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10 incredible battle speeches from war movies that we cannot forget.

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• Pre-battle speeches in war movies reveal the true nature of leaders and their relationship with soldiers, inspiring courage and loyalty.
• Ancient war movies often feature pre-battle speeches due to scheduled battles, while modern wars have more spontaneous battles without time for prepared remarks.
• The best pre-battle speeches in war movies are impactful due to the weight of the context, and the speeches can live long in the memory of viewers.

War movies often feature calm moments before their epic battles when military leaders have the chance to deliver unforgettable speeches. These moments show the true nature of a leader, and the relationship they have with their soldiers. The main goal of a pre-battle speech is to inspire the soldiers to take courage against their enemies. If an army has an intense loyalty to their leader, this is the time they will show it. These quieter scenes provide a contrast to the chaos and carnage of battle. They show a more human side, which can heighten the emotion of the conflict.

Most pre-battle speeches like this take place in movies about ancient warfare. War in the ancient world was more scheduled, so armies knew when to expect battle, and could prepare accordingly. In more modern wars, battles can break out more spontaneously, so there's no time for prepared remarks. However, movies about wars in the 20th century still feature some memorable speeches from leaders addressing their troops in a slightly different context, before deployment, for example. Battle speeches in war movies are always fascinating due to the weight of context surrounding them, and the best speeches can live long in the memory.

10 King Henry V Before The Battle Of Agincourt

The king (2019).

He delivers a rousing speech which shows that he has finally taken to his role as king.

Timothée Chalamet plays a young King Henry V in one of his most commanding performances to date. The historical war biopic , loosely based on Shakespeare's plays, follows King Henry's uneasy start to his reign, as he is thrust into a war with France. Before the Battle of Agincourt, he delivers a rousing speech which shows that he has finally taken to his role as king. He tells his soldiers to fight for a united England, and that any one of them may die, including himself. His speech is so powerful because he backs it up with his actions, staying in the heart of the battle until the bitter end.

9 Alexander The Great At The Battle Of Gaugamela

Alexander (2004).

Alexander has been praised by historians for its accurate depiction of ancient battle, and the Battle of Gaugamela is the most epic conflict in the movie. The battle took place in modern day Iraq, as Alexander the Great sought to conquer the Achaemenid Empire. In Alexander, Collin Farrell plays the Macedonian king, and he gives a very unusual speech to his men. Rather than speaking to the army as a whole, he singles out a few individuals and shares memories about their brave exploits. This proves his close bond with his soldiers, and it shows them who they are fighting for as a collective.

8 General Patton Addresses His Troops

Patton (1970).

Patton begins with General George Patton, one of the most important American generals in World War II, giving a speech to an unseen audience. The camera stays fixed on Patton, although he is utterly dwarfed by an enormous American flag. This framing choice highlights the sentiment of his speech, that the country is more important than any one man. In his speech, Patton claims that winning is so ingrained into the American ideology that the country will never lose a war. It's a very unorthodox speech. Usually, speeches in war movies hope to inspire courage, but Patton says that losing is simply not an option.

Screenwriters Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund North had to tone down some of Patton's language to avoid an R rating, but the speech is otherwise very accurate.

7 Winston Churchill Speaks To The Nation

Darkest hour (2017).

Gary Oldman's masterful portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour features a few speeches. Churchill was known as a great orator, and Oldman's performance has the same composure and gravitas. Of all Churchill's speeches in Darkest Hour , his first address to the nation is the most impactful. He makes a radio broadcast from a small room, and must draw the requisite energy without a live audience. Still, he manages to summon incredible fortitude to capture the minds of the British public, stating that Britain will not surrender to Germany. Darkest Hour 's historical accuracy is somewhat questionable, but Oldman's performance is a resounding success.

6 Aragorn At The Black Gate

The lord of the rings: the return of the king (2003).

Aragorn arrives at the Black Gate of Mordor with the hope of distracting Sauron from Frodo for long enough to allow the hobbit to enter Mount Doom. He gathers his troops and delivers a speech that lays bare the dire situation they are in, but he displays an unshakable resilience. He tries to inspire the same bravery in his men, saying that although their courage may falter in the future, " today is not that day." This moment marks the final stage of Aragorn's long journey to becoming king , not just in title but in stature. With his army completely surrounded, he shows no fear at all.

5 Queen Elizabeth I At Tilbury

Elizabeth: the golden age (2007).

Queen Elizabeth gave her most famous speech at Tilbury, as she rallied her troops in preparation for the Spanish Armada. Elizabeth managed to command the respect of her army even during a time of extreme gender discrimination. In Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Cate Blanchett delivers the speech in a full suit of armor, ready to ride into battle with her men. The words of the speech are slightly altered from the real version, but it still carries the same sentiment. Elizabeth expresses that together, the army form an indomitable collective, and she emphasizes this by saying she herself is willing to live or die alongside her men.

4 Dilios' Rallying Cry At Plataea

Following Leonidas' death, Dilios galvanizes the Spartan troops before they take on Xerxes' army at Plataea. His speech starts off very quietly, almost as if he is recalling the brave feats of Leonidas and the 300 for his own benefit, but he soon builds his energy and shouts to his entire army. 300 is full of incredible quotes , and Dilios' climactic speech is no exception. He acknowledges that the Spartans are outnumbered, but he also knows that they are inspired by the courage of the 300, and their numerical disadvantage doesn't count for much. He says " The enemy outnumber us a paltry three to one; good odds for any Greek."

3 Captain Jack Aubrey Prepares His Crew

Master and commander: the far side of the world (2003).

He doesn't need to raise his voice at all, and this gives him a palpable air of confidence.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World follows the crew of a British ship, the Surprise, as they chase down a French privateer, the Acheron. As the crew prepare for an assault on the Acheron, Captain Jack Aubrey prepares his crew with a speech that reminds them of their responsibilities while also giving them courage. There are no generic calls for bravery. Instead, Aubrey trusts his men explicitly, and he gives them intricate technical instructions. Nevertheless, the crew are clearly captivated by his speech. He doesn't need to raise his voice at all, and this gives him a palpable air of confidence.

2 William Wallace Speaks To The Rebels

Braveheart (1995).

When the Scottish rebels see the size of the opposing English army, many start to flee. The arrival of William Wallace is enough to stop them in their tracks, but it's his speech that encourages them to fight. He compels them to seize their chance at claiming their freedom, because they may not have another. This is a great tactic to flip the mentality of the army. Instead of fearing the chance of death, Wallace urges his men to relish the chance at victory . The speech also contains the most iconic pre-battle quote in the history of war movies: "They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom."

1 Spartacus & Crassus' Opposing Speeches

Spartacus (1960).

As Spartacus prepares his rebel militia for a showdown with the Roman army, he gives a stirring speech about how dying free is greater than living in captivity. Director Stanley Kubrick intercuts his speech with one delivered by Roman Consul Crassus, whose rhetoric is inhumane and authoritarian. By juxtaposing these two speeches, Kubrick highlights the danger of submitting to the Romans, and the noble intentions of Spartacus' formerly enslaved army. The speeches also shine a spotlight on Kirk Douglas and Laurence Oliver, two actors on excellent form. Thanks to powerful moments like this, Spartacus remains one of the best gladiator movies ever.

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Top 10 best movie battle speeches.

By Tom Piccolo · September 26, 2013

Remember the last time you watched a movie and wished you could attack the enemy right then and there!  Even if it were almost certain you’d go down in flames, you were psyched for the contest.  A great movie battle speech touches the audience with its passion, putting the viewer in the center of the conflict.  It can be a rallying cry for victory; the motivational force that propels a warrior to act with bravery, and disregard the paralyzing effects of fear. It can be the recognition of almost certain defeat in the short term, realizing the enemy must be engaged, and victory focused on loftier future goals.

Historically, movies have played an important role in rallying the American spirit in wartime. Battle speeches have been used not only to inspire patriotism, but also to highlight the ideals, issues, and conflicts of the time.

Have a great speech you want to include in a script? Write your first draft in 5 weeks with this guide .

Alas, I know I have left out many great speeches and movies in my list, so I invite you to add your personal favorites to the list in the comments section.

10. Dawn Patrol (1938)

As payback for his insubordination and daredevil antics, crackerjack pilot Captain Courtney is handed the command of the 39 th Squadron in this film about the World War I Royal Flying Corps. Given the unsavory task of sending inexperienced pilots in worn-out planes against a well-equipped German air force, Errol Flynn as Captain Courtney gives the following pre-battle speech:

CAPTAIN COURTNEY

GOOD Evening Gentlemen, There’s no secrecy about these orders. GHQ has discovered that Fritz is making a big push the day after tomorrow. They’ve started minor advances already. You’re to patrol the Belleau Wood sector, that’s opposite the German Sixth Army. You’ll fly four patrols a day, which means that every man will be in the air at dawn tomorrow. As usual you got the dirty work to do, low flying, machine-gunning infantry, strafing supply trucks, and any shock troops that they try to bring up. You’re flying directly below Von Richter’s Patrols. So you better watch out. That’s all.

9. The Dirty Dozen (1967)

After Major Reisman’s team of 12 convicted murders prove themselves trained and ready by winning a combat game using unconventional tactics, Reisman, played by Lee Marvin, preps them for their real mission, the mass assassination of Nazi officers in a fortified chalet.

MAJOR REISMAN

We still have one operation to go. If you guys foul up on this one none of us will ever play the violin again. Cause up until now it’s all been a game. But as of tomorrow night it’s going to be the real thing. And if you want to know how real, I’ll tell you. It’s my guess that a lot of you guys won’t be coming back. But there’s no sense in squawking about that, right? Cause the army never did love you anyway. And besides you all volunteered, right? That’s more than I did.

Reisman drills his troops, having them recite a 16-point rhyming plan to attack the Nazi stronghold.

8. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

As Aragorn rides back from the Black Gate, he delivers this impassioned speech:

Sons of Gondor, of Rohan. My brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me! A day may come, when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of Fellowship, but it is not this day! An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you, stand, men of the West!

7. Zero Dark Thirty  (2012)

With the war on terrorism, we fight a new type of battle, the covert action. And so comes a new kind of battle speech.  In this intense action drama about the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden, CIA agent Maya, played by Jessica Chastain, lays out the mission to a skeptical team of Navy SEALS:

Quite frankly I didn’t want to use you guys. With your dip and your Velcro and all your gear bullshit. I wanted to drop a bomb. But people didn’t believe in this lead enough to drop a bomb.  So they’re using you guys as canaries in the theory that if Bin Laden isn’t there, you can sneak away and nobody will be the wiser. But Bin Laden is there. And you’re gonna kill him for me.

6. Braveheart  (1995)

Delivered by the legendary Scottish rebel, William Wallace, played by Mel Gibson, this battle speech beckons the Scottish countrymen to lay down their lives as the cost of freedom from English tyranny:

Sons of Scotland, I am William Wallace.

YOUNG SOLDIER

William Wallace is 7 feet tall.

Yes, I’ve heard. Kills men by the hundreds, and if he were here he’d consume the English with fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his arse. I AM William Wallace. And I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What would you do without freedom? Will you fight?

VETERAN SOLDIER

Fight? Against that? No, we will run; and we will live.

Aye, fight and you may die. Run and you’ll live — at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!!!

5. Gandhi (1982)

This film depicts a different type of battle for independence; not of brutal combat, but of non-violent resistance. Playing Mohandas Gandhi, who led the revolt against British colonialism in India, Ben Kingsley delivers this inspiring speech:

We must defy the British… Not with violence that will inflame their will, but with a firmness that will open their eyes. English factories make the cloth that makes our poverty. All those who wish to make the English see bring me the cloth from Manchester and Leeds that you wear today and we will light a fire that will be seen in Delhi, and in London! And if, like me you are left with only one piece of homespun, wear it with dignity.”

Moved to passion by these words, the massive crowd throws their English clothes onto a burning fire. At the end of the film, as Gandhi’s ashes are poured into the sea, we hear him speak:

GANDHI (V.O.)

When I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it: always.

4. Apocalypse Now (1979)

In this film co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Lt. Colonel Bill Kilgore, portrayed by Robert Duvall, assists Captain Benjamin L. Willard and crewman Lance B. Johnson by launching a strike on Viet Cong outpost on the Nung River:

You smell that?  Do you smell that?

Napalm, son.  Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning.  You know, one time we had a hill bombed for twelve hours…and when it was all over, I walked up.  We didn’t find one of them, not one stinking dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell? The whole hill – smelled like – victory.

He looks off nostalgically.  A shell comes in and HITS in the background.  Willard and the soldiers react; Kilgore ignores it.

Someday this war’s gonna end.

