car,
choice of sweaters, family Christmas, indexed pension, tax exemption,
clearing the gutters, getting by, looking ahead, the day you die.") |
|
Amistad
(1997)
Declaring
the Independence of Slaves
|
Former President
John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) defense of the Amistad African captives before the US Supreme Court in the mid-1800s, and
a demonstration of the truths of the Declaration of Independence:
("...if the South is right, what are we to do with that embarrassing,
annoying document, The Declaration of Independence? What
of its conceits? 'All men...created equal,' ' inalienable rights,'
' life,' 'liberty,' and so on and so forth? What on earth are we
to do with this? I have a modest suggestion. (He tears up a copy
of the Declaration)"
|
|
Devil's
Advocate (1997)
Denunciation
of God
|
Satanic John
Milton's (Al Pacino) over-the-top rant about the nature of God:
("Let me give you a little inside information about God. God
likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts.
He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do,
I swear for His own amusement, His own private, cosmic gag reel,
He sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look
-- but don't touch. Touch -- but don't taste. Taste -- don't swallow.
Ahahaha. And while you're jumpin' from one foot to the next, what
is He doing? He's laughin' His sick, f--kin' ass off. He's a tight-ass.
He's a sadist. He's an absentee landlord. Worship that? Never.") |
|
Good Will Hunting
(1997)
Debate at the 'Bow and Arrow' (Harvard) Bar
|
# 20
Will Hunting's (Matt Damon) debate words in a
bar to a pretentious student: ("Of course that's your contention.
You're a first year grad student. You just got finished readin'
some Marxian historian -- Pete Garrison probably. You're gonna
be convinced of that 'til next month when you get to James Lemon,
and then you're gonna be talkin' about how the economies of Virginia
and Pennsylvania were entrepreneurial and capitalist way back
in 1740. That's gonna last until next year -- you're gonna be
in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talkin' about, you know, the
Pre-Revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military
mobilization... Wood drastically -- Wood drastically underestimates
the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially
inherited wealth.' You got that from Vickers, 'Work in Essex County,'
page 98, right? Yeah, I read that too. Were you gonna plagiarize
the whole thing for us? Do you have any thoughts of your own on
this matter? Or do you...is that your thing? You come into a bar.
You read some obscure passage and then pretend...you pawn it off
as your own idea just to impress some girls and embarrass my friend?
See, the sad thing about a guy like you is in 50 years you're
gonna start doin' some thinkin' on your own and you're gonna come
up with the fact that there are two certainties in life. One:
don't do that. And two: You dropped a hundred and fifty grand
on a f----n' education you coulda' got for a dollar fifty in late
charges at the public library.") |
|
| "I See a Cocky, Scared Shitless Kid" |
Sean Maguire (Robin Williams)
to Will Hunting (Matt Damon) about really living life: ("So
if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every
art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's
work, political aspirations, him and the Pope, sexual orientations,
the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells
like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and
looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that. If I ask you about
women, you'd probably give me a syllabus about your personal favorites.
You may have even been laid a few times. But you can't tell me what
it feels like to wake up next to a woman and feel truly happy. You're
a tough kid. And I'd ask you about war, you'd probably throw Shakespeare
at me, right, 'once more into the breach, dear friends.' But you've
never been near one. You've never held your best friend's head in
your lap, and watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for
help. I'd ask you about love, you'd probably quote me a sonnet.
But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable.
Known someone that could level you with her eyes, feeling like God
put an angel on Earth just for you. Who could rescue you from the
depths of Hell. And you wouldn't know what it's like to be her angel,
to have that love for her, be there forever, through anything, through
cancer. And you wouldn't know about sleeping sittin' up in the hospital
room for two months, holding her hand, because the doctors could
see in your eyes, that the terms "visiting hours" don't
apply to you. You don't know about real loss, 'cause that only occurs
when you've loved something more than you love yourself. And I doubt
you've ever dared to love anybody that much. And look at you...
I don't see an intelligent, confident man... I see a cocky, scared
shitless kid. But you're a genius, Will. No one denies that. No
one could possibly understand the depths of you. But you presume
to know everything about me because you saw a painting of mine,
and you ripped my f--kin' life apart. You're an orphan, right? You
think I know the first thing about how hard your life has been,
how you feel, who you are, because I read Oliver Twist? Does
that encapsulate you? Personally, I don't give a shit about all
that, because you know what, I can't learn anything from you, I
can't read in some f--kin' book. Unless you want to talk about you,
who you are. Then I'm fascinated. I'm in. But you don't want to
do that, do you, sport? You're terrified of what you might say.
Your move, chief.") |
|
Antz (1998)
The
Insignificance of Being an Ant
|
Drone ant
Z's (voice of Woody Allen) opening monologue in which he complains
about his insignificant life during therapy to his psychologist
(Paul Mazursky): ("...I think everything must go back to the
fact that I had a very anxious childhood. You know, my - my mother
never had time for me. You know, when you're - when you're the middle
child in a family of five million, you don't get any attention.
