Favorite speeches/monologue in a movie

Discussion in 'Cactus Cafe' started by TRRW#31, Jun 3, 2011.

  1. TRRW#31

    TRRW#31 250+ Posts

    What is your favorite speeches/monologues in a movie. This is one of my favorites.

    There was this kid I grew up with; he was younger than me. Sorta looked up to me, you know. We did our first work together, worked our way out of the street. Things were good, we made the most of it. During Prohibition, we ran molasses into Canada... made a fortune, your father, too. As much as anyone, I loved him and trusted him. Later on he had an idea to build a city out of a desert stop-over for GI's on the way to the West Coast. That kid's name was Moe Greene, and the city he invented was Las Vegas. This was a great man, a man of vision and guts. And there isn't even a plaque, or a signpost or a statue of him in that town! Someone put a bullet through his eye. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it, I wasn't angry; I knew Moe, I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up dead, I let it go. And I said to myself, this is the business we've chosen; I didn't ask who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with business!
     
  2. I_Dont_Exist

    I_Dont_Exist 1,000+ Posts

    Richard Burton- "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf".

    When I was 16...

    ...and going to prep school,
    during the Punic Wars...

    ...a bunch of us would go to town
    the first day of vacation...

    ...before we fanned out to our homes.

    And in the evening
    we would go to a gin mill...

    ...owned by the gangster-father
    of one of us...

    ...and we would drink with the grown-ups
    and listen to the negro jazz.

    And one time, in the bunch of us...

    ...there was this...

    ...boy who was 15...

    ...and he had killed his mother
    with a shotgun some years before.

    Completely accidentally...

    ...without even an unconscious
    motivation, I have no doubt at all.

    And this one time this boy
    went with us and...

    ...we ordered our drinks...

    ...and when it came his turn he said...

    ''I'll have bergin.

    ''Give me some bergin please.
    Bergin and water.''

    We all laughed.

    He was blond and he had the face
    of a cherub, and we all laughed.

    And his cheeks went red
    and the color rose in his neck.

    The waiter told people at the next table
    what the boy said and they laughed...

    ...and then more people were told
    and the laughter grew and grew.

    No one was laughing more than us...

    ...and none of us more than the boy
    who had shot his mother.

    And soon everyone in the gin mill
    knew what the laughter was about...

    ...and everyone started ordering bergin
    and laughing when they ordered it.

    And soon, of course,
    the laughter became less general...

    ...but it did not subside entirely
    for a very long time.

    For always at this table or that...

    ...someone would order bergin...

    ...and a whole new area
    of laughter would rise.

    We drank free that night.

    We were bought champagne
    by the management...

    ...by the gangster-father of one of us.

    And, of course,
    we suffered the next day...

    ...each of us alone,
    on his train away from the city...

    ...and each of us
    with a grown-up's hangover.

    But it was the grandest day...

    ...of my...

    ...youth.
     
  3. I_Dont_Exist

    I_Dont_Exist 1,000+ Posts

    Also high on the list-

    Pacino at or near the end of "...And Justice for All" and "Scent of a Woman"

    Peter Finch in "Network"

    Christopher Walken- "Pulp Fiction"

    Rutger Hauer as he sits dying in "Blade Runner"
     
  4. bevo barry

    bevo barry 500+ Posts

    Now, I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. Men, all this stuff you’ve heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse dung. Americans traditionally love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball player, the toughest boxer. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost and will never lose a war. Because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.

    Now, an Army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of crap. The bilious ******** who wrote that stuff about individuality for the Saturday Evening Post don’t know anything more about real battle than they do about fornicating.

    We have the finest food and equipment, the best spirit and the best men in the world. You know, by God I actually pity those poor ******** we’re going up against. By God, I do. We’re not just going to shoot the ********, we’re going to cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We’re going to murder those lousy Hun ******** by the bushel.

    Now, some of you boys, I know, are wondering whether or not you'll chicken out under fire. Don't worry about it. I can assure you that you will all do your duty. The Nazis are the enemy. Wade into them. Spill their blood. Shoot them in the belly. When you put your hand into a bunch of goo that a moment before was your best friend's face, you'll know what to do.

