Having obtained Juanky's blessing...

 

Begin nominations for any monologue (a paragraph or more) you feel to be the best movie soliloquy or monologue ever. Feel free to nominate as many as you want. You may also repeat names that have already been mentioned. Discussion is also permitted.

I'll find it, but Christopher Walken's war watch speech from Pulp Fiction. Brilliant! I'll find it later.

Gary Cooper's soliloquy as Lou Gehrig in The Pride of the Yankees...the well known "Today I consider myself..."

 

 

Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler at the end of Schindler's List:

Oskar Schindler: I could have got more out. I could have got more. I don't know. If I'd just... I could have got more.

Itzhak Stern: Oskar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them.

Oskar Schindler: If I'd made more money... I threw away so much money. You have no idea. If I'd just...

Itzhak Stern: There will be generations because of what you did.

Oskar Schindler: I didn't do enough!

Itzhak Stern: You did so much.

[schindler looks at his car]

Oskar Schindler: This car. Goeth would have bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people.

[removing Nazi pin from lapel] This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this. [sobbing] I could have gotten one more person... and I didn't! And I... I didn't!

 

I'll find it, but Christopher Walken's war watch speech from Pulp Fiction. Brilliant! I'll find it later.

 

Captain Koons: The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any of the slopes were gonna get their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.

That's just a small part of it.

Nicholas Cage--the opening to Adaptation...not particularly memorable, but definitely an earful!

 

Bill Pullman, Independence Day....If you don't get psyched for that, there's something wrong with you :thumbup

Although this isn't truly a soliloquy, then again neither are the previous nominees since they are all directed at characters on screen and not simply the audience, I love James Earl Jones' speech in Field of Dreams about baseball. Here's my favorite excerpt:

 

People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It?s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has been a mark of the time. This field, this game, it?s a part of our past Ray. It reminds us of all that is good, and all that can be again. Oh, people will come Ray, people will most definitely come.

Although this isn't truly a soliloquy, then again neither are the previous nominees since they are all directed at characters on screen and not simply the audience, I love James Earl Jones' speech in Field of Dreams about baseball. Here's my favorite excerpt:

 

People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It?s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has been a mark of the time. This field, this game, it?s a part of our past Ray. It reminds us of all that is good, and all that can be again. Oh, people will come Ray, people will most definitely come.

Ya the only true soliloquy's are basically cinema versions of Shakespeare plays.

You guys were right, title changed to monologue...if there's an even better word let me know.

You guys were right, title changed to monologue...if there's an even better word let me know.

 

 

Nah, that pretty much sums it up perfectly. :thumbup

How about 2/3 of the movie Castaway

Wow so many to choose from, I bet I come back with more even after these....great idea.

 

Easily my favorite is from 'Mr. Smith goes to Washington' right before he collapses after his fillibuster:

 

"Great principles don't get lost once they come to light. They're right here. You just have to see them again...You think I'm licked. You all think I'm licked. Well, I'm not licked. And I'm going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause, even if this room gets filled with lies like these; and the Taylors and all their armies come marching into this place. Somebody will listen to me."

 

Another great, from 'Network':

 

"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 work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it...All I know is that first you've got to get mad. (shouting) 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, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!'"

 

Gunnery Sgt. Harman's introductory speech in 'Full Metal Jacket':

 

"If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human, f***ing beings. You are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian s--t. Because I am hard you will not like me. But the more you hate me the more you will learn. I am hard, but I am fair! There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on n*****s, k****, wops or greasers. Here you are all equally worthless. And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps. Do you maggots understand that?"

 

Beautiful quote from William Wallace in my favorite movie of all time, 'Braveheart':

 

"And I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?...Aye, fight and you may die, run and you'll live - at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!"

 

I also love this from 'To Kill A Mockingbird':

 

"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 Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led, almost exclusively, with his left [hand]. And Tom Robinson now sits before you, having taken 'The Oath' with the only good hand he possesses -- his right.......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."

 

Terrence Mann near the end of 'Field of Dreams', I can still hear him say 'baseball' in my head, fantastic monologue:

 

"People will come, Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn into your driveway, not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door, as innocent as children, longing for the past... And they'll walk off to the bleachers and sit in their short sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along the baselines where they sat when they were children, and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game, and it'll be as they'd dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they'll have to brush them away from their faces... The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers; it has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Ohhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come"

 

Captain Miller to his troops as they search for Private Ryan and at a time morale is at its lowest, from 'Saving Private Ryan':

 

"Mike? What's the pool on me up to right now? What's it up to? What is it, three hundred dollars -- is that it? Three hundred? I'm a school teacher. I teach English Composition in this little town called Addley, Pennsylvania. The last eleven years, I've been at Thomas Alva Edison High School. I was coach of the baseball team in the spring time. Back home when I tell people what I do for a living, they think, well, that, that figures. But over here it's a big, a big mystery. So I guess I've changed some. Sometimes I wonder if I've changed so much my wife is ever gonna recognize me whenever it is I get back to her -- and how I'll ever be able to tell her about days like today. Ryan -- I don't know anything about Ryan. I don't care. Man means nothin' to me. It's just a name. But if -- you know -- if going to Ramel and finding him so he can go home, if that earns me the right to get back to my wife -- well, then, then that's my mission. You wanna leave? You wanna go off and fight the war? Alright. Alright, I won't stop you. I'll even put in the paperwork. I just know that every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel."