3. Spartacus (1960)

This movie has two great battle speeches intercut as the preface to the battle between the Roman Legions and a rebellion of slaves led by the gladiator slave, Spartacus. In the film directed by Stanley Kubrick, Kirk Douglas plays Spartacus:

Tonight a Roman army lands in the harbour of Brundusium.  Another army is approaching us from the west.  Between them, they hope to trap us here… against the sea…Rome will not allow us to escape from ltaly.  We have no choice but to march against Rome herself… and end this war the only way it could have ended: by freeing every slave in ltaly. “

I promise you…a new Rome…a new ltaly and a new empire. I promise the destruction of the slave army…and the restoration of order…throughout all our territories.

I’d rather be here, a free man among brothers…than to be the richest citizen of Rome…

I promise the living body of Spartacus…

We’ve fought many battles and won great victories…Maybe there’s no peace in this world…as long as we live…we must stay true to ourselves. I do know that we’re brothers, and I know that we’re free.  We march tonight!

…this campaign is not alone to kill Spartacus.  It is to kill the legend of Spartacus.

2. Armageddon (1998)

In this movie, the enemy is an asteroid the size of Texas that threatens the destruction of the entire earth. It is a fictional President that defines the battle:

I address you tonight, not as the President of the United States, not as the leader of a country, but as a citizen of humanity. We are faced with the very gravest of challenges; The Bible calls this day Armageddon. The end of all things. And yet for the first time… in the history of the planet, a species has the technology… to prevent its own extinction.

Rallying the entire population of the world to put their faith in the hands of a team of oddball deep core drillers, he goes on to say:

Through all the chaos that is our history, through all of our times, there is one thing that has…elevated our species above its origins. And that is our courage. Dreams of an entire planet are focused tonight… on those 14 brave souls… traveling into the heavens. And may we all, citizens the world over, see these events through. God speed and good luck to you.

1. Patton (1970)

Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country.

With that compelling line, George C. Scott as General George S. Patton delivers the film’s opening speech directly to the movie audience.

Dressed in his decorated general’s uniform and dwarfed by an enormous American flag, he goes on to say,

Americans, traditionally, love to fight. All real Americans love the sting of battle…the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.

One can imagine the impact of those lines as a 1970’s American audience embroiled in debate over the unpopular Vietnamese War listened to Patton’s incitement to winning as the only option in war.

In an introduction interview for the Cinema Classics collection DVD, Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay, explains how he was fired from the project, largely because the opening speech was seen to be strange. He goes on to instruct young people that the things you are fired for, are often the things later on that you are celebrated for.

The speech ends with a line that is almost an afterthought for Patton:

Oh… I will be proud to lead you wonderful guys into battle anytime, anywhere. That’s all.

For the full text of this opening speech, go to: Patton’s Speech .

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16 times movie speeches got us seriously pumped

Ranked in order of epic stirringness.

Sometimes in life, whether you've just failed a test, flunked an interview or you were simply out for the count after 10 minutes at the gym, it would be really useful if someone were on hand to give you some hugely inspiring words to help you get back out there.

Well, look no further than the movies. Over the years, there have been some incredible speeches before the characters entered battle, literally or metaphorically.

We've ranked some of the very best (and worst) of these eve-of-battle speeches to get you seriously pumped for the day ahead.

16. Major League

Speechifier: Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger)

Pumped-up quote: "Well then I guess there's only one thing left to do. Win the whole f**king thing."

Sometimes, you don't need to say much at all. Just state the damned obvious. With an F-bomb.

15. Street Fighter

Speechifier: Colonel Guile (Jean-Claude Van Damme)

Pumped-up quote: "I'm not going home. I'm gonna get on my boat, and I'm going up river, and I'm going to kick that son of a bitch Bison's ass so hard that the next Bison wannabe is gonna feel it!"

OK, it's not exactly "once more unto the breach dear friends", but it's up there. Right? We barely remember who Bison is (the late Raul Julia), but we certainly want to kick his ass too after that speech.

14. Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part II

Speechifier: Neville Longbottom (Matthew Lewis)

Pumped-up quote: "People die everyday. Friends... family. Yeah, we lost Harry tonight. But he's still with us… in here. So is Fred, Remus, Tonks… all of them. They didn't die in vain! But you will! Cause you're wrong! Harry's heart did beat for us! For all of us! It's not over!"

Neville Longbottom might not be Russell Crowe, but he does it for the weird nerd in all of us. And it was so good it brought Harry back to life, bitches.

13. Animal House

Speechifier: Bluto (John Belushi)

Pumped-up quote: "Over? Did you say 'over'? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough... The tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!"

He might not know his history, but someone like John Belushi's Bluto can sometimes be exactly the right person to give you that swift kick up the arse.

12. Gladiator

Speechifier: General Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies of the north, etc etc

Pumped-up quote: "Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you're already dead!"

In a weird way, Maximus prepares you for the harshness of battle while also giving you some perspective. Worst-case scenario? You'll die. Fair enough.

11. D2: The Mighty Ducks

Speechifier: Coach Bombay (Emilio Estevez)

Pumped-up quote: "We're not goons. We're not bullies. No matter what people say or do... we have to be ourselves. And we're gonna stick together. You know why? Because we are Ducks. And ducks fly together."

Coach Bombay will always remind us to never become a douche, to always be ourselves, and to be there for those around us. Sorry, hard not to be soppy after watching that.

10. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I

Speechifier: Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence)

Pumped-up quote: "You can torture us and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground. But do you see that? Fire is catching... And if we burn... you burn with us!"

If something or someone is pissing you off no end, try and channel Katniss Everdeen's pure anger and take them on. But don't actually burn them or anything, you maniac.

9. Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Speechifier: Queen Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett)

Pumped-up quote: "My loving people. We see the sails of the enemy approaching. We hear the Spanish guns over the water. Soon now, we will meet them face-to-face. I am resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all. While we stand together no invader shall pass. Let them come with the armies of Hell; they will not pass! And when this day of battle is ended, we meet again in Heaven or on the field of victory."

It's not just gruff blokey blokes who can give rousing speeches. And this one was real and everything. The Queen gathers her troops in Tilbury in preparation for the next round of war against the Spanish Armada. We'd love to see Elizabeth II in full battle armour on a horse.

8. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Speechifier: Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen)

Pumped-up quote: "I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!"

We like Aragorn's added notion of realism in this speech. Yeah, we'll probably fail for good one day, but not today, dammit. TODAY WE WIN.

7. Independence Day

Speechifier: President Whitmore (Bill Pullman)

Pumped-up quote: "'Mankind'. That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: '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!'"

We're still not quite sure whether this speech is utterly dreadful or so bonkers it's genius. Any President that can riff on Dylan Thomas while shouting a battle cry against aliens is pretty special, either way.

6. Remember the Titans

Speechifier: Herman Boone (Denzel Washington)

Pumped-up quote: "This is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg. 50,000 men died right here on this field, fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today. This green field right here, painted red, bubblin' with the blood of young boys. Smoke and hot lead pouring right through their bodies. Listen to their souls, men. I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family. You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead. If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don't care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other. And maybe... I don't know, maybe we'll learn to play this game like men."

You don't always need bombastic screaming to get you in the right mood. Sometimes, you just need some pathos and a short history lesson and your place within it. And if it's Denzel Washington saying it, that helps.

Speechifier: King Hal (Laurence Olivier)

Pumped-up quote: "And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by from this day until the ending of the world but we in it shall be remember'd. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother, Be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition, and gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whilst any speaks, that fought with us upon SAINT CRISPIN'S DAY!"

Combine Shakespeare's words with Olivier's acting and you've got yourself quite the epic speech.

Speechifier: Dilios (David Wenham)

Pumped-up quote: "Just there the barbarians huddle, sheer terror gripping tight their hearts with icy fingers... knowing full well what merciless horrors they suffered at the swords and spears of 300. Yet they stare now across the plain at 10,000 Spartans commanding 30,000 free Greeks! The enemy outnumber us a paltry three to one, good odds for any Greek. This day we rescue a world from mysticism and tyranny and usher in a future brighter than anything we can imagine. Give thanks, men, to Leonidas and the brave 300! TO VICTORY!"

Dilios might waffle on a bit compared to his old pal Leonidas, and we're not totally sure those at the back can hear him, but if this doesn't make you want to go out and fight anything that moves, nothing will.

3. Any Given Sunday

Speechifier: Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino)

Pumped-up quote : "I don't know what to say, really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives. All comes down to today, and either, we heal as a team, or we're gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play. Until we're finished. We're in hell right now, gentlemen. Believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell... one inch at a time.

"Now I can't make you do it. You've got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think ya going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. You're gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it you're gonna do the same for him. That's a team, gentlemen, and either we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That's football guys, that's all it is. Now, what are you gonna do?"

Tony D'Amato look as if he's rambling, but it's a damn inspiring ramble. Just when you feel down and out and ready to quit, just think to yourself: What would Al Pacino say to me? (You better hope he's in Tony D'Amato mode rather than Tony Montana mode.)

2. Braveheart

Speechifier: William Wallace (Mel Gibson)

Pumped-up quote: "I am William Wallace! And I see a whole army of my countrymen, here in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men... and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight? Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEEDOMMM!"

Thinking of backing down from a challenge when it looks like the easier option? Not on yer nelly.

1. The Great Dictator

Speechifier: The Barber (Charlie Chaplin)

Pumped-up quote: "To those who can hear me I say: do not despair! The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass. And dictators die. And the power they took from the people, will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

"Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes! Men who despise you and enslave you! Who regiment your lines and tell you what to do, what to think, what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder! Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men! Machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate. Only the unloved hate. The unloved and the unnatural.

"Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery, fight for liberty! In the 17th chapter of St Luke it is written, the kingdom of God is within man. Not one man, nor a group of men but in all men. In you! You the people have the power! The power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful! To make this life a wonderful adventure! Then in the name of democracy let us use that power! Let us all unite!"

It's remarkable how poignant and urgent everything that Charlie Chaplin says in this 1940 film remains today. When you need something to help you rise up against those in your way, this will help.

While we're here, we just wanted to leave you with Melodysheep's amazing autotuned edit. Because when else are we going to have the excuse to use it?

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10 Greatest Ever of Battle Movie Speeches

by Kolarele Sonaike

What is the point of a movie if it doesn’t move us to tears or laughter? If it doesn’t take us down to a valley of despair only to raise us back up to the highest heights?

The Eve of Battle Motivational Speech is one of those defining moments in movies. The soldiers are about to head into a momentous battle. There is no guarantee of victory (except that we know our heroes will always win) and the forces of evil seem overwhelmingly strong.

It’s a moment that calls for leadership and powers of motivation and oratory, to instil them with courage and fortitude and to inspire them to give more of themselves than they believe possible.

Here are our pick of the Top Ten Eve of Battle Speeches in movies:

OK, the movie may be sentimental twaddle, but this address to his people in the face of the alien invasion is the stand out moment. Bill Pullman having been a pretty ineffectual President through the movie suddenly raises his game to deliver some inspirational words that help to turn the battle against the invaders. That and some typically brazen bravado from Will Smith.

9. 300 (David Wenham)

Though the action in this movie is superbly cinematic, one of the most played non-action clips was the speech at the end of the movie following the death of King Leonidas and his 300 brave warriors. His right hand man, Dilios, uses the great example of his King’s death to rally the entire army to face the Greek tyrant King Xerxes.

An epic war movie featuring the first African American soldiers in the US Union army. Here Morgan Freeman (surely a man with one of the greatest actor voices in modern movie history) reminds his fellow soldiers of their place in history. He draws on the tradition of the Baptist preacher and implores his men to fight for pride, for their families and for their people.

7. Tilbury Speech (Ann Marie Duff)

“I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king and a king of England too” – possibly the most powerful words ever spoken by a Queen. Though there is some dispute over the exact wording of Queen Elizabeth 1’s speech at Tilbury to her troops, this transcript is generally accepted as the most likely and one can only imagine the incredible impact it must have had on the soldiers to be addressed in so forthright and stirring a manner by a female sovereign.

Though this is not a speech from a movie, Kenneth Branagh delivers an understated but authentic performance of the speech to his troops by Colonel Tim Collins at the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The text of this speech hung on the walls of the Oval Office in the White House. It was a call to his troops to fight hard but with honour and respect.

At the final battle of a remarkable trilogy, King Aragorn addresses his soldiers, who are small in number and facing an overwhelming and evil force. It is short (slightly Shakespearean) but powerful. And of course, they go on to win with a little help from a little Hobbit at Mount Doom.

4. Glengarry Glen Ross (Alec Baldwin)

Though not a time of actual war, this tour de force was given by Alec Baldwin to his lowly staff members faced with a struggling market in which they were fighting to save their jobs by closing the most sales. He is odious, rude and obnoxious, but incredibly compelling. He doesn’t go for the ‘inspire your people’ option so much as the ‘instil the fear of God in them’ route. In the circumstances, it is highly effective.

3. Henry V (Kenneth Branagh)

Kenneth Branagh and Shakespeare go together like Ham and Cheese and in his eve of battle speech to his heavily outnumbered soldiers at the battle of Agincourt, Henry V delivers the most famous battle speech of all of Shakespeare’s plays. It is from this speech that we get the phrase ‘We happy few, we band of brothers’. And in Branagh, we are given the quintessential Shakespearean performance.