    Now there’s another thing I want you to remember. I don’t want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We’re not holding anything. Let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly and we’re not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We're going to hold onto him by the nose and we're going to kick him in the ***. We're going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we're gonna go through him like crap through a goose.

    There’s one thing that you men will be able to say when you get back home. And you may thank God for it. Thirty years from now when you’re sitting around your fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what did you do in the great World War II, you won’t have to say, "Well, I shoveled **** in Louisiana."

    Alright now, you sons-of-*******, you know how I feel. Oh, and I will be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle – anytime, anywhere.

    That’s all.
     
  5. NickDanger

    NickDanger 2,500+ Posts

    I regret trifling with married women. I'm thoroughly ashamed at cheating at cards. I deplore my occasional departures from the truth. Forgive me for taking your name in vain, my Saturday drunkenness, my Sunday sloth. Above all, forgive me for the men I've killed in anger
    ... and those I am about to.

    I tried a legal case once for some close friends and the main witness flat out lied on the stand and I had him dead to rights. I quoted that to my clients and then proceeded to rip the nuts off the ******* liar. So, it's more memorable for some, but many people know who Jebediah Nightlinger was in The Cowboys.
     
  6. I_Dont_Exist

    I_Dont_Exist 1,000+ Posts

    "You're an lndian, ain't you?
    It's all right. I got nothing against lndians.
    They was a breed of men in the Old West!
    But it's over for them, like it is for the gunfighter.
    Except we didn't get no reservation or get taught how to weave rugs.
    See you later, son.
    It's all over in Dodge. Tombstone too.
    Cheyenne, Deadwood, all gone. All dead and gone.
    Last time I come through Tombstone...
    ...big excitement there was the roller rink they laid out over the OK Corral.
    I used to work the Buffalo Bill Show and the Congress of Rough Riders.
    I've rescued stagecoach riders from road agents and drunk lndians...
    ...in the nick of time.
    Twice a day. Three times on Saturday.
    You see a man with his eyes set...
    ...and his head on a bias and his teeth like a mule's.
    He'd as soon hang your guts on a fence as say, "Good morning."
    He's a gunfighter.
    Proud and feared of nothing...
    ...because there ain't nothing he gotta bow down to.
    Every man tips his hat. Every boy knows his name.
    Ain't no place he ain't welcome.
    When a gunfighter's around, trouble naturally stays away.
    Folks saying, "Hiya, Kid!"
    "How you doing, Kid?"
    "Come in for a pitcher of milk and gingerbread!"
    Or, "Come up here and cool your heels. It's hot outside."
    Because nobody don't make no fun...
    ...of a friend of Kid Shelleen."
     
  7. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Captain Koons

    [To young Butch] Hello, little man.

    Boy, I sure heard a bunch about you. See, I was a good friend of your dad's. We were in that Hanoi pit of hell together for over five years. Hopefully, you'll never have to experience this yourself, but when two men are in a situation like me and your dad were, for as long as we were, you take on certain responsibilities of the other. If it had been me who had not made it, Major Coolidge would be talking right now to my son Jim. But the way it turned out is I'm talking to you, Butch. I got something for ya.

    [Holds up watch]

    This watch I got here was first purchased by your great-grandfather during the first world war. It was bought in a little general store in Knoxville, Tennessee, made by the first company to ever make wrist watches. Up until then, people just carried pocket watches. It was bought by Private Doughboy Ryan Coolidge the day he set sail for Paris. This was your great-grandfather's war watch, and he wore it every day he was in the war. Then when he had done his duty, he went home to your great-grandmother, took the watch off and put it in an old coffee can.

    And in that can it stayed 'til your granddad Dane Coolidge was called upon by his country to go overseas and fight the Germans once again. This time they called it World War Two. Your great-grandfather gave this watch to your granddad for good luck. Unfortunately, Dane's luck wasn't as good as his old man's. Dane was a Marine and he was killed along with all the other Marines at the battle of Wake Island. Your granddad was facing death, and he knew it. None of those boys had any illusions about ever leaving that island alive. So three days before the Japanese took the island, your granddad asked a gunner on an Air Force transport named Winocki, a man he had never met before in his life, to deliver to his infant son, who he had never seen in the flesh, his gold watch. Three days later, your granddad was dead. But Winocki kept his word. After the war was over, he paid a visit to your grandmother, delivering to your infant father, his Dad's gold watch.

