Best Film Speeches and Monologues
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Title Screen
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Film Title/Year and Description of Film Speech/Monologue |
Screenshots
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Raising
Arizona (1987)
Screenwriter(s): Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Prophetic
Dream With a Happy Ending
Play clip (excerpt): (short) (medium) (full)
H.I. McDunnough (Nicolas Cage) gave a closing
(voice-over) dream fantasy while in bed, first dreaming about
the future of returned baby Nathan Junior (who received a football
at Christmas (who then became a future Arizona football star)
and the future of other characters. At the end of his dream,
he envisioned future life with his wife Edwina (or "Ed")
(Holly Hunter), dreaming of them living happily as an older
couple - the parents of well-adjusted children who had children
of their own, as they all sat down at a Thanksgiving table
with a banner reading
"WELCOME HOME KIDS":
That night I had a dream. I dreamt I was
as light as the ether, a floatin' spirit visiting things
to come. The shades and shadows of the people in my life
wrassled their way into my slumber. I dreamt that Gale
and Evelle had decided to return to prison. Probably that's
just as well. I don't mean to sound superior, and they're
a swell couple guys, but maybe they weren't ready yet
to come out into the world.
And then I dreamed on, into the future, to
a Christmas morn in the Arizona home where Nathan Junior
was openin' a present from a kindly couple who preferred
to remain unknown. I saw Glen a few years later, still havin'
no luck getting the cops to listen to his wild tales about
me and Ed. Maybe he threw in one Polack joke too many. I
don't know. And still I dreamed on, further into the future
than I'd ever dreamed before, watching Nathan Junior's progress
from afar, taking pride in his accomplishments, as if he
were our own, wonderin' if he ever thought of us, and hopin'
that maybe we'd broadened his horizons a little, even if
he couldn't remember just how they got broadened.
But still I hadn't dreamt nothin' about me
'n Ed, until the end. And this was cloudier, 'cause it was
years, years away. But I saw an old couple bein' visited
by their children, and all their grandchildren too. The old
couple wasn't screwed up, and neither were their kids or
their grandkids... And I don't know. You tell me. This whole
dream, was it wishful thinkin'? Was I just fleeing reality
like I know I'm liable to do? But me and Ed, we can be good,
too. And it seemed real. It seemed like us, and it seemed
like, well, our home. If not Arizona, then a land not too
far away, where all parents are strong and wise and capable,
and all children are happy and beloved. I don't know. (H.I.
opened his eyes) Maybe it was Utah.
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Roxanne
(1987)
Screenwriter(s): Steve Martin
20
(Actually 25) Elongated Nose Joke Insults
Play clip (excerpt):
Modern-day Cyrano - C.D. Bales (Steve Martin)
suggested at least twenty better insults about his elongated
nose, to an insulting, boorish, obnoxious, and drunken bullying
customer named Jim (Thom Curley) in the crowded 279 bar after
he name-called him "Big-Nose" -
his response was listened to by the cheering crowd, as they
counted out his 20 insults - actually 25!:
- Obvious: Excuse me,
is that your nose, or did a bus park on your face
- Meteorological:
Everybody take cover, she's going to blow!
- Fashionable:
You know, you could de-emphasize your nose if you wore
something larger, like Wyoming
- Personal: Well, here we
are, just the three of us
- Punctual: All right, Dellman,
your nose was on time, but you were fifteen minutes late
- Envious:
Ooh, I wish I were you. Gosh, to be able to smell your own
ear
- Naughty: Pardon me, sir, some of the ladies
have asked if you wouldn't mind putting that thing away
- Philosophical:
You know, it's not the size of a nose that's important, it's
what's in it that matters
- Humorous: Laugh
and the world laughs with you. Sneeze, and it's goodbye,
Seattle!
- Commercial: Hi, I'm Earl Scheib, and I can
paint that nose for $39.95!
- Polite: Uh, would you mind not
bobbing your head? The, uh, orchestra keeps changing tempo
- Melodic: Everybody. He's got... (everyone
singing) the whole world in his nose
- Sympathetic: Ooh, what
happened? Did your parents lose a bet with God?
- Complimentary:
You must love the
little birdies to give them this to perch on
- Scientific:
Say, does that thing there influence the tides?