2. Braveheart (Mel Gibson)

Dodgy Scottish accent aside, Mel Gibson’s turn as William Wallace is absorbing and this speech to his young Scottish warriors faced with their age-old enemy, the English, is dramatic as it is hair-raising. The blue face paint no doubt helped.

1. Any Given Sunday (Al Pacino)

This is just motivation at its finest. Though the movie itself is forgettable, Al Pacino never is. And in this moment, his delivery has never been stronger. Even if most of us will never experience the thrill of the locker room before an American Football game, for the moment when Pacino talks about “inches” being the difference between winning and losing, between living and dying, we are all right there in the thick of the action with him and the guys. Brilliant!

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10 of the Most Amazing Monologues in War Movies

There have been lots of articles on motivational speeches in movies.  Many come from sports movies, or even movies that contain war.  But I haven’t seen too many articles dedicated to war movies.  And quite honestly, there’s some amazing speeches and monologues in war related movies that are worth mentioning.

From Braveheart’s “Freedom” speech to the opening marine scene in Full Metal Jacket , here are 10 of the most amazing monologues in war movies.

William Wallace Braveheart Speech

Patton Speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6PZIcf4Pgo

300 Call to Battle

Smell of Napalm

Aragon’s Speech at the Black Gate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GgSdiX0kDI

Henry V St. Crispin’s Day Speech

Gladiator Opening Battle Scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slVX-301Ykw

Full Metal Jacket

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFNeBRc7W7s

Horrock’s Speech in a Bridge Too Far

Schindler’s List:  The War is Over

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N6JqGe37tY

Lover of all things video game, anime, or manga. I'm passionate about these things and virtually nothing else. Hope you enjoy my musings!

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There’s no real coherence to the list. It would make more sense if you limited the list to rousing pre-battle speeches, or to reflections on war, or to some meaningful genre of “War Movie Monologue”

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Theodens speech in ROTK before the charge of the Rohirrim was much better than Aragorns. That seemed tacked on to give Viggo something to do.

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32 Most Inspiring Speeches In Film History

There's nothing better to fire you up than an inspiring speech.

A lot of great speeches come from sports movies, but that's not the only genre that can make us want to run through walls. Some speeches are so good it has us rooting for the bad guys. Most are by the good guys though, and we'll follow those good guys anywhere. Here is our list of the most inspiring speeches in film history. 

Independence Day - President Witmore

President Thomas J. Whitmore's ( Bill Pullman ) speech in Independence Day has become one of the most iconic film moments of the last 50 years. While the movie can be polarizing, some people can't get enough of it, others hope to never see it again. Still, it's hard to find anyone who truly hates the speech and that moment in the film. If you ever find yourself fighting against annihilation by a bunch of E.T.s, this is the speech for you. 

The Hunt For Red October - Captain Ramius

If you thought you could never get fired up about the Soviet Union picking a fight on the United States during the Cold War, check it out. When Captain Marko Ramius ( Sean Connery ) tells his crew that the salad days of the Cold War are not behind them, and the United States will "tremble again - at the sound of our silence," it makes you want to stand up and fight for communism. At least for a brief moment. 

Any Given Sunday (Coach D'Amato)

It's used at almost every professional football game in America, almost every Sunday, because in Any Given Sunday , Coach D'Amato implores his team and the rest of us to claw for every inch we can. It might not be Pacino's most award-winning role, but that scene... that scene is some of his finest and most enduring work. 

Gladiator (Maximus)

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius." If those words don't immediately fire you up, it's time to check for a pulse. Audiences spend most of Gladiator waiting for Maximus ( Russell Crowe ) to finally get his revenge on that conniving Commodus ( Joaquin Phoenix ) and finally we get it. Maximus will have his vengeance, in this life or the next.

Friday Night Lights (Coach Gaines)

In Friday Night Lights , Coach Gaines ( Billy Bob Thornton ) tells us how to be perfect. It has nothing to do with the final score, or winning. It's about how we treat each other and ourselves. It's about telling the truth and not letting anyone down. Live in the moment, "with joy in your heart." That's what makes us perfect. The swelling music by Explosions in the Sky only adds to the drama of the moment. 

While he doesn't say "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose," (that comes from the TV show), he does mention his clear eyes and his full heart and afterward, none of us lose. 

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Henry V (Henry V)

It's not just one of the most inspiring speeches in film history, it's one of the most famous speeches in human history. When William Shakespeare wrote the words to the famous St. Crispin's Day Speech in Henry V , he could not have known that it would be used for centuries afterward to inspire men. For we few, we lucky few, we can watch the speech brilliantly delivered by Kenneth Branagh in one of his finest roles , in his film version from 1989. 

Animal House (Bluto)

"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" Of course it wasn't! Bluto (John Belushi) does a lot to inspire the brothers of the Delta house in Animal House but nothing more so than his speech after "Wormer dropped the big one" and suspended the fraternity. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, the men of Delta are inspired to have the best time of their lives, and Wormer? He's a dead man! Marmalard? Dead! Niedermeyer...

Gone With The Wind (Scarlett O'Hara)

Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) is not the most sympathetic movie character of all time. In fact, she ranks close to the bottom in that category, but you can't deny the power of her speech just before the end of the first part of the movie. Her family's plantation, Tara, is in shambles, her mother is dead, and her father has lost his mind. When all hope is lost, she promises herself she will fix it, and she will "never be hungry again."

Barbie (Gloria)

It's truly a show-stopping moment in Barbie when Gloria ( America Ferrera ) lays out what it's like to be a woman in today's world. The entire essence of the movie's message is summed up in that brilliant speech. It makes everyone want to jump up on their feet and applaud. It's a moment that will forever live in cinema history. 

Good Will Hunting (Sean Maguire)

It's not just the words that matter. It takes a special actor to deliver a speech like Sean Maguire's in Good Will Hunting . Thankfully there was the great Robin Williams. In a speech that is meant to devastate and inspire Will (Matt Damon), Williams tells him everything he is doing wrong but manages to show him how he can fix it, and open up an entirely new world for himself. It's cutting and loving. And brilliant. "Your move, chief."

Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King (Aragorn)

Like so many other battle scenes in movies, Aragorn's (Viggo Mortensen) speech at the Black Gates in Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King has us willing to fight to the death with our fellow soldiers. There is nothing like a leader riding back and forth on horse inspiring his troops. 

Braveheart (William Wallace)

Always remember, that no matter how badly you are treated by a tyrannical English king, he can never take your freedom! William Wallace (Mel Gibson) brilliantly reminds us of that in Braveheart . While it's easy to mock the poor history telling in the movie (and we argue if it was really one of the best movies of 1995 ), you can never say that the speech Wallace gives before the biggest battle in the movie won't have you ready to take on the entire British Empire. 

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Elizabeth)

Speeches made by leaders to inspire men in battle aren't unique in movies. What makes the speech unique in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is that the speech is made by a woman. Elizabeth's (Keira Knightly) speech isn't a lot different than a lot of its ilk, but it's more inspiring to hear it from a woman because we've never heard that before. So hoist the colors! 

Stripes (John Winger)

John Winger (Bill Murray) is the biggest misfit in a platoon filled with them in Stripes . He's the least likely to inspire the rest with a razzle-dazzle speech firing them up, yet that's exactly what he does before their graduation from boot camp. Bill Murray has some of the best lines in movie history, and this speech is near the top of them. 

Miracle (Herb Brooks)

"Great moments are born from great opportunity." That is something we can all stand to remember. In Miracle , Herb Brooks inspires his rag-tag team of college kids to defeat maybe the greatest hockey team ever assembled in the Soviet National Team at the 1980 Winter Olympics. The movie is based on a true story and while it's impossible to know exactly with the real Brooks said, if it was anywhere close to what Russell delivers, it's no surprise we all believe in miracles today. 

Rocky IV (Rocky Balboa)

The Cold War inspired a lot of movies, even sports movies like Rocky IV . Early in the Rocky series, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) wasn't a man of many words, but at the end of Rocky IV , he finds some of the most inspiring words of the whole series, imploring all of us to get along, despite our differences. 

Swingers (Trent)

What's a good friend if not someone to pep you up when you're feeling low? That's exactly who Trent (Vince Vaughn) is to Mike (Jon Favreau) in Swingers . Not only does he take him to Vegas for a night of fun, on the way home, after the trip doesn't pep Mike up as much as it should, Trent explains exactly why Mike is so money, and he doesn't even know it. 

Network (Howard Beale)

It's scary just how much a movie like Network , released almost 50 years ago is still so relevant. We don't need Howard Beale (Peter Finch) to tell us just how bad things are, we just need to him to inspire us to go to the window, open the window and yell to the world that we're not going to take it anymore! 

The Goonies (Mikey)

"The Goonies never say die!" When all seems lost in the Goonies quest to rescue their neighborhood from developers, Mikey (Sean Astin) reminds them all exactly how far they've come in the quest for One-Eyed Willie's gold. We don't get a lot of inspirational speeches from kids, but when we do, we love them. 

Clueless (Cher)

When Cher (Alicia Silverstone) compares her garden party to a refugee crisis, your inclination is to think she's an airhead. But like so many before and after her, there is kind of a subtle brilliance to her thought process. She takes what she knows and uses that to find the emotion we should all feel for her side of the argument. 

Milk (Harvey Milk)

Milk , based on the true story of Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), is inspiring in and of itself, but Milk's speech on the steps of San Fransisco City Hall at the Gay Pride Rally is a masterpiece. 

Troy (Achilles)

In another classic example of a military leader inspiring his troops, Achilles' (Brad Pitt) speech reminding his men that they are lions, is enough to get anyone to storm the beaches of Troy. There's a reason the story has been told for thousands of years. 

Norma Rae (Norma Rae)

The best thing about Norma Rae's (Sally Field, in one of her best roles ) speech in Norma Rae is that the most important word isn't spoken at all. She simply holds up a sign that says "Union" in the middle of her sweatshop. That's all she needs to "say" to get everyone in the textile mill to agree. It's brilliant. 

We Are Marshall (Jack Lengyel)

We Are Marshall tells the tragic and heroic story of the 1971 Marshall University football team. At the end of the 1970 season, a plane carrying most of the team and its coaches crashed in North Carolina. Before the start of the next season, the new coach, Jack Lengyel (Matthew McConaughey) makes a speech at a memorial for some of the lost players and what he says about never forgetting the past but looking to the future will bring a tear to anyone's eyes.

Legally Blonde (Elle Woods)

More than 20 years after the first Legally Blonde movie was released Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) continues to inspire us. With an address like the one she makes at the end of the movie, as she's graduating, it's easy to see why. "You must always have faith in people. And most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself."

Avengers: Endgame (Captain America)

In a room full of superheroes, leave it to Captain America to make the hype speech. In Avengers: Endgame , that's exactly when Cap (Chris Evans) psyches the cadre up for their mission to reverse the Snap. "Whatever it takes."

Hoosiers (Norman Dale)

When tiny Hickman High School makes it to the Indiana State Basketball Finals, they are facing a huge school, in a huge arena. Coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) takes only a minute or so to lay out what will make them successful, and a minute is all he needs. It's why Hoosiers one of the best sports movies ever made. 

Rudy (Rudy)

The speech in Rudy is a little different. Rudy really has no audience, save for one person, but that doesn't stop him from delivering a first-rate speech that any Notre Dame alum gets goosebumps when they hear it, including the parts he lifted from the great Knute Rockne.

Juno (Mac MacGuff)

When Juno MacGuff (Elliot Page) is wondering what her future holds, her father Mac MacGuff (J.K. Simmons) explains simply and succinctly, "The best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are." We couldn't have said it better ourselves. 

Stand And Deliver (Jaime Escalante) 

Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos) is a no-nonsense math teacher who is determined to get the most from his students. He decides he needs to raise the level of expectations inside and outside of the classroom and he starts by breaking down when he is going to be so hard on his students, to get the most out of them. All they need is ganas – motivation. 

Rocky Balboa (Rocky)

Leave it to Rocky to make a speech in 2006's Rocky Balboa meant to inspire his son to inspire all of us together. It's pure Rocky, leave it all out, don't accept things you don't like, and never make excuses, no matter how hard it is. And it seems like this was advice he took to heart when it became a struggle to make the film . 

300 (Dilios)

Dilios (David Wenham) fires up the Spartans like no other person could. It's truly one of the great hype speeches in film history. It's exactly what you would expect from a civilization of warriors. Whether it really happened or not is irrelevant. The message is the same, "Remember us."

From sports to war, love to education, and beyond, a great speech raises goosebumps like nothing else in film can. These examples are some of the best speeches we've used to inspire us. 