    This watch. This watch was on your Daddy's wrist when he was shot down over Hanoi. He was captured and put in a Vietnamese prison camp. He knew if the gooks ever saw the watch that it'd be confiscated; taken away. The way your Dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any slopes were gonna put their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something. His ***. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ***. And then he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my *** for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you

    [​IMG]
     
  8. 14tokihorn

    14tokihorn 1,000+ Posts

    "Painful to live in fear..... that's what it is to be a slave."

    -----------------------------------------------


    "Wyatt, you ever wonder why we been a part of so many unfortunate incidents, yet we're still walking around?
    I have figured it out.
    It's nothing much, just luck.
    And you know why it's nothing much Wyatt?
    Because it doesn't matter much whether we are here today or not. I wake up every morning looking in the face of Death, and you know what? He ain't half bad.
    I think the secret old Mr. Death is holding is that it's better for some of us over on the other side. I know it can't be any worse for me. Maybe that's the place for your Maddie. For some people, this world ain't ever gonna be right."
     
  9. Major Marco

    Major Marco 25+ Posts

    Ben Johnson as Sam the Lion in The Last Picture Show--incredibly moving performance and his soliloquy by the watering hole recalling old times and what it means to grow old is one of the best ever in any movie.
     
  10. I_Dont_Exist

    I_Dont_Exist 1,000+ Posts


     
  11. PFD

    PFD 1,000+ Posts

    My favorite two Texan monologues are from The Searchers and No Country for Old Men, respectively:


     
  12. 71grad

    71grad 1,000+ Posts

    James Stewart: It's A Wonderful LIfe

    ...Just a minute - just, just a minute. Now, hold on, Mr. Potter. Just a minute. Now, you're right when you say my father was no business man. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap, penny-ante Building and Loan, I'll never know. But, neither you nor anybody else can say anything against his character, because his whole life was... Why, in the twenty-five years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he never once thought of himself. Isn't that right, Uncle Billy? He didn't save enough money to send Harry to school, let alone me. But he did help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter. And what's wrong with that? Why -- here, you're all businessmen here. Don't it make them better citizens? Doesn't it make them better customers? You, you said that they - What'd you say just a minute ago? They had to wait and save their money before they even thought of a decent home. Wait? Wait for what?! Until their children grow up and leave them? Until they're so old and broken-down that... You know how long it takes a workin' man to save five thousand dollars?

    Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about, they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him, but to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well, in my book he died a much richer man than you'll ever be... I know very well what you're talking about. You're talking about something you can't get your fingers on, and it's galling you. That's what you're talking about, I know. Well, I've - I've said too much. I -- you're the Board here. You do what you want with this thing. There's just one thing more, though. This town needs this measly one-horse institution if only to have some place where people can come without crawling to Potter.
     
  13. bevo barry

    bevo barry 500+ Posts

    Here's another: Harrison Ford as the Prez in Air Force One...[In Russian] The dead remember our indifference. The dead remember our silence. [in English] I came here tonight to be congratulated. But today when I visited the Red Cross camps, overwhelmed by the flood of refugees fleeing from the horror of Kazakhstan, I realized I don't deserve to be congratulated. None of us do. Let's speak the truth. And the truth is, we acted too late. Only when our own national security was threatened did we act.

    Radek's regime murdered over 200,000 men, women and children and we watched it on TV. We let it happen. People were being slaughtered for over a year and we issued economical sanctions and hid behind a rhetoric of diplomacy. How dare we? The dead remember. Real peace is not just the absence of conflict, it's the presence of justice.

    And tonight, I come to you with a pledge to change America's policy. Never again will I allow our political self-interests to deter us from doing what we know to be morally right. Atrocity and terror are not political weapons and to those who would use them: Your day is over.

