Watching Down with Love again this weekend, I was once again stunned by the uncut speech that Rene Zellweger makes near the end of the film. It's so very rare that we see an actor deliver a long piece of dialogue onscreen. There are great speeches, like Donald Sutherland's five-minute bit of covert information in JFK, but he's offscreen, so we have no proof that he actually delivered that speech without cuts.

I'm trying to figure out if Zellweger's may in fact be one of the longest onscreen monlogues by a woman.

Can you think of others? Or of impressive uncut monlogues in general?

Brian Cox's to Edward Norton at the end of 25th Hour is pretty spectacular in length, and a beautiful sequence to boot.

Phil.

Renee Zelwegger's instantly sprang to mind - so delightful and so overwhelming. She is pitch-perfect throughout and Ewan McGregor's face at the end just...ahh. Down With Love is a glory.

Another one: Ingrid Thulin in Winter Light. I'm not sure whether she or Renee Zelwegger wins in terms of length but both are brilliant.

"Well, I reckon what you're a-wantin' to know is what I'm doin' in here. I reckon the reason I'm in here is I killed somebody......Some folks calls it a sling blade, I calls it a kaiser blade..."

Obvious choice perhaps, but one of my favorites. Karl is both monstrous and beautiful here.

How about Peter O'toole in Man of La Mancha?

Several of my favorite movie monologues all come from one film... Dr. Strangelove. I present for your enjoyment:

Annie's "Church of Baseball" monologue at the beginning of Bull Durham and Crash's "kisses that last three days" one a bir further on.

Also seems like Cosner has a nice one in Field of Dreams.

Um ... I think Jeff asked about "uncut" monologues, and specifically disqualified a Donald Sutherland scene in JFK because the actor was off-screen. This would seem to rule out mere voice-overs like the one that begins Bull Durham. Plus, I believe the Brian Cox bit at the end of 25th Hour is more of a voice-over over a montage than anything else, so it, too, would certainly not count as an "uncut" monologue. I don't know how many of the other speeches listed here would be similarly disqualified due to the presence of cuts or because they were voice-overs, etc.

Jason Patric's character has a 5-7 minute monologue in Your Friends and Neighbours... although common decency prevents me from posting that on here.

I really like Jason Robards' rambling monologue while basically slowly dying in Magnolia ... talking about his wife and life and just everything ... SO moving!

John:

Thank you, Peter, for recognizing the question I was asking.

I'm interested in seeing actors ACT, and putting them in front of the camera with something that challenges their memorization skills as much as their expressiveness always gives me a thrill. But it's a rare occasion. And I think several of the above examples do involve cuts. You're right about the Cox speech... it's a voice-over during a montage.

Ned Beatty in Network.

Alright, admittedly the Dr. Strangelove monologues involve cutting away from the speech maker. And even though the camera is locked down on the character in one position and they most likely delivered the lines straight through in a single take, Kubrick's propensity for doing endless takes makes one wonder if the entire monologue is culled from various takes.

But, one that I think may qualify is Solveig Dommartin's monologue from Wings of Desire, when Bruno Ganz finally meets up with her. I'm not sure if the camera ever cuts away from her, and it is fairly lengthy.

Jeffrey Overstreet wrote:
: Thank you, Peter, for recognizing the question I was asking.

Yer welcome, and my apologies for not coming up with any examples of what you're looking for, myself -- my favorite uninterrupted performances tend to be interactive scenes, like the fabulous diner scene and the equally fabulous backyard barbecue scene in Secrets & Lies: both scenes are filled with fantastic performances and all done in one take, but they involve multiple characters interacting, and do not require one actor to hog the spotlight and prove his or her stuff solo.

I'm a fan of Robert Lindsay's work as Edmund in the 1984 BBC version of King Lear, as well as Derek Jacobi's opening Chorus speech in Henry V. I imagine everybody's got a favorite Shakespeare film. I haven't seen the ones Olivier made.

For the record, as far as Winter Light goes, which was mentioned above, it definitely fits into this category, with about a 5-6 minute close up on Ingrid Thulin that never cuts away.

