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The Money Speech
You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it!... You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today.
What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state -- Karl Marx?... We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime.
-- Arthur Jensen (Ned Beatty) pitches Howard Beale (Peter Finch) in Network (YouYube)
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What do we remember most from movies we've all seen? Is it the breathtaking imagery, the clever use of the camera and interesting angles, the unforgettable story line, the haunting music, or stellar performances by great actors? I would suggest that perhaps the most important aspect might be the memorable words spoken by one of the characters. Such words are often repeated over and over again until they become part of our culture and everyday life.
(Robert Redford as The Sundance Kid and Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)
This diary has focused not as much on well-known lines such as "Goodbye, Mr. Bond" from Goldfinger or, "Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye" from 2001: A Space Odyssey or, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!" from Gone With the Wind or, "Who are those guys?" from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Rather, I have listed several memorable speeches and monologues that helped to define and etch such movies in our memories.
What makes a film speech or monologue memorable?
Film speeches are normally delivered orally and directed at an audience of three or more people, although there can be exceptions, such as voice-over narrations. They are usually persuasive-type speeches, either designed to promote or to dissuade, and they are highly quotable.
(Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund in Casablanca in one of the most memorable scenes in movie history)
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In no particular order, here are a few unforgettable speeches and monologues from movies.
Breaker Morant
is an Australian movie released in 1980. Based on a true story, it is set during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) in South Africa and features the military court martial of three Australian army officers accused of murdering prisoners of war. In one of the best movie courtroom scenes ever, Maj. J.F. Thomas (Jack Thompson) defends the three officers, Lieutenants Harry "Breaker" Morant (Edward Woodward), Peter Handcock (Bryan Brown), and George Witton (Lewis Fitz-Gerald). The issues he raises in their defense are all-too familiar to us in the post-Cold War era for they deal with the concept of 'asymmetric warfare' in which it is virtually impossible to distinguish friend from foe during wartime.
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The "Barbarities of War" Speech
The fact of the matter is that war changes men's natures. The barbarities of war are seldom committed by abnormal men. The tragedy of war is that these horrors are committed by normal men in abnormal situations, situations in which the ebb and flow of everyday life have departed and have been replaced by a constant round of fear, and anger, blood, and death. Soldiers at war are not to be judged by civilian rules, as the prosecution is attempting to do, even though they commit acts which, calmly viewed afterwards, could only be seen as unchristian and brutal. And if, in every war, particularly guerilla war, all the men who committed reprisals were to be charged and tried as murderers, court martials like this one would be in permanent session. Would they not? I say that we cannot hope to judge such matters unless we ourselves have been submitted to the same pressures, the same provocations as these men, whose actions are on trial.
link
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
is producer/director Frank Capra's classic comedy-drama, and considered by many to be his greatest achievement in film...
The wonderfully-acted, absorbing and human film was popular at the box-office and critically successful too. However, the film caused some controversy and pressure was brought to bear to hinder its release (two months after the outbreak of WWII in Europe), due to the fact that Capra's film was propagandistic, depicted political corruption, and appeared to paint an anti-democratic picture of the US government and its inner workings. But the film also called for faith in traditional American values of patriotism and faith in the people, and provided an educational lesson in how bills are passed through Congress. link
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The "Lost Cause" Speech
I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr. Paine. All you people don't know about lost causes. Mr. Paine does. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for. And he fought for them once, for the only reason that any man ever fights for them. Because of just one plain simple rule: 'Love thy neighbor.' And in this world today, full of hatred, a man who knows that one rule has a great trust. You know that rule, Mr. Paine. And I loved you for it, just as my father did. And you know that you fight for the lost causes harder than for any others. Yes, you even die for them. Like a man we both knew, Mr. Paine. You think I'm licked. You all think I'm licked. Well, I'm not licked. And I'm gonna stay right here and fight for this lost cause, even if this room gets filled with lies like these. And the Taylors and all their armies come marching into this place. Somebody will listen to me. Some...
link
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The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
if you've ever seen this 1965 movie based on John le Carré's famous spy thriller novel, you'll remember the movie's central character. Played by Richard Burton, Alec Leamas is a British spy coaxed out of retirement. Even as his cynicism and self-loathing comes through quite clearly, notice the explicit references to political ideology this unforgettable quote by Leamas - something so evident in movies and literature during the several decades of the East-West Cold War.