    We will never negotiate.

    We will no longer tolerate and we will no longer be afraid.

    It's your turn to be afraid.
     
  14. smwhorn

    smwhorn Guest

    "Gentlemen...this case is not a difficult one. It requires no minute sifting of complicated facts. To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place... It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses, whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. Now, there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewel was beaten - savagely, by someone who led exclusively with his left. And Tom Robinson now sits before you having taken the oath with the only good hand he possesses... his RIGHT. I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the State. She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance. But my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man's life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt. Now I say "guilt," gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She's committed no crime - she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. She must destroy the evidence of her offense. But what was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson away from her. Tom Robinson was to her a daily reminder of what she did. Now, what did she do? She tempted a Negro. She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did something that, in our society, is unspeakable. She kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong, young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards. The witnesses for the State, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption... the evil assumption that all Negroes lie, all Negroes are basically immoral beings, all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women. An assumption that one associates with minds of their caliber, and which is, in itself, gentlemen, a lie, which I do not need to point out to you. And so, a quiet, humble, respectable Negro, who has had the unmitigated TEMERITY to feel sorry for a white woman, has had to put his word against TWO white people's! The defendant is not guilty - but somebody in this courtroom is. Now, gentlemen, in this country, our courts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal. I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system - that's no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality! Now I am confident that you gentlemen will review, without passion, the evidence that you have heard, come to a decision and restore this man to his family. In the name of GOD, do your duty. In the name of God, believe... Tom Robinson."

    I win.
     
  15. ProdigalHorn

    ProdigalHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian to Leyte... just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in 12 minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. 13-footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, Chief? You tell by looking from the dorsal to the tail fin. What we didn't know, was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, Chief, sharks come cruisin', so we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know, it was kinda like old squares in the battle like you see in the calendar named "The Battle of Waterloo" and the idea was: shark comes to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark will go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday morning, Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Boatswain's mate. I thought he was asleep. I reached over to wake him up. He bobbed up, down in the water just like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon, the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us. He swung in low and he saw us... he was a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper. Anyway, he saw us and he come in low and three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and starts to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened... waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water; 316 men come out and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.
     
  16. buckhorn

    buckhorn 1,000+ Posts

    Lots of good ones noted above.

    I'll add

    Sam Jackson's character dressing down Frank Whaley and his friends in Pulp Fiction (sort of a monologue).

    Dirty Harry 'This is the most powerful handgun in the world...'

    Robert Duval's Kilgore in Apocalypse Now 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning'

    Jimmy Stewart in 'Mrs. Smith goes to Washington,' a filibuster, I believe.
     
  17. I_Dont_Exist

    I_Dont_Exist 1,000+ Posts

    Dr. Strangelove-

    Do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk, ice cream? Ice cream, Mandrake? Children's ice cream!...You know when fluoridation began?...1946. 1946, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual, and certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works. I first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love...Yes, a profound sense of fatigue, a feeling of emptiness followed. Luckily I was able to interpret these feelings correctly. Loss of essence. I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake. Women...women sense my power, and they seek the life essence. I do not avoid women, Mandrake...but I do deny them my essence.

    Time Bandits-

    It's a good question. Why have I let the Supreme Being keep me here in the Foretress of Ultimate Darkness? ... Look, SHUT UP, I'm speaking rhetorically. I let him keep me here in order to lull him into a false sense of security. When I have the Map, I will be free, and the world will be different, because I have understanding...of digital watches. And soon I shall have understanding of videocassette recorders and car telephones. And when I have understanding of them, I shall have understanding of computers. And when I have understanding of computers, I shall be the Supreme Being! God isn't interested in technology. He knows nothing of the potential of the microchip or the silicon revolution. Look how he spends his time! Forty-three species of parrot! Nipples for men! Slugs!! He created slugs. They can't hear! They can't speak! They can't operate machinery! I mean, are we not in the hands of a lunatic? If I were creating a world, I wouldn't mess about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers, eight o'clock, day one!
     
