So the other day I caught the tail end of Contact. (Excellent movie.) It was right at the part where Jodi Foster gives her speech to the committee about her experience. She's so passionate about it and even though I know what's coming I find myself caught up in it. It got me thinking about other big movie speeches. The really good ones that pull you in despite the fact that you know it's fiction.
I loved Bill Pullman's speech from Independence Day, the one right before the big battle so much I memorized it. (I know, GEEK, right.) And even if you don't remember the whole thing, who could forget Mel Gibson shouting, "They may take our lives, buy they'll never take our FREEDOM!" or Tom Cruise getting in Jack Nicholson's face saying, "I want the truth." Is it the writing, the actors, or some combination of the two?
The writer in me wants to side with the ladies and gentlemen behind the scenes. After all Shakespeare wrote the St. Crispin's Day speech that has been used and referenced so many times in movies and TV. But then I try to think of Will Ferrell or Chris Farley (Don't get me wrong I love them both.) doing the courtroom scene in To Kill a Mocking Bird or telling Ilsa to get on that plane in Casablanca and I just can't see it.
So in my mind it's both, but which one is more important? Which side can better compensate if the other isn't up to Academy Award standards? What do you think? (And what's your favorite movie speech?)
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