Everyone has their favorite movie quotes. I'm guilty as much as the next guy as repeating them over and over to people that probably don't care and don't find them funny or interesting in the least. So sue me. Single quotes, however, are rarely a defining moment in a movie. While this doesn't always hold true (what do you hear in your head when you think of "The Shining" or "The Sixth Sense"), for the most part, when a movie has a monologue at a key part of the movie, that's
usually what sticks. Here are my favorite ten with a few more thrown in for good measure.
10. Any Given Sunday - Pep Talk
I only saw this movie once, and remember thinking that it wasn't all that great. There are MUCH better sports movies out there, but there aren't many pep talks any better than this one.
9. Good Will Hunting - Definitely NOT Agrarian Precapitalism
OK...not completely a monologue, but it's the part by Matt Damon that I always remember from Good Will Hunting. Well, that and him following up a little later in the evening with the same guy with the "You like apples?" line.
8. Caddyshack - Caddying for the Dalai Lama
Not all movie monologues have to be significant or dramatic. It could be as simple as Bill Murray cornering a frightened kid, holding a pitchfork at his throat and telling him about the time that he caddied for a long-hitting religious leader.
7. Dead Poet's Society - What is your verse?
There are so many great parts to this movie that make you want to sit down with a pencil and pad and start writing poetry. But then I remember...I'm a terrible writer. And I can't rhyme.
6. The American President - Press Conference
The classic "you don't pick on my girl" speech. Parts of this speech have always sounded just a tad corny to me especially coming out of the President's mouth, but it's all worth it to hear "My name is Andrew Shepard, and I AM the President." Awesome.
5. Wall Street - Greed is Good
I was a little young when this came out to fully "get" this movie, but I watched it again recently and Douglas, with his slicked back hair, is perfect in this scene.
4. Malice - God Complex
Malice was a decent movie - nothing to write home about, but if you've seen it, you definitely remember this scene. Alec Baldwin before he got all fat and bloated - and apparently untalented - being grilled by the hospital board after a patient died in surgery. When he says, "I am God." he means it.
3. Independence Day - President's speech to America
Again, kind of a cheesy movie when you look back on it, but when it came out, it was about as good an action movie as there ever was. This movie had it all. Will Smith when he, for all intents and purposes, was still the Fresh Prince punching aliens in the face. Jeff Goldblum being, well, Jeff Goldblum. And of course, Cousin Eddie himself, Randy Quaid taking one for the team and bringing down the alien mothership in a weird kind of redneck kamikaze mission. But I never will forget listening to Bill
Pullman deliver this speech to the assembled "air force" before the attack. Good stuff.
2. A Few Good Men - You can't Handle the Truth
What would this list be without Jack going crazy on a young Tom Cruise? Nobody else in the world could have played the role of Nathan Jessep besides Nicholson, and he made this movie what it was. Cruise was good, Moore was passable, and Kiefer Sutherland was just a fraction of his current "24" coolness, but it was Nicholson that knocked it out of the park. A Few Good Men had tons of great quotes, but nothing that will ever be remembered - or reenacted after about 8 beers at a bar - more
than this scene.
1. Bull Durham - Crash's Beliefs
I was 14 when I first saw Bull Durham and I immediately thought that this scene was one of the coolest I had ever seen. It made such an impression on me that every time I have heard the name Susan Sontag since then, I automatically think about the fact that all she ever wrote was self-indulgent, over-rated crap. This is the only monologue in the list that I have actually memorized and can recite on cue. You're impressed, right?
Honorable Mention
- Blair Witch Project - Sorry, mom.
- The Rock - Domestic Terrorists
- The Shawshank Redemption - Rehabilitated?
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Keys to faking out the parents
- Pulp Fiction - Ezekiel 25:17
OK, folks...Did I miss any? Add your own in the comments...
- Posted: Mar 18 , 2005 @ 11:15 PM
From the Peanut Gallery...
2 Replies | Add Your Own
I can't believe a Burbs speech didn't make the top 10.
Ferg....You're right. After I thought about it, there IS one from The 'Burbs that should be on the list. So here it is, after the fact...
Ray Peterson: Remember what you were saying about people in the 'burbs, Art, people like Skip, people who mow their lawn for the 800th time, and then SNAP? WELL, THAT'S US. IT'S NOT THEM, THAT'S US. WE'RE the ones who are vaulting over the fences, and peeking in through people's windows. We're the ones who are THROWING GARBAGE IN THE STREET, AND LIGHTING FIRES. WE'RE THE ONES WHO ARE ACTING SUSPICIOUS AND PARANOID, ART. WE'RE THE LUNATICS. US. IT'S NOT THEM. It's us.