Favorite Movie Monologues

[O]

Clarence's dad (Dennis Hopper) telling the mob don (Christopher Walken) about Sicilians in True Romance...

Walken's character giving Butch his father's watch (and the story behind it) in Pulp Fiction...

Good choices.
The scene with Walken and Hopper is one of my all time favorites.

 

[KingofCards]

Kevin Costner in Bull Durham.

 

[Divide Et Impera]

Dr. Evil's in therapy on his childhood....

 

[vince56]

3 words.... "You're Chasing Amy."

That was a great monologue by Silent Bob. In fact, I thought that movie had quite a few good monologues in it. The speech Affleck's character gave in the car was quite moving as well.

 

[Stout]

3 words.... "You're Chasing Amy."

That was a great monologue by Silent Bob. In fact, I thought that movie had quite a few good monologues in it. The speech Affleck's character gave in the car was quite moving as well.

Bingo, man! You beat me to it.

 

[Pariah]

Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront:

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 was my brother, Charlie. You shoulda looked out for me a little bit so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end money. 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.

Heartbreaking scene, IMO.

 

[Pariah]

Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men:

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, lieutenant 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 of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. 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 that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand the post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to!

 

[Pariah]

And one last one from me; Peter Finch in Network:

I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it...All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a human being, god-dammit! My life has value!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!'

 

[Pariah]

If I had to pick one, it'd probably be Brando in "Waterfront," but that might not quailify as a monologue.

 

[O]

"You smell that? Do you smell that?... Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for twelve hours. When it was all over I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory."

Robert Duvall; Apocalypse Now

 

[UncleChris]

A short one....


"We thought you was a toad!"

 

[FischerKing]

from one of my all-time favorite movies, The Usual Suspects...

Verbal Kent: Who is Keyser Soze? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.

shawn

 

[FischerKing]

another, this time from the master of dialogue - Quentin Tarantino - here is Jules in Pulp Fiction

Jules: There's a 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 the 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 **** for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a mother****er before you popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some **** this mornin' made me think twice. Now I'm thinkin': it could mean 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 be you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that. But that **** ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.

shawn

 

[FischerKing]

one more for this evening - Red (Morgan Freeeman) in Shawshank Redemption.

Red: [Narrating] Get busy living, or get busy dying. That's ******* right. For the second time in my life I'm guilty of committing a crime: Parole Violation. 'Course I doubt they'll toss up any road blocks for that, not for an old crook like me. I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I imagine it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at the start of a long journey, whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border... I hope to see my friend and shake his hand... I hope the pacific is a blue as it has been in my dreams... I hope...

shawn

 

[FischerKing]

sorry - one more for the night. here is a great monologue from The Kid by Charlie Chaplin...













shawn

 

[Chaplin]

from one of my all-time favorite movies, The Usual Suspects...

Verbal Kent: Who is Keyser Soze? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.

shawn

It's Verbal KINT, not Kent.

 

[FischerKing]

It's Verbal KINT, not Kent.

shawn

 

[Mike Olbinski]

It's Verbal KINT, not Kent.

:bimmed:

Mike

 

[jf-08]

Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction explaining to the kid about the watch.

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction explaining to the kid about the watch.

Mike

 

[Mike Olbinski]

“Sure, I could have stayed in the past. I could have even been king. But in my own way, I am king. (Ash grabs girl) Hail to the king, baby.”

Ash, Army of Darkness

Mike

 

[Renz]

Colonel's Kurtz's Horror from Apocalypse Now
written Francis Ford Coppola & John Milius, book by Joseph Conrad

Kurtz (Marlon Brando): I've seen the horror. Horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that, but you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and mortal terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies.

I remember when I was with Special Forces--it seems a thousand centuries ago--we went into a camp to inoculate it. The children. We left the camp after we had inoculated the children for polio, and this old man came running after us, and he was crying. He couldn't see. We went there, and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. There they were in a pile--a pile of little arms. And I remember...I...I...I cried, I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out, I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I want to remember it, I never want to forget. And then I realized--like I was shot...like I was shot with a diamond...a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought, "My God, the genius of that, the genius, the will to do that." Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they could stand that--these were not monsters, these were men, trained contras, these men who fought with their hearts, who have families, who have children, who are filled with love--that they had this strength, the strength to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men, then our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral and at the same time were able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling, without passion, without judgment--without judgment. Because it's judgment that defeats us.

I worry that my son might not understand what I've tried to be, and if I were to be killed, Willard, I would want someone to go to my home and tell my son everything. Everything I did, everything you saw, because there's nothing that I detest more than the stench of lies. And if you understand me, Willard, you...you will do this for me.

 

[Homer Simpson]

another, this time from the master of dialogue - Quentin Tarantino - here is Jules in Pulp Fiction

Jules: There's a 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 the 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 **** for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a mother****er before you popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some **** this mornin' made me think twice. Now I'm thinkin': it could mean 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 be you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that. But that **** ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.

shawn

Cool little piece of trivia about Pulp...

The 'shepherd' mentioned in Jules' speech is actually a character in the movie.

When Vincent accidentally shoots Marvin in the car, he tells Jules to take the car to a friendly place, to which Jules replies: "This is the Valley, Vincent, Marsellus ain't got no friendly places in the Valley." They were in the Valley of Darkness.