- Obscure:
Whoa, I'd hate to see the grindstone!...
- Inquiry: When
you stop and smell the flowers, are they afraid?
- French:
Zee pigs have refused to find any more truffles until you
leave!
- Pornographic: Finally, a man who can satisfy
two women at once!...
- Religious: The Lord giveth - and He
just kept on giving, didn't He?
- Disgusting: Say, who mows your
nose hair?
- Paranoid: Keep that guy away from my cocaine!
- Aromatic: It must wonderful to wake up in
the morning and smell the coffee - in Brazil
- Appreciative:
Oooh, how original! Most people just have their teeth capped
- (an insult for the bully): "Dirty: your
name wouldn't be Dick, would it?"
He then added: "You
flat-faced, flat-nosed, flat-head!", deflected a punch,
then knocked him out (with a delayed response) to the floor, and
asked: "Has he fallen yet?" |
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Roxanne
(1987)
Screenwriter(s): Steve Martin
"I
Love Your Nose!" Speech
Play clip (excerpt):
Roxanne (Daryl Hannah) delivered a heartfelt,
romantic speech in the film's happy ending, to profess her
love to a disbelieving, long-nosed Fire Chief Charlie "C.D."
Bales (Steve Martin), as he sat on her rooftop and listened.
She started by expressing her love for CD and an appreciation
of his true gifts:
When I close my eyes, I see you again and
again. Your eyes, your face, the way you walk. Your style, your wit and your
nose, Charlie.
She said she wasn't in love with hunky and handsome
firefighter Chris McConnell (Rick Rossovich), but with the
person who was the author of many love letters to her:
I went inside and I thought what it was
about Chris that attracted me. It wasn't the way he looked.
Well, that's not true, at first it was the way he looked.
But it was how he made me feel. He made me feel romantic,
intelligent, feminine. But it wasn't him doing that to me,
it was you. All these other men, Charlie, they've
got flat, featureless faces. No character, no fire, no nose.
Charlie - you have a big nose. You have a beautiful,
great, big, flesh and bone nose. I love your nose. I love
your nose, Charlie. I love you, Charlie. (pause) Well?
In response, he told her: "Are you kidding?",
then slid down her roof onto the porch and acrobatically performed
a full body forward flip off the porch to the ground
in front of her, where after a few awkward moments of finding
the right angle and having him tilt his head to the right,
she kissed him. |
Reconciled With Roxanne on His Rooftop: "I
love your nose, Charlie! I love you, Charlie!"
Tilted Kiss
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Swimming
to Cambodia (1987)
Screenwriter(s): Spalding Gray
"Genocide"
From Spalding Gray's 85-minute monologue - the
famous, dark "genocide"
passage about the Cambodian holocaust, while sitting at a bare
table with a microphone, a glass of water and a notebook - he
ended with mention of the Khymer Rouge's slaughter of 2 million
fellow Cambodians:
...this bombing went on for five years.
The Supreme Court never passed any judgment on it and the
military speaks with pride today that five years of the
bombing of Cambodia killed 16,000 of the so-called enemy.
That's 25% killed, and there's a military ruling that says
you cannot kill more than 10% of the enemy without causing
irreversible, psychological damage. So, five years of bombing,
a diet of bark, bugs, lizards and leaves up in the Cambodian
jungles, uh, an education in Paris environs in a strict
Maoist doctrine with a touch of Rousseau, and other things
that we will probably never know about in our lifetime
-- including, perhaps, an invisible cloud of evil that
circles the Earth and lands at random in places like Iran,
Beirut, Germany, Cambodia, America -- set the Khymer Rouge
out to carry out the worst auto-homeo genocide in modern
history.
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Swimming
to Cambodia (1987)
Screenwriter(s): Spalding Gray
Farewell
Play clip (excerpt):
The closing
"Farewell" speech, in which Spalding Gray described
his regretful departure from Southeast Asia (with intermittent
clips shown from The Killing Fields (1984)),
ending with a back-lit projection of an ocean:
Then I told him about my perfect woman in the
Indian Ocean, and he listened, raising an eyebrow, and putting
his pipe down, he turned to me and said: (imitating Athol
Fugard) 'Spalding! The sea's a lovely lady when you play
in her. But if you play with her, she's a BITCH! Play in
the sea, yes, but never play with her. You're lucky to be
here! You're lucky to be ALIVE!'
