Favorite Movie speeches

[Hosakawa Tito]

I remember play acting this one with my daughter & niece in the car on a vacation trip to Florida many moons ago. We played cassettes all the way from NY to FLA to keep them occupied, and this was their favorite after the Hokey Pokey (God how I prayed that one would break).
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/mp3c...ioncourage.mp3

Cowardly Lion:

Courage. What makes a King out of a slave? Courage.

What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage.

What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?

What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage.

What makes the Sphinx the 7th Wonder? Courage.

What makes the dawn come up like THUNDER?! Courage.

What makes the Hottentot so hot?

What puts the "ape" in ape-ricot?

Whatta they got that I ain't got?

Dorothy & Friends: Courage!

Cowardly Lion: You can say that again.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

My personal favourite movie speech is Sam Spade's monologue at the end of the Maltese Falcon, when Brigid pleads with him not to turn her in.

[Kongamato]

Sam Spade's speech is a good one. Here's a line from another film noir, Double Indemnity.

"Suddenly it came over me that everything would go wrong. It sounds crazy, Keyes, but it's true, so help me. I couldn't hear my own footsteps. It was the walk of a dead man."

There's always the Patton speech, but that one is so obvious I don't need to post it's contents.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Anything from 'Zulu'

[TheSilverKnight]

I like all the speeches from "The Patriot"

[Don Corleone]

A Brit that actually likes the Patriot?

You don't find it a little...uhm, jingo-istic? One sided? As in not your side?

[Ser Clegane]

One of my favourite speeches has to be Charlie Chaplin's opening speech as the "Great Dictator"

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Aragorns rallying speech in front of the Black Gate. Any speech from Gladiator is good too.

[TheSilverKnight]

A Brit that actually likes the Patriot?

You don't find it a little...uhm, jingo-istic? One sided? As in not your side?

Well, we beat you at Camden and King's Mountain That has to count for something.

So yes, I do like it Shock of the century, eh?

[Hurin_Rules]

"Crom! I have never prayed to you before; I have no tongue for it.
No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad; why we fought, or why we died. No, all that matters is that two stood against many. That's what's important! If valor pleases you, then grant me one wish: grant me revenge!

And if you do not listen, then to hell with you."

Conan the Barbarian

Of course, who could forget this other great exchange from the same movie:

"Ha! We've won again!"
"That is good, but what is best in life?"
"A fleet horse. The open Steppe. Falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair."
"Wrong! Conan, what is best in life?"
"To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."

[Redleg]

Of course, who could forget this other great exchange from the same movie:

"Ha! We've won again!"
"That is good, but what is best in life?"
"A fleet horse. The open Steppe. Falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair."
"Wrong! Conan, what is best in life?"
"To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."

Can you guess who and when that is attributed (who was supposed to have stated this to his battle captains) to in real history?

[lars573]

"If this is to be our end, than we must make it such an end as to be worhty of rememberance." -Theodin king of Rohan LOTR:the two towers.

[Navaros]

i really like Al Pacino as Satan's speeches in the movie Devil's Advocate

some of the most poignant lines ever spoken in the history of cinema were contained in those

the Godfather (part I) had some great ones too, even though that's a cliche answer since it's so obvious

[Kas]

*crucifixion?
+yes...
*one cross each...line on the left...next!

[Byzantine Prince]

The Michael Douglas speech in Wall Street. Not sure if it's the best but it's really deep.
*Greed is good, greed is right, greed works*

[Longshanks]

Can you guess who and when that is attributed (who was supposed to have stated this to his battle captains) to in real history?

Genghis Khan?



"Three weeks from now. I shall be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself riding alone in green fields with a sun on your face, do not be troubled! For you are in elysium, and youre already dead!

(laughter)

Brothers, what we do in life...echoes an eternity."

- Maximus in Gladiator


And of course, who can't forget the speech from Animal House...

Bluto: What?! Over? Did you say over? NOTHING is over until WE
decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
HELL, NO!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
Bluto: It ain't over now! For when the goin' gets
tough,..............the tough get going! Who's with me!? LET'S GO!
C'MON! OOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Beirut]

From the movie Henry V with Kenneth Branagh, where he threatens the mayor of Harfleur to surrender of face the wrath.

Absolutely priceless!

