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From "18 Years Of My Life" to Col. Nathan Jessup's interrogation, these iconic movie monologues showcase the art of persuasive speech, delivering powerful performances that leave a lasting impact. Join us as we explore the most difficult speeches in cinema history, featuring Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, and more. Let's dive into the world of dramatic monologues!
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00:00It's not easy for me to admit that I've been standing in the same place for 18 years!
00:04Well, I've been standing with you!
00:06Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today, we're counting down our picks for the most difficult speeches in the history of cinema.
00:12If I ask you about war, you'd probably throw Shakespeare at me, right? Once more into the breach, dear friends.
00:18Number 20. Cool Girl, Gone Girl
00:21David Fincher's marvelous adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel is an unflinching portrait of female rage in the face of the patriarchy.
00:29Amy and Nick Dunn are in an unhappy, resentful marriage when he steps out on her, kick-starting her spiral into villainy.
00:36Nick loved a girl I was pretending to be. Cool Girl. Men always use that, don't they, as their defining compliment.
00:44She's a cool girl. Cool Girl is hot. Cool Girl is game. Cool Girl is fun. Cool Girl never gets angry at her man.
00:53In Amy's Cool Girl monologue, she details the rise and fall of their relationship, and how her willingness to conform to his ideals erased her own.
01:01Rosamund Pike's eerily calm delivery allows viewers to fill in the blanks with their own experiences of being quote-unquote cool.
01:08I can't say I didn't enjoy some of it. Nick teased out in me things I didn't know existed. A lightness, a humor, an ease. But I made him smarter, sharper. I inspired him to rise to my level. I forged the man of my dreams.
01:27The speech is cleverly juxtaposed with a montage of Amy's disappearing act, but you're so busy relating to her that the cruelty of her actions doesn't sink in until it's too late.
01:37That's classic Fincher genius.
01:38My cute, charming, salt-of-the-earth Missouri guy. He needed to learn. Grown-ups work for things. Grown-ups pay.
01:53Number 19. The Cerulean Sweater. The Devil Wears Prada.
02:02Something funny?
02:03Scoffing in your boss's face when they already don't like you? Andy Sachs was truly braver than us. However, she wasn't ready for the reciprocal dose of derision that Miranda threw her way.
02:13You know, I'm still learning about this stuff and, uh...
02:18This stuff? Oh, okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you.
02:26The runway editor-in-chief is a busy woman who can't afford to waste even a second of her time.
02:31So when she paused the grind, just to give her assistant a lesson on trickle-down fashion, it was already game over for Miss Lumpy Blue Sweater.
02:39What you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean.
02:47And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns.
02:53Miranda had had enough of Andy's snobbery, understandably so, but the severity of her tirade was nothing short of a corporate nightmare.
03:01Meryl Streep's flawlessly icy performance still sends chills down our spines.
03:06That blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs, and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry,
03:16when in fact, you're wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room, from a pile of stuff.
03:24Number 18. You Don't Have to Prove Nothing. Rudy.
03:28What's better than a pep talk? A pep talk that comes with a reality check.
03:31You're five feet nothing. A hundred and nothing. And you've got hardly a speck of athletic ability.
03:38And you hung in with the best college football team in the land for two years.
03:43And you're also going to walk out of here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame.
03:47Rudy is based on the inspiring true story of Daniel Eugene Rudiger, a.k.a. Rudy, who played gridiron for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
03:55In the film, Rudy, played by Sean Astin, quits the team when his chances of suiting up for the last home game start to look slim.
04:02Player-turned-groundskeeper Fortune, played by Charles S. Dutton, had previously made a similar decision.
04:07So the prospect of Rudy following in his regrettable footsteps offends him.
04:11I got filled up with a lot of attitude. So I quit. Still not a week goes by I don't regret it.
04:19And I guarantee a week won't go by in your life you won't regret walking out letting them get the best of you.
04:25What results is a brutally honest speech that both rattles and steadies the youngster.
04:29The stern conviction in Dutton's voice could make anyone believe in themselves.
04:34No wonder Rudy did an immediate 180.
04:36In this lifetime, you don't have to prove nothing to nobody except yourself.
04:41And after what you've gone through, if you haven't done that by now, it ain't gonna never happen.
04:47Number 17. The Gold Watch. Pulp Fiction.
04:50In Quentin Tarantino's crime epic, the titular timepiece is a family heirloom passed down through multiple generations and safeguarded in some uncomfortable ways.