Hugh Scott is the Syndication Editor for CinemaBlend. Before CinemaBlend, he was the managing editor for Suggest.com and Gossipcop.com, covering celebrity news and debunking false gossip. He has been in the publishing industry for almost two decades, covering pop culture – movies and TV shows, especially – with a keen interest and love for Gen X culture, the older influences on it, and what it has since inspired. He graduated from Boston University with a degree in Political Science but cured himself of the desire to be a politician almost immediately after graduation.

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The 20 Best Movie Speeches of All Time

Public speaking is not just a skill, it is an art form, one that very few can master.

For most, it is a source for anxiety. The sight of a large crowd and all the attention on one person can make even the most confident individual turn into a stuttering mess. However, when done correctly, they can inspire the very best and, sometimes, the very worst in humanity.

For these 20 films, the art of the speech is on full display, perfectly crafted by screenwriters and actors. Whether it is inspiring a team before the big game, soldiers before the big battle, students before entering the real world or as a rally cry against evil, corruption and the wicked, these speeches have transcended art and have entered the popular lexicon, sometimes as satire, but sometimes as a source of inspirations.

20. Invictus (2009) – “This is it! This is our Destiny!”

Following his release from prison in 1990, Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) ran for government and became President of South Africa, effectively ending Apartheid. Despite this, the country still remained divided and tense. Mandela, however, saw hope in the form of the Springboks, South Africa’s National Rugby Union team.

After beating heavyweights France, Western Samoa and Australia in the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the team faces the number one side: the Legendary New Zealand All Blacks. Overcoming the odds and securing a 15-12 lead, the team only has to hold out for seven minutes. Team captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) addresses his team, telling them to listen to the crowd, all singing in unison, “Heads up, look into my eyes”.

This is a real team captain talking, his message still simple for a rugby team, “Defence, defence, defence”. Plain yet inspiring. Pienaar is portrayed as a man who knows exactly the history he is about create. When asked at the end of the game if he could have done it without the 60,000 South Africans present at the game, “We didn’t have the support of 60,000 South Africans…we had the support of 43 million South Africans”.

The finale with Pienaar receiving the Web Ellis Trophy from a Springbok Jersey wearing Mandela remains not only one of the great moments of sport, but a great moment in human history.

19. Henry V (1989) – “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”

Very few actors have been able to transport the Bard to the big screen. Lawrence Olivier, Orson Welles, John Gielgud, Ian McKellan are just a few that have succeeded. Today, most of Shakespeare’s plays are adapted into contemporary settings, from fairy tale Venice Beach (Romeo + Juliet) to gangland Melbourne (Macbeth).

However, Kenneth Branagh’s performance in Henry V (following in the footsteps of Laurence Olivier) shows that one can still enjoy a classic, especially when watching the St Crispin’s Day speech.

“From this day to the ending of the world, but we shall be remembered – we few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother”. Branagh does not deliver this line with awe and gravitas, but rather with joy. A great smile burnt across his face as he rallies his men with promises of immortality.

Perhaps Henry’s heart is filled with joy at the concept of being side by side with his men at his longest hour, or is Branagh portraying a naive boy king who is yet to understand the true horrors of war? One thing is for certain: audience will seldom find such passion and truth in modern Shakespeare.

18. Rudy (1993) – “Since when are you the quitting kind”

There are only a handful of films that men will acknowledge crying in. Rudy (Sean Astin) is one of them. How can you keep a dry eye when watching every member of the University of Notre Dame’s football team walk into the head office before the final game of the year, offering their position up for Rudy.

But before this immortal moment, Rudy quit the team, frustrated at failing to make the final team list of the year. It is only after the dressing down he receives from stadium janitor Fortune (Charles S. Dutton) that he changes his mind, “Since when are you the quitting kind,” he barks at a defeated Rudy. This not only acts as the key turning point for the film, it reveals the true character of Fortune, finally breaking down the emotional brick wall he built between himself and others.

Fortune, just like Rudy, had an opportunity but threw it away out of anger, “And I guarantee a week won’t go by in your life you won’t regret walking out, letting them get the best of you”. There is not softness, no compassion. Not Fortune’s style. Instead he gives Rudy the kick up the arse he needs to continue fighting to earn the title of ‘Fighting Irish’.

17. Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939) – “Well, I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr Paine”

There is no worse feeling than the moment you realise you have been beat. No second chances, no extra time. Nothing. You have lost. This was the moment that underdog Senator Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) not only realised he had lost but that he had been powerless all along. His first bill draws the wrath of a corrupt politician, not only destroying the bill, but turning Smith’s own constituents against him. Where he is shown the letters and telegrams sent demanding his resignation.

Beaten, exhausted and near collapse he seems resigned to his fate, “well, I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr Paine,” he mumbles, now barely conscious.

Instead, he finds one last ounce of energy, promising to continue the fight against political corruption, “You think I’m licked? Well, I’m not licked and I’m gonna stay right here and fight for this lost cause. Even if this room is filled with lies like these”. Mr Smith goes to Washington remains one of Frank Capra’s best and one of the truly great films on American politics.

16. Dead Poet’s Society (1989) – “Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary”

A good teacher is not meant to simply teach, but rather inspire his students. Guide them into finding their passion and push them into pursuing it. Inspiring teachers are a popular market with films like Stand and Deliver, Mr. Holland’s Opus and October Sky. However, nothing matches the wit, charm and passion found in Dead Poet’s Society’s John Keating (Robin Williams).

Despite the strict and conservative foundations of the school they attend, former student turned poetry teacher Keating encourages his students to rip out the mathematic formula for rating poetry and to stand on their desk shouting poetry, much to the chagrin of the headmaster.

But Keating’s teaching philosophy is laid bare when he shows his students photos of the past alumni who attended, “They’re not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts, full of hormones”, before whispering his magnum opus, “Carpe diem”. Keating is not just teaching poetry, he is teaching the boys to become individuals. To not be constrained by the social mores that there very school is trying to implement.

15. Friday Night Lights (2004) – “I want you to put each other in your hearts forever, because forever is about to happen here”

So inspiring is the coach’s speech to his team that it has become almost cliché. Halftime, down by a lot, exhausted and low morale, the team finds solace in the inspirational words of the calm and collected coach. Friday Night Lights is part of this cliché, but it is one of the few that gets it right.

Only gaining entry into the state final by virtue of a coin toss, the Permian Panthers and their coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) know they are the underdogs. But more than that, Gaines knows for many of them it will be their last game. Some may get a chance to play College Football and there might be that lucky one who goes on to play for the NFL. However, many of these boys will graduate from high school and live out the rest of their life.

In the end, it comes down to how they remember the game, “And that truth is you did everything you could. There wasn’t one more thing you could’ve done. Can you live in that moment as best you can, with clear eyes, and love in your heart, with joy in your heart? If you can do that gentlemen, then you’re perfect”. For the film, football is not about winning or losing, it is about character.

Inspirational Speeches in War Movies

[March 11, 2022]  Alexander the Great once said that “ I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion .”  Of course, he was talking about inspiration.  Indeed, it must have been an inspirational speech that day; I only wish I’d been there to hear it.

“Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.” – Thomas Edison

We are inspired by many things in our lives; a great song, a hero’s actions on the battlefield, authentic leadership in bad times, a come-from-behind victory by our favorite sports team, and unusual stories of survival.  I too have been inspired.

What inspiration does is drive us beyond what we think is possible.  Do we truly know ourselves?  Perhaps not if the acts of others can inspire us.

Here are five war movies where inspirational speeches were made that made a difference in the outcome.

• Zulu : This classic film follows a group of British Infantrymen defending a hospital for 12 hours from a massive force of Zulu warriors.  The battle speech is more a song as the men take courage from their circumstances to defeat the brutal, blade-wielding charge.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhusCY_vq0Q
• Braveheart : This Oscar-winning film centers around one poor Scotsman (played by Mel Gibson) as he rallies a country to fight against English oppression.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2vW-rr9ibE
• Patton : One of the most classic motivational speeches ever given before going to war was from the actual U.S. Gen. George S. Patton. George C. Scott gives a great rendition of the actual speech in the movie.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv9XNFpRdhg
• 300 : At the Battle of Thermopylae, Spartans were ready for the Persian horde. The problem for the Spartans, and they knew it, as they were vastly outnumbered.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDpI6Zzy-vo
• Independence Day : Aliens are about to annihilate the human race. America is about to send its Air Force to attack the alien ships.  Watch as the U.S. President inspires his pilots before the attack.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t1IK_9apWs
• Gladiator : Encouragement for his cavalry as Roman General Marcus Aurelius prepares for the attack on the rear of the enemy German tribes. Opening scene:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhusCY_vq0Q

Please read my new book, “Our Longest Year in Iraq,” at Amazon ( link here ).

24 thoughts on “ Inspirational Speeches in War Movies ”

Watched them all. Seen them before. Very inspiring! 😊😊😊😊😊

These are pretty good. What I’d liked to personally here and ‘experience’ is what the REAL speech was like. Imagine, if you will, being present before the battle and hearing your leader tell you about how you will prevail, if only you follow him. Rousing speeches? You bet.

These speeches are all good – er, excellent. Keep up the great work you are doing Gen. Satterfield to continue to bring us the latest in leadership philosophy.

Big Al, spot on comment. That is why I keep coming back to this website on leadership. I learn something new every single day and also get a little entertainment too.

We are all huge fans of this leadership website. Don’t forget to support Gen. Satterfield by purchasing his new book, ‘Our Longest Year in Iraq’ at Amazon.com. Just type in his name or the book title and it will come up. Then download it on your Kindle or order the book itself (book is best option) and then leave him a review. Thanks all.

GEN. Patton speech is the best. George C. Scott, actor, does a really good job.

Thanks Gen. Satterfield. I watched the videos again. There is something in each that touches my heart.

This is in part why they are great speeches, they touch us in some unknown way. Well, the psychologists might be able to tell us why but being there to witness such a speech is truly an event that you “feel.” Whenever I watch many of our politicians on tv, I’m not overwhelmed at all. When they READ their SPEECH, I’m insulted.

Excellent point Jonny.

Gen. Satterfield, here is wishing you a full recovery from your time in the hospital. I’ve not forgotten. Keep on putting out great articles. ✔

TGIF. Yes, it’s Friday and the end of the week struggling to make ends meet. I talked with my boss today about a raise so I could help pay for Biden’s inflation. He was not happy I blamed it all on Biden. Ha Ha, I might get fired but at least I know the nutjobs are finally figuring out that Biden is not up to the task of running the country. And, his VP Harris, well no one has to say anything about her. Peter Principle in action.

Hi Gen. Satterfield. I’ve seen all these movies at least 3 times each and enjoyed them immensely. That said, the best speech of them all was in Gladiator. Why? I’m not so sure but they certainly are inspirational. The least effective is the one in Independence Day. Just my thinking. Great article.

I agree with you Forrest. Off subject of this article, I want to remind everyone to go online to Amazon, type in “Doug Satterfield” and his book will pop up. Buy it and give it a review. This benefits us all. 👍👍👍👍👍

Excellent article this morning, Gen. Satterfield and on a subject often relegated to the unimportant. If you want to be a real leader who is very very successful then you have to know how to INSPIRE folks and this is what great speech making is all about.

Great speeches are rare. It would do us good to study and emulate their success at rousing the crowd. Practice speaking plainly, forcefully, and clearly. And, with passion. That is how you get people to sit up and take notice.

Yep, practice practice practice. Leadership requires practice. https://www.theleadermaker.com/leadership-requires-practice/

That’s how you succeed. And, that is why I follow Gen. Satterfield’s advice to read autobiographies.

Whoa! These were great speeches or, of course, short pep talks like my football coach used to give us before the game.

=== and they work well. 😊

Just more OLD RULES. Who pays attention to them any more? This is a new age of humankind?

Next you will blame it on white patriarchy or on the rises masses. Come on man! Let’s do better than that. The “old rules” are proven effective over and over and over. You cannot dismiss them by the swipe of the hand unless you are a real dumbass.

Commie, good to see you back but please try to make a better argument. Try to persuade folks thru logic and not thru leftist bullet points.

Not going to happen Tom. That’s the point of leftists. Logic does not work.

Commie Red, good to have you back and have the opposite of a good argument laid before us to critique. I hope you take our message to heart.

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The 30 Greatest War Films Of All Time, Ranked

It's hard to reckon with the consequences of war, but great films have explored the devastating impacts of combat since the earliest days of cinema. War footage was shown in early movie houses in the form of newsreels and propaganda films, and the gripping images became etched in the minds of many filmmakers.

Cinema has looked to many historical conflicts for inspiration. Historical epics that told grandiose stories have used large budgets to bring these larger-than-life stories and characters to life. Not every war film aims for accuracy; while some have been praised by historians and veterans as authentic, others aim for a more crowd-pleasing approach, or change historical details for dramatic effect.

Not every war film focuses on soldiers, either. Some explore the effects a conflict has on the civilian population. Others star journalists, politicians, children, or medical personnel. War films have the ability to spotlight stories that are largely unknown, or cover well-known topics from a more diverse perspective. A war film doesn't have to be about a real conflict, either — some imagine entirely fictional events. With all of that being said, here are the 30 best war movies of all time.