I agree with Mr. Mando on the Shakespearean picks. We all are big film fans, obviously, and not to belittle the talents of film actors, but really the memorization of one monologue for the screen is nothing compared with the skills of actors who work on stage, memorizing huge chunks of dialogue and action without cuts or takes. I've been working at the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan festival this summer, and I have been most impressed. I'm specifically impressed with Shakespearean work since for many actors, it is an unfamiliar style of speech.

It's always interesting to see actors in film adaptations of Shakespeare tackle the big monologues. I don't remember clearly if it fits the criteria that Jeffrey was thinking of, but Hamlet's "To be or not to be" monologue, or the "O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I" speech in Brannagh's film stands out in my memory.

[ as he prepares for the inevitable backlash at bringing up said film]

Weren't those some of the more understated moments in said film? I don't remember ... too successful at trying to block out some of the other moments, like the monologue where Branagh ROARS AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS while the whole Norwegian army is comin' 'cross the ice. (Well, I guess I failed at blocking out THAT moment.)

While Branagh was way over the top (New Yorker review: "There's nothing sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought about this Hamlet"), I loved Nicholas Farrell's work as Horatio in that film. He also did quite well with bit parts in the recent Othello and Twelfth Night films.

Don't remember how much cutting's involved, but beloved Brooke Smith's monologue at the end of VANYA ON 42nd STREET is a great favourite. Another monologue which comes to mind is Jack Nicholson's "You can't handle the truth" - though again I can't comment on the editing.

I love the thread topic - I'm imagining a "Greatest Hits" DVD of My Favourite Screen Monologues - but as far as an unedited monologue being a test of an actor's skill at line memorization, I'd suggest this aspect of the subject belongs in the No Big Deal file. The performance of the monologue is the great thing, not the treatment thereof in the editing room after the fact. Count on it: with very rare exceptions, when there are cuts, it's not because the actor flubbed his line.

While I know some film actors allow themselves to freely paraphrase their parts, or do a lousy job of memory work, that's not the norm. Fact is, actors learn their lines - whether it's a scene or a monologue, whether the monologue gets spliced or not. It's just part of the job. No reason to be more amazed when they memorize a monologue than when the memorize anything else. It's the least of what they do.

When there's a Q&A after a show, almost inevitably an audience member will ask "How do you memorize all those lines?" The cast members will be polite, but the fact is, it's a standard backstage joke: "How do you memorize all those lines?" We actors may be unduly impressed with ourselves, but we're not too impressed with that particular party trick. The worst actors in the world also memorize lines - as well as put on their shoes and try not to bump into the furniture. There are other things that are more praiseworthy.

That noted, it's still a groovy list to compile....

To bring up an old hotbutton, there's always Red (Morgan Freeman)'s speech to the parole board in Shawshank.

I guess it's as good a time as any to mention Rope. The whole film is a single take.

I remember being mightily impressed with Orson Welles' anti-death penalty summation in Compulsion but haven't seen it recently and can't remember if it was an uncut monologue.

Yes Ron,

The uncut part is really not that impressive. Memorization is not difficult, its just something most people never try because they dislike it. In truth, for actors, memorizing is like an athlete tying his shoes. It must be done before the real work can start. In fact, there are probably advantages to an uncut monologue, doing it in one take means you can stay incharacter and build momentum nicely. Doing a piece here, or a piece there would be trickier for me.

I know its got cuts in, and so doesn't quite answer the question, but I still love Gibson's pre-battle speech in Braveheart. (Came to mind after watching King Arthur which wants so hard to be Braveheart and express what Braveheart does and yet fails so miserably)

Matt

FWIW, I don't think Jeff's question hinges entirely on the notion that -- oh my! -- the actors memorized their lines. I think it hinges on the fact that, for a few minutes, the film devotes ALL of its attention, and ours, to a single actor. There are no cuts that enable the filmmaker to choose the best bits of different versions of the monologue and paste 'em together; there are no other actors who can claim some of the credit for the way the scene worked (or didn't); everything comes down to that one man or woman who basically owns the scene, and who has to stand or sit there and talk, and talk, and talk.