05:00Hopefully, 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.
05:13Vietnam War veteran Captain Coons delivers it to a young Butch Coolidge, passionately recollecting the history of the watch.
05:20It once belonged to Butch's great-grandfather, then his granddad, and eventually his dad, who hid it where the sun don't shine during the Vietnam War.
05:28Before passing away, he left the watch in the hands of his comrade Coons, who kept it in his person until he could bring it to its rightful heir, Butch.
05:36Christopher Walken blends war trauma and absurd scatological humor with stone-faced gravitas and impeccable comedic timing, making his monologue one of the funniest scenes in the film.
05:46After seven years, I was sent home to my family, and now, little man, I gave the watch to you.
05:59Number 16. I'm a fan of man. The Devil's Advocate.
06:03A toxic workplace is no less than hell, especially when your estranged dad is your boss.
06:08Ask Kevin Lomax. His father, John Milton, is the literal devil.
06:13One of the greatest actors of all time, Al Pacino, plays Milton, and his monologue about God is the Almighty's gift to cinema.
06:19It's the goof of all time. Look, but don't touch.
06:25Touch, but don't taste.
06:29Taste.
06:30Don't swallow.
06:31With infernal fire in his eyes, Milton tries to convince Kevin of the hypocrisy of God.
06:38He puts man on a pedestal, celebrating free will and instinct, even and especially if it's chaotic.
06:44I've nurtured every sensation man has been inspired to have.
06:48I cared about what he wanted, and I never judged him.
06:52Why? Because I never rejected him.
06:55In spite of all his imperfections, I'm a fan of man!
06:59Milton snarls, hisses, and roars, vaingloriously talking circles around Kevin.
07:05His satanic seduction puts the audience in a trance, too.
07:08Needless to say, no one can do it like Pacino.
07:11I'm peaking, Kevin.
07:14It's my time now.
07:17It's our time.
07:18Performing any Morgan Freeman monologue is an impossible challenge.
07:26He's dubbed the voice of God, after all.
07:29Still, his speech as Red at the character's final parole hearing in the Shawshank Redemption
07:33might be one of the most difficult ones he has ever delivered.
07:36Red, who served 40 years in prison for murder, faces the parole board with resignation in his eyes.
07:57When asked if he felt rehabilitated, he rejects the word entirely and focuses on his regrets instead.
08:03There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret.
08:07Not because I'm in here, because you think I should.
08:10Freeman's approach to the scene is masterfully understated.
08:14The magic is in the subtlety.
08:15The weary wisdom in his words, and the fatigue in his tone.
08:19There's no grandstanding here.
08:21No theatrical inflections.
08:23Just deep remorse.
08:24That's what makes it unforgettable.
08:26That kid's long gone, and this old man is all that's left.
08:33I gotta live with that.
08:35Number 14.
08:36You Look Like a Rube, The Silence of the Lambs
08:39When Dr. Lecter first met Clarice Darling, he was intrigued, to say the least,
08:43even playing up his gentlemanly act.
08:45Once he caught wind of her thinly-veiled ambitions,
08:48he chewed her up and spat her out in an iconic monologue.
08:52You know what you look like to me with your good bag and your cheap shoes?
08:55You look like a rube.
08:58A well-scrubbed, hustling rube, with a little taste.
09:03Good nutrition's given you some length of bone,
09:05but you're not more than one generation from poor wire trash, are you, Agent Starling?
09:10Lecter doesn't just clock her rural upbringing or her grand aspirations,
09:15but also unravels her deepest insecurities.
09:18It's the start of a psychological deconstruction that Hannibal continues until the end of the film.
09:23All those tedious, sticky fumblings in the backseats of cars,
09:26while you could only dream of getting out, getting anywhere,
09:30getting all the way to the FPI.
09:34Anthony Hopkins, being the god of acting he is,
09:37delivers the speech with unnerving ease.
09:39He is soft-spoken, but somehow that's even more intimidating,
09:44especially as he makes a mockery of Starling's West Virginia accent.
09:47His piercing eyes pin Clarice in place, but we're the ones left frozen in awe.
09:53You were doing fine.
09:54You had been curious and receptive to courtesy.
09:58You had established trust with the embarrassing truth about Migs.
10:02And now this ham-handed segue into your questionnaire.
10:08It won't do.
10:09It's not often that Oprah Winfrey appears on the silver screen,
10:17but when she does, she makes a lasting impression.