Jules takes them to Jimmy's house, hoping he can help him, but Jimmy makes it really clear really quick that he is not the man they're looking for:

"You know why you didn't see that sign...because storing dead (n-words) ain't my ****ing business."

Now, if he were truly his brother's keeper, wouldn't storing dead (n-words) be his business? Or at least a department within his company?

When the Wolf (who is the shepherd, BTW) is ready to take them to the junk yard, he asks Jules a question, and he responds that Jules' answer is "spoken like a true prodigy" and, in the diner, Jules admires how 'cool' The Wolf acted during the whole mess, than during the robbery, he stresses to Honey Bunny how they are going to be cool. So, when he says he is 'trying to be the shepherd', he is trying to be like the Wolf.

 

[marathon_mom]

Cool little piece of trivia about Pulp...

The 'shepherd' mentioned in Jules' speech is actually a character in the movie.

When Vincent accidentally shoots Marvin in the car, he tells Jules to take the car to a friendly place, to whic Vincent replies: "This is the Valley, Vincent, Marsellus ain't got no friendly places in the Valley." They were in the Valley of Darkness.

Jules takes them to Jimmy's house, hoping he can help him, but Jimmy makes it really clear relly quick that he is not the man they're looking for:

"You know why you didn't see that sign...because storing dead (n-words) ain't my ****ing business."

Now, if he were truly his brother's keeper, wouldn't storing dead (n-words) be his business? Or at least a department within his company?

When the Wolf (who is the shepherd, BTW) is ready to take them to the junk yard, he asks Jules a question, and he responds that Jules' answer is "spoken like a true prodigy" and, in the diner, Jules admires how 'cool' The Wolf acted during the whole mess, than during the robbery, he stresses to Honey Bunny how they are going to be cool. So, when he says he is 'trying to be the shepherd', he is trying to be like the Wolf.

Interesting thoughts. Love that movie!

 

[marathon_mom]

Ok, Ok. So I know this is a dialogue, however Trask doesn't even count. I loved Pacino in this role. He blew me away with this. *goosebumps*



Scent of a Woman. Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade "Out of Order"
written by Bo Goldman, from screenplay by Ruggero Maccari & Dino Risi, from novel by Giovanni Arpino

Mr. Trask: Mr. Sims, you are a cover-up artist and you are a liar. Col. Frank Slade: But not a snitch!
Trask: Excuse me?
Slade: No, I don't think I will. This is such a crock of sh*t.
Trask: Mr. Slade, you will watch your language. You are at the Baird School now not a barracks. Now Mr. Sims I will give you one final opportunity to speak up.
Slade: Mr. Sims doesn't want it. He doesn't need to labeled, "...still worthy of being a 'Baird Man.'" What the hell is that? What is your motto here? Boys, inform on your classmates, save your hide. Anything short of that we're gonna burn you at the stake? Well, gentlemen. When the going gets tough, some guys run and some guys stay. Here's Charlie--facing the fire, and there's George--hiding in big Daddy's pocket. And what are you gonna do? You're gonna reward George, and destroy Charlie.
Trask: Are you finished, Mr. Slade?
Slade: No. I'm just gettin' warmed up. Now I don't know who went to this place--William Howard Taft, William Jennings Bryant, William Tell--whoever. Their spirit is dead; if they ever had one, it's gone. You're building a rat ship here. A vessel for sea going snitches. And if you think your preparing these minnows for manhood you better think again. Because I say you are killing the very spirit this institution proclaims it instills. What a sham! What kind of show are you guys puttin' on here today. I mean, the only class in this act is sittin' next to me. And I say, this boy's soul is in tact. It is non-negotiable. You know how I know. Because someone here--I'm not gonna say who--offered to buy it. Only Charlie here wasn't selling.
Mr.Trask: Sir, you are out of order!
Slade: Out of order, I'll show you out of order! You don't know what out of order is Mr.Trask! I'd show you but I'm too old, I'm too tired, and I'm too f**kin' blind. If I were the man I was five years ago I'd take a flame-thrower to this place. Out of order, who the hell do you think you're talking to? I've been around you know? There was a time I could see. And I have seen, boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there isn't nothin' like the sight of an amputated spirit, there is no prosthetic for that. You think you're merely sending this splendid foot-soldier back home to Oregon with his tail between his legs but I say that you are executing his soul. And why? Because he's not a Baird man. Baird men, you hurt this boy, you're going to be Baird Bums, the lot of ya. And Harry, Jimmy, Trent, wherever you are out there, f**k you too.
Mr. Trask: Stand down Mr. Slade!
Slade: I'm not finished! Now as I came in here, I heard those words...cradle of leadership. Well, when the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. And it has fallen here, it has fallen! Makers of men, creators of leaders, be careful what kind of leaders you're producing here. Now, I don't know if Charlie's silence here today is right or wrong; I'm no judge or jury. But I can tell you this: he won't sell anybody out to buy his future! And that my friends is called integrity, that's called courage. Now that's the stuff leaders should be made of. (pause) Now I have come to the crossroads in my days, and I have always known the right path, always, without exception, I knew. But I never took it, you know why? Because it's too damn hard. Now here's Charlie; he's come to the crossroads. And he's chosen a path, it's the right path. It's a path made of principle, that leads to character. Let him continue on his journey. You hold this boy's future in your hands committee! It's a valuable future. Believe me! Don't destroy...protect it...embrace it. It's gonna make you proud some day...I promise.
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