Great monologues in film

[pebblethefish]

Great monologues in film

Cavalry Trouser Tips wrote:
[quote]

I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. etc...

What is that from? I've got parts of it as a sample on a Levellers EP, but have never found out where it's from.

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

Great monologues in film

Network.

[Incandenza]

Great monologues in film

Billy Casper wrote:

"It's still on and we're going. Cyrus sent an emissary this afternoon to make sure. Now Cyrus don't want anybody packed, and he don't want anybody flexing any muscle. I gave him my word that the Warriors would uphold the truce. Everybody says that Cyrus is the one and only... I think we better go and have a look for ourselves."

What about Cyrus' speech?

[blameless]

Great monologues in film

Cheating slightly as this is from a TV series rather than a movie, but:

Senators, it is true that I am hard of hearing, but you will find it is not for want of listening. As for speaking, again, it's true I have an impediment. But isn't what a man says more important than how long he takes to say it? It's true again I have little experience of government. But, then, have you more? I at least have lived with the imperial family who has ruled this empire ever since you so spinelessly handed it over to us. I've observed it working more closely than any of you. Is your experience better than that? As for being half-witted: well, what can I say, except that I have survived to middle age with half my wits, while thousands have died with all of theirs intact. Evidently, quality of wits is more important than quantity. Senators, I shall do nothing unconstitutional. I shall appear at the next session of the senate, where you may confirm me in my position or not as you wish. But if it pleases you not to, explain your reasons to them [points to the Praetorians], not to me.

[Guest]

Great monologues in film

The Sands - Priest scene from Hunger.

Again, not a monologue but one of my favourite pieces of cinema, consisting mostly of a single, unbroken 16 minute shot.

Parts 1, 2 & 3

[Reed John]

Great monologues in film

100 great lines in 200 seconds

[evilC]

Great monologues in film

Reed of the Valley People wrote:

100 great lines in 200 seconds

The problem with things like that is that they're not so much 'great' lines as 'lines most likely to get quoted by groups of mates whilst in the pub'.

As a slight aside, I was down the pub with some mates a few months back and they started talking about 'which great films came out in the 1980s'. The thing was, although they're intelligent blokes, the only films they seemed intent on considering were American 'teen' movies: not one of them seemed to want to think of genuine artistic or quality films. It was depressing.

[ian.64]

Great monologues in film

I actually wanted to find a monologue from A Matter Of Life And Death not just one of the great films of cinema, but of existence, however what struck me was that there are no huge speeches in the film (except for Raymond Massey's 'America, where a man is full grown' bombast which is just a set up for a neat 'radio duel' joke), but a gigantic collection of great lines which, to do them full justice, I'd have to find a complete script of the film and copy and paste it here. It's all good.

[Disco Child Ballads]

Great monologues in film

I'd agree completely with that ian. A Matter of Life and Death probably has the greatest opening line of any film: "This is the universe. Big, isn't it?"

[Wyatt Earp]

Great monologues in film

evilC wrote:

As a slight aside, I was down the pub with some mates a few months back and they started talking about 'which great films came out in the 1980s'. The thing was, although they're intelligent blokes, the only films they seemed intent on considering were American 'teen' movies: not one of them seemed to want to think of genuine artistic or quality films. It was depressing.

There's sometimes a bit of a tendency in that direction on OTF, I think--or rather, not so much a rejection of quality films in favour of teen schlock, as a bias towards the blokey, at all quality levels. It's arguably slightly in evidence here, even, though perhaps the "monologue" thing skews things in that direction.