I believed him, and I went to bed and slept
like a kid again in Jerusalem, Rhode Island, the entire
bed rocking, sand in the bottom of the bed, wrapped in
the arms of the sea, fantastic sleep. And the following
day, I got up and the little kid was raging inside of me,
and the adult was there too, saying I should go home. And
the little kid is going, 'More, more. Get more where that
came from. Stay, stay, stay.' And the adult is going, 'I've
had my perfect moment. It's time to go.' And I thought,
'How will I get out of here? How will I be decisive?' Then
I thought, 'You know, maybe I'll try acting like a decisive
man. If I can't be one, I'll act like one.'
And I went
out in the hotel, and said goodbye to all my mates as though
I were going. 'Goodbye-mate. We'll work together again
one day. Hey, you'd better believe I believe in this film.
F--kin' A. 'Hey, big guy. Look out for those smores and
don't you drink too much. We'll meet again. Alright!' I got
to Athol Fugard and he looked right through me: 'So Spalding,
you're leaving Paradise after all.' I said, 'Athol, you
know, I woke up this morning...' 'Spalding! Go back to
Renee. She's a lovely lady. Take what you've learned here
in Thailand back to Crumbville. There is no difference
between Thailand and Crumbville.'
I wanted to believe him.
I also wondered who he'd been studying with. So I did it.
I got in the car for the final ride to the airport. And
as I was riding, I felt like I was going to the gallows.
I couldn't believe it. Why was I doing this? Why did I
feel, mainly, why did I feel so inflated. I'd been there
eight weeks, and I'd worked eight days. Was waiting that
difficult? I felt all puffed up, but on the way, I felt,
my God, I will never see a little piece of heaven like
this again. This is the end. And as I was riding, I said
a silent benediction, a silent farewell to all that I had
had and would miss.
Farewell,
to the fantastic breakfasts, free every morning. You walked
down and there they are waiting on you with the papaya,
mango, and pineapple like I'd never tasted before. Farewell,
to the Thai maids with the king-sized cotton sheets and
the big king-sized beds. Farewell, to the lunches. Fresh
meat flown in from America, daily. Roast potatoes, green
beans and roast lamb, at 110 degrees under a circus tent,
according to British Equity. Farewell to the drivers with
the tinted glasses and the Mercedes with the tinted windows.
Farewell to the cakes, and teas and ices every day exactly
at four o'clock. Farewell to those beautiful smiling people.
Farewell to that single, fresh rose in a vase on my bureau
in the hotel every day. And just as I was climbing into
that first-class seat, and wrapping myself in a blanket,
just as I was adjusting the pillow from behind my head,
and having a sip of that champagne, and just as I was adjusting
and bringing down my Thai purple sleep mask, I had an inkling,
I had a flash. I suddenly thought I knew what it was that
had killed Marilyn Monroe.
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Tin Men (1987)
Screenwriter(s): Barry Levinson
Sex
on the TV Show "Bonanza"
Play clip (excerpt):
While driving, Sam (Jackie Gayle) spoke to Ernest
Tilley (Danny DeVito) about the popular western TV show "Bonanza."
He felt it wasn't very realistic, because the four Ponderosa
guys never discussed sex:
You know, when I saw 'Bonanza' the other
day, something occurred to me...Ya got these four guys
living on the Ponderosa and ya never hear them say anything
about wanting to get laid...I mean ya never hear Hoss say
to Little Joe, 'I had such a hard-on when I woke up this
morning'...They don't talk about broads - nothin'...Ya
never hear Little Joe say, 'Hey, Hoss, I went to Virginia
City and I saw a girl with the greatest ass I've ever seen
in my life.' They just walk around the Ponderosa: 'Yes,
Pa, where's Little Joe?' Nothin' about broads. I don't
think I'm bein' too picky. But, if at least once, they
talked about getting horny. I don't care if you live on
the Ponderosa or right here in Baltimore, guys talk about
getting laid. I'm beginning to think that show doesn't
have too much realism. What do you think?
Sam, I can't concentrate on the 'Bonanza' bulls--t. I got
too much on my brain, what with that asshole and the Home
Improvement Commission, I don't wanna have to worry about
whether Little Joe got laid last night, alright? Come on,
let's go and eat somethin'.