  18. TxStHorn

    TxStHorn 1,000+ Posts


     
  19. TexasGolf

    TexasGolf 2,500+ Posts

    "Rehabilitated? Well, now, let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means ... I know what you think it means, sonny. To me, it's just a made-up word. A politician's word, sonny. Young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did? ... There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here. Because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then. A young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I wanna talk to him. I wanna try to talk some sense to him. Tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man's all that's left. I gotta live with that. Rehabilitated? That's just a ******** word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because, to tell you the truth, I don't give a ****."

    - Red (Morgan Freeman)

    other great ones....The Link
     
  20. Bluff Horn

    Bluff Horn 250+ Posts

    Let me tell you what Melba Toast is packin' right here, all right. We got 4:11 Positrac outback, 750 double pumper, Edelbrock intake, bored over 30, 11 to 1 pop-up pistons, turbo-jet 390 horsepower. We're talkin' some fuckin' muscle...
     
  21. Giovanni Jones

    Giovanni Jones 2,500+ Posts

    Bill Murray's "It just doesn't matter!" motivational speech in Meatballs
    The Link
     
  22. elface

    elface 250+ Posts

    Now, when the rules and customs of war are departed from by one side, one must expect the same sort of behaviour from the other. Accordingly, officers of the Carbineers should be, and up until now have been, given the widest possible discretion in their treatment of the enemy. Now, I don't ask for proclamations condoning distasteful methods of war, but I do say that we must take for granted that it does happen. Let's not give our officers hazy, vague instructions about what they may or may not do. Let's not reprimand them, on the one hand for hampering the column with prisoners, and at another time and another place, hold them up as murderers for obeying orders. [...] 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.
     
  23. Bluff Horn

    Bluff Horn 250+ Posts

    And that completes my final report until we reach touchdown. We're now on full automatic in the hands of the computers. I've tucked my crew in for the long sleep, and I'll be joining them...soon. In less than an hour we'll finish our six months out of Cape Kennedy. Six months in deep space...by our time, that is. According to Dr. Hasslein's theory of time in a vehicle traveling nearly the speed of light, the Earth has aged nearly 700 years since we left it...while we've aged hardly at all. Maybe so. This much is probably true. The men who sent us on this journey are long since dead and gone. You, who are reading me now, are a different breed...I hope a better one. I leave the 20th century with no regrets, but...one more thing, if anybody's listening, that is. Nothing scientific. It's...purely personal. But seen from out here, everything seems different. Time bends. Space is...boundless. It squashes a man's ego. I feel lonely. That's about it. Tell me, though, does man, that marvel of the universe, that glorious paradox who sent me to the stars, still make war against his brother...keep his neighbor's children starving?
     
  24. bronco

    bronco Guest

    Sometimes it makes me sad, though... Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. But still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. I guess I just miss my friend.


    Prod- Love that scene in Jaws
     
  25. NB_LONGHORN

    NB_LONGHORN 500+ Posts

    Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams in Amistad

    Your Honors, I derive much consolation from the fact that my colleague, Mr. Baldwin, here, has argued the case in so able and so complete a manner as to leave me scarcely anything to say.

    However, why are we here? How is it that a simple, plain property issue should now find itself so ennobled as to be argued before the Supreme Court of the United States of America? I mean, do we fear the lower courts, which found for us easily, somehow missed the truth? Is that it? Or is it, rather, our great and consuming fear of civil war that has allowed us to heap symbolism upon a simple case that never asked for it and now would have us disregard truth, even as it stands before us, tall and proud as a mountain? The truth, in truth, has been driven from this case like a slave, flogged from court to court, wretched and destitute. And not by any great legal acumen on the part of the opposition, I might add, but through the long, powerful arm of the Executive Office.

    Yea, this is no mere property case, gentlemen. I put it to you thus: This is the most important case ever to come before this court. Because what it, in fact, concerns is the very nature of man.

    These are transcriptions of letters written between our Secretary of State, John Forsyth, and the Queen of Spain, Isabella the Second. Now, I ask that you accept their perusal as part of your deliberations.

