The king makes his speech, check out who else has made top speeches

The king makes his speech, check out who else has made top speeches

The King's Speech has just been released and it follows a king who just wants to overcome his speech impediment to become the king a country needs. Colin Firth plays that and he looks set to be nominated for his turn in the speech impeded king-to-be. We thought it would only be fair to show you some people who know exactly how to give a rousing speech, not to rub it in you understand, just to show you some movie speeches that have gone down in silver screen history.

First up, one of the most classic movie speeches in the entirety of movie history would have to be Spartacus. Kirk Douglas plays the rebel slave who, in the final scene is asked to surrender himself to Laurence Olivier. As he is going to call himself out, the rest of the slaves volunteer themselves as him and thus sharing the blame and the punishment. It's a truly memorable scene and has since been repeated throughout television, film and anywhere else. So next time your friends are in trouble, you are them and you share the blame.

The rest of the scenes are a little more modern, but no less good. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy has a whole host of blinding movie speeches, rousing battle cries to little Samwise Gamgee trying to encourage his best friend to chuck a ring into a volcano. The first of the Lord of the Rings speeches comes from the first film, as Frodo appears to be heading out to Mordor all on his own, suddenly he gathers himself an entire fellowship as Aragorn offers his sword, Legolas offers his bow and Gimli offers his axe. It's the scene that shapes the whole saga. The Two Towers has an equally moving scene, Frodo has all but lost the will to keep going and it's only down to his best friend Samwise Gamgee to push him on as he tells him "there's some good in this world and it's worth fighting for." However, the third and final film provides the most rousing speech as Aragorn rides back and forth in front of his army, as they ready themselves for a final stand at the end of the film. "This day we fight" and indeed they do fight, they fight as though their entire world is in danger of being lost forever. It rightfully won itself an astonishing 11 Oscars.

Coach Carter gets its place in the top movie speeches for the transformation of Timo Cruz, the most unruly of the basketball team. When the team begins to be transformed by Samuel L. Jackson's Coach Ken Carter, Cruz doesn't see why he should work so hard to be on the team, when he finally sees the error of his ways, he comes out with a poem by Marianne Williamson. "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us." Coach Carter seems genuinely surprised, you feel a bit sorry for the misunderstood young gent and well, it just starts to make you hope for the team that little bit more.

You'll notice the list is looking a bit bare in terms of women, so here's your female inspirational speech to even things up. Julia Roberts in Notting Hill, she's the famous actress, Hugh Grant is the everyman and he can't see why an actress would want him. Of course, she's "just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her." It's as beautiful a speech as any, it may not be a battle cry, a call to arms, or a coach getting his team psyched up, but it's got as much of a right to be here as those.

The Pursuit Of Happyness provides another inspirational speech, it's made all the more powerful because it's Will Smith talking to his on-screen son who also happens to be his real life son Jaden Smith. He tells him, "if you want something, go get it" and you can only watch and think to yourself, "do you know what, Will, I'll do just that" and it's almost a certainty that young Jaden, The Karate Kid himself, did just that.

Now this last three coming up, they are the top three, these are all battle cries, proper calls to arms and are the kind of speeches that if you need to go out and slay an ox or battle a sea of bears, then you need them and you need loud.

First up is Independence Day, let's set the scene, Jeff Goldblum has told everyone how to kill the aliens that have invaded our planet, he's managed to do it while he's completely nailed on vodka, but that's by-the-by. There's been a gigantic call to arms for anyone who knows how to fly any kind of aircraft, and they've all been given proper planes, proper USAF planes. Again, by-the-by, it's the end of the world, why not, go wild. Bill Pullman is the President and as the President of America, that means he's basically President of the entire world, so he makes a speech to the pilots and although I'm sure it works much better in America, it works just as well anywhere else. He slowly builds up and shouts, "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!" *raucous applause mounts* *cheering rises up* *everyone runs to their planes to destroy the alien race*. You just know that because he's made that speech everyone now thinks they most definitely can destroy a giant alien spacecraft, it should be suicide, but it just isn't.

Next up, a list like this just wouldn't be complete without Braveheart. Before he was all allegedly racist, and allegedly misogynist and every other alleged -ist, Mel Gibson took his time out playing historical figures and telling people it was all correct. Despite being a terribly incorrect historical account, there's no denying that Mel Gibson knows how to get his army ready for a battle and who hasn't uttered the immortal words, "...but you'll never take our freedom" and especially said them in a terrible Scottish accent.