I mean how's it possible. And I've always had these abandonment
issues, which plagued me. My father was basically a drone like I've
said, you know the guy flew away when I was just a larva... and
my job, don't get me started on, cause it really annoys me, I was
not cut out to be a worker, I'll tell you right now, I feel physically
inadequate, I, I, my whole life I've never, I've never been
able to lift ten times my own body weight and when you get down
to it, handling dirt is..... ewwww, you know is not my idea of a
rewarding career...") |
|
| "So
There You Have It" |
The astonishing
revelation during Z's closing monologue in which the camera pulls
back to reveal the "world" is the Great Meadow in Central
Park: ("So there you have it. Your average 'boy-meets-girl,
boy-likes-girl, boy-changes-underlying-social-order' story. So,
what else can I tell you? We rebuilt the colony - it's even better
than before, you know, 'cause now it has a very large indoor swimming
pool. Bala and I, incidentally, are thinking of starting a family,
you know, just a few kids, maybe a million or two to begin with.
And I'm workin' with a new therapist, you know, terrific, absolutely
terrific. He's been putting me in touch with my inner maggot, which
is really helping me. And, you know, I finally feel like I've found
my place, and you know what? It's right back where I started. But
the difference is, this time I chose it") |
|
Saving Private
Ryan (1998)
Address to Unit on 'Saving' Private Ryan: "Man Means Nothin'
to Me"
|
# 12
Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) to his unit: ("Mike?
What's the pool on me up to right now? What's it up to? What is
it, three hundred dollars -- is that it? Three hundred? I'm a
school teacher. I teach English Composition in this little town
called Adley, Pennsylvania. The last eleven years, I've been at
Thomas Alva Edison High School. I was coach of the baseball team
in the spring time. Back home when I tell people what I do for
a living, they think, well, that, that figures. But over here
it's a big, a big mystery. So I guess I've changed some. Sometimes
I wonder if I've changed so much my wife is even gonna recognize
me whenever it is I get back to her -- and how I'll ever be able
to tell her about days like today. Ryan -- I don't know anything
about Ryan. I don't care. Man means nothin' to me. It's just a
name. But if -- you know -- if going to Remeal and finding him
so he can go home, if that earns me the right to get back to my
wife -- well, then, then that's my mission. (To Private Reiben)
You wanna leave? You wanna go off and fight the war? Alright.
Alright, I won't stop you. I'll even put in the paperwork. I just
know that every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel.") |
|
Waking Ned Devine
(1998)
A Memorial Funeral Service for a Live Person
|
The memorial funeral service delivered by small-town Tullymore resident Jackie O'Shea (Ian Bannen), but not for the deceased individual - Irish National Lottery winner Ned Devine (Jimmy Keogh) - but for his old friend Michael O'Sullivan (David Kelly) who was alive and in the front row - impersonating the dead man for lottery official Jim Kelly (Brendan Dempsey) who happened to be in attendance, so that the 52 relieved townspeople could split the winnings (130,000 pounds each): ("As we look back on the life of... (pause) Michael O'Sullivan was my great friend, but I don't ever remember telling him that. The words that are spoken at a funeral are spoken too late for the man who is dead. What a wonderful thing it would be to visit your own funeral. To sit at the front and hear what was said. Maybe to say a few things yourself. Michael and I grew old together. But at times, when we laughed, we grew younger. If he was here now, if he could hear what I say, I'd congratulate him on being a great man, and thank him for being a friend") |
|
| American Beauty
(1999)
"My Name is Lester Burnham" Opening Speech Voice-Over
|
# 13
Lester Burnham's (Kevin Spacey) opening voice-over:
("My name is Lester Burnham. This is my street. This is my
neighborhood. This is my life. I am 42 years old. In less than
a year, I will be dead. Of course, I don't know that yet, and
in a way, I'm dead already. Look at me, jerking off in the shower.
This will be the highlight of my day. It's all downhill from here.
That's my wife Carolyn. See the way the handle on those pruning
shears match her gardening clogs? That's not an accident. That's
our neighbor, Jim, and that's his lover, Jim. Man, I get exhausted
just watching her. She wasn't always like this. She used to be
happy. We used to be happy. My daughter, Jane. Only child. Janie's
a pretty typical teenager: angry, insecure, confused. I wish I
could tell her that's all going to pass...but I don't want to
lie to her. Both my wife and daughter think I'm this gigantic
loser. And in a way, they're right. I have lost something. I'm
not exactly sure what, but I know I didn't always feel this...sedated.
But you know what? It's never too late to get it back.") |
|
|
At the Moment of Death: "There's So Much Beauty in the World" |
Lester Burnham's (Kevin
Spacey) voice-over at the moment of his death: ("I had always
heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second
before you die. First of all, that one second isn't a second at
all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time. For me, it
was lying on my back at Boy Scout Camp, watching falling stars.
