Favorite Monologue's In A Film

[notchreturns]

Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade
Kevin Smith in Chasing Amy
Sam Jackson's speech at the end of Pulp Fiction
Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross... not really a monologue, but I'll count it as one http://www.joblo.com/ubb/smile.gif

And, ofcourse... Robert Shaw in Jaws

- Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of Tinian Delailie, we'd just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in twelve minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half hour. Tiger. Thirteen footer. You know how you know that in the water, Chief? You can tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. What we didn't know, was that our bomb mission was 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. It was sorta like you see in the calendars, you know the squares in the old calendars like the Battle o' Waterloo and the idea was the shark come to the nearest man, that man he starts poundin' and hollerin' and sometimes that shark he go away... but sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark looks right at ya. Right into your eyes. And the thing about a shark is he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, he doesn't even seem to be livin'... 'til 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 your poundin' and your hollerin' those sharks 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 do know how many men, they averaged six an hour. Thursday mornin', Chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player. Bosun's mate. I thought he was asleep, Reached over to wake him up. He bobbed up, down in the water, he was like a kinda top. Upended. Well, he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day a Lockheed Ventura swung in low and he spotted us, a young pilot, lot younger than Mr. Hooper here, anyway he spotted us and a few hours later a big ol' fat PBY come down and start 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 into the water. Three hundred and sixteen men come out, the sharks took the rest, June the twenty-ninth, nineteen-forty five. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.

[Grebdron]

Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men.

Col. Jessup: 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 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 at post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

[Fergus]

Great topic, I wonder how the idea came up in the first place.


Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz in APOCALYPSE NOW. He delivers one of my favorite onscreen monologues. I don't have the entire monologue, but I do know how it began, "I've seen the Horror, Horrors that you've seen..."


Donald Sutherland as Calvin Jarrett in ORDINARY PEOPLE. A quiet but heartwrenching monologue as he speaks to his wife Beth.

"You are beautiful (slight pause) and you are unpredictable. But you’re so cautious. You’re determined Beth, but you know something, you’re not strong. And I don’t know if you’re really giving. Tell me something, do you love me, do you really love me? It would’ve been alright if there hadn’t been any mess, but you can’t handle mess. You need everything neat and easy. I don’t know, maybe you can’t love anybody. It was so much Buck. When Buck died, it was as if you buried all your love with him, and I don’t understand that, I just don’t know, I don--. Maybe it wasn’t even Buck, maybe it was just you, maybe, finally, it was the best of you that you buried. But whatever it was, I don’t know who you are, I don’t know what we’ve been playing at. So I was crying. (Sobs a bit) Because I don’t know if I love you anymore, and I don’t know what I’m going to do without that."


Woody Allen's opening monologue as Ike for MANHATTAN is utterly hilarious:

"Chapter One. He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion." Uh, no, make that: "He-he...romanticized it all out of proportion. Now...to him...no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin." Ahhh, now let me start this over. "Chapter One. He was too romantic about Manhattan as he was about everything else. He thrived on the hustle...bustle of the crowds and the traffic. To him, New York meant beautiful women and street-smart guys who seemed to know all the angles." Nah, no...corny, too corny...for...my taste.
[He clears his throat]
I mean, let me try and make it more profound. "Chapter One. He adored New York City. To him, it was a metaphor for the decay of the contemporary culture. The same lack of individual integrity to cause so many people to take the easy way out...was rapidly turning the town of his dreams in--" No, it's gonna be too preachy. I me and, you know...let's face it, I wanna sell some books here. "Chapter One. He adored New York City, although to him, it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. How hard it was to exist in a society desensitized by drugs, loud music, television, crime, garbage." Too angry. I don't wanna be angry. "Chapter One. He was as...tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat." I love this. "New York was his town. And it always would be."



Also, Peter Finch does one of the all time CLASSIC monologues as the Howard Beale, the "Prophet of the Airwaves," from NETWORK, is one of my all times favorites. Written by the late-great Paddy Chayefsky.