I know Rope has already been mentioned, but that was more for its long shots. However, it does contain a long monolgue at the end by Jimmy Stewart (and obviously the camera stays on him)

as for the cuts in Rope I discussed them here.

Matt

Ahem.

My favourite recent one is in Gerry where Casey Affleck's character is rambling on while they're sat by a campfire. The camera just rests on them for ages, and it takes a while to work out what he's on about. He's talking about how hard it is to complete some computer game or other. I love it - you kind of expect it to be some deep late night conversation, and it's just drivel, but he sounds totally absorbed.

I actually liked that movie quite a lot ... seemed like it had some existential points to make.

I'm not sure if this was uncut, but I remember a scene from the John Sayles film Passion Fish where a group of actresses (that is, they're playing actresses) are talking about auditions. One of them launches into a fairly long monologue about a humiliating experience where she auditions for a role in an sci-fi film, and has to keep repeating the line, "I didn't ask for the anal probe," with the emphasis on a different word each time (I didn't ask for the anal probe ... I didn't ask for the anal probe ... etc.)

Not much else from the film stands out, but that one scene was a howler.

The prayer scene in Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice.

Wow.

Can anyone remember if *the* scene from The Third Man is uncut? I have a feeling it has a bit of to and fro-ing, otherwise I'd nominate it. Ad-libbed by Orson Welles, too.

Otherwise, any number of Woody Allen scenes. I'm sure Bergman will have a million. Magnolia, I believe, is full of them.

Damn good question. May have to do some "research" and get back to you.

I agree about the Harry Lime's speech in Third Man.


Oliver Stone had some really good ones (makes me think he'd be a great speechwriter):

Gordon Gecko's speech in Wall Street ("Greed, for a lack of a better word, is good.");

James Woods' Richard Boyle in Salvador;

And Kevin Costner's monologue in JFK's courtroom scene.

What about George C. Scott's speech at the beginning of Patton.

Jeff Bridges also has a good one in Tucker.

Someone mentioned Ned Beatty in Network. I can't remember that one, but I do remember Peter Finch's "mad as hell" monologue.

I can't believe that no one has mentioned Bibi Andresson's monologue(s) in Persona.

Has anyone mentionned Hopkins' speech at the end of Amistad?

Also I think there are a couple of goodies in Good Will Hunting.

Sadly both of these contain a few edits, but there are good long chunks of dialogue in one take, even if it isn't completely seamless

Matt

If you're talking about Matt Damon's monologue when he goes to the job interview with the Federal Government, I don't remember any cuts back to the men across the table. It is a great speech though. On top of being very funny it said alot about Will as a character. We see the extent to which he was using his intelligence to sheild himself from living a life.

John Turturo's "I'm praying to you! Look into your heart!" speech in "Miller's Crossing". (Has some cutaways though.)

Mark Walberg/ Dirk Diggler's speech at the end of "Boogie Nights"(itself a reference to "Raging Bull") also comes to mind. The "Jessie's Girl" drug sale scene also stands out. Dirk doesn't have any dialogue for a few minutes but the camera stays on him while the music plays and the other characters talk (and set off fireworks). You can see him thinking and I always feel God taping him on the shoulder and asking "What are you doing here?".

I thought I'd throw out this website I came across into this thread. American Rhetoric.com has a page on movie monologues, all of which contain transcripts and, in many cases, either video or audio clips of the entire monologues. I don't know how often they update this page, but it is worth a look. As is the rest of the site, which contains hundreds of speeches.

best... link... ever

Chaplin in Great Dictator (1940) comes to mind.

I agree with both Thulin's monologue in Winter Light and Bibi Anderson's in Persona. Nobody presented monologues in the movies the way Bergman did.

A couple new ones I thought I'd throw out are Irimias's scathing and slyly ironic harrassment of the townspeople at the funeral midway through Satantango; Johannes on the hill at the beginning of Ordet; and Jesse and Celine's outpouring of emotions in the car towards the end of Before Sunset.

I also remember Ulysses' Gaze being ripe with them, but it's been so long that I can't remember a specifically good one.

Agreed...except...

They chopped the St. Crispin's Day speech!!!