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 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
Alamo (2004)
 "Pass the Taters Right Back"
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David (Davy) Crockett's (Billy Bob Thornton) demythologizing description of his 1813 participation in the Creek Indian War (the Battle of Tallushatchee) with Tennessee militia in Alabama, when burned Indian flesh was combined with potatoes: ("The Creeks, uh, boxed up about 400 or 500 people at Fort Mims and, uh, massacred every one of 'em. 'Course this was big news around those parts, so I up and joined the volunteers. I did a little scoutin', but mostly I, I just fetched in venison for the cook fire, things of that nature. Well, we caught up with those redskins at Tallushatchee, surrounded the village, come in from all directions. Wasn't much of a fight, really. We just shot 'em down like dogs. Finally... what Injuns was left, they crowded into this little cabin. They wanted to surrender... but this squaw, she loosed an arrow and killed one of the fellas, and then we shot her. And then we set the cabin on fire. We could hear 'em screamin' for their gods in there. We smelled 'em burnin'. We'd had nary to eat but parched corn since October. And the next day, when we dug through the ashes, we found some potaters from the cellar. They'd been cooked by that grease that run off them Indians. And we ate till we nearly burst. Since then... you pass the taters and I pass 'em right back.") |
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Before Sunset (2004)
"One of the Most Exciting Things That's Ever Happened to Me is to Meet Somebody"
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33 year-old successful book author Jesse Wallace (Ethan Hawke) made a 5:30 pm Shakespeare & Company in-store Parisian appearance (his final stop) for a reading, book signing, and Q&A session; his just-published book This Time, was a fictionalized account of his night nine years earlier with French girl Celine (Julie Delpy) from the previous film Before Sunrise (1995); a journalist asked him: "Do you consider the book to be autobiographical?", and he evasively answered the question: ("Well, I mean, isn't everything autobiographical? I mean, we all see the world through our own tiny keyhole, right? I mean, I always think of Thomas Wolfe. You know, have you ever seen that little one-page 'Note to Reader' in the front of Look Homeward, Angel?...Anyway, he says that we are the sum of all the moments of our lives and that, uh, anybody who sits down to write is gonna use the clay of their own life - that you can't avoid that. So when I look at my own life, you know, I have to admit, right, that I've-I've never been around a bunch of guns or violence, you know, not really. No political intrigue or a helicopter crash, right? But my life, from my own point of view, has been full of drama, right? And uh, so I thought, if I could write a book that, that could capture what it's like to, to really meet somebody, [the film flashes back to scenes from Before Sunrise (1995)], I mean, one of the most exciting things that's ever happened to me is to meet somebody, to make that connection. And if I could make that valuable, you know, to capture that, that would be the attempt, or... Did I answer your question?") |
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Before Sunset (2004)
"But What Does It Mean, The Right Man?"
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During a car ride, Celine (Julie Delpy) explained to Jesse (Ethan Hawke) how miserable her love life had become: ("I was fine, until I read your f--king book! It stirred s--t up, you know? It reminded me how genuinely romantic I was, how I had so much hope in things, and now it's like, I don't believe in anything that relates to love. I don't feel things for people anymore. In a way, I put all my romanticism into that one night, and I was never able to feel all this again. Like, somehow this night took things away from me and I expressed them to you, and you took them with you! It made me feel cold, like if love wasn't for me!...You know what? Reality and love are almost contradictory for me. It's funny. Every single of my ex’s, they're now married! Men go out with me, we break up, and then they get married! And later they call me to thank me for teaching them what love is, and, and that I taught them to care and respect women!... You know, I want to kill them!! Why didn't they ask me to marry them? I would have said "No", but at least they could have asked!! But it's my fault, I know it's my fault, because I never felt it was the right man. Never! But what does it mean the right man? The love of your life? The concept is absurd; the idea that we can only be complete with another person is EVIL!! Right??!!... You know, I guess I've been heartbroken too many times. And then I recovered. So now, you know, from the starts I make no effort because I know it’s not going to work out, I know it’s not going to work out") |
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Downfall (2004, Germ.)
"The Military, Everybody Lied to Me"
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Adolf Hitler's (Bruno Ganz) sputtering, psychotic tirade at his military officers during the final days in his bunker in 1945, unable to believe his forces were depleted and didn't attack as he had ordered: ("That was an order! Steiner's attack was an order! How dare you ignore my orders? Is this what it came to? The military, everybody lied to me. Even the SS. The generals are no more than a bunch of disloyal cowards....Cowards, traitors, and incompetents...The generals are the scum of the German people! No sense of honour. You call yourself general because you spent years at the academy where you only learnt to use knife and fork. For years, the military obstructed me. All you ever did is thwart me. I should have had all the high officers executed. Like Stalin did. I never went to the academy. But I conquered all of Europe on my own. Traitors. I've been betrayed and deceived from the start. Such enormous betrayal of the German people. But all these traitors will pay. With their own blood. They will drown in their own blood....All my orders have been ignored. How can I be a leader under these circumstances? It's over. The war is lost.") |
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| The
Incredibles (2004)
"You
Got Me Monologuing!"