"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 worth. Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's no one anywhere that seems to know what to do with us. Now into it. We know the air is unfit to breath, our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had 15 homicides and 63 violent crimes as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad. Worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy so we don't go out anymore. We sit in a house as slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster, and TV, and my steel belted radials and I won't say anything." Well I'm not going to leave you alone. I want you to get mad. I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crying in the streets. All I know is 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. Get up. Go to your windows, open your windows, and stick your head out, and yell, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Things have got to change my friends. You've got to get mad. You've got to say, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open your window, stick your head out and yell, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"


Peter Sellers as President Merkin Muffley in DR. STRANGELOVE, does another one of my favorites while talking to the head of the Soviet Union, Dimitri. Here it is:

"Hello? ... Ah ... I can't hear too well. Do you suppose you could turn the music down just a little? ... Oh-ho, that's much better. ... yeah ... huh ... yes ... Fine, I can hear you now, Dmitri. ... Clear and plain and coming through fine....I'm coming through fine, too, eh? ... Good, then ... well, then, as you say, we're both coming through fine. ... Good. ... Well, it's good that you're fine and ... and I'm fine. ... I agree with you, it's great to be fine. ... a-ha-ha-ha-ha ... Now then, Dmitri, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the Bomb. ...The *Bomb*, Dmitri.... The *hydrogen* bomb! ... Well now, what happened is ... ah ... one of our base commanders, he had a sort of ... well, he went a little funny in the head ... you know ... just a little ... funny. And, ah ... he went and did a silly thing. ... Well, I'll tell you what he did. He ordered his planes ... to attack your country... Ah... Well, let me finish, Dmitri. ... Let me finish, Dmitri. ... Well listen, how do you think I feel about it?! ...Can you *imagine* how I feel about it, Dmitri? ... Why do you think I'm calling you? Just to say hello? ... *Of course* I like to speak to you! ... *Of course* I like to say hello! ... Not now, but anytime, Dmitri. I'm just calling up to tell you something terrible has happened... It's a *friendly* call. Of course it's a friendly call. ... Listen, if it wasn't friendly ... you probably wouldn't have even got it. ... They will *not* reach their targets for at least another hour. ... I am ... I am positive, Dmitri. ... Listen, I've been all over this with your ambassador. It is not a trick. ... Well, I'll tell you. We'd like to give your air staff a complete run-down on the targets, the flight plans, and the defensive systems of the planes. ... Yes! I mean i-i-i-if we're unable to recall the planes, then ... I'd say that, ah ... well, ah ... we're just gonna have to help you destroy them, Dmitri. ... I know they're our boys. ... All right, well listen now. Who should we call? ...*Who* should we call, Dmitri? The ... wha-whe, the People... you, sorry, you faded away there.... The People's Central Air Defense Headquarters. ... Where is that, Dmitri? ... In Omsk. ... Right. ... Yes. ...Oh, you'll call them first, will you? ... Uh-hu ... Listen, do you happen to have the phone number on you, Dmitri? ... Whe-ah, what? I see, just ask for Omsk information. ...Ah-ah-eh-uhm-hm ... I'm sorry, too, Dmitri. ...I'm very sorry. ... *All right*, you're sorrier than I am, but I am as sorry as well. ... I am as sorry as you are, Dmitri! Don't say that you're more sorry than I am, because I'm capable of being just as sorry as you are. ... So we're both sorry, all right?! ... All right."


And finally, there's one from the Swedish film MY LIFE AS A DOG, young Ingemar (I don't know the actor) narrates. While it may not read very well, it transfers onscreen perfectly.