Hmm....

 

Part of John Milton (Al Pacino)'s commenting on God at the end of "Devil's Advocate":

 

MILTON: ... Guilt is like a bag of f***ing bricks. All you gotta is set it down... Who are you carrying all those bricks for anyway? God? Is that it? God? Well I tell you. Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift and then what does he do? I swear, for his own amusement, his own private cosmic gag reel he sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch but don't taste. Taste but don't swallow. And while you're jumping on one foot to the next, what is he doing? He's laughing his sick f***ing ass off. He's a tightass. He's a sadist. He's an absentee-landlord! Worship that? Never!

 

LOMAX: Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven. Is that it?

 

MILTON: Why not? I'm here on the ground with my nose in it since the whole thing began. I've nurtured every sensation man has been inspired to have. I cared about what he wanted, and I never judged him. Why? Because I never rejected him inspite of all his imperfections...I'm a humanist. Maybe the last humanist. Who, in their right mind, Kevin, could possibly deny the 20th century was entirely mine? All of it, Kevin. All of it. Mine. I'm peaking, Kevin. It's my time now.

 

And, just because I am still amazed to this day how many times he uses the letter 'v' (and how V even got the speech off correctly no matter how many takes they tried it), this speech from the beginning of "V for Vendetta":

 

V: Voil?! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-?-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

Beautiful quote from William Wallace in my favorite movie of all time, 'Braveheart':

 

"And I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?...Aye, fight and you may die, run and you'll live - at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!"

 

 

Yes... f*** YES!!!!!!!!!! :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy

Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday, "The Inches Speech"

 

I don't know what to say really. Three minutes till the biggest battle of our professional lives. It all comes down to today. Now either we heal as a team, or we're gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play, till we're finished. We're in hell right now, gentlemen. Believe me. And we can stay here, get the sh*t kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb out of hell. One inch at a time.

 

Now I can't do it for you. I'm too old. I look around, I see these young faces, and I think... I mean I've made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make. I pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who's ever loved me, and lately, I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror. You know when you get old in life, things get taken from you. That's part of life. But you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out life's this game of inches. And so is football. Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small. I mean... one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow too fast, you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all those inches, that's gonna make the f***ing difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying! I'll tell you this - in any fight, its the guy whose willing to die who's gonna win that inch. And I know if I'm going to have any life anymore, it's because I'm still willing to fight and die for that inch. Because that's what living is! The 6 inches in front of your face...

 

Now I can't make you do it. You've got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think you're gonna see a guy who will go that inch with you. You're gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it, you're gonna do the same for him.

 

That's a team, gentlemen. And either we heal, now, as a team, or we will die, as individuals. That's football, guys. That's all it is. Now, what are you going to do?

Colonel Jessup from A Few Good Men:

 

"Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose 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. "

Gunnery Sgt. Harman's introductory speech in 'Full Metal Jacket':

 

"If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human, f***ing beings. You are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian s--t. Because I am hard you will not like me. But the more you hate me the more you will learn. I am hard, but I am fair! There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on n*****s, k****, wops or greasers. Here you are all equally worthless. And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps. Do you maggots understand that?"

 

/thread

 

:notworthy

Aragorn in Return of the King:

 

Hold your ground, hold your ground. Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you *stand, Men of the West!*

 

From Gettysburg, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

 

This is a different kind of army. If you look at history you'll see men fight for pay, or women, or some other kind of loot. They fight for land, or because a king makes them, or just because they like killing. But we're here for something new. This hasn't happened much in the history of the world. We are an army out to set other men free. America should be free ground, from here to the Pacific Ocean. No man has to bow, no man born to royalty. Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was. Here you can be something. Here you can build a home. But it's not the land. There's always more land. It's the idea that we all have value, you and me. What we're fighting for, in the end, is each other. Sorry. Didn't mean to preach.

 

Coach Norman Dale in Hoosiers

 

You know, in the ten years that I coached, I never met anybody who wanted to win as badly as I did. I'd do anything I had to do to increase my advantage. Anybody who tried to block the pursuit of that advantage, I'd just push 'em out of the way. Didn't matter who they were, or what they were doing. But that was then. You have special talent, a gift. Not the school's, not the townspeople, not the team's, not Myra Fleener's, not mine. It's yours, to do with what you choose. Because that's what I believe, I can tell you this: I don't care if you play on the team or not.

 

Chet p***y in From Dusk till Dawn

 

p***y, p***y, p***y! All p***y must go. At the Titty Twister we're slashing p***y in half! This is a p***y blow out! Make us an offer on our vast selection of p***y! We got white p***y, black p***y, Spanish p***y, yellow p***y, hot p***y, cold p***y, wet p***y, tight p***y, big p***y, bloody p***y, fat p***y, hairy p***y, smelly p***y, velvet p***y, silk p***y, Naugahyde p***y, snappin' p***y, horse p***y, dog p***y, chicken p***y, fake p***y! If we don't got it, then you don't want it!