[Togakure]

I don't know if it's my "favorite," but the first to spring to mind when I saw this thread was Pacino's speech at the end of "Scent of a Woman," defending his honorable buddy Charlie. I really enjoyed that movie.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

it aint so much a speach but oh well
You think the welsh can do better than that?
Men of Harlech stop your dreaming
Can't you see their spear points gleaming
See their warrior pennants streaming
To this battle field

Men of Harlech stand ye steady
It cannot be ever said ye
For the battle were not ready
Stand and never yield
From the hills rebounding
Let this war cry sounding
Summon all at Cambria's call
The mighty force surrounding

Men of Harlech onto glory
This shall ever be your story
Keep these burning words before ye
Welshmen will not yield

[Divine Wind]

it aint so much a speach but oh well
You think the welsh can do better than that?
Men of Harlech stop your dreaming
Can't you see their spear points gleaming
See their warrior pennants streaming
To this battle field

Men of Harlech stand ye steady
It cannot be ever said ye
For the battle were not ready
Stand and never yield
From the hills rebounding
Let this war cry sounding
Summon all at Cambria's call
The mighty force surrounding

Men of Harlech onto glory
This shall ever be your story
Keep these burning words before ye
Welshmen will not yield

Ahhh Zulu...theres a classic speech!

Suprised no one has mentioned Braveheart! I thought that was the king of all macho war speeches

[Lemur]

Braveheart was a little ... obvious.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Colnol Kilgore from Apocalypse Now. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Smells like victory."

[Hurin_Rules]

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

[Big_John]

"well there's this passage i got memorized. ezekiel 25:17. 'the path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness. for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. and i will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. and you will know i am the lord when i lay my vengeance upon you." i been sayin' that s--t for years. and if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. i never gave much thought what it meant. i just thought it was some cold-blooded s--t to say to a motherf--ker before i popped a cap in his ass. i saw some s--t this morning made me think twice. see now i'm thinking, maybe it means you're the evil man, and i'm the righteous man, and mr. 9mm here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. or it could mean you're the righteous man and i'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. now i'd like that. but that s--t ain't the truth. the truth is... you're the weak, and i'm the tyranny of evil men. but i'm trying, ringo, i'm trying real hard to be a shepherd."
jules winfield (samuel l. jackson), pulp fiction


"i've seen things you people wouldn't believe. attack ships on fire off the shoulder of orion. i watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the tanhauser gate. all those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain....
time to die."
roy (rutger hauer), blade runner


"and we turn him into an anecdote, to dine out on, like we're doing right now. but it was an experience. i will not turn him into an anecdote. how do we keep what happens to us? how do we fit it into life without turning it into an anecdote, with no teeth, and a punch line you'll mouth over and over, years to come: 'oh, that reminds me of the time that impostor came into our lives. oh, tell the one about that boy.' and we become these human jukeboxes, spilling out these anecdotes. but it was an experience. how do we keep the experience?"
ouisa kittredge (stockard channing), six degrees of separation


"first of all, papa smurf didn't create smurfette. gargamel did. she was sent in as gargamel's evil spy with the intention of destroying the smurf village, but the overwhelming goodness of the smurf way of life transformed her. and as for the whole gang-bang scenario, it just couldn't happen. smurfs are asexual. they don't even have reproductive organs under those little white pants. that's what's so illogical, you know, about being a smurf. what's the point of living if you don't have a d--k?"
donnie darko (jake gyllenhaal), donnie darko


"i'll send you a love letter! straight from my heart, f--ker! you know what a love letter is? it's a bullet from a f--king gun, f--ker! you recieve a love letter from me, you're f--ked forever! you understand, f--k? i'll send you straight to hell, f--ker!"
frank booth (dennis hopper), blue velvet


"sometimes it makes me sad though, andy being gone. i have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. their feathers are just too bright. and when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. but still, the the place you live in is that much more drab and empty now they are gone. i guess i just miss my friend."
red (morgan freeman), the shawshank redemption


"i haven't even had a cold since 1935. i've had to watch my friends and loved ones die off through the years. hal and melinda. brutus howell. my wife. my son. and you, elaine, you'll die, too. and my curse is knowing i'll be there to see it. that's my punishment, you see, my punishment for letting john coffey ride the lightning. for killing a miracle of god. you'll be gone, like all the others, and i'll have to stay. i'll die eventually, i imagine. i have no illusions of immortality. but i will have wished for death long before death finds me. in truth, i wish for it already.

i lie in bed most nights, thinking about it. and i wait. i think about all the people i've loved, now long gone. i think about my beautiful jan, and how i lost her so many years ago. i think about all of us walking our own green mile, each in our own time. but one thought, more than any other, keeps me awake most nights. if he could make a mouse live so long, how much longer do i have? we each owe a death, there are no exceptions, but sometimes, oh god, the green mile is so long."
old paul edgecomb (dabbs greer), green mile