10:20Her role as Sophia in The Color Purple, which was her first acting job,
10:24earned her an Oscar nod.
10:26A defining scene that must have contributed to this prestigious honor was Sophia's speech,
10:30where she defiantly recounts her lifelong struggle against patriarchal abuse and systemic oppression.
10:35All my life, I had to fight.
10:38I had to fight my daddy.
10:40I had to fight my uncles.
10:42I had to fight my brothers.
10:45Girl, child ain't safe in the family means.
10:47Winfrey melts into her character, giving a voice to not just Sophia,
10:52but all black women who have suffered injustice at the hands of society.
10:55Despite being an emerging actress at the time,
10:58Oprah had the flair of a seasoned artist,
11:00and imbued her performance with the kind of authenticity and courage
11:03that became impossible to replicate.
11:05I love Hoppo.
11:08God knows I do.
11:11But I kill him dead, for I let him be me.
11:15Number 12.
11:16Tears in Rain.
11:17Blade Runner.
11:18You know a monologue is legendary when it has its own Wikipedia page.
11:22Roy Batty closes the final chapter of his life in Blade Runner
11:25by lending a helping hand to his nemesis, Rick Deckard.
11:28What follows is one of the greatest speeches in the history of sci-fi cinema.
11:32I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
11:39Batty reminisces about his experience that transcend human comprehension.
11:43In the same breath, he admits that his life is doomed to oblivion,
11:47regardless of the cosmic grandeur he witnessed.
11:49He accepts his end and does it with grace.
11:51All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain.
12:08The monologue was originally much denser.
12:11Ritger Hauer, who plays Roy, stripped it down to its existential core
12:14and improvised the extraordinary tears in rain metaphor.
12:17This creative choice, combined with Hauer's haunting delivery, made the scene timeless.
12:23All he'd wanted were the same answers the rest of us want.
12:27Where do I come from?
12:29Where am I going?
12:32How long have I got?
12:35All I could do was sit there and watch him die.
12:37Number 11.
12:38Charlie Chaplin's first talkie was an anti-fascist manifesto in the form of a black comedy,
12:56satirizing the inhuman reigns of dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
13:00The actor takes on a dual role here.
13:02On the one hand, he parodies Hitler as Adenoid Hinkle, the tyrant of Tomania.
13:08On the other, he represents humanity as a Jewish barber.
13:11In the film's final moments, the barber, impersonating Hinkle, addresses a crowd.
13:16The resulting monologue, where Chaplin seemingly breaks the fourth wall,
13:20is Shakespearean in its majesty.
13:22To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair.
13:25The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed,
13:29the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress,
13:32the hate of men will pass and dictators die.
13:36And the power they took from the people will return to the people.
13:39And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.
13:43His rhetoric of hope as he envisions the triumph of man over machine
13:46pulses with sincerity and urgency.
13:49It's not just a testament to Chaplin's prophetic brilliance,
13:52but also to his incomparable artistry.
13:55No wonder the speech is inimitable.
13:56Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers,
14:01to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance.
14:05Let us fight for a world of reason.
14:07A world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.
14:12Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
14:16Number 10.
14:17I'm so mad I don't know what to do.
14:20Steel Magnolias.
14:21This dramedy is an adaptation of a play by Robert Harling
14:24about the tight-knit bond between a group of friends living in the South.
14:29In a startling turn of events,
14:31Julia Roberts' character Shelby passes away due to complications from diabetes,
14:35causing her mother, Emlyn, played by Sally Field,
14:38to have an emotional breakdown at the funeral.
14:41Field fuels all her energy into capturing the unfathomable nature of grief
14:54and the rage that it carries.
14:55I don't think I can take this.
14:57I don't think I can take this.
14:59I just want to hit somebody until they feel as bad as I do.
15:03I just want to hit something.
15:04I want to hit it hard!
15:05Like a pendulum of emotion,
15:07she goes from weeping to yelling to finally laughing.
15:10For this moment, she takes home a gold medal for emotional gymnastics.
15:15And I was there when she dripped it out.
15:18It was the most precious moment of my life.
15:21Number 9.
15:22You Can't Handle the Truth.
15:24A Few Good Men.
15:25A couple of years after Aaron Sorkin's play made its Broadway debut in 1989,
15:30Hollywood came knocking and adapted A Few Good Men for the screen.
15:34With a star-studded cast, including Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore,
15:39the story revolves around a military murder trial
15:42and the ethical and moral stakes of all the parties involved.