"I should have told her everything. Mama loved stories like that. It's not so bad if you think about it. It could have been worse. Just think how that poor guy in Boston ended up...who got a new kidney. He got his name in the papers. He died just the same. And what about Laika, the space dog? They put her in a Sputnik, and sent her into space. They attached wires to her heart and her brain to see how she felt. I dont think she felt so good. She spun around there for five months until her doggy bag was empty. She starved to death.
It's important to have things to compare with. I think about that woman who went to Ethiopia to be a missionary...they beat her to death with clubs--right while she was preaching. You have to compare all the time.
I think about the guy who saw Tarzan in a movie and tried to swing on a high tension wire and fell dead on the spot. You should never think you're Tarzan. I should have told her everything while she still had her strength. Stories from life, Mom really loved those. She collects them. You have to have something to tell her. I like it when she laughs, then she puts her books down. The problem is she reads a lot. It's good to get her to think of something else.
It could have been worse. It's important to remember that. Just think about the train wreck I read about. A train ran into a rail bus at Glycksbo. Six people killed and fourteen injured just as a comparison. You have to watch those rail buses. It could have been me.
It bothers me to think of that poor dog Laika. Terrible sending a dog in a spaceship without enough food. She had to do it for human progress, she didn't ask to go.
In fact, I've been lucky compared to others. You have to compare so you can get a little distance on things. She must have really seen things in perspective. It's important to keep a certain distance. I think about the guy who tried for a world record in jumping buses with a motorcycle. He lined up 31 buses. If he'd left it at 30, maybe he would have survived. Imagine, missing the world record by one bus. The last one. He just touched it with his back wheel.
I think about the guy who walked across the sports arena. He got a javelin right through the chest. He must have been very surprised."


[This message has been edited by Fergus (edited 09-04-2002).]

[ToasT]

I love the resevior Dog commode story speech as well as the Through the Looking Glass speech in Dogma. Both are really not that long but they make you smile.

[BunnyNoises]

" One time my cousin walter got this cat stuck in his ass.

True story. He bought it at our local mall, so the whole fiasco wound up on the news.


It was embarrassing for my relatives and all, but the next week, he did it again.

Different cat, same results, complete with another trip to the emergency room.

So, I run into him a week later in the mall and he's buying another cat.

And I says to him, "jesus, walt !


You know you're gonna get this cat stuck in your ass too. Why don't you knock it off ?"

And he said to me, "Brodie, how the hell else am I supposed to get the gerbil out ?"

My cousin was a weird guy. "

[Gandalf the Grey]

There is not one post here that I can say that I disagree with.

[Grebdron]

Hey Fergus, here's your kurtz speech:

Kurtz: I've seen horrors... horrors that you've seen. But 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 moral terror are your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies.

And then there's Holden from Chasing Amy

Holden: I love you. And not, not in a friendly way, although I think we're great friends. And not in a misplaced affection, puppy-dog way, although I'm sure that's what you'll call it. I love you. Very, very simple, very truly. You are the epitome of everything I have ever looked for in another human being. And I know that you think of me as just a friend, and crossing that line is the furthest thing from an option you would ever consider. But I had to say it. I just, I can't take this anymore. I can't stand next to you without wanting to hold you. I can't, I can't look into your eyes without feeling that, that longing you only read about in trashy romance novels. I can't talk to you without wanting to express my love for everything you are. And I know this will probably queer our friendship - no pun intended - but I had to say it, because I've never felt this way before, and I don't care. I like who I am because of it. And if bringing this to light means we can't hang out anymore, then that hurts me. But God, I just, I couldn't allow another day to go by without just getting it out there, regardless of the outcome, which by the look on your face is to be the inevitable shoot-down. And, you know, I'll accept that. But I know...I know that some part of you is hesitating for a moment, and if there is a moment of hesitation, then that means you feel something too. All I ask, please, is that you just, you just not dismiss that - and try to dwell in it for just ten seconds. Alyssa, there isn't another soul on this fucking planet who has ever made me half the person I am when I'm with you, and I would risk this friendship for the chance to take it to the next plateau. Because it is there between you and me. You can't deny that. Even if, you know, even if we never talk again after tonight, please know that I'm forever changed because of who you are and what you've meant to me, which - while I do appreciate it - I'd never need a painting of birds bought at a diner to remind me of.

Each of Kevin Smith's movies has at least one. Here's Matt Damon from Dogma

Loki: No, "Through the Looking Glass". That poem, "The Walrus and the Carpenter" that's an indictment of organized religion. The walrus, with his girth and his good nature, he obviously represents either Buddha, or...or with his tusk, the Hindu elephant god, Lord Ganesha. That takes care of your Eastern religions. Now the carpenter, which is an obvious reference to Jesus Christ, who was raised a carpenter's son, he represents the Western religions. Now in the poem, what do they do...what do they do? They...They dupe all these oysters into following them and then proceed to shuck and devour the helpless creatures en masse. I don't know what that says to you, but to me it says that following these faiths based on mythological figures ensure the destruction of one's inner-being. Organized religion destroys who we are by inhibiting our actions...by inhibiting our decisions, out of...out of fear of some...some intangible parent figure who...who shakes a finger at us from thousands of years ago and says...and says, "Do it--Do it and I'll fuckin' spank you!"