"all right you primitive screwheads, listen up. see this? this is my boomstick! it's a twelve gauge double-barreled remington, s-mart's top-of-the-line. you can find this in the sporting goods department. that's right, this sweet baby was made in grand rapids, michigan. retails for about $199.95. it's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel and a hair trigger. that's right. shop smart; shop s-mart. you got that? now i swear, the next one of you primates, even touches me... yaa! now, let's talk about how i get back home."
ash (bruce campbell), army of darkness


"i've done everything the loving father of a drug addict is supposed to do. i've sent her to the best hospitals, she's seen all the best doctors. it doesn't matter. two weeks later she's on the street. new york, vancouver, pittsburgh, toronto, l.a. the next time i hear from her, it's a phone call scamming for money. money for school, or money for a new kind of therapist, or money for a plane ticket home. 'oh daddy, just let me come home... please, daddy, i have to see you.' but she never comes home. i'm always at the airport, but she's never there. ten years of this, ten years of these lies, of imagining what happens if i don't send the money, of kicking down doors and dragging her out of rat-infested apartments, of explaining why that couldn't be my daughter in a porn flick someone saw. well, enough rage and helplessness, and your love turns to something else."
mitchell stephens (ian holm), the sweet hereafter


"i have to believe in a world outside my own mind. i have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if i don't remember them. i have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world is still there. do i believe the world's still there? is it still out there? ... yeah. we all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we really are. i'm no different.

now, where was i?"
leonard shelby (guy pearce), memento


"do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk, ice cream? ice cream, mandrake? children's ice cream! you know when fluoridation began? 1946. 1946, mandrake. how does that coincide with your post-war commie conspiracy, huh? it's incredibly obvious, isn't it? a foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual, and certainly without any choice. that's the way your hard-core commie works. i first became aware of it, mandrake, during the physical act of love. yes, a profound sense of fatigue, a feeling of emptiness followed. luckily i was able to interpret these feelings correctly. loss of essence. i can assure you it has not recurred, mandrake. women... women sense my power, and they seek the life essence. i do not avoid women, mandrake...but i do deny them my essence."
general jack d. ripper (sterling hayden), dr. strangelove

[Navaros]

The Michael Douglas speech in Wall Street. Not sure if it's the best but it's really deep.
*Greed is good, greed is right, greed works*

ah yes, that movie had many great speeches and this reminds me of a couple of more i forgot to list earlier too

in a very similar way, Glengarry Glen Ross and Boiler Room both have very compelling speeches in them also. all 3 movies have a similar kind of theme. IMO these 3 movies are the trifecta of masterpiece salesmanship/greed movies

[Cygnus X-1]

In the New York Herald, November 26, year 1911, there is an account of the hanging of three men. They died for the murder of Sir Edmund William Godfrey; Husband, Father, Pharmacist and all around gentle-man resident of: Greenberry Hill, London. He was murdered by three vagrants whose motive was simple robbery. They were identified as: Joseph Green, Stanley Berry, and Daniel Hill. Green, Berry, Hill. And I Would Like To Think This was Only A Matter Of Chance. As reported in the Reno Gazzette, June of 1983 there is the story of a fire, the water that it took to contain the fire, and a scuba diver named Delmer Darion. Employee of the Peppermill Hotel and Casino, Reno, Nevada. Engaged as a blackjack dealer. Well liked and well regarded as a physical, recreational and sporting sort, Delmer's true passion was for the lake. As reported by the coroner, Delmer died of a heart attack somewhere between the lake and the tree. A most curious side note is the suicide the next day of Craig Hansen. Volunteer firefighter, estranged father of four and a poor tendency to drink. Mr. Hansen was the pilot of the plane that quite accidentally lifted Delmer Darion out of the water. Added to this, Mr. Hansen's tortured life met before with Delmer Darion just two nights previous. The weight of the guilt and the measure of coincidence so large, Craig Hansen took his life. And I Am Trying To Think This Was All Only A Matter Of Chance. The tale told at a 1961 awards dinner for the American Association Of Forensic Science by Dr. Donald Harper, president of the association, began with a simple suicide attempt. Seventeen year old Sydney Barringer. In the city of Los Angeles on March 23, 1958. The coroner ruled that the unsuccessful suicide had suddenly become a succesful homicide. To explain: The suicide was confirmed by a note, left in the breast pocket of Sydney Barringer. At the same time young Sydney stood on the ledge of this nine story building, an argument swelled three stories below. The neighbors heard, as they usually did, the arguing of the tenants and it was not uncommon for them to threaten each other with a shotgun, or one of the many handguns kept in the house. And when the shotgun accidentaly went off, Sydney just happend to pass. Added to this, the two tenants turned out to be: Fay and Arthur Barringer. Sydney's mother and Sydney's father. When confronted with the charge, which took some figuring out for the officers on the scene of the crime, Fay Barringer swore that she did not know that the gun was loaded. A young boy who lived in the building, sometimes a vistor and friend to Sydney Barringer said that he had seen, six days prior the loading of the shotgun. It seems that the arguing and the fighting and all of the violence was far too much for Sydney Barringer and knowing his mother and father's tendency to fight, he decided to do something. Sydney Barringer jumps from the ninth floor rooftop. His parents argue three stories below. Her accidental shotgun blast hits Sydney in the stomach as he passes the arguing sixth floor window. He is killed instantly but continues to fall, only to find, three stories below, a safety net installed three days prior for a set of window washers that would have broken his fall and saved his life if not for the hole in his stomach. So Fay Barringer was charged with the murder of her son and Sydney Barringer noted as an accomplice in his own death. And it is in the humble opinion of this narrator that this is not just "Something That Happened." This cannot be "One of those things..." This, please, cannot be that. And for what I would like to say, I can't. This Was Not Just A Matter Of Chance. Ohhhh. These strange things happen all the time. - Narrator, Magnolia