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Embittered
enemy Syndrome's (voice of Jason Lee) long-winded rant about his
egomaniacal plans to super-hero Mr. Incredible (voice of Craig T.
Nelson) (who became trapped with a zero-point energy ray) - when
Syndrome suddenly realized that he was delivering a monologue: ("See?
Now you respect me, because I'm a threat. That's the way it works.
Turns out, there are a lot of people, whole countries, who want
respect, and they will pay through the nose to get it. How do you
think I got rich? I invented weapons, and now I have a weapon that
only I can defeat, and when I unleash it, I'll get... (laughing)
You sly dog! You got me monologuing! I can't believe it. It's cool,
huh? Zero-point energy. I-I save the best inventions for myself.
(Syndrome slams Mr. Incredible against the ground) Am I good enough
now? (He slams him again) Who's super now? I'm Syndrome, your nemesis
and... (He inadvertently throws Mr. Incredible out of sight) Oh,
brilliant.") |
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Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (2004)
"You're a Renegade Killer Bee" -- Musings about Superheroes
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In the final confrontation-showdown between revenge-seeking assassinatrix Bride (Uma Thurman), aka Beatrix Kiddo, and Bill (David Carradine) - her former boss/lover and father of her 4 year-old daughter B.B. (Perla Haney-Jardine), he shot her in the leg with truth serum, and then unhurriedly mused about comparisons between Superman and Spider-Man, and his admiration for her as one of his "natural born killers" - a member of his Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, before she deserted him and chose to secretly take her unborn baby away from him: ("As you know, l'm quite keen on comic books. Especially the ones about superheroes. I find the whole mythology surrounding superheroes fascinating. Take my favorite superhero, Superman. Not a great comic book, not particularly well-drawn, but the mythology. The mythology is not only great, it's unique...Now, a staple of the superhero mythology is, there's the superhero and there's the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he's Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone. Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S", that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent? He's weak, he's unsure of himself, he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race. Sorta like Beatrix Kiddo and Mrs. Tommy Plympton...You would've worn the costume of Arlene Plympton. But you were born Beatrix Kiddo. And every morning when you woke up, you'd still be Beatrix Kiddo...I'm calling you a killer. A natural born killer. You always have been, and you always will be. Moving to El Paso, working in a used record store, goin' to the movies with Tommy, clipping coupons. That's you, trying to disguise yourself as a worker bee. That's you tryin' to blend in with the hive. But you're not a worker bee. You're a renegade killer bee. And no matter how much beer you drank or barbecue you ate or how fat your ass got, nothing in the world would ever change that...")
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| Million
Dollar Baby (2004)
I
Want to Box
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Even with
a life of hardship, scrappy white-trash waitress Maggie Fitzgerald's
(Hilary Swank) insistence to reluctant trainer Frankie Dunn (Clint
Eastwood) that she has the fortitude to box: ("I'm 32, Mr.
Dunn, and I'm here celebrating the fact that I spent another year
scraping dishes and waitressing which is what I've been doing since
13, and according to you, I'll be 37 before I can even throw a decent
punch, which I have to admit, after working on this speed bag for
a month may be the God's simple truth. Other truth is, my brother's
in prison, my sister cheats on welfare by pretending one of her
babies is still alive, my daddy's dead, and my momma weighs 312
pounds. If I was thinking straight, I'd go back home, find a used
trailer, buy a deep fryer and some Oreos. Problem is, this is the
only thing I ever felt good doing. If I'm too old for this, then
I got nothing. That enough truth to suit you?") |
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Spider-Man 2 (2004)
"Everybody Loves a Hero"
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After Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) had suffered a series of personal setbacks: the loss of his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) to another man, estrangement from best friend Harry Osborn (James Franco), and the sudden loss of his own superhero powers, he decided to live his own life and give up being crime-fighting Spider-Man; his Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) encouraged him to reconsider with words about the importance of heroes in life, especially since young neighbor boy Henry Jackson (Jason Fiore-Ortiz) had become sad about Spider-Man's disappearance: ("He knows a hero when he sees one. Too few characters out there, flying around like that, saving old girls like me. And Lord knows, kids like Henry need a hero. Courageous, self-sacrificing people setting examples for all of us. Everybody loves a hero. People line up for 'em. Cheer them. Scream their names. And years later, they'll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them to hold on a second longer. I believe there's a hero in all of us that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride. Even though sometimes we have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams. Spider-Man did that for Henry and he wonders where he's gone. He needs him")
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The Girl in the Cafe (2005)
Response to the British Prime Minister's Dinner Speech at G8 Summit: "That's Not True!"