30. Cold Mountain

Both a gripping survival epic and an old-fashioned period romance, Anthony Minghella's "Cold Mountain" explores the lengths people will go in order to hold on to love during wartime. William Inman (Jude Law) lives in a small North Carolina community and becomes smitten with the local preacher's daughter, Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman). Although he has little personal interest in the Civil War, North Carolina's secession from the Union forces Inman to enlist. Deserting the army when his forces are massacred, William begins a long quest to return home.

Law and Kidman's chemistry early in the film makes their separation crushing, but "Cold Mountain" also features a memorable supporting cast. Renee Zellweger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Ruby Thewis, Ada's quirky neighbor who cares for her after her father dies. Ruby has an engaging story arc as she struggles to forgive her father Stobrod (Brendan Gleason), who served in the war with William and seeks to reenter his daughter's life.

29. Rescue Dawn

Werner Herzog's untraditional approach to filmmaking makes him a fascinating choice to helm a grizzly adventure saga. "Rescue Dawn" tells the true story of German U.S. Navy pilot Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) during a combat mission in Laos during the thick of the Vietnam War. Dengler's plane is shot down and he is captured by the Liberation Army, who offer him clemency if he renounces the United States. A steadfast idealist, Dengler refuses, and he's brutally tortured by his captors as they try to break his spirit.

Bale is known for his dramatic physical transformations, and over the course of "Rescue Dawn," he's starved and scarred. Dengler's attempts to escape are even more grueling to watch due to Bale's fractured physical state, and Herzog incorporates elements of body horror to make the violence more sickening. Bale has great chemistry with the actors who play his fellow survivors, particularly Steve Zahn as Lieutenant Duane Miller.

A grim survivalist story, "Rescue Dawn” shows Herzog's ability to capture authentic environments, as he shot much of the film in the Thailand jungles. Herzog often tells stories about characters that descend into madness; "Rescue Dawn" does this too, largely through hallucinatory cinematography. A box office disappointment, "Rescue Dawn" is an underrated entry in the canon of great Vietnam movies.

28. The Hurt Locker

"The Hurt Locker" is one of Kathryn Bigelow's best films, tackling the complex theme of soldiers' obsessions with near-death experiences. The film follows Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner), a bomb diffuser for the U.S. Army who is dispatched to Iraq. James' squad is skeptical of him, feeling that he takes unnecessary risks and intentionally puts himself in harm's way. James clashes with Sergeant J. T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) as they search for their superior officer's killer.

When he returns home between tours, James is unable to adjust to an average life. Renner does an incredible job showing how war is a drug for James, as despite his occasionally playful attitude he's unable to find others who can relate to his experience. The prolonged sequences of James defusing bombs are meticulously staged and anxiety-inducing. "The Hurt Locker" took home six Academy Awards, including Best Picture; Bigelow also became the first female filmmaker to win Best Director.

27. Platoon

Oliver Stone's personal involvement in Vietnam inspired many of his films, which largely center on anti-war themes. Stone developed a reputation as one of the most politically outspoken filmmakers of the '80s, and he broke boundaries with projects that criticized American policies and questioned the established facts of history. After dabbling in horror early in his career, Stone broke out in 1986 with two incendiary war films. While "Salvador" is a classic in its own right, Stone's Best Picture-winner "Platoon" is one of the definitive accounts of the dehumanizing effects that militarism has on both soldiers and civilians.

Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) is a stand-in for Stone himself, as Chris volunteers to join a U.S. Army platoon to gain worldly experience before realizing how extreme war can be. Chris serves under Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe), who encourages friendship amongst the men and warns them against harming the native Vietnamese population. Elias' tenderness is a counterpoint to the cynical, brutal tactics of Sergeant Barnes (Tom Berenger), a hardened veteran willing to destroy entire villages and massacre families.

"Platoon" explores how even Chris' friends, who think of themselves as noble, can be spurred into violent action under Berenger's influence. The shocking death of Elias is a heartbreaking moment that solidified Stone's reputation as a storyteller who pulls no punches.

26. Black Hawk Down

Ridley Scott's depiction of the 1993 American military operation in Mogadishu is one of the most violent war films ever made, but the brutality is justified — this is a story that avoids sentiment. Rather than clouding the story with politics, Scott takes the time to flesh out each of his characters' perspectives and shows how their opinions change throughout their mission to bring humanitarian supplies to Somalia, during which they're unexpectedly caught behind enemy lines.

Scott delicately balances his ensemble, which includes many of the most prominent young actors of the early 21st century. Josh Hartnett gives the best performance of his career as staff sergeant Matt Eversmann, who is forced to step into a leadership role after his commanding lieutenant is killed. Eversmann scolds his men for mocking the African natives and shows empathy for their plight. The film also features one of Hans Zimmer's most unique scores, as he incorporated traditional African musicians and instruments with his signature sweeping compositions.

25. Born on the Fourth of July

Following the acclaim for "Platoon," Oliver Stone was keen to continue criticizing American involvement in the Vietnam War. With "Born on the Fourth of July," he took a very different approach. While "Platoon" told a fictional story inspired by Stone's experiences, "Born on the Fourth of July" depicts the life of famed antiwar advocate Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise). The film follows Kovic from his childhood and throughout his military service, which left him permanently scarred. A traumatic event in which Kovic witnesses U.S. troops killed by "friendly fire" inspires him to question his dedication to military service for the first time.

In 1989, Cruise was at peak popularity thanks to "Risky Business" and "Top Gun," and "Born on the Fourth of July" showed that he was just as good in weighty, dramatic roles as he was in crowd-pleasing blockbusters. While Cruise seamlessly slips into the role of a Kovic who is beloved by his community in his younger years, he showed his range once Kovic's injuries isolate him. The Vietnam combat sequences are unflinching in their brutality, and Stone uses recurring flashbacks to show Kovic's PTSD.

The use of news footage makes the "Born on the Fourth of July" more authentic, and a beautiful John Williams score gives it the feeling of a grand spectacle. While Stone has been accused of being too preachy, "Born on the Fourth of July" doesn't force-feed morals to the audience; its recreations of Kovic's speeches allow the viewer to create their own interpretations.

24. The Thin Red Line

When "The Thin Red Line" came out, Terrence Malick was known for romantic dramas like "Badlands" and "Days of Heaven," and hadn't made a film in 20 years. Any suspicions that the gap was too long or that Malick's romantic sensibilities wouldn't fit the massive scale were soon silenced, however. "The Thin Red Line" is an unflinching ensemble epic strengthened by a brilliant cast. While the violence is starkly realistic, Malick incorporates dreamlike sequences that find moments of beauty within the dark setting.

At almost three hours in length, "The Thin Red Line" takes the time to develop each of its characters. Among the most compelling is Private Robert E. Lee Witt (Jim Caviezel), who abandoned his post and joined a Melanisian community. Witt searches for natural beauty after the horrors he's witnessed, but he's captured by an American battalion, whose First Sergeant Welsh (Sean Penn) prohibits him from rejoining the unit and forces the deserter to carry stretchers. Caviezel's pacifism is sympathetic, but Penn doesn't depict Welsh as a caricature of an overbearing commanding officer.

23. Anthropoid

When most people study World War II, Czechoslovakia is treated as a mere footnote, a piece of land that was used as a bartering chip between Hitler, who could not have made his intentions of conquering all of Europe more clear, and Neville Chamberlain, who wanted to buy time to ready England for war and perhaps put too much trust in the idea of appeasement. 

But one of the most successful resistance plots of the entire war unfolded in former Czechoslovakia, resulting in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Hitler's heir apparent and the so-called "Butcher of Prague." It's this plot, codenamed "Operation Anthropoid," that occupies the majority of "Anthropoid," a faithful exploration of the team who were tasked with this mission. Starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan as the two leaders of the operation, "Anthropoid," is a tense, heartbreaking production with a real-life emotional resonance that has lost none of its power over the years.

22. Kingdom of Heaven

Ridley Scott is no stranger to war epics, and while "Gladiator" and "Black Hawk Down" were acclaimed when first released, his 2005 film "Kingdom of Heaven" received more muted reactions due to its underdeveloped storylines and character relationships. However, Scott's vision had been tampered with. 20th Century Fox forced him to cut 45 minutes from the film. Scott's longer director's cut , released later in 2005, rectified these issues and solidified "Kingdom of Heaven" as one of his most essential films.

Set during the Crusades, "Kingdom of Heaven" follows the French blacksmith Balian of Ibelin (Orlando Bloom), who grieves over his wife's suicide as he reunites with his father (Liam Neeson). Although initially reluctant to embark on his father's quest to visit the Holy Land, Balian is forced to join him after he kills a town priest. Suffering another tragedy when his father dies on the journey, Balian arrives in Jerusalem and attempts to broker a peace agreement between the dying King Baldwin IV (Edward Norton) and the sultan Saladin (Ghassan Massoud). Balian falls in love with Baldwin's sister (Eva Green), but after the sickly king dies the peace is shattered, leaving Balian to front the city's defense.

While the performances aren't properly fleshed out in the theatrical version, Scott's director's cut features Bloom's greatest performance to date; he's constantly pulled in different directions thanks to his simultaneous, conflicting commitments.

21. Braveheart

Mel Gibson's gripping war film is a throwback to old-fashioned Hollywood epics, even as it brings the story of Scottish revolutionary William Wallace to the screen for the first time. In addition to directing, Gibson takes the lead role, a Scottish peasant who witnesses the brutal execution of Scottish nobles by the British Army at a young age. Wallace is content to stay out of the conflict, but after a pair of British soldiers murder his secret bride Murron MacClannough (Catherine McCormack) he frees his town from the oppressive rulers.

Wallace amasses a following among the Scottish lords who join his movement, including Robert the Bruce (Angus McFadyen). The cruel King Edward "Longshanks" (Patrick McGoohan) hunts him down, but Wallace develops a surprisingly intimate relationship with the French Princess Isabella (Sophia Merceau). Gibson's massive action sequences are brutal and show the overwhelming odds the Scottish rebels faced; the religious imagery used to depict Wallace's final sacrifice makes the conclusion even more emotional.

20. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Is there a more perfect title card than the one that opens "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"? It's 1805, and Britain and France are at war. Russell Crowe plays a naval captain who is tasked with hunting down a French ship, an operation that will lead him and his men as far afield as they've ever been. 

You don't get many naval war dramas anymore — not like we saw in the 1930s, when Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone played swashbuckling heroes and villains at sea — but "Master and Commander" is a loving ode to exactly that genre of adventure film. It's boisterous and filled with action, with director Peter Weir measuring each scene carefully for maximum impact. It's another entry in Russell Crowe's brief foray into the historical epic, and a reminder that when he was on his game, no one could match his panache and gift for a rousing speech.

19. Apocalypse Now

"Apocalypse Now" was developed by some of the most important filmmakers of the '70s as a response to the situation in Vietnam. Director Francis Ford Coppola, screenwriter John Milius, and producer George Lucas adapted Joseph Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness" into an examination of the cult of violence that causes soldiers to abandon reason. Production was notoriously troubled, as the shooting dates were extended and the crew met with technical setbacks; never completely satisfied, Coppola released several director's cuts . Although it may have been "cursed," the chaotic journey nonetheless crafted a harrowing cinematic descent into madness.

U.S. Army Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) is a Vietnam veteran sent on a covert mission to assassinate the Special Forces Colonel William Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Kurtz has abandoned his post and leads a rogue army in Cambodia, amassing a loyal following that worships him. Although he suffered a breakdown and had a heart attack during filming , Sheen gives one of his best performances. Willard is initially ambivalent about his task, but gradually begins to shed his values as he travels deeper into the heart of the jungle.

Brando's unveiling during the film's conclusion serves as a nightmarish reflection of the horrors of war. Spewing strained philosophies about the pain of the human condition and praising the Viet Cong for their brutality, Kurtz is one of the most terrifying film characters of all-time.

18. Barry Lyndon

"Barry Lyndon" is a gorgeous historical epic from Stanley Kubrick that depicts several major conflicts through the eyes of a devious character. Ryan O'Neal stars as the Irish rogue Redmond Barry, who abandons his home in Ireland in the 1750s after a dispute regarding his cousin Nora Brady (Gay Hamilton). Barry desires his relative's hand in marriage and slays a rival suitor in a duel, forcing him to become a fugitive. After a scheming highwayman steals his possessions and humiliates him, Barry decides to avoid attention by joining the British Army to fight in the Seven Years' War.

Barry is an untraditional protagonist, and one who is completely unlikeable. With no loyalty to any nation, Barry is willing to switch his allegiances and deserts his military duty when he sees no personal gain. After shedding his identity and forging a false one, Barry joins the Prussian Army. That he would be fighting the men he was once allied with matters little to Barry. O'Neal gives an incredible performance as the impulsive character; while his actions are reprehensible, he's undeniably a compelling lead for a three-hour film.