Sorry boys, all the stitches in the world can't sew me together again. Lay down... lay down. Gonna stretch me out in Fernandez funeral home on Hun and Ninth street. Always knew I'd make a stop there, but a lot later than a whole gang of people thought... Last of the Moh-Ricans... well maybe not the last. Gail's gonna be a good mom... New improved Carlito Brigante... Hope she uses the money to get out. No room in this city for big hearts like hers... Sorry baby, I tried the best I could, honest... Can't come with me on this trip, Loaf. Getting the shakes now, last call for drinks, bars closing down... Sun's out, where are we going for breakfast? Don't wanna go far. Rough night, tired baby... Tired... - Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino), Carilto's Way

Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), Fight Club

[lancelot]

Vader's 'join me' speech in ESB...

[Somebody Else]

That bit out of Lock Stock, when Vinnie Jones is explaining the difference between a replica gun, and a Desert Eagle...

Also

An old film, has Henry V saying "...forwards men, and let us begin the Hundred Years War!"

There's more about, but I can't be bothered to think of any.

[Dutch_guy]

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.

best one-liner...:

Say hello to my little friend !

scarface...

[Redleg]

Genghis Khan?

That is my understanding of where the lines came from

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Pulp fiction's greatest:


Hello, little man. Boy, I sure heard a bunch about you. See, I was a good friend of your dad's. We were in that Hanoi pit of hell together over five years. Hopefully... you'll never have to experience this yourself, but when two men are in a situation like me and your Dad were, for as long as we were, you take on certain responsibilities of the other. If it had been me who had not made it, Major Coolidge would be talkin' right now to my son Jim. But the way it turned out is I'm talkin' to you, Butch. I got somethin' for you.

[Sits down and pulls a gold wrist watch from his pocket]

Captain Koons: This watch I got here was first purchased by your great-grandfather during the first World War. It was bought in a little general store in Knoxville, Tennessee. Made by the first company to ever make wrist watches. Up till then people just carried pocket watches. It was bought by private Doughboy Erine Coolidge on the day he set sail for Paris. It was your great-grandfather's war watch and he wore it everyday he was in that war. When he had done his duty, he went home to your great-grandmother, took the watch off, put it an old coffee can, and in that can it stayed 'til your granddad Dane Coolidge was called upon by his country to go overseas and fight the Germans once again. This time they called it World War II. Your great-grandfather gave this watch to your granddad for good luck. Unfortunately, Dane's luck wasn't as good as his old man's. Dane was a Marine and he was killed - along with the other Marines at the battle of Wake Island. Your granddad was facing death, he knew it. None of those boys had any illusions about ever leavin' that island alive. So three days before the Japanese took the island, your granddad asked a gunner on an Air Force transport name of Winocki, a man he had never met before in his life, to deliver to his infant son, who he'd never seen in the flesh, his gold watch. Three days later, your granddad was dead. But Winocki kept his word. After the war was over, he paid a visit to your grandmother, delivering to your infant father, his Dad's gold watch. This watch.

[holds it up, long pause]

Captain Koons: This watch was on your Daddy's wrist when he was shot down over Hanoi. He was captured, put in a Vietnamese prison camp. He knew if the g**ks ever saw the watch it'd be confiscated, taken away. The way your Dad looked at it, that watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any s***es were gonna put their greasy yella hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something. His ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.