    Thank you, sir. [to court officer]

    I would not touch on them now except to notice a curious phrase which is much repeated. The queen again and again refers to our incompetent courts. Now what, I wonder, would be more to her liking? Huh? A court that finds against the Africans? Well, I think not. And here is the fine point of it: What her majesty wants is a court that behaves just like her courts, the courts this eleven year-old child plays with in her magical kingdom called Spain, a court that will do what it is told, a court that can be toyed with like a doll, a court -- as it happens -- of which our own President, Martin Van Buren, would be most proud.
    his is a publication of the Office of the President. It's called the Executive Review, and I'm sure you all read it. At least I'm sure the President hopes you all read it. This is a recent issue, and there's an article in here written by a "keen mind of the South," who is my former Vice President, John Calhoun, perhaps -- Could it be? -- who asserts that:

    "There has never existed a civilized society in which one segment did not thrive upon the labor of another. As far back as one chooses to look -- to ancient times, to biblical times -- history bears this out. In Eden, where only two were created, even there one was pronounced subordinate to the other. Slavery has always been with us and is neither sinful nor immoral. Rather, as war and antagonism are the natural states of man, so, too, slavery, as natural as it is inevitable."

    Now, gentlemen, I must say I differ with the keen minds of the South, and with our president, who apparently shares their views, offering that the natural state of mankind is instead -- and I know this is a controversial idea -- is freedom. Is freedom. And the proof is the length to which a man, woman, or child will go to regain it, once taken. He will break loose his chains, He will decimate his enemies. He will try and try and try against all odds, against all prejudices, to get home.
    Cinque, would you stand up, if you would, so everyone can see you. This man is black. We can all see that. But can we also see as easily that which is equally true -- that he is the only true hero in this room.

    Now, if he were white, he wouldn't be standing before this court fighting for his life. If he were white and his enslavers were British, he wouldn't be able to stand, so heavy the weight of the medals and honors we would bestow upon him. Songs would be written about him. The great authors of our times would fill books about him. His story would be told and retold in our classrooms. Our children, because we would make sure of it, would know his name as well as they know Patrick Henry's.
    Yet, if the South is right, what are we to do with that embarrassing, annoying document, "The Declaration of Independence?" What of its conceits? "All men...created equal," "inalienable rights," "life," "liberty," and so on and so forth? What on earth are we to do with this?
    I have a modest suggestion. [tears up a facsimile of the Declaration]

    The other night I was talking with my friend, Cinque. He was over at my place, and we were out in the greenhouse together. And he was explaining to me how when a member of the Mende -- that's his people -- how when a member of the Mende encounters a situation where there appears no hope at all, he invokes his ancestors. It's a tradition. See, the Mende believe that if one can summon the spirits of one's ancestors, then they have never left, and the wisdom and strength they fathered and inspired will come to his aid.
    James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams: We've long resisted asking you for guidance. Perhaps we have feared in doing so we might acknowledge that our individuality which we so, so revere is not entirely our own. Perhaps we've feared an appeal to you might be taken for weakness. But, we've come to understand, finally, that this is not so. We understand now, we've been made to understand, and to embrace the understanding that who we are is who we were.
    We desperately need your strength and wisdom to triumph over our fears, our prejudices, our-selves. Give us the courage to do what is right. And if it means civil war, then let it come. And when it does, may it be, finally, the last battle of the American Revolution.

    That's all I have to say.
     
  26. gecko

    gecko 2,500+ Posts

    More Col. Jessup please:

    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, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could 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 punchline. 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 a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
     
  27. A. BETTIK

    A. BETTIK 1,000+ Posts

    Grandfather. I am glad to see you.

    I'm glad to see you, too, my son.

    My heart soars like a hawk.

    Do you want to eat?

    I won't eat with you because I'm going to die soon.

    Die, Grandfather?

    Yes, my son. I want to die in my own land, where Human Beings are buried in the sky.

    Why do you want to die, Grandfather?

    Because there's no other way to deal with the white man, my son. Whatever else you can say about them, it must be admitted,... ...you cannot get rid of them.

    No, I suppose not, Grandfather.

    There is an endless supply of white men,... ...but there always has been a limited number of Human Beings.