 

I'll get some more later.

Jules from Pulp Fiction:

 

There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you. I been sayin' that sh*t for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherf***er before you popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some sh*t this mornin' made me think twice. Now I'm thinkin': it could mean you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could be you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that. But that sh*t ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.

Ivory Christian in Friday Night Lights - "What's wrong with y'all? Y'all are playin' like some little girls! Y'all act like you never played football before! These guys are nothin'! They bleed just like we do, and sweat just like we do. They went through two-a-days. We went through two-a-days in 110 degree heat. I want you to hit everything that move! If the ref gets in your way, you hit him! They're cheatin' us too! They're against us too. This is our team. This is us! Let's go right now! Let's get it off now and let's go! "

Renton at the start of Trainspotting -

 

 

Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f***ing big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of f***ing fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the f*** you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing f***ing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f***ed up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

Alright, I'll admit I'm biased, but I love this speech:

 

"I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We've made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn HERE! This far, no further! And I will make them PAY for what they've done."

 

-Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: First Contact)

I hadn't cried seeing a movie in years...Until I saw this...

 

V for Vendetta, Valerie Page's Letter :

 

I know there is no way I can convince you this is not one of their tricks, but I don't care. I am me. My name is Valerie.I don't think I'll live much longer and I wanted to tell someone about my life. This is the only autobiography that I will ever write, and God, I'm writing it on toiler paper.

 

I was born in Nottingham in 1985. I don't remember much of those early years, but I do remember the rain. My grandmother owned a farm in Tottlebrook, and she used to tell me that God was in the rain.

 

I passed my 11 plus and went to Girls Grammar. It was at school that I met my first girlfriend. Her name was Sara. It was her wrists. They were beautiful. I thought we would love eachother forever. I remember our teacher telling us that it was an adolescent phase that people outgrew. Sara did, I didn't.

 

In 2002, I fell in love with a girl named Christina. That year I came out to my parents. I couldn't have done it without Chris holding my hand. My father wouldn't look at me. He told me to go and never come back. My mother said nothing.

 

But I had only told them the truth, was that so selfish? Our integrity sells for so little, yet it is all we really have. It is the very last inch of us. But within that inch, we are free.

 

I'd always known what I wanted to do with my life, and in 2015, I starred in my first film, The Salt Flats. It was the most important role of my life, not because of my career, but because that was how I met Ruth. The first time we kissed, I knew I never wanted to kiss any other lips but hers again.

 

We moved to a small flat in London together. She grew Scarlet Carsons for me in our windowbox, and our place always smelled of roses. Those were the best years of my life.

 

But America's war grew worse, and worse, and eventually came to London. After that there were no roses anymore. Not for anyone.

 

I remember how the meaning of words began to change. How unfamiliar words like collateral and rendition became frightening, while things like Norsefire and the Articles of Allegiance became powerful. I remember how different became dangerous. I still don't understand it...why they hate us so much. They took Ruth while she was out buying food. I've never cried so hard in my life.

 

It wasn't long til they came for me.

 

It seems strange that my life should end in such a terrible place, but for three years I had roses and apologized to no one.

 

I shall die here, every inch of me shall perish. Every inch, but one.

 

An inch. It is small and it is fragile. And it is the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it or give it away. We must never let them take it from us.

 

I hope that whoever you are you escape this place. I hope that the world turns and that things get better.

 

But what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that, even though I do not know you, and even though I may never meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you... I love you. With all my heart. I love you.

 

Valerie

Are you kidding me? That letter from V for Vendetta was so cheesy and OTT political nonsense. If you want something that'll make you cry, go watch Hotel Rwanda.

Are you kidding me? That letter from V for Vendetta was so cheesy and OTT political nonsense. If you want something that'll make you cry, go watch Hotel Rwanda.

 

 

Sweetheart, step away from the ledge please.

 

You need to settle down. Movies are seen and interpereted differently by different people. I have seen Hotel Rwanda and I never came close to crying, while Rwanda is a great movie and greatly displays the horrors of even the modern day world, I never felt enough of an emotional connection to get teary-eyed over it.

 

It's not because genocide isn't something to cry over, it's just that I never had an intense emotional connection to it.

 

I'm sorry you thought it was cheesy, and political -- I found it to be incredibly heartbreaking and very powerful. Everyone is going to have a different emotional reaction to each scene, most people I know found that scene to be incredibly moving. Some people, like you, did not. "Different strokes for different folks."

 

Now, I suggest you turn off attack mode and return to normalcy.

 

But first, I have to ask you: Angrily attacking someone's opinion on a segment of a movie on an online message board....Are you kidding me?

Renton at the start of Trainspotting -

 

 

Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f***ing big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of f***ing fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the f*** you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing f***ing junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f***ed up brats you spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

 

 

 

a beautiful thing ... you beat me to it, thats the one I wanted to post

 

 

well the only one that I could remember that I actually liked

 

:thumbup