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The "God or Karl Marx" Speech
What the hell do you think spies are? Moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of God or Karl Marx? They're not! They're just a bunch of seedy, squalid bastards like me: drunkards, queers, hen-pecked husbands, civil servants playing cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten little lives. Do you think they sit like monks in a cell, balancing right against wrong?
link
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Taxi Driver
is director Martin Scorsese's and screenwriter Paul Schrader's gritty, disturbing, nightmarish modern film classic, that examines alienation in urban society... Historically, the film appeared after a decade of war in Vietnam, and after the disgraceful Watergate crisis and President Nixon's resignation.
It explores the psychological madness within an obsessed, twisted, inarticulate, lonely, anti-hero cab driver and war vet (De Niro), who misdirectedly lashes out with frustrated anger and power like an exploding time bomb at the world that has alienated him. link
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The You Talkin' To Me? Monologue
You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Well, who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well, I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talkin' to?
link
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On the Waterfront
The late 1940's and much of the 1950's McCarthy Era was a tumultuous period for many directors, writers, actors, and others involved in the Hollywood film industry. Imagined fears of pervasive Communist influence in American society made friends turn on friends. Loyalties were discarded. Suspicions were aroused. Whatever one thinks of Director Elia Kazan and his 'snitching,' there is no denying that he was a great director, having directed what one British magazine called the greatest five minutes in movie history. When I lived in London in the mid-1990's in one of my grad schools, Timeout magazine described the scene between Marlon Brando (Terry Malloy) and Rod Steiger (Charley 'the Gent' Malloy) in the back seat of a car in the movie On the Waterfront as the best ever in movie history.
A 1954 movie about mob infiltration, violence, and union corruption -- and if you've seen this great movie -- you'll remember the memorable lines from Brando.
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Rod Steiger and Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront
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The "I Coulda Been a Contender" Speech
Charlie: Look, kid, I - how much you weigh, son? When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds you were beautiful. You coulda been another Billy Conn, and that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast.
Terry: It wasn't him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, "Kid, this ain't your night. We're going for the price on Wilson." You remember that? "This ain't your night"! My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end money.
Charlie: Oh I had some bets down for you. You saw some money.
Terry: You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley.
link
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The rest of the movies included in the diary poll are: The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Casablanca (1942)...
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The "I'll be There" Farewell Speech (YouTube)
Well, maybe it's like Casy says. A fella ain't got a soul of his own - just a little piece of a big soul. The one big soul that belongs to everybody...Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere - wherever you can look. Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready. And when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise, and livin' in the houses they build, I'll be there, too. link
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How Green Was My Valley (1941)
The Opening Monologue (YouTube)
I am packing my belongings in the shawl my mother used to wear when she went to the market. And I'm going from my valley. And this time, I shall never return. I am leaving behind me my fifty years of memory. Memory. Streams that the mind will forget so much of what only this moment has passed, and yet hold clear and bright the memory of what happened years ago - of men and women long since dead. Yet who shall say what is real and what is not?
link
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Casablanca (1942)
The "We'll Always Have Paris" Speech (Youtube)
Because you're getting on that plane. (I don't understand. What about you?) I'm staying here with him (Renault) 'til the plane gets safely away... We'll always have Paris. We didn't have - we'd - we'd lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night. (When I said I would never leave you..) And you never will. I've got a job to do too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that. Now, now. Here's looking at you, kid.
link
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... and Henry V (1989), Jaws (1975), Patton (1970), A Few Good Men (1992), and Full Metal Jacket (1987).
Henry V (1989) - The "Band of Brothers" Speech - link (YouTube)
Jaws (1975) - The Indianapolis Speech - link (YouTube alternative version)
Patton (1970) - Opening "Address" to the Troops - link (YouTube)
A Few Good Men (1992) - You Can't Handle the Truth - link (YouTube)
Full Metal Jacket (1987) - Drill Sergeant's Boot Camp Taunting of Recruits - link (YouTube)
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As a whole, the movies I have selected for this diary do not necessarily represent the best or greatest movies with memorable speeches or monologues. It is simply my list. Yours may well be different. If so, tell us in your comment(s) as to what you like, list a wonderful quote, and years after watching it for the first time, if your impressions have changed about the movie(s) in question. Importantly, don't give me any grief if your favorite movie is not included in the diary poll. :-)
You can peruse the following lists to refresh you memory
- Best Film Speeches and Monologues.
- The 50 Greatest Movie Monologues.
- Top 10 Greatest Film Speeches and Monologues.
Remember to take the diary poll.