With its natural lighting and long takes, "Barry Lyndon" is one of the most meticulously crafted visual achievements of Kubrick's career. "Barry Lyndon" is thrilling even for those who generally don't enjoy costume dramas, as its dark humor and unreliable narration make it undeniably unique.

17. Bridge on the River Kwai

When released in 1957, "Bridge on the River Kwai" was heralded for its epic scale and thrilling action setpieces. The practical filmmaking is just as impressive today, and the film's themes remain as relevant as ever. "Bridge on the River Kwai" examines the dueling obligations of imprisoned soldiers who want to both serve their country and retain their honor; it's a complex consideration of patriotism that focuses on individual values instead of blind patriotism.

"Bridge on the River Kwai" follows an ensemble of British soldiers who are held as prisoners-of-war at a Japanese camp. They receive orders to surrender, with Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) and Commander Shears (William Holden) reluctantly agreeing to aid their captors in building a railway bridge. As the men work tirelessly to complete construction, Nicholson develops a productive relationship with the Japanese leadership and becomes engaged with the task. He's infuriated when his men intentionally sabotage production, and Shears begins to question Nicholson's leadership.

After escaping to the nearby jungle, Shears plots to destroy the bridge but finds himself in contention with Nicholson. Driven mad by his commitment to seeing the bridge completed, Nicholson turns against the soldiers under his command. Guinness does a terrific job with Nicholson's slow descent into unreason; at first, he's only trying to make the best of a bad situation, only realizing the harm he caused during the final siege. "Bridge on the River Kwai" took home seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Guinness.

16. From Here to Eternity

War films released only shortly after the events they depict are fascinating, as they offer insight on how the public perceives recent tragedies. The 1953 classic "From Here to Eternity" allowed director Fred Zimmerman to reflect on the American consciousness in the days leading up to the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, exploring a more innocent period in which soldiers weren't expecting to be sent into a destructive war.

"From Here to Eternity" follows three soldiers stationed in Hawaii. Former boxer Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) joins the company of Captain Dana Holmes (Phillip Ober), who tries to convince the athlete to join his competitive team. Prewitt refuses, as he's reeling from a recent match in which he wounded a friend; the angered Holmes prepares to court-martial him. Prewitt finds an unlikely ally in Holmes' second-in-command, First Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster), who has his own reasons to fear the Captain; he's secretly sleeping with Holmes' wife, Karen (Deborah Kerr).

The squabbles and melodrama between the soldiers fade following the Pearl Harbor attack; Zimmerman reflects on how momentary strife seems less relevant in the wake of actual tragedy.

15. Land of Mine

When a war goes on long enough and the fatalities add up, eventually a country will send boys onto the battlefield. "Land of Mine" takes place in the last days of World War II, when German prisoners of war, often teenagers, were sent to Denmark with a horrifying task. When Germany occupied Denmark, it planted thousands upon thousands of land mines on the shore, and it was the responsibility of these prisoners to remove every last one by hand, a perilous job with a low survival rate. 

Danish sergeant Carl Leopold Rasmussen (Roland Møller) is placed in charge of these operations, and although he is at first brutally committed to the task at hand and cruel to the young German soldiers he commands, it's difficult for him to maintain a cavalier attitude when directly facing their terror and sheer humanity. A tense and nerve-wracking production that shines a light on a lesser-reported aspect of a familiar conflict, "Land of Mine" goes beyond the black-and-white thinking that separates a cold-hearted villain from a teenage boy sent off to war.

14. Quo Vadis, Aida?

American cinema has an understandable fascination with the wars that the U.S. was directly involved in: World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, and so on. But when we expand our focus beyond the conflicts that defined the 20th century for America, we can devote more attention to the humanitarian crises that often go overlooked. "Quo Vadis, Aida?" takes place amidst the Bosnian genocide of the mid-1990s, in the doomed town of Srebrenica. 

Jasna Đuričić plays Aida, a translator for the United Nations peacekeeping troops, who have arrived in an effort to stop an outright conflict between Bosnians and Serbians. The film depicts in chilling detail the failure of the U.N. to protect the civilians in their charge, a death by 1000 cuts as both the organization and Aida slowly cede ground, thinking that if they cooperate just a little bit more, they can appease bad faith actors for whom violence is a tragic inevitability. Haunting and emotionally devastating, "Quo Vadis, Aida?" leaves a mark on the viewer that is not easily shrugged off.

13. Full Metal Jacket

Stanley Kubrick's subversive approach to familiar genres was perfectly suited to the Vietnam era, and "Full Metal Jacket" is among the most devastating anti-war films ever made. Using a brilliant bifurcated structure, Kubrick brought the dehumanizing effects of militarism to the screen, incorporating shocking imagery and dark humor to show how seemingly honorable people can develop an aptitude for violence.

The first half of "Full Metal Jacket" focuses on the brutal training process that a squad of new recruits endure under their strict drill sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Lee Ermey). Hartman subjects the men to rigorous physical tasks and demeans them with cruel insults. Gradually, the initially empathetic Private Joker (Matthew Modine) grows hardened and begins to emulate his superior's behavior. Vincent D'Onofrio delivers the film's most powerful performance as the sensitive Private Lawrence, who is singled out by Hartman and relentlessly bullied. Lawrence's breakdown is difficult to watch, and when his squad is unwilling to aid him, it marks a key moment in the loss of the soldiers' humanity. Joker grapples with his instincts to care for Lawrence, who he knows will struggle in actual combat.

The second half of the movie follows the soldiers during the early stages of the Tet Offensive, during which Joker is assigned to a war correspondent position. The battles themselves are fraught and confusing, as it's unclear to the soldiers which Vietnamese militias are allied with or against them. The film concludes with the striking image of soldiers singing the "Mickey Mouse March" on their patrol.

12. The Big Parade

Released just a handful of years after World War I ended, "The Big Parade" is a shockingly modern depiction of the horrors of trench warfare. John Gilbert plays a spoiled young man who enlists in the army because it's exciting, it's fashionable, and it will impress his fiancee. However, he soon discovers that the reality of warfare, especially the gruesome meatgrinder of World War I, is quite different from the glorious battles that he was expecting. 

Director King Vidor puts together some marvelous set pieces: the men marching in lines through the forest, their terror palpable; romantic interest Renee Adoree chasing after the troops on parade, desperate for one last goodbye. Gilbert, a star of the silent era whose career fell off a cliff with the advent of sound, is at his best here, playing a romantic hero entirely in over his head. The charming chemistry between Gilbert and Adoree provides a much-needed reprieve from the relentlessly grim battle sequences.

11. Saving Private Ryan

Whether it's an action-packed adventure movie or a gripping historical epic, few filmmakers create spectacles like Steven Spielberg. Spielberg had longed to tell the story of the Normandy Invasion as a tribute to his father's service in World War II, and while he had told World War II stories with "1941," "Empire of the Sun," and "Schindler's List," "Saving Private Ryan" is the first of his films that took place in the thick of combat. The opening sequence in which American soldiers storm Omaha Beach is one of the most gripping, violent, and emotional combat sequences ever committed to film.

"Saving Private Ryan" asks complex questions about the value of individual lives in a war that takes thousands. Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) and his squad are ordered to travel deep into enemy territory in order to rescue Private James Ryan (Matt Damon); all three of Ryan's brothers were killed in action. Miller is reluctant to take the mission, skeptical about its importance and wary of the threat it poses to his men. Hanks is phenomenal, showing Miller's reluctance, despite his empathy for Ryan. Damon is equally powerful, as Ryan commits to stay at his post even after he learns the terrible news about his family.

"Saving Private Ryan" is undeniably patriotic, but it doesn't disrespect veterans with overblown sentiment. The framing device, in which an older Ryan reflects on his experiences with Miller, creates a profound statement about how the lasting wounds of war don't heal.

10. Paths of Glory

Stanley Kubrick's World War I drama isn't only one of the greatest war films of all time, but one of the best courtroom dramas, too. "Paths of Glory" questions the sanctity of nobility through a story about men who questioned their orders.

French Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas) leads a battalion in an attack on the German stronghold "Anthill," and is ordered by Brigadier General Paul Mireau (George Mcready) to launch an ambitious assault. Dax is skeptical of the assignment, as it poses little strategic value and would only result in a massacre of his troops. During the battle, Dax's men are overwhelmed and retreat. The vengeful Mireau sees this as an obstacle to his ascent within the French Army, and decides to court-martial Dax's troops.

Douglas delivers a gripping performance as he argues for his men's bravery, questioning Mireau's ego and the chain of command. It's not subtle about its anti-war perspective, either — even after all they've endured, Dax's men are forced to return to the front.

9. The Great Escape

It's impossible to be objective here: It simply doesn't get any cooler than Steve McQueen in "The Great Escape." The film explores life in a German prisoner-of-war camp where English and American soldiers are kept on a tight leash, consigned to hard labor as the war passes them by. The men in the camp may not be actively fighting, but they do have one military duty left: When captured, it's their responsibility to attempt to escape as frequently as possible to force the Germans to use valuable resources to keep them confined. Hence, "The Great Escape." 

It's a cleverly written action-adventure film with a talented ensemble cast and some fantastic set pieces, but make no mistake, everyone's just orbiting McQueen as he proves himself to be one of the decade's greatest superstars. It functions as a war film all on its own, but is also notable for the influence it had on other movies and television shows — you can see parodies and copycats in everything from "Chicken Run" to "The Simpsons."

Sam Mendes' "1917" takes a fascinating approach to combat, as it was filmed to create the illusion that it was all shot in one take. While not a new filmmaking technique — it had been previously used in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" and Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu's "Birdman," among others — the continuous tracking shot suits the war epic by detailing both the split-second decisions and the moments of intimacy between soldiers in real-time. While it weaves in and out of key battles, "1917" is first and foremost a mission movie about two novice soldiers tasked with delivering a message that could change the tide of the war.

Will Schofield (George McKay) and Thomas Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) are part of a British company on the Western Front, and they're ordered by commanding officer General Erinmore (Colin Firth) to travel behind enemy lines. Erinmore fears that if Lieutenant-Colonel Mackenzie (Benedict Cumberbatch) continues his forward expansion he'll be caught off guard and there will be a massacre. Schofield and Blake plot a course across no-man's land, where they must survive German traps and snipers. While both have seen action before, their isolation presents new challenges.

"1917" never lets up on the tension, and shocking story developments continually change the stakes. McKay and Chapman have great chemistry, and the cameos by Firth, Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, and Richard Madden aren't distracting — the actors all establish the situation's gravity, even in brief scenes.

7. The Great Dictator

Charlie Chaplin is one of the greatest comedians in Hollywood history, and his groundbreaking directorial projects changed the perception of slapstick with their brilliant stunt work and satirical themes. While he was known for his unparalleled physical comedy, Chaplin would explore more serious topics with his later works, all without losing his unique comedic lens. "The Great Dictator" was a brave film that tackled fascism and antisemitism during the early days of World War II; showing these current issues through a comedy of errors allowed Chaplin's message to reach a broad audience.

In "The Great Dictator," Chaplin plays two roles. One is an unnamed barber from a poor Jewish community who is haunted by his service in World War I and has lost many memories. The barber bears a striking resemblance to Chaplin's other character, the fascist dictator Adenoid Hynkel. Hynkel is clearly modeled after Adolf Hitler, and leads the persecution of the Jewish ghettos. In order to protect his home, the barber disguises himself as Hynkel and finds a peaceful way to end his regime.

Watching the goofy barber inadvertently impact global events is often hilarious, especially the film's most iconic moment , in which he dances with a globe in Hynkel's office. "The Great Dictator" was Chaplin's first sound film, and it concludes with a stirring monologue criticizing prejudice and hate.

6. All Quiet on the Western Front

Released in 1930, "All Quiet on the Western Front" is one of the earliest war films, and remains one of the best. The pre-code era of Hollywood allowed filmmakers to incorporate controversial elements that were removed from later Hollywood productions, and the massive combat sequences utilize thousands of extras, making "All Quiet on the Western Front" unique among other early war films.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" follows a group of young German men, including Paul Bäumer (Lew Aryes), who are inspired to enlist in the national militia after a speech by Professor Kantorek (Arnold Lucy). Kantorek waxes poetic about the adventures his students will have in combat and the values that they'll develop, but shortly after their basic training begins, the characters realize that Kantorek's words are misguided. The soldiers are subjected to a brutal training process under Corporal Himmelstoss (John Wray), who only sees them as weapons of destruction.

Politically charged, "All Quiet On The Western Front" explored the perspective of German infantrymen who were unaware of the political forces that forced them to head to the front lines. Given the outcome of the actual conflict, the viewer knows that these men are doomed from the beginning. Due to its criticism of the German government, the film provoked the wrath of the actual Nazi party , which tried to ban it.