(Gunshot) And yellow leaves from the maple trees that lined our
street. (Gunshot) Or my grandmother's hands, and the way her skin
seemed like paper. And the first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand
new Firebird. And Janie, and Janie. And Carolyn. I guess I could
be really pissed off about what happened to me, but it's hard to
stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I
feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart
fills up like a balloon that's about to burst. And then I remember
to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through
me like rain. And I can't feel anything but gratitude for every
single moment of my stupid little life. You have no idea what I'm
talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry… you will someday.") |
|
Any Given Sunday
(1999)
"Life's
This Game of Inches..."
|
Tony D'Amato's (Al Pacino)
inspirational speech to his football team: ("...You find out
life's this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game
- life or football - the margin for error is so small. I mean, one
half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One
half second too slow, too fast and you don't quite catch it. The
inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break
of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for
that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around
us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that
inch. Because we know when add up all those inches, that's gonna
make the f--king difference between winnin' and losin'! Between
livin' and dyin'! I'll tell ya this: In any fight, it's the guy
who's willin' to die who's gonna win that inch. And I know if I'm
gonna have any life anymore, it's because I'm still willin' to fight
and die for that inch. Because that's what livin' is! The six inches
in front of your face!! Now I can't make you do it. You got to look
at the guy next to you. Look into his eyes! Now I think you're gonna
see a guy who will go that inch with you. You're gonna see a guy
who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows, when
it comes down to it, you're gonna do the same for him! That's a
team, gentleman! And, either we heal, now, as a team, or we will
die as individuals. That's football, guys. That's all it is. Now,
what are you gonna do?") |
|
| Deep
Blue Sea (1999)
"Nature
Can Be Lethal..."
|
In the face
of disaster, financier Russell Franklin's (Samuel L. Jackson) delivered
an impassioned rousing speech for survival: ("Enough! That's
enough now, from all of you! You think water's fast? You should
see ice. It moves like it has a mind. Like it knows it killed the
world once -- it got a taste for murder. When the avalanche came,
it took us a week to climb out. And somewhere, we lost hope. Now
I don't know exactly when we turned on each other, I just know that
seven of us survived the slide... and only five made it out. Now
we took an oath that I'm breaking now. Swore that we said 'twas
the snow that killed the other two. But it wasn't. Nature can be
lethal, but it doesn't hold a candle to man. Now you've seen how
bad things can get and how quick they can get that way. Well, they
can get a whole lot worse! So we're not going to fight anymore!
We're going to pull together and we're going to find a way to get
outta here! First, we're gonna seal off this--") - after which
he was shockingly grabbed, crunched, and split in half by a superintelligent
shark |
|
| The Iron
Giant (1999)
The
Dark Side of Progress
|
The delusional
rant by paranoid government agent Kent Mansley (voice of Christopher
McDonald) to young Hogarth Hughes (voice of Eli Marienthal): ("You
know, Hogarth, we live in a strange and wondrous time: the Atomic
Age. But there's a dark side to progress, Hogarth. Ever hear of
Sputnik?... Foreign satellite, Hogarth, and all that that implies.
Even now it orbits overhead - Boop! Boop! - watching us. We can't
see it but it's there, much like that thing in the woods. I don't
feel safe, Hogarth. Do you?... What am I talking about? WHAT AM
I TALKING ABOUT?! I'm talking about your goddamn security, Hogarth!
While you're snoozing in your widdle jammies, up in Washington we're
wide awake! Why? Because everyone wants what we have! Everyone!
You think this metal man is fun, but who built it? The Russians?
The Chinese? Martians? Canadians? I don't care! All I know is we
didn't build it, and that's reason enough to assume the worst and
blow it to kingdom come! Now, you are going to tell me where it
is so we can destroy it before it destroys us!") |
 |
| Magnolia
(1999)
Seduce
and Destroy
|
Self-help
guru and 'seduction specialist' Frank Mackey's (Tom Cruise) opening
speech to a crowded room of single men in a San Fernando Valley
hotel attending a motivational course on how to pick up women in
front of a "SEDUCE AND DESTROY" poster, introduced by
the playing of Thus Spake Zaruthustra: ("Respect the
cock! And tame the cunt! Tame it! Take it on headfirst with the
skills that I will teach you at work and say no!...You will not
control me! No!...You will not take my soul! No!...You will not
win this game! Because it's a game, guys. You want to think it's
not, huh? You want to think it's not? You go back to the schoolyard
and you have that crush on big-titted Mary Jane. Respect the cock.
You are embedding this thought. I am the one who's in charge. I
am the one who says Yes!...No!...Now!...Here!... Because it's universal,
man. It is evolutional. It is anthropological. It is biological.
It is animal. We...are...men!") |
 |
| Confessional
of Love |
Linda Partridge's
(Julianne Moore) guilt-ridden speech about the love she has for
her near-death husband Earl (Jason Robards) and her confessional
that she originally married him for his money: ("...I've fallen
in love with him now for real as he's dying. I look at him, and
he's about to go, Alan. He's moments. I took care of him through
this, Alan. What now, then? I don't want him to die. I didn't love
him when we met, and I did so many bad things to him that he doesn't
know. Things that I want to confess to him, but now I do. I love
him") |
 |
|
BEST FILM SPEECHES AND MONOLOGUES