Several great ones already here of course: I'm partial to Miller's Crossing in particular, as well as Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now, and Austin Powers. Some of my other favorites:
1. F.
Murray Abraham has a number of choice monologues in (which maybe shouldn't count, due to it being a Shaffer play, but somebody else mentioned Tom Joad). If I had to pick my favorite, it'd be either his disquisition on Don Giovanni ("And now, the Madness began in me. The Madness of a man spltting in half.
..") or this, on Mozart's "Serenade for Thirteen Winds": "On the page it looked nothing.
The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse - bassoons and basset horns - like a rusty squeezebox. Then suddenly - high above it - an oboe, a single note, hanging there unwavering, till a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight!
This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing.
It seemed to me that I was hearing the voice of God."
2. A sentimental favorite, which is also not quite fair because it's cribbing heavily from Tolkien, but Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films have several memorable monologues.
To keep it short here, I'll go with two -- both voiceovers, which may also not count:
2a. Galadriel (Cate Blanchett)'s magically melancholy opening prologue at the beginning of : "Darkness crept back into the forests of the world. Rumor grew of a shadow in the East, whispers of a nameless fear, and the Ring of Power perceived.
Its time had now come."
2b. Elrond (Hugo Weaving)'s similarly memorable flash-forward to the final fate of Aragorn and Arwen, in the middle of (Yes, it's verbatim Tolkien, but it's excellently performed): "He will come to death.
An image of the splendor of the kings of men, in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world. But you, my daughter, you will linger on in darkness and in doubt, as nightfall in winter that comes without a star."
3.
Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) at the very end of Annie Hall, summing up the score for way too many of us: "After that, it got pretty late and we both had to go, but it was great seeing Annie again and I realized what a terrific person she was and how much fun it was just knowing her, and I thought of that old joke, you know, the, this, this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, 'Doc, uh, my brother's crazy, he thinks he's a chicken,' and uh, the doctor says, 'Well why don't you turn him in?' And the guy says, 'I would, but I need the eggs.' Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships.
You know, they're totally irrational and crazy and absurd and - but uh, I guess we keep going through it...
because...
most of us need the eggs"
4. The five top Coen brother monologues should probably be its own question. My far-and-away favorite of their flicks is Miller's Crossing.
..Matt's already mentioned Johnny Gaspar's opening, but you could also make a case for either of Bernie Birnbaum (John Turturro)'s big moments, at Miller's Crossing ("Look into your heart") or back at Tom's place later.
("I guess you didn't see the play you gave me.") That being said, since Miller's already noted, I'm going Lebowski:
4a. The Dude stalls for time: "I'll tell you what I'm blathering about.
.. I've got information man!
New shit has come to light! And shit..
. man, she kidnapped herself. Well sure, man.
Look at it...
a young trophy wife, in the parlance of our times, you know, and she, uh, uh, owes money all over town, including to known pornographers, and that's cool...
that's, that's cool, I'm, I'm saying, she needs money, man."
4b. Walter's eulogy: "Donny was a good bowler, and a good man.
He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors..
. and bowling, and as a surfer he explored the beaches of Southern California, from La Jolla to Leo Carrillo and..
. up to..
. Pismo. He died, like so many young men of his generation, he died before his time.
In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. And so would Donny.
Donny, who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabotsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. Good night, sweet prince.
"
5. And, since I just put it in a primary source reader I'm putting together for an American history textbook, here's : "The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good. Greed is right.
Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit."
Also, Straitharn-channeling-Murrow in .
Walken's on the other side of a pretty memorable monologue with Dennis Hopper in True Romance. And I'm surprised nobody's mentioned George C. Scott in Patton or Nicholson's famous screed in A Few Good Men.
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