The final film that takes the crown is Gladiator. The story of Russell Crowe as an army commander, cast out and sold into slavery to become a Gladiator and work his way up to eventually face his cast outer. You can choose from a whole host of amazing speeches, the opening of the film starts with a battle against the Germanic hordes, Crowe tells his riders, "what we do in life, echoes in eternity" and then tells his archers, "on my mark, unleash hell". You can only reply, "okay Russell, I'll unleash all the hell". The second would be as Russell Crowe defeats another load of enemies thrown at him in the gladiatorial arena, when instructed to kill his downed opponent, he throws down his sword, turns around and yells, "are you not entertained?" That slave is sticking it to the man. It's with his final speech that he really gets you going. It shows a man who has lost everything, he's ready to make his revenge and he's ready to die. So, without further ado, here's our winning speech:

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius. Commander of the Armies of the North. General of the Felix Legions. Loyal servant to the true Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife – and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

FemaleFirst - James Butlin

The King's Speech has just been released and it follows a king who just wants to overcome his speech impediment to become the king a country needs. Colin Firth plays that and he looks set to be nominated for his turn in the speech impeded king-to-be. We thought it would only be fair to show you some people who know exactly how to give a rousing speech, not to rub it in you understand, just to show you some movie speeches that have gone down in silver screen history.

First up, one of the most classic movie speeches in the entirety of movie history would have to be Spartacus. Kirk Douglas plays the rebel slave who, in the final scene is asked to surrender himself to Laurence Olivier. As he is going to call himself out, the rest of the slaves volunteer themselves as him and thus sharing the blame and the punishment. It's a truly memorable scene and has since been repeated throughout television, film and anywhere else. So next time your friends are in trouble, you are them and you share the blame.

The rest of the scenes are a little more modern, but no less good. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy has a whole host of blinding movie speeches, rousing battle cries to little Samwise Gamgee trying to encourage his best friend to chuck a ring into a volcano. The first of the Lord of the Rings speeches comes from the first film, as Frodo appears to be heading out to Mordor all on his own, suddenly he gathers himself an entire fellowship as Aragorn offers his sword, Legolas offers his bow and Gimli offers his axe. It's the scene that shapes the whole saga. The Two Towers has an equally moving scene, Frodo has all but lost the will to keep going and it's only down to his best friend Samwise Gamgee to push him on as he tells him "there's some good in this world and it's worth fighting for." However, the third and final film provides the most rousing speech as Aragorn rides back and forth in front of his army, as they ready themselves for a final stand at the end of the film. "This day we fight" and indeed they do fight, they fight as though their entire world is in danger of being lost forever. It rightfully won itself an astonishing 11 Oscars.

Coach Carter gets its place in the top movie speeches for the transformation of Timo Cruz, the most unruly of the basketball team. When the team begins to be transformed by Samuel L. Jackson's Coach Ken Carter, Cruz doesn't see why he should work so hard to be on the team, when he finally sees the error of his ways, he comes out with a poem by Marianne Williamson. "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us." Coach Carter seems genuinely surprised, you feel a bit sorry for the misunderstood young gent and well, it just starts to make you hope for the team that little bit more.

You'll notice the list is looking a bit bare in terms of women, so here's your female inspirational speech to even things up. Julia Roberts in Notting Hill, she's the famous actress, Hugh Grant is the everyman and he can't see why an actress would want him. Of course, she's "just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her." It's as beautiful a speech as any, it may not be a battle cry, a call to arms, or a coach getting his team psyched up, but it's got as much of a right to be here as those.

The Pursuit Of Happyness provides another inspirational speech, it's made all the more powerful because it's Will Smith talking to his on-screen son who also happens to be his real life son Jaden Smith. He tells him, "if you want something, go get it" and you can only watch and think to yourself, "do you know what, Will, I'll do just that" and it's almost a certainty that young Jaden, The Karate Kid himself, did just that.

Now this last three coming up, they are the top three, these are all battle cries, proper calls to arms and are the kind of speeches that if you need to go out and slay an ox or battle a sea of bears, then you need them and you need loud.

First up is Independence Day, let's set the scene, Jeff Goldblum has told everyone how to kill the aliens that have invaded our planet, he's managed to do it while he's completely nailed on vodka, but that's by-the-by. There's been a gigantic call to arms for anyone who knows how to fly any kind of aircraft, and they've all been given proper planes, proper USAF planes. Again, by-the-by, it's the end of the world, why not, go wild. Bill Pullman is the President and as the President of America, that means he's basically President of the entire world, so he makes a speech to the pilots and although I'm sure it works much better in America, it works just as well anywhere else. He slowly builds up and shouts, "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!" *raucous applause mounts* *cheering rises up* *everyone runs to their planes to destroy the alien race*. You just know that because he's made that speech everyone now thinks they most definitely can destroy a giant alien spacecraft, it should be suicide, but it just isn't.


Tagged in