This is not a comprehensive, well-thought-out list. Adam challenged me to put out a list better than his so that's the only goal I was really going for. I am sure if I took more time, there are plenty of "speeches" I could come up with that belong on this list. These are just the ones that I happened to have on dvd/vhs. At least they are all speeches and not scenes, Adam!
A Time to Kill -- Matthew McConaughey's closing statement a.k.a. The Now Imagine She's White Speech
Rocky IV -- The Anybody Can Change Speech to a converted Soviet crowd (and government) practically invented the Unintentional Comedy Scale (see Bill Simmons)
National Lampoon's Vacation -- "You know what I think? I think you're all fucked in the head. We're ten hours from the fuckin' fun park and you wanna turn back! This is not a vacation. It's a quest, a quest for fun. I'm gonna have fun and you're gonna have fun. We're all gonna have so much fuckin' fun we're gonna need plastic surgery to remove our godamned smiles! You're gonna be whistling Zippity Doo-Dah out of your assholes! I'm on a pilgrimage to see a moose! Praaaaaise Marty Moose! Ohhh Shit." Any speech that inspires me to rewind it 45 times in order to memorize it deserves a spot. A comedic classic.
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation -- The Jelly of the Month Club, Christmas Bonus Speech. An outburst similar to the one in the original but deserving a spot all its own.
Taxi Driver -- "You talkin' to me?" One of the most quoted speeches of all-time and a chilling insight into the character of Travis Bickle.
Goodwill Hunting -- Adam got the movie right, but he used the wrong speech. The speech deserving recognition on this list is the one described as a "Taster's Choice moment between men" when Robin Williams' character breaks down the intellectual bravado of the title character.
Bull Durham -- The I Believe Speech as penned brilliantly by Ron Shelton and performed pitch perfectly by Kevin Costner. Anybody else agree there ought to be a Constitutional Amendment outlawing artificial turf and the designated hitter? There's actually another great speech towards the end said by Susan Sarandon, but I can't recall it well enough to describe it here.
Casablanca -- Much like "Bull Durham," this one is chalk full. I will agree with Adam on this one and highlight the "We'll always have Paris" speech
The American President -- "...My name is Andrew Shepard and I am the President!" i.e. SUCK IT, BOB RUMSON! An inspiring speech that gets my heart pumping everytime.
Field of Dreams -- "...People will come, Ray. People will most definitely come..."
A Few Good Men -- "...Deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall..."
Jerry Maguire -- I got two from this one, Rod Tidwell's opening speech coaxing Jerry Maguire to shout at the top of his lungs "I love Black people!" and Jerry's impassioned plea to Rod in the restroom to "Help me help you."
Glengarry Glen Ross -- This speech is so kick-ass it inspired Alec Baldwin to take the part even though it is his only appearance in the movie. Conrad and I put this speech on in my office all the time. It just dominates.
Full Metal Jacket -- The fascist IT dept at work will not allow me to find this clip online but I think anyone who has ever seen the movie knows exactly what I am talking about.
Ghostbusters -- "Gozar the Gozarian! Good evening. As a duelly designated representative of the city, county, and state of New York, I hereby order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your place of origin or to the nearest convenient parallel dimension." One of the greatest of all-time? I guess not, but it's on here for the same reason as the Lampoon ones. It was good enough to make me memorize it.
Tombstone -- Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp blows away two Cowboys and tells the despicable Ike to take a message to the others..."You called down the thunder, well you got it....So run you kerr. Run! Tell all the other kerrs the law's comin'. You tell 'em I'M comin'! And hell's comin' with me, you hear?! HELL'S COMIN' WITH ME!" One of the most quotable movies ever.
Scent of a Woman -- As stated in previous post. The creme de la creme of movie speeches.
Okay, that's all I have time for right now. Adam, I have thrown down the gauntlet.
8 comments:
Wow. Bravo.
- A Time to Kill: Totally overlooked that one; favorite John Grisham NOVEL and perhaps the best Grisham film as well.
- Rocky IV: Hilarious! "if I can change and you can change everybody can change!"
- The American President: Another mindless liberal rant penned by Aaron Sorkin. Reducing fossil fuel emissions and banning handguns? Gets me every time too (by that I mean it doesn't)
- Full Metal Jacket: I excluded it from my list because children read my site.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zeX5HSBFooI
- Ghostbusters (kicking myself for not including that)
Again, well done.
Leave it to Partridge to watch the triumphant climax of a romantic comedy about a fake president and focus on the politics of the faux Prez.
Children read your site?
Even MORE reason why you should have shown pictures of you naked from the thighs down.
Eight-year olds, Dude.
Of course I meant "you shouldn't have"...
"Children read my site." That has t-shirt written all over it.
Well done, sir! So many of those had me going "YES!" And "GOOD ONE!"
The one you couldn't remember-- so much is it one of my favorites of all time, I used it in my midterm paper last week:
"I believe in the Church of Baseball. I've tried all the major religions, and most of the minor ones. I've worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I heard that, I gave Jesus a chance. But it just didn't work out between us. The Lord laid too much guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology. You see, there's no guilt in baseball, and it's never boring... which makes it like sex. There's never been a ballplayer slept with me who didn't have the best year of his career. Making love is like hitting a baseball: you just gotta relax and concentrate. Besides, I'd never sleep with a player hitting under .250... not unless he had a lot of RBIs and was a great glove man up the middle. You see, there's a certain amount of life wisdom I give these boys. I can expand their minds. Sometimes when I've got a ballplayer alone, I'll just read Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman to him, and the guys are so sweet, they always stay and listen. 'Course, a guy'll listen to anything if he thinks it's foreplay. I make them feel confident, and they make me feel safe, and pretty. 'Course, what I give them lasts a lifetime; what they give me lasts 142 games. Sometimes it seems like a bad trade. But bad trades are part of baseball - now who can forget Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, for God's sake? It's a long season and you gotta trust. I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball."
PS (LOVE The American President.)
That's a good one too, but I was thinking of the one she has towards the end. It's not quite as long. I think it ends with her sitting on the floor in the kitchen just before Nuke is giving his first pro interview...I'm gonna have to take a look at this.
Language! Hey man, kids read my site. Okay, not kids, but Mormons do.
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