15:46You have the luxury of not knowing what I know,
15:48that Santiago's death while tragic probably saved lives,
15:52and my existence while grotesque and incomprehensible to you saves lives.
15:57In one of the most tense scenes,
16:00Cruise is cross-examining Nicholson's character
16:02and doing everything in his power to uncover the truth behind the crime.
16:06Nicholson goes into a speech about how ugly the truth can be.
16:09I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself
16:13to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide
16:17and then questions the manner in which I provide it.
16:20I would rather you just said thank you and went on your way.
16:23The text practically leaps off the page and into the pop culture hall of fame
16:28as one of the most quotable movie lines of all time.
16:32You want answers?
16:33I think I'm entitled.
16:34You want answers!
16:35I want the truth!
16:36You can't handle the truth!
16:38Number 8.
16:39Your Move Chief, Good Will Hunting.
16:41As one of the most beloved and impactful performers of all time,
16:46Robin Williams' performance in this late 90s hit is one of his best.
16:50I stayed up half the night thinking about it.
16:53Something occurred to me.
16:56I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
16:58The award-winning screenplay about a math genius and his therapist
17:01is full of touching and thoughtful moments,
17:04including this one where Williams' Sean explains to Matt Damon's Will
17:08that he knows nothing about life.
17:10You don't know about real loss
17:11because it only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself.
17:17I doubt you've ever dared to love anybody that much.
17:19It's not full of rage or sadness or over-the-top dramatics,
17:23but Robin's focus and directness is undeniable.
17:27It's a testament to Damon and Ben Affleck's writing skills
17:30and Williams' decades of experience that proves collaboration is the backbone of art.
17:36You don't want to do that through your sport.
17:40You're terrified of what you might say.
17:48You move, chief.
17:53This monologue can only be described as spine-chilling.
17:57There was a girl, and the girl had a shadow.
18:05The two were connected, tethered together.
18:15In Jordan Peele's second horror, Feature Us, audiences are invited to witness a family's beach trip go off the rails
18:22when their mysterious lookalike suddenly appear to wreak havoc.
18:26Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o pulls double duty as Adelaide and her doppelganger, Red.
18:31After Red and her family, referred to as the tethered, break into the family's vacation home,
18:36she details a story about a young, happy girl whose shadow lives painfully in the dark.
18:42The girl met a handsome prince and fell in love with the shadow.
18:50At that same time, met Abraham.
18:54Nyong'o created a signature speech pattern for Red,
18:57basing it off spasmodic dysphonia, a medical condition that causes vocal spasms.
19:02There are many disturbing scenes in the film, but this one stands out and stays with you long after it's over.
19:09The shadow hated the girl so much, but so long.
19:16Until one day, the shadow realized she was being tested.
19:23By God.
19:25Number 6. My Heart Was Broken, Manchester by the Sea.
19:29Kenneth Lonergan's mid-2010 script is an emotionally heavy story about bereavement
19:34that's critically acclaimed for its authenticity.
19:37My heart was broken.
19:41It's always gonna be broken.
19:45But I know your heart is broken too.
19:47In one of the film's most poignant scenes,
19:50Michelle Williams' character Randy runs into her ex-husband Lee.
19:53It's the first time the former spouses have seen each other since their divorce,
19:57which resulted from Lee accidentally causing a fire that claimed the lives of their children.
20:03Randy explains that her permanently broken heart caused her to say unspeakable things.
20:08I don't want to torture you.
20:09You're not, you're not torturing me.
20:10I just want to tell you that I was wrong.
20:13No, no.
20:15Her speech, filled with unfinished sentences and scattered thoughts,
20:19ends with her confessing that she loves him.
20:21Maybe I shouldn't say that.
20:23No, you can say that.
20:23It's just...
20:25I'm sorry, I've gotta go.
20:26It's a moment that is about as real and raw as it gets.
20:31Number 5.
20:32There is no bathroom for me.
20:34Hidden figures.
20:35There's no bathroom for me here.
20:37In this Oscar-nominated film,
20:39Taraji P. Henson plays real-life mathematician Katherine Johnson,
20:43who played a vital role during the early years of the U.S. space program.
20:47On any given day, I analyze the vanometer levels for air displacement, friction, and velocity,
20:53and compute over 10,000 calculations by cosine, square root, and lately analytic geometry by hand.
21:01At one point in the film, her boss, played by Kevin Costner, publicly berates her for disappearing during working hours.
21:07She reveals to him that due to segregation, the only washroom she can use is half a mile away.