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Wall Street (1987)
Screenwriter(s): Stanley Weiser, Oliver Stone
America
Has Become a Second Rate Power: "Greed... is Good"
Play clips (excerpt): (short) (long)
Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) offered financial
advice to the annual stockholder's meeting of Teldar Paper:
Well, I, uh, I appreciate the opportunity
you're giving me, Mr. Cromwell, as the single largest shareholder
in Teldar Paper, to speak. Well, ladies and gentlemen,
we're not here to indulge in fantasy, but in political
and economic reality.
America, America has become a second-rate power.
Its trade deficit and its fiscal deficit are at nightmare
proportions. Now, in the days of the free market, when our
country was a top industrial power, there was accountability
to the stockholder. The Carnegies, the Mellons, the men that
built this great industrial empire, made sure of it because
it was their money at stake. Today, management has no stake
in the company! All together, these men sitting up here own
less than three percent of the company. And where does Mr.
Cromwell put his million-dollar salary? Not in Teldar stock.
He owns less than one percent. You own the company. That's
right - you, the stockholder. And you are all being royally
screwed over by these, these bureaucrats, with their, their
steak lunches, their hunting and fishing trips, their, their
corporate jets and golden parachutes...
Teldar Paper, Mr. Cromwell, Teldar Paper has
thirty-three different Vice Presidents, each earning over
two hundred thousand dollars a year. Now, I have spent the
last two months analyzing what all these guys do, and I still
can't figure it out. One thing I do know is that our paper
company lost a hundred and ten million dollars last year,
and I'll bet that half of that was spent in all the paperwork
going back and forth between all these Vice Presidents.
The new law of evolution in corporate America
seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book,
you either do it right or you get eliminated. In the last
seven deals that I've been involved with, there were 2.5
million stockholders who have made a pre-tax profit of 12
billion dollars. (applause) Thank you. I am not a
destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them!
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed
- for lack of a better word - is good. Greed is right. Greed
works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence
of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms -
greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge - has marked
the upward surge of mankind. And Greed - you mark my words
- will not only save Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning
corporation called the USA. Thank you very much.
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The Witches
of Eastwick (1987)
Screenwriter(s): Michael Cristofer
"I
Always Like a Little Pussy After Lunch"
Following an outdoor lunch, mysterious and arrogant
devil-like Daryl Van Horne (Jack Nicholson) with great bravado
seduced witch/sculptress Alexandra Medford (Cher) in his bedroom,
after touring her through his mansion:
Fidel, that's his name. Women love him. They're
crazy about him. He has a big schlong. Huge. Well, there
you are. Scale again. Size. I don't know, maybe it's a
masculine thing. They say women don't care. I'm sort of
in the middle myself. How about you?...You see, women are
in touch with different things. That's my opinion. I know
it's not a fashionable opinion right now, but (he banged
his fist on the table) I know what I see.
I see men running around, trying to put their
dicks into everything, trying to make something happen. But
it's women who are the source, the only power. Nature. Birth.
Rebirth. Cliché. Cliché, sure, but true. (Alexandra:
"Why are you telling me this?") Because you're an
honest woman and I'm being honest with you. (he stood up)
I like women. I admire them. But if you want me to treat you
like a dumb twit, I will. But what's the point? You have brains,
Alex, more than brains. And you don't even know it, do you?
Well, most women do not. (Alexandra: "Are you married?")
Good question! You see? Brains. The answer is no. I don't believe
in it. Good for the man. Lousy for the woman. She dies. She
suffocates. I've seen it. And then the husband runs around
complaining to everyone that he's f--king a dead person. And
he's the one who killed her. (laughter).
Where is your husband? (Alexandra: "Dead")
Well, sorry, but you're one of the lucky ones. When a woman
unloads a husband, or a husband unloads a woman, however
it happens - death, desertion, divorce - the three D's -
when that happens, a woman blooms. She blossoms. Like flowers.
Like fruit. She is ripe. That's the woman for me. (He lit
his cigar)
Would you like to see my house?...In case anybody
ever needed any exercise, the uh, pool's right over there,
past the piano, where the, uh, ballroom used to be. Interesting
word - 'ballroom.'... And, uh, over there is, uh, my study.