Only 12 years after World War II ended, "Kanal" took a raw look at the devastation of street combat. It's the first film to depict the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, one of the few examples of widespread armed rebellion in occupied Poland. By the time we meet the brave resistance fighters, however, they're on their last legs. Only a few have survived, and they have no choice but to retreat to the sewers of Warsaw in order to avoid being massacred by German forces.

They're living on borrowed time, though — this solution can only last for so long before they have to emerge to the surface and face the music. The mood darkens the longer they spend underground; Everyone seems to know that the end is near, but no one is willing to admit it. "Kanal" was well-received by critics — except, ironically, in Poland itself . For Polish audiences, the Warsaw Uprising was still a fresh memory, and seeing their idealized freedom fighters hiding in the sewers was understandably unappealing.

4. Lawrence of Arabia

With wide, expansive shots of pristine desert that stretches as far as the eye can see, "Lawrence of Arabia" is a blockbuster in every sense of the word. It chronicles the exploits of T.E. Lawrence (played by the incomparable Peter O'Toole), an unconventional British soldier who becomes involved in an alliance that would see the British and the Arabs join forces against the Turks. But when the war ends, British priorities shift, leaving the question of Arab self-rule very much up in the air. 

With O'Toole supported by Omar Sharif and Alec Guinness, "Lawrence of Arabia" features high-quality performances across the board, and the entire production represents a Herculean effort from director David Lean, whose shooting schedule became extremely burdensome; the production was forced to relocate several times , moving between Jordan, Spain, and Morocco. His work was justly rewarded — "Lawrence of Arabia" took home seven Academy Awards , including best picture and best director for Lean.

"Patton" deserves a spot on this list for its opening sequence alone. You know the one: George C. Scott, playing the legendary general, gives a no-holds-barred motivational speech to the troops against a backdrop of a gigantic American flag. It's the beginning of one of the quintessential military biopics, depicting Patton as a gruff, often brutally unsympathetic war hero who nonetheless captivates us. 

Since this film came to us during the height of the Vietnam War, when audiences were not exactly eager to sit through a bunch of pro-war propaganda, there's a touch of a cynical anti-hero in Patton. Scott's portrayal of the man never shies away from the more famous general's more controversial aspects, and it is the film's approach to the character that makes it such a success. "Patton" took home seven Academy Awards , including one for Scott, although he refused to accept it, citing his lack of interest in competing against other actors.

2. Inglourious Basterds

If there's one thing Quentin Tarantino can't seem to get enough of lately, it's revisionist history. His take on World War II, "Inglourious Basterds," features a ragtag group of American soldiers who go behind enemy lines and take on the massive project of not raining terror down on German soldiers, but assassinating Hitler himself. As ultra-violent as we've come to expect from Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds" is nonetheless a masterful showcase for the slow burn. Scenes play out at an agonizing pace, gradually ratcheting up the tension. 

From the opening sequence on the French farm that introduces Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz in an Oscar-winning performance ) to a Mexican standoff in the basement of a bar to Shoshanna's epic revenge scheme, Tarantino luxuriates in letting moments breathe rather than rushing right into the kill. Featuring incredible performances from Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Daniel Bruhl, and Melanie Laurent, "Inglourious Basterds" is one of Tarantino's most layered, emotionally satisfying, and unexpectedly funny films in ages.

1. The Deer Hunter

"The Deer Hunter" tells a comprehensive story about what soldiers experience before, during, and after their service in Vietnam, conveyed through the changing relationships between a group of lifelong friends. At over three hours, "The Deer Hunter" takes the time to develop its characters, noting how their personalities change as they accumulate emotional scars. The film was a breakthrough for its sensitive handling of PTSD, and its sequences of torture are often difficult to watch.

Pennsylvania steelworkers Mike Vronsky (Robert De Niro), Steven Pushkov (John Savage), and Nick Chevotarevich (Christopher Walken) celebrate Steven's wedding before heading to Vietnam. Nick takes the opportunity to propose to his girlfriend Linda (Meryl Streep), and bonds with Mike as they promise to protect each other overseas. The ceremonies conclude with a deer hunt, a recurring symbol that represents the men's affinity for their simple hometown.

In the film's most famous sequence, Mike, Steven, and Nick are held hostage by the Viet Cong and forced to play a game of Russian Roulette. Once they return home, their near-death experiences make it impossible for the men to re-integrate with their community, and cast a shadow over their deer hunts. It's impossible to enjoy their favorite activity when any violence sparks disturbing memories. Walken depicts Nick's obsession with Russian Roulette in heartbreaking detail, and De Niro gives one of his most sensitive performances as Mike tries to help his friends cope.

42 Best War Movie Quotes

War movies have captivated audiences for generations, and with good reason. They tell stories of heroism, sacrifice, and the struggle for survival in the face of unimaginable danger. To honor these films, we've compiled a list of some of the best war movie quotes of all time. These quotes capture the spirit of the films they come from, and remind us of the incredible bravery and strength of those who have fought for their country.

“What does it matter to me, I have only one life to lose...” — "All Quiet on the Western Front”, 1930.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning." — "Apocalypse Now”, 1979.

This quote was spoken by the character Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, played by Robert Duvall, in the Vietnam War epic “Apocalypse Now”.

"Freedom isn't free." — "Team America: World Police", 2004. While not a war movie in the traditional sense, "Team America: World Police" satirizes the U.S.'s post-9/11 foreign policy, and this quote is a common refrain in American political rhetoric.

"God will understand, my lord. And if he doesn't, then he is not God, and we need not worry." — "Kingdom of Heaven", 2005.

“Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.” — "Patton”, 1970.

"War is hell." — "Full Metal Jacket", 1987. This quote was spoken by the character Private Joker, played by Matthew Modine, in "Full Metal Jacket," which was set during the Vietnam War.

“There's enough bang in there to blow us all to Jesus. If I'm gonna die, I want to die comfortable.” — "The Hurt Locker”, 2008.

“I can't promise you that I will bring you all home alive. But this I swear, before you and before Almighty God, that when we go into battle, I will be the first to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off, and I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together. So help me, God.” — "We Were Soldiers”, 2002.

“All right, sweethearts, you're a team and there's nothin' to worry about. We come here, and we gonna conquer, and we gonna kick some, is that understood?” — "Aliens”, 1986.

"Earn this." — "Saving Private Ryan", 1998. This quote was spoken by Captain John H. Miller, played by Tom Hanks, to Private James Francis Ryan, played by Matt Damon, in the World War II drama "Saving Private Ryan".

“Not anxious to die sir, just anxious to matter.” — "Pearl Harbor”, 2001.

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room." — "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb", 1964. This ironic quote was spoken by the character President Merkin Muffley, played by Peter Sellers, in this incredible and satirical Cold War movie.

“The M16A2 service rifle is a lightweight air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed shoulder weapon. It fires a 5.56 mm ball projectile at a muzzle velocity of 2,800 feet per second. This is my rifle. Repeat after me.” — "Jarhead”, 2005.

"We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane." — "Apocalypse Now", 1979. This quote was spoken by the character Captain Benjamin Willard, played by Martin Sheen, in "Apocalypse Now", which was inspired by Joseph Conrad's book "Heart of Darkness".

“How tall are you private?” “Sir, five foot nine, sir!” “Five foot nine, I didn’t know they stacked s*** that high!” — "Full Metal Jacket”, 1987. Gunnery Sgt. Hartman is one of the most iconic (and hilarious) characters in any military movie, giving us some of the best movie quotes of all time.

"Platoon, salute the King of Battle!" — "Platoon", 1986. "The King of Battle" is a nickname for the artillery branch of the U.S. Army.

"Spartans! Prepare for glory!" — "300", 2006. This quote was spoken by the character King Leonidas, played by Gerard Butler, in the epic action movie "300", which was based on the Battle of Thermopylae in ancient Greece and featured heavily stylized battle scenes.

"I will not be intimidated by a criminal threat." — "A Few Good Men", 1992. In this film, Jack Nicholson plays a Marine colonel on trial for murder.

"There's no such thing as a civilized war." — "The Red Badge of Courage", 1951. This film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen Crane, which depicts the Civil War.

"This is the AK-47 assault rifle, the preferred weapon of your enemy. And it makes a distinctive sound when fired at you, so remember it." — "Lord of War", 2005. "Lord of War" is a film about an arms dealer.

"Every man dies, not every man really lives." — "Braveheart", 1995.

"I'm gonna kill every last one of them." — "Rambo: First Blood Part II", 1985. The "Rambo" films follow the exploits of a former Green Beret.

"You can't handle the truth!" — "A Few Good Men", 1992.

"I love the smell of victory in the morning." — "The Eagle Has Landed", 1976. "The Eagle Has Landed" is a film about a German plot to kidnap Winston Churchill.

"I feel the need...the need for speed!" — "Top Gun", 1986. "Top Gun" follows a group of Navy pilots.

"I don't know how I'm going to live with myself if I don't stay true to what I believe." — "Hacksaw Ridge", 2016.

"I'm not a smart man...but I know what love is." — "Forrest Gump", 1994. While "Forrest Gump" is not a war movie per se, but it features scenes set during the Vietnam War when Tom Hanks' titular character experiences combat.

"You can't change the past." — "Inglourious Basterds", 2009. "Inglourious Basterds" is a film about a group of Jewish American soldiers who plot to assassinate Nazi leaders.

"What is your major malfunction?" — "Full Metal Jacket", 1987.

“If it bleeds, we can kill it.” — "Predator”, 1987.

"There's no such thing as an ex-Marine." — "Heartbreak Ridge", 1986. This quote was spoken by the character Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway, played by Clint Eastwood, in the Cold War movie "Heartbreak Ridge".

"I have not yet begun to fight." — "John Paul Jones", 1959. This quote was spoken by the titular character, played by Robert Stack, in the biographical film "John Paul Jones", which was based on the life of the American naval hero.

“All my life I've lived by a code; and the code is simple: honor the gods, love your woman, and defend your country.” — "Troy”, 2004

“Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't.” — "Schindler’s List”, 1993.

"What we do in life echoes in eternity." — "Gladiator", 2000. Although not a war movie in the traditional sense, "Gladiator" featured epic battle scenes, and this quote, spoken by the character Maximus, played by Russell Crowe, became one of the movie's most memorable lines.

"I'm a soldier, I serve my country. But this is not my country. I was lying out there bleeding to death, thinking, if I die now, I leave nothing to my children but shame. I know now there is only one way to dedicate my life: to the people." — "The Last Samurai", 2003.

“Well shoot back!” — "Black Hawk Down”, 2001.

"I will show you no mercy." — "300", 2006.

"They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!" — "Braveheart", 1995.

"Who dares, wins." — "The Dirty Dozen", 1967. This quote was the motto of the British Special Air Service (SAS) and it was also featured in the World War II movie "The Dirty Dozen".

“Run, go! Get to the chopper!” — "Predator", 1987.

"I wonder what will happen to us, to people like you and me, when there are no more wars to occupy us?" — "Band of Brothers", 2001.

War and Remembrance: Best War Movie Quotes

Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, once said that “older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.” And when it comes to the best quotes from Hollywood, these war movie quotes encapsulate the very essence of bravery, sacrifice, and honor that goes hand-in-hand with combat and those who take part in it, from the Marine Corps to the Air Force.

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Famous Movie Monologues

This list of the best movie monologues includes some big, big names and some even bigger films (some contemporary, others classic). What are some famous movie monologues?

Some of the best, most famous monologues from movies involve high drama, remarkable acting and, of course, stellar writing. Many resulted in Academy Award nominations - some who uttered these lines took home Oscar gold. From rants to threats to intimate confessions, these film monologues represent the awe-inspiring, the inspirational, and the chilling.

Want to be able to quote your favorite scene from your favorite movie? Not just a one-liner—the whole thing? Study this list and learn (or check out these great short monologues for something a little snappier). This famous movie monologues list is an open list, meaning others can contribute. If you have a favorite film monologue or even a famous movie speech that isn't on the list, add it! Some are a minute, others are longer, but these are all great monologues, even including the one by Liam Neeson from Taken .

If you're an actor looking for the perfect dramatic scene to memorize for your next audition, you'll definitely find some great, easy inspiration here. These speeches are great for men and are also great monologues for women , provided you've got the acting chops to pull them off. Take a good look at these popular, great movie monologues and find out if you can compete with the stars!

A Few Good Men

You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall . You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!

Jack Nicholson delivers an incredibly memorable monologue in 1992's A Few Good Men  as Colonel Nathan R. Jessup. When he's asked by Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) about ordering the so-called "code red," Jessup goes on one of the best courtroom tirades in movie history.

• Released : 1992
• Directed by : Rob Reiner

The Shawshank Redemption

Get busy living or get busy dying. That's goddamn right. For the second time in my life, I'm guilty of committing a crime. Parole violation. Course, I doubt they're going to throw up any road blocks for that. Not for an old crook like me. I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

Morgan Freeman's voice-over monologue at the end of The Shawshank Redemption is just one of several amazing monologues in this 1994 classic. One of the best movie endings ever.