    We won today.

    We won't win tomorrow. Snake Woman, get me my elk burial robe. Come, my son. We will go. It makes my heart sad. A world without Human Beings has no centre to it.

    Go where, Grandfather?

    To the mountain, to the top. Come out and fight. It is a good day to die.
    Thank you for making me a Human Being.
    Thank you for helping me to become a warrior.
    Thank you for my victories and for my defeats.
    Thank you for my vision and the blindness in which I saw further.
    You make all things and direct them in their ways, Grandfather. And now, you have decided the Human Beings will soon walk a road... ...that leads nowhere. I am going to die now, unless death wants to fight. And I ask you for the last time... ...to grant me my old power to make things happen. Take care of my son here. See that he doesn't go crazy.

    Grandfather?

    Am I still in this world?

    Yes, Grandfather.
    I was afraid of that. Well... ...sometimes the magic works,
    sometimes it doesn't. Let's go back to the tepee and eat, my son. My newest Snake wife cooks dog very well.

    All right, Grandfather.

    She also has a very soft skin. The only trouble with Snake women is they copulate with horses,... ...which makes them strange to me. She says she doesn't. That's why I call her Doesn't Like Horses. But, of course, she's lying.

    Of course, Grandfather.

    ------------------------------

    Man in Black: All right. Where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right... and who is dead.
    Vizzini: But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
    Man in Black: You've made your decision then?
    Vizzini: Not remotely. Because iocane comes from Australia, as everyone knows, and Australia is entirely peopled with criminals, and criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.
    Man in Black: Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
    Vizzini: Wait till I get going! Now, where was I?
    Man in Black: Australia.
    Vizzini: Yes, Australia. And you must have suspected I would have known the powder's origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
    Man in Black: You're just stalling now.
    Vizzini: You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong, so you could've put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Spaniard, which means you must have studied, and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal, so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
    Man in Black: You're trying to trick me into giving away something. It won't work.
    Vizzini: IT HAS WORKED! YOU'VE GIVEN EVERYTHING AWAY! I KNOW WHERE THE POISON IS!
    Man in Black: Then make your choice.
    Vizzini: I will, and I choose - What in the world can that be?
    Man in Black: [Vizzini gestures up and away from the table. Roberts looks. Vizzini swaps the goblets]
    Man in Black: What? Where? I don't see anything.
    Vizzini: Well, I- I could have sworn I saw something. No matter. First, let's drink. Me from my glass, and you from yours.
    Man in Black, Vizzini: [Vizzini and the Man in Black drink]
    Man in Black: You guessed wrong.
    Vizzini: You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is "never get involved in a land war in Asia" - but only slightly less well-known is this: "Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line"! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha...
    Vizzini: [Vizzini stops suddenly, his smile frozen on his face and falls to the ground dead]
    Buttercup: And to think, all that time it was your cup that was poisoned.
    Man in Black: They were both poisoned. I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder.

    ---------------------------------

    Harry Callahan: I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking "did he fire six shots or only five?" Now to tell you the truth I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow you head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?

    ----------------------------------

    Mr. Incredible: I was wrong to treat you that way. I'm sorry...
    Syndrome: See? Now you respect me, because I'm a threat. That's the way it works. Turns out there are lots of people, whole countries, that want respect, and will pay through the nose to get it. How do you think I got rich? I invented weapons, and now I have a weapon that only I can defeat, and when I unleash it...
    [Mr. Incredible throws a log at Syndrome, who dodges it and traps Mr. Incredible with his zero-point energy ray]
    Syndrome: Oh, ho ho! You sly dog! You got me monologuing! I can't believe it...
     
  28. TRRW#31

    TRRW#31 250+ Posts

  29. BigWill

    BigWill 2,500+ Posts

  30. The Eyes of Texas

    The Eyes of Texas 500+ Posts

    When I first got here....you's didn't like me none...and I didn't like you's much neither...but during the fight...I felt a change...and if I can change....and you can change....we all can change!!

    not an exact quote...but Rocky to the Russian audience at the end of Rocky IV...and yes, I am kidding.
     

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