[Antonio]

The late, great Richard Burton's rants and raves in EQUUS.

[chrissy]

My favorite monologue has got to be Quint's Indianapolis speech in Jaws. It wasn't just the story itself that was creepy, it was how Quint told the story. It sends chills up and down my spine when I listen to that story.

[Catania]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by chrissy:
My favorite monologue has got to be Quint's Indianapolis speech in Jaws. It wasn't just the story itself that was creepy, it was how Quint told the story. It sends chills up and down my spine when I listen to that story.

</font>

Great choice. Mine is Jackson's monologue in the last scene of Pulp Fiction with Roth.

[KornKidJedi]

The Commode Story by Tim Roth in Reservoir Dogs
Sam Jackson's Last Monologue in Pulp Fiction
The Gold Watch by Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction
"I Love You" by Ben Affleck in Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy by Kevin Smith in Chasing Amy

[ColinM]

Kevin Spacey in Se7en, unless Humphrey Bogart's farewell speech to Ingrid Bergman at the end of Casablanca is considered a monologue, which I believe it is not.

[ghostworldfan]

Brodie's Cousin Walter plane story while he and TS are on the game show:

"...but my cousic Walter jerked off in public once. True story, he was on a plane to New Mexico when all of a sudden the hydrolics went. The plane started spinning around, going out of control, so he decides it's all over and whips it out and starts beating it right there. So all the other passengers take a cue from him and they all start whipping it out and beating like mad. So all the passengers are beating off plummiting to their certain doom, when all of a sudden *snaps fingers* the hydrolics kick back in and the plane rights itself. It lands safely and all the passengers put their pieces or whatever, you know away and de-board. Nobody mentions the pheonomineon to anyone else"

Gill Hicks: "Well, did he cum or what?"

Brodie: "Jesus CHRIST man! There's just some things you don't talk about in public!"

[docholiday_13]

From Days of Addictive Gum.

STEVE:
Okay. So I said taking a dump. When I
say this I don't mean that little nag in
the bottom of your stomach that says "Hey
buddy, I don't mean to be a killjoy,
but I've got some waste here you might
want to get rid of. Or its cool, it
could wait for a couple hours." Not that
dump. I mean the painful, stomach
cramping, leg squirming, immediate need
to shit. The one that yells "You had
your chance pal. You blew it. This is
happening now, I suggest you find a
toilet or reasonable facsimile" . So you
get your permission to go to the can.
Hopefully. Then you pray the bathroom on
your floor is in order. Then you kind
of, shuffle down the hall, cheeks
clenched tighter than an snare drum.
Then theres always that tense moment when
your sure your going to sit your pants
nayway. Finally you make it to the
bathroom. Luckily it's empty, so your
spared the embarassment of some little
grade nine seeing you run to a stall.
Now comes a dilemna. Do you risk the
time it takes to put t.p on the seat?
Every second counts to avoiding pudding
in your skivies. Now your on the toilet
and the shit doesn't let out casual like
usual. No it explodes out of your ass.
This causes more potential riducule from
anyone in the bathroom with you. You
always want to get all that shit out to.
So yu sit on the can for twenty minutes
just blowing air. You don't want a repeat
performance in science right? When your
sure your stomachs empty, your ass is
probaly a mess. Splatter and such. So
you wipe for two minutes and then make
sure the bathroom is empty before you
leave. Unless you want to earn th
moniker "Explosive Shit Man". My
personal advice? Listen to your shit
clock. It knows what its talkingabout
right? That's its only job. So there it
is. The worst this that could happen to
me at school. Well except for a power
tripping, pmsing female teacher who is
having her monthly visitor, and decides
to make an example of a student whose
only crime is being fifve minutes late.

My 200th post! Shower me with praise!


[This message has been edited by docholiday_13 (edited 09-06-2002).]

[Cyclonus]

Kevin Costner's courtroom speech in JFK.