• Released : 1994
• Directed by : Frank Darabont

Blade Runner

• Released : 1982
• Directed by : Ridley Scott

The Silence of the Lambs

You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well-scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste... Good nutrition has given you some length of bone, but you're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you - Officer Starling...? That accent you're trying so desperately to shed - pure West Virginia. What was your father, dear? Was he a coal miner? Did he stink of the lamp...? And oh, how quickly the boys found you! All those tedious, sticky fumblings, in the back seats of cars, while you could only dream of getting out. Getting anywhere. Getting all the way - to the F...B...I.

Anthony Hopkins's performance as Hannibal Lecter in 1991's Silence of the Lambs  is without question one of the best of his career. His dressing down of Jodie Foster's green FBI agent Clarice Starling is one of the greatest (and most mocking) monologues of all time.

• Released : 1991
• Directed by : Jonathan Demme

Rocky Balboa

I'd hold you up to say to your mother, "this kid's gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid's gonna be somebody better than anybody I ever knew." And you grew up good and wonderful. It was great just watching you, every day was like a privilege. Then the time come for you to be your own man and take on the world, and you did.

But somewhere along the line, you changed. You stopped being you. You let people stick a finger in your face and tell you you're no good. And when things got hard, you started looking for something to blame, like a big shadow. Let me tell you something you already know.

The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Cause if you're willing to go through all the battling you got to go through to get where you want to get, who's got the right to stop you?

I mean maybe some of you guys got something you never finished, something you really want to do, something you never said to someone, something... and you're told no, even after you paid your dues? Who's got the right to tell you that, who? Nobody! It's your right to listen to your gut, it ain't nobody's right to say no after you earned the right to be where you want to be and do what you want to do!

Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that! I'm always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You're my son and you're my blood. You're the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain't gonna have a life.

Rocky Balboa delivers this rousing speech to his son before his final fight in  Rocky Balboa .

• Released : 2006
• Directed by : Sylvester Stallone

Pulp Fiction

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.

1994's Pulp Fiction  is without a doubt one of the most quotable movies ever, but it's Samuel L. Jackson's "Ezekiel 25:17" monologue as contract killer Jules Winnfield that is the most memorable. Way to send a victim out!

• Directed by : Quentin Tarantino

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16 excerpts from the greatest military speeches ever given

By Team Mighty

Updated on Feb 22, 2024 10:25 AM PST

11 minute read

For as long as wars have been fought, great military leaders have been able to use the power of the pulpit to motivate their troops. The right words delivered in the right way at the right time have helped to turn the tide when morale was suffering, when casualties were high and ammo was low.

Here are 16 excerpts from the best orations given to key audiences during history’s crucial pivot points:

1. pericles appealing for war against the spartans, 432bce.

“When our fathers stood against the Persians they had no such resources as we have now; indeed, they abandoned even what they had, and then it was by wisdom rather than by good fortune, by daring rather than by material power, that they drove back the foreign invasion and made our city what it is today. We must live up to the standard they set: we must resist our enemies in any and every way, and try to leave ot those who come after us an Athens that is as great as ever.”

2. HANNIBAL  addressing his soldiers after crossing the Alps, 218 BCE

“On the right and left two seas enclose you, without your possessing even a single ship for escape. The river Po around you; the Alps behind hem you in. Her soldiers, where you have first met the enemy, you must conquer or die; and the same fortune which has imposed the necessity of fighting hold out to you, if victorious, rewards than which men are not wont to desire greater, even from the immortal gods.”

3. ST. BERNARD rallying the troops before the Second Crusade, 1146

“Christian warriors, He who gave His life for you today demands yours in return. These are combats worth of you, combats in which it is glorious to conquer and advantageous to die. Illustrious knights, generous defenders of the Cross, remember the example of your fathers who conquered Jerusalem and whose names are inscribed in Heaven.”

4. QUEEN ELIZABETH I supporting her military against the Spanish Armada, July 1588

“I am amongst you at this time, not as for my recreation or sport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all; to lay down, for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honor and my blood.”

5. GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON calming his increasingly rebellious and doubtful army, March 15, 1783

“You will, by the dignity of your conduct, afford occasion for posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example you have exhibited to mankind, ‘Had this day been wanting, the world had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining.'”

6. GENERAL NAPOLEON BONAPARTE firing up his forces before the Battle of Marengo in Italy, June 14, 1800

“Shall we allow our audacious enemies to violate with impunity the territory of the Republic? Will you permit the army to escape which has carried terror into your families? You will not. March, then, to meet him. Tear from his brows the laurels he has won. Teach the world that a malediction attends those that violate the territory of the Great People. The result of our efforts will be unclouded glory, and a durable peace.”

7. PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN speaking to the 166th Ohio Regiment, August 22, 1864

“For the service you have done in this great struggle in which we are engaged I present you sincere thanks for myself and the country. I almost always feel inclined, when I happen to say anything to soldiers, to impress upon them in a few brief remarks the importance of success in this contest. It is not merely for today, but for all time to come that we should perpetuate for our children’s children this great and free government, which we have enjoyed all our lives. I beg you to remember this, not merely for my sake, but for yours . . . The nation is worth fighting for, to secure such an inestimable jewel.”

8. PRIME MINISTER WINSTON CHURCHILL  before the House of Commons as the French retreat from Hitler, May 13, 1940

“We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalog of human crime. That is our policy.”

9. PREMIER JOSEPH STALIN appealing to the Russian people to defend their soil as the German Army advances, July 3, 1941

“The issue is one of life or death for the Soviet State, for the peoples of the U.S.S.R. The issue is whether the peoples of the Soviet Union shall remain free or fall into slavery . . . There must be no room in our ranks for whimperers and cowards, for panic-mongers and deserters. Our people must know no fear in fight and must selflessly join our patriotic war of liberation, our war against the fascist enslavers.”

10. GENERAL SIR BERNARD MONTGOMERY speaking to his demoralized troops before defeating Rommel’s Afrika Corps, August 13, 1942

“Here we will stand and fight; there will be no further withdrawal. I have ordered that all plans and instructions dealing with further withdrawal are to be burned, and at once. We will stand and fight here. If we can’t stay here alive, then let us stay here dead.”

11. GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON exhorting the Third Army, Spring 1944

“I don’t want to get any messages saying, ‘I am holding my position.’ We are not holding a goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy’s balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy.”

12. GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER ordering the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944

“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the eliminations of Nazi tyranny over oppressed people of Europe, and the security for ourselves in a free world.”

13. MENACHEM BEGIN speaking to the people of Israel on the radio, preparing them for an Arab attack, May 14, 1948

“We shall go our way into battle . . . And we shall be accompanied by the spirit of millions of our martyrs, our ancestors tortured and burned for their faith, our murdered fathers and butchered mothers, our murdered brothers and strangled children. And in this battle we shall break the enemy and bring salvation to our people, tried in the furnace of persecution, thirsting only for freedom, for righteousness, and for justice.”

14. GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR addressing West Point, May 12, 1962

“Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government; whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing, indulged in too long, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grow too violent . . . These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a ten-fold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country.”

15. PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY bracing the nation for the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 22, 1962

“The path we have chosen for he present is full of hazards, as all paths are; but it is the one most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission. Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right; not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.”

16. PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN hastening the fall of Communism while speaking at the Berlin Wall, June 12, 1987

“There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Easter Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

(The complete transcripts of these speeches and many others can be found in Charge!, History’s Greatest Military Speeches , edited by Congressman Steve Israel and published in 2007 by the Naval Institute Press .)

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The 10 Best War Satire Movies, Ranked

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War is a complex and intense subject and many films have sought to give it the gravitas it deserves . However, some films are inspired to explore such a weighty topic through a lens of comedy or critique . These pictures find that in delving into the depths of tragedy or flawed systems, hope, joy, and perhaps an inspiration for change can emerge.

Besides creative directing and bold statements, the actors in military commentaries have a chance to think outside the box in what would ordinarily be a stereotypical role. They get to imagine different layers and angles to portray a soldier or an officer and not feel forced to keep the portrayal monotone . Audiences benefit as well and gain new perspectives on war and military conflict that they perhaps would not have considered without the chosen vehicle of delivery. Whether the end goal is condemnation or contemplation , here are 10 of the best war satire movies, ranked.

10 'Three Kings' (1999)

Directed by david o. russell.

Wars have been fought over riches, but in the 1999 film Three Kings , wealth was not the original goal. Four soldiers stationed in Iraq at the end of the Gulf War find a map they believe leads to a cache of gold. Embarking on the search to find it results in a poignant plot twist that challenges the characters to finally consider the ramifications of the occupation they have been involved in.

Starring George Clooney , Mark Wahlberg , Ice Cube , and Spike Jonze , Three Kings does a great job of blending humor and levity with dramatic and thought-provoking moments. It also features some unique cinematography to add intriguing depth to the storytelling . It offers humorous and meaningful commentary on a soldier's experience in a foreign land and navigates away from stereotypes , venturing to authentically portray the characters on both sides of the conflict .

Three Kings

9 'm*a*s*h' (1970), directed by robert altman.

Centered around the antics of a dysfunctional military base in Korea, the 1970 film M*A*S*H went on to inspire the long-running and beloved TV series of the same name. It featured a charismatic and dynamic cast that included Donald Sutherland , Elliott Gould , Robert Duvall , and Sally Kellerman .

The undercurrent of authenticity that runs beneath the surface of the zany situations in M*A*S*H is largely because the film was based on a book written by military surgeon Hiester Richard Hornberger Jr. The legitimacy of the dark humor and unglamorous representation of events makes the film and television show some of the most enduring in cinema history .

Amid the backdrop of the Korean War, a team of maverick surgeons and nurses at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital employs humor and irreverence as a means of survival against the relentless pressures of wartime. Their unorthodox behavior and pranks often put them at odds with the strict military hierarchy, yet their exceptional medical skills shine through. Through their unconventional methods, they forge deep connections and bring moments of levity to the dire circumstances they face daily. The film combines dark humor with sharp social commentary, presenting a striking portrayal of the absurdity and humanity found in the midst of conflict.

8 'Good Morning, Vietnam' (1987)

Directed by barry levinson.

Good Morning, Vietnam features Robin Williams at his inspirational and hilarious best. Williams plays Adrian Cronauer, a charismatic DJ and radio personality hired to boost the morale of American troops in Vietnam by hosting a localized radio broadcast. As Adrian spends time with the soldiers and local citizens, he and the audience are invited to contemplate multiple facets of the Vietnam War .

Williams is fantastic in the movie and most of his performances on air were the result of him improvising . Forest Whitaker is great in his supporting role and Bruno Kirby pursues his objective to be irritating and the epitome of a micromanager superbly well. Good Morning, Vietnam has many poignant moments interspersed with funny ones and is a great feature of military commentary.

7 'Stripes' (1981)

Directed by ivan reitman.

A 1981 movie starring comedic heavyweights Bill Murray , Harold Ramis , and John Candy , Stripes uses iconic slapstick humor to tell the tale of two friends (Murray and Ramis) who decide to enlist in the Army on a whim. As they endure basic training and an overbearing sergeant ( Warren Oates ), hijinks and hilarity ensue.

Stripes has many entertaining character archetypes , like the elevated incompetent played by John Larroquette , the hyper-aggressive wild card played by Conrad Dunn , and the unlikely hero or "big toe" of leadership, played by Murray. Themes of comradery and cooperation make for a sweet undercurrent amidst all the wacky chaos and Stripes remains a classic and comedic gem of war satire movies.

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6 'The Death of Stalin' (2017)

Directed by armando iannucci.

From the same director of In the Loop and Veep , Armando Iannucci turns his razor-sharp scalpel of satire towards dictators in The Death of Stalin . Set in 1953 Russia, the Soviet leader Stalin ( Adrian McLoughlin ) suffers a sudden health incident and dies, leaving his commanding officers to plot and conspire about how the transfer of power will be handled.

Phenomenal actors Steve Buscemi , Jeffrey Tambor , Simon Russel Beale , and Jason Isaacs are included in the all-star cast and are brilliant in the film. The Death of Stalin seeks to explore the inner workings of absolute power and how it corrupts. Even after Stalin is dead, fear, conspiracy, and betrayal run rife.

The Death of Stalin

5 'inglourious basterds' (2009), directed by quentin tarantino.

When Lt. Aldo Raine ( Brad Pitt ) tells his recruits that he requires 100 Nazi scalps of them, the team of Inglourious Basterds is ready to comply in Quentin Tarantino's darkly comedic World War II era film . The movie follows an unorthodox and efficient team of soldiers sent on a mission to kill as many Nazi soldiers as possible. The team gets an unexpected ally in the owner of a local theater ( Mélanie Laurent ) that hosts an event that all the high-ranking Nazi officers plan to attend.

Fast-paced and exciting action is coupled with great acting moments in this highly entertaining film. Pitt and Christoph Waltz deliver some of the best performances of their careers