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Free-spirited, idealistic, undiplomatic young woman Gina (Kelly Macdonald) contradicts the Prime Minister's (Corin Redgrave) assertion, during a dinner speech at the G8 Economic Summit in Reykjavik, Iceland that they are effectively combatting the "extreme curses of poverty" in the world; she accuses them of "ignoring the poor" by denying enormous financial aid - and reflects how she would probably be thrown out for "heckling": ("I don't know how much the rest of you ladies know about what's going on, but my friend, here, tells me that while we are eating, a hundred million children are nearly starving. There's just millions of kids who'd kill for the amount of food that fat old me left on the side of my plate -- children who are then so weak they'll die if a mosquito bites them. And so, they do die: One every three seconds.
[She snaps her fingers] There they go. And another one. Anyone who has kids knows that every mother and father in Africa must love their children as much as they do. And to watch your kids die...to watch them die...and then to die yourself in trying to protect them -- that's not right. And tomorrow, eight of the men sitting 'round this table actually have the ability to sort this out by making a few great decisions. And if they don't, someday, someone else will, and they'll look back on us lot and say: 'People were actually dying in their millions, unnecessarily, in front of you, on your TV screens. What were you thinking? You knew what to do to stop it happening and you didn't do those things. Shame on you.' So that's what you have to do tomorrow. Be great, instead of being ashamed. It can't be impossible. It must be possible...") |
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| Good
Night, and Good Luck (2005)
Murrow's Attack on Senator McCarthy
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In a powerful
speech spoken directly into the camera on his television show See
It Now, legendary reporter Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn)
attacked Wisconsin Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy's (Himself) methods:
("...We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember
always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends
upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear one
of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason
if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine. And remember that
we are not descended from fearful men. Not from men who feared to
write, to associate, to speak and to defend the causes that were,
for the moment, unpopular...The actions of the Junior Senator from
Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad
and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is
that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear --
he merely exploited it, and rather successfully. Cassius was right:
the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. Good
night, and good luck") |
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"Wires and Lights in a Box" |
Edward R.
Murrow (David Strathairn) also delivered a closing speech to television
professionals who were honoring his notable career, about the positive
good of television - the film's closing lines: ("To those who
say people wouldn't look, they wouldn't be interested, they're too
complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: there is,
in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention.
But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because
if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to
entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and
we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost. This instrument
can teach, it can illuminate - and Yes, it can even inspire. But
it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use
it towards those ends. Otherwise, it is merely wires and lights
in a box. Good night, and good luck.") |
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Sperm Whale and Bowl of Petunias Ruminations
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The humorous speech by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - known as the Book, the Narrator or The Guide (voice of Stephen Fry) regarding how the orbiting spaceship Heart of Gold, powered by the Infinite Probability Drive, suddenly transformed two nuclear missiles into a giant sperm whale and a bowl of petunias - as the sperm whale fell out of orbit through the Magrathean atmosphere toward the alien planet, its thought processes were described: ("It is important to note that suddenly, and against all probability, a sperm whale had been called into existence, several miles above the surface of an alien planet. But since this is not a naturally tenable position for a whale, this innocent creature had very little time to come to terms with its identity. This is what it thought as it fell: 'Ahhh! Whoa! What's happening? Who am I? Why am I here? What's my purpose in life? What do I mean by 'who am I'? Okay, okay, calm down, calm down, get a grip now. Ooh, this is an interesting sensation. What is it? It's a sort of a tingling in my... well, I suppose I better start finding names for things. Let's call it a... tail! Yeah! Tail! And hey, what's this roaring sound, whooshing past what I'm suddenly gonna call my head? Wind! Is that a good name? It'll do. Yeah, this is really exciting! I'm dizzy with anticipation! Or is it the wind? There's an awful lot of that now, isn't it? And what's this thing coming toward me very fast? So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like 'Ow', 'Ownge', 'Round', 'Ground'! That's it! Ground! Ha! I wonder if it'll be friends with me? Hello Ground!' (the sperm whale crashes into the ground, viewed from a distance with a rising plume of ice/snow) Curiously, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias, as it fell, was: 'Oh no, not again.' Many have speculated that if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that, we should know a lot more about the nature of the universe than we do now.") |
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V for Vendetta (2005)
V's Introduction
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Mysterious masked vigilante and anarchistic freedom fighter V's (Hugo Weaving) verbose introduction of himself to rescued Evey Hammond (Natalie Portman) after a rape attempt by police agents, with about 50 words starting with the letter v: ("Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. [He carves a V into a poster on the wall] The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. [He giggles] Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.")
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Letters From Iwo Jima (2006)
Pre-Battle Speech to Soldiers
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Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi's (Ken Watanabe) grim pre-battle speech to his doomed soldiers: ("Men, the time has come to show your true colors. As a member of the Honorable Imperial Army, I trust that you will fight with honor. This island is of utmost importance to Japan. Should the island fall, the enemy will use it as their base to attack our homeland. For the mainland...For our homeland...Until the very last man..Our duty is to stop the enemy right here. Not one of you is allowed to die until you have killed ten enemy soldiers. Do not expect to return home alive. I will always be in front of you. (He removes his cap and bows) Long live the Emperor.") (He raises both arms in a rousing salute with his troops) |
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BEST FILM SPEECHES AND MONOLOGUES