[Guest]

Great monologues in film

The minister's speech from Synecdoche, New York:

Everything is more complicated than *
you think. You only see a tenth of *
what is true. There are a million *
little strings attached to every *
choice you make; you can destroy *
your life every time you choose. *
But maybe you won't know for twenty *
years. And you'll never ever trace *
it to its source. And you only get *
one chance to play it out. Just try *
and figure out your own divorce. *
And they say there is no fate, but *
there is: it's what you create. *
Even though the world goes on for *
eons and eons, you are here for a *
fraction of a fraction of a second. *
Most of your time is spent being *
dead or not yet born. But while *
alive, you wait in vain, wasting *
years, for a phone call or a letter *
or a look from someone or something *
to make it all right. And it never *
comes or it seems to but doesn't *
really. And so you spend your time *
in vague regret or vaguer hope for *
something good to come along. *
Something to make you feel *
connected, to make you feel whole, *
to make you feel loved. *
And the truth is I'm so angry and *
the truth is I'm so fucking sad, *
and the truth is I've been so *
fucking hurt for so fucking long *
and for just as long have been *
pretending I'm ok, just to get *
along, just for, I don't know why, *
maybe because no one wants to hear *
about my misery, because they have *
their own, and their own is too *
overwhelming to allow them to *
listen to or care about mine. *
Well, fuck everybody. *
Amen. *

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

Great monologues in film

Ooo, now I know what I'll be wasting time browsing when I get home...

[evilC]

Great monologues in film

Yeah, I saw that site early on, CTT. However, the problem was sifting out the better ones.

I'm sure there's at least one good one in 'Bulworth', but I can't find them online at the mo.

[Reed John]

Great monologues in film

The problem with things like that is that they're not so much 'great' lines as 'lines most likely to get quoted by groups of mates whilst in the pub'.

Yes, well, I suppose. I think it's more of a list of "memorable" lines. The quoted-down-at-the-pub-ness of them is one reason why they're memorable.

I find that, for any given film, the lines that usually get quoted are not my favorite or the best.

Example: Fargo - everyone says it's "Yah, you betcha" or "I suppose that's your accomplice there in the wood-chipper." But my favorite exchange is "Yah see sumpin down der Margie? No, just think I'm gonna barf. Oh, well that passed. Let's get some breakfast." I quote that a lot whenever I feel sick and then my friend will come back with Waynes World' - "If you're going to spew, spew into this." We know each other well.

Example: Godfather - everyone likes "leave the gun, take the canoli," which is great, but I prefer this bit.

Michael: Well, when Johnny was first starting out, he was signed to a personal services contract with this big-band leader. And as his career got better and better, he wanted to get out of it. But the band leader wouldn't let him. Now, Johnny is my father's godson. So my father went to see this bandleader and offered him $10,000 to let Johnny go, but the bandleader said no. So the next day, my father went back, only this time with Luca Brasi. Within an hour, he had a signed release for a certified check of $1000.
Kay: How did he do that?
Michael: My father made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Kay: What was that?
Michael: Luca Brasi held a gun to his head, and my father assured him that either his brains or his signature would be on the contract. That's a true story.
That's my family Kay, that's not me.

I love how he ends it with "That's a true story." Perfect. And then when he says "That's my family Kay, that's not me." Such great foreshadowing.

[ian.64]

Great monologues in film

I quoted Misery in the Thick Of It thread, which made me remember this:

Annie Wilkes: When I was growing up in Bakersfield, my favourite thing in the whole world was to go to the movies on Saturday afternoons for the Chapter Plays.

Paul Sheldon: [nodding] Cliffhangers.

Annie Wilkes: [shouting] I know that, Mr. Man! They also called them serials. I'm not stupid ya know... Anyway, my favourite was Rocketman, and once it was a no breaks chapter. The bad guy stuck him in a car on a mountain road and knocked him out and welded the door shut and tore out the brakes and started him to his death, and he woke up and tried to steer and tried to get out but the car went off a cliff before he could escape! And it crashed and burned and I was so upset and excited, and the next week, you better believe I was first in line. And they always start with the end of the last week. And there was Rocketman, trying to get out, and here comes the cliff, and just before the car went off the cliff, he jumped free! And all the kids cheered! But I didn't cheer. I stood right up and started shouting. This isn't what happened last week! Have you all got amnesia? They just cheated us! This isn't fair! HE DID'NT GET OUT OF THE COCK - A - DOODIE CAR!

Paul Sheldon: [long pause] They always cheated like that in cl... chapter plays.