Ah, this is my bedroom...The Borgias once owned the bed.
Of course, you have to pay for it with your soul, but, uh,
what the hell, I deserve a little luxury. You have to take
care of yourself. No one's gonna do that for you, are they,
hmm? (he reclined on the bed) (Alexandra: "What
is it that you think you're doing?") Being as direct
with you as I know how. I thought you might appreciate it.
And, uhm, anyway, I always like a little pussy after lunch.
Whaddya say? (Alexandra: "Are you trying to seduce me?")
I wouldn't dream of seducing you, Alexandra. I wouldn't
insult your intelligence with anything as trivial as seduction.
But, uh, I would love to f--k you.
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The Witches
of Eastwick (1987)
Screenwriter(s): Michael Cristofer
A
Rejection of Love-Making After Lunch
Alexandra (Cher) soundly rejected "average,
horny little devil" Daryl Van Horne's (Jack Nicholson)
blatant invitation for sex on his bed after hosting lunch for
her at his mansion:
Well, you know, I have to admit that I appreciate
your directness, Daryl. And I will try and be as direct
and honest with you as I possibly can be. Uh, I think -
no, I-I am positive that you are the most unattractive
man I have ever met in my entire life. You know, in the
short time we've been together, you have demonstrated every
loathsome characteristic of the male personality and even
discovered a few new ones. You are physically repulsive,
intellectually retarded. You're morally reprehensible,
vulgar, insensitive, selfish, stupid. You have no taste,
a lousy sense of humor and you smell. You're, you're not
even interesting enough to make me sick. (Daryl: "Uhm,
would you like to be on the top or the bottom?") Good-bye
Daryl, and thank you for a lovely lunch.
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The Witches
of Eastwick (1987)
Screenwriter(s): Michael Cristofer
A
Denounciation of God for Creating Women
During a supernatural windstorm and after suffering
a domestic problem (he was betrayed by his female lovers/students,
played by Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon, all housewives
in the New England town), devil-like Daryl Van Horne (Jack
Nicholson) delivered a shouting rant to the crowded, small-town
Eastwick church congregation to angrily denounce God and the
opposite sex:
Sorry, uh, just having a little trouble,
a little trouble at home. A little domestic problem. Nothing
to be alarmed at. Just a little female problem. Hi. (He
vomited) Don't pay any attention. It's a cheap trick.
Anybody can do it. I taught it to them myself. Ungrateful
little bitches, aren't they?
May I ask you something? You're all church-going
folk. I really want to ask you something. Do you think God
knew what He was doing when He created woman? Huh? No s--t!
I really want to know. Or do you think it was just another
one of his minor mistakes like tidal waves, earthquakes,
floods! Do you think women are like that? (He puked again)
What's the matter? You don't think God makes mistakes? Of
course He does. We all make mistakes! Of course, when we
make mistakes, they call it evil! When God makes mistakes,
they call it nature! (He chuckled)
So whaddya think? Women. A mistake?! Or did
He DO IT TO US ON PURPOSE!? Because I really want to know!
Because if it's a mistake, maybe we can do somethin' about
it! Find a cure! Invent a vaccine! Build up our immune systems!
(More chuckling) Get a little exercise! You know,
twenty push-ups a day, and you never have to be afflicted
with women EVER AGAIN!
As he spoke the final words, the women, with
a voodoo doll, poked his head with pins, causing him to fall
backwards to the floor and convulse. |
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Withnail & I (1987)
Screenwriter(s): Bruce Robinson
Wine-Soaked
Soliloquy - Quoting From Shakespeare's Hamlet
Play clip (excerpt):
Down-and-out actor Withnail (Richard E. Grant),
while standing in the drenching rain, and drinking from a wine-bottle,
quoted from Shakespeare's Hamlet:
I have of late, wherefore I know not, lost
all of my mirth. And indeed, it goes so heavily with my
disposition that this goodly frame here seems to me a sterile
promontory. This most excellent canopy, the air, look you,
this brave o'er-hanging firmament, this majestical roof
fretted with golden fire. Why, it appeareth nothing to
me but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors.
What
a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite
in faculties! How like an angel in apprehension, how like
a God! The beauty of the world, paragon of animals! And
yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights
not me: no, nor women neither. Nor women neither.
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