Favorite Movie speeches

[Mikeus Caesar]

'Define Irony: A bunch of idiots, dancing around on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash'

-Garland Green, Con Air, commenting on the prisoners dancing to 'Sweet Home Alabama'.

'I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking, did he fire six shots or only five? Well to tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: do I feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?'

-Harry Callahan, Dirty Harry

I'm surprised no one mentioned Dirty Harry, as that has to be the greatest movie speech of all time. Or at least the most famous.

'What if I told you insane was working fifty hours a week in some office for fifty years at the end of which they tell you to piss off; ending up in some retirement village hoping to die before suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time? Wouldn’t you consider that to be insane?'

-Garland Greene, Con Air

Sorry, i had to add that one about insanity, mainly because of the fact it's sadly true.

[Hamelkart]

Clouseau

I already put this one on TWC, so here it is..

[Hamelkart]

Sorry, wrong link... Clouseau

[lars573]

Anyone know to what action the "Men of Harlech" song refers?

During the War of the Roses, Harlech castle was held for the Lancastrians until taken by Lord Herbert of Raglan for the Yorkist side. It was this prolonged siege which traditionally gave rise to the song Men of Harlech.

In 1468 the Earl of Pembroke was sent by Edward IV to storm Harlech Castle, a Welsh stronghold. This march, written years later to commemorate that battle, is known almost as well in America as in Wales. According to "Folk Songs of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales," "This famous march celebrates the defiance of the Welsh forces under Dafydd ap Jevan in defending Harlech Castle against the English in 1468."

(It should be noted that this is one of several known sets of lyrics to Men of Harlech.)

http://www.castlewales.com/menhar.html

The bit in brackets is true as the lyrics for the version of men of Harlech I have is a lot different from kaiser of arabia's version.

[Rising_General]

One of the greatest has to be Pattons opening speech in the movie PATTON


Ruffles and Flourishes’ …………. Be seated.
Now, I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. Men, all this stuff you’ve heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball player, the toughest boxer. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.

Now, an Army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The bilious bastards who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post don’t know anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating.

We have the finest food and equipment, the best spirit and the best men in the world. You know, by God I actually pity those poor bastards we’re going up against. By God, I do. We’re not just going to shoot the bastards, we’re going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We’re going to murder those lousy Hun bastards by the bushel.

Now, some of you boys, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you will all do your duty. The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood. Shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo that a moment before was your best friend's face, you'll know what to do.

Now there’s another thing I want you to remember. I don’t want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We’re not holding anything. Let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly and we’re not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose and we're going to kick him in the ass. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we're gonna go through him like crap through a goose.

There’s one thing that you men will be able to say when you get back home. And you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you’re sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what did you do in the great World War II, you won’t have to say, "Well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana."

Alright now, you sons-of-bitches, you know how I feel. Oh, and I will be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle – anytime, anywhere.

That’s all.



JS,


"I believe in God like I bielive in the sunrise. Not because I see it, but because I see all that it touches". -C.S. Lewis

[Kongamato]

Danny Devito's opening lines to L.A. Confidential:

Come to Los Angeles! The sun shines bright, the beaches are wide and inviting, and the orange groves stretch as far as the eye can see. There are jobs aplenty, and land is cheap. Every working man can have his own house, and inside every house, a happy, all-American family. You can have all this, and who knows... you could even be discovered, become a movie star... or at least see one. Life is good in Los Angeles... it's paradise on Earth." Ha ha ha ha. That's what they tell you, anyway.

Devito is an awesome actor. There's something about how he delivers his lines that puts him above everyone else on the screen.

[Longshanks]

a few good men :

I want the truth !
you can't handle the truth !

it goes on a little more, but forgot what he said exactley.

Jessep: You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.
We use words like honor, code, loyalty...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!

'I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking, did he fire six shots or only five? Well to tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: do I feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?'

-Harry Callahan, Dirty Harry

I'm surprised no one mentioned Dirty Harry, as that has to be the greatest movie speech of all time. Or at least the most famous.

I love that speech from Dirty Harry! That reminds me of another one of my favorite movie moments, not so much a speech but more of a line. Blondie to Tuco at the end of The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: "In this world, there are two kinds of people...those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig!"

[Nelson]

One of the most moving speeches I have heard in a film is Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch in his closing argument of Tom Robinsons trial.

You can hear it here:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/Movi...ckingbird.html


George C. Scott’s speech as Patton when the movie begins is great too.

[Axeknight]

Can't really call it a speech, but the Joe Pesci "You think I'm funny?" exchange from Goodfellas is a classic.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Anyone know to what action the "Men of Harlech" song refers?

Defense of Harlech castle against the Saxon invaders of Wales I think...

[SwordsMaster]

"Luke. GJJEEJJHJE. I am your father"

-Darth Vader, Guess which one-


"You have to understand that maybe God doesn´t like you"

-Tyler Durden, Fight club-

"The best trick of the Devil, is making the men believe in his inexistance. And then, pffffff, he disappears"

-Kaiser Soze, Usual suspects-

[Ellesthyan]

Sir Bedevere: What makes you think she's a witch?
Peasant 3: Well she turned me into a newt.
Sir Bedevere: A newt?
Peasant 3: ...I got better.
Crowd: BURN HER ANYWAY.

*snickers*

[Craterus]

"You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off." - Charlie Croker (Michael Caine) The Italian Job.

[Tachikaze]

If you take a law like evolution and you make it a crime to teach it in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools? And tomorrow you may make it a crime to read about it. And soon you may ban books and newspapers. And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant, and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the mind of man. If you can do one, you can do the other. Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding. And soon, your Honor, with banners flying and with drums beating we'll be marching backward, BACKWARD, through the glorious ages of that Sixteenth Century when bigots burned the man who dared to bring enlightenment and intelligence to the human mind!

For I intend to show this court is that what Bertram Cates spoke quietly one spring morning in the Hillsboro High School is not crime. It is incontrovertible as geometry to any enlightened community of minds.

But all you have to do is knock on any door and say, "If you let me in, I'll live the way you want me to live, and I'll think the way you want me to think," and all the blinds'll go up and all the windows will open, and you'll never be lonely, ever again.

In a child's power to master the multiplication tables there is more sanctity than in all of your shouted "Amens!", "Holy, Holies!" and "Hosannahs!" An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral.

Not really a speech, but while I'm quoting Inherit the Wind:
"And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the East of Eden and Cain knew his wife." Now where the hell did [Mrs. Cain] come from?