21:13Did you know that?
21:15I have to walk to Timbuktu just to relieve myself.
21:19And I can't use one of the handy bikes.
21:21It's one of the most memorable moments of the film due to Henson's command and groundedness.
21:26Every word she speaks is heard loud and clear with such force and dedication that it's not just a monologue,
21:32it's a statement.
21:34And I work like a dog, day and night, living off a coffee from a pot none of you want to touch!
21:46As one of modern cinema's most prolific screenwriters, Aaron Sorkin has become well-known for his melodic and fiery fast-paced dialogue.
21:55In his script for 2010's The Social Network, a film that chronicles the origins of social media titan Facebook
22:01and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, his writing is at its best.
22:05What is this?
22:07Well, as you know, we had some new investors that have come in.
22:11What is this?
22:11When Zuckerberg's ex-best friend and partner, Eduardo, played by Andrew Garfield,
22:16finds out he's been screwed out of his contract, a confrontation goes down.
22:22It's an angry, impassioned, and heartbreaking snapshot of a friendship going down in flames.
22:27Sorry, my Pradas and the cleaners!
22:30Along with my hoodie and my f***ing flip-flops, you pretentious douchebag!
22:34Garfield manages to use physicality to accompany Sorkin's composition in such an effective way that it's hard to shake off.
22:41I like sitting next to you, Sean.
22:45It makes me look so tough.
22:48Number 3. I'm so sick of it.
22:50Little Women.
22:51If I was a girl in a book, this would all be so easy.
22:56Just give up the world happily.
22:57Greta Gerwig's 2019 Little Women adaptation was a masterful retelling of the beloved Louisa May Alcott novel.
23:05Her screenplay fleshes out the exploration of feminism in the source material,
23:09and features one of contemporary cinema's most insightful monologues to date.
23:14Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts, and they've got ambition, and they've got talent, as well as just beauty.
23:26In this scene, Saoirse Ronan as Jo March taps into conflict over the complexity of wanting to be independent and also loved.
23:33I'm so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for.
23:39I'm so sick of it.
23:42But I'm so lonely.
23:45The monologue is concise, delivered with such believability that it's hard to believe it's all memorized.
23:51Between Gerwig's text and Ronan's performance, it's become one of the most memorable moments in the film.
23:57From the Godfather trilogy to Scarface, Al Pacino has built himself an illustrious career by going for roles that are demanding and always pose a challenge.
24:11Sir, you're out of order.
24:12Out of order? I show you out of order.
24:14You don't know what out of order is, Mr. Trask.
24:17In his Academy Award-winning turn as Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, Pacino stars alongside a young Chris O'Donnell as a prep school student who becomes an assistant to Slade, a military vet who is blind and an alcoholic.
24:31Over the course of the movie, they form a bond that leads up to this pivotal moment when Frank has to defend his new confidant.
24:37You think you're merely sending this splendid foot soldier back home to Argon with his tail between his legs, but I say you are executing his soul!
24:48It's a show-stopping monologue that is chock-full of so many quotable lines that every viewing of it deserves a standing ovation.
24:56And that, my friends, is called integrity. That's called courage. Now that's the stuff leaders should be made of.
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25:21Number 1. 18 Years of My Life. Fences.
25:25One of the most prolific playwrights of all time, August Wilson, created a body of work that captured race in America and the lives of the working class.
25:34You're always talking about what you give and what you don't have to give. But you take too, Troy. You take and don't even know nobody's giving.
25:42After wrapping up the Broadway revival of Wilson's Fences, Denzel Washington and Viola Davis reprised their roles as married couple Troy and Rose for the Washington-directed screen adaptation.
25:53This gut-wrenching monologue details Rose confessing that her loyalty and dedication to her husband Troy caused her to miss out on pursuing her own hopes and aspirations.
26:04I gave 18 years of my life to stand in the same spot as you. Don't you think I ever wanted other things? Don't you think I had dreams and hopes? What about my life? What about me?
26:14The scene is full of vivid imagery and metaphors that make the heartbreaking sequence absolutely soul-crushing and unmasks the hardships that married life can bring.
26:24I planted a seed to watch a braid over. I planted myself inside you and waited to bloom. It didn't take me no 18 years to realize the soil was hard and rocky and it was never gonna bloom.
26:34Viola earned the Academy Award for this role and it's no wonder, considering this performance is pure perfection.
26:41Have you ever attempted any of these monologues? Tell us in the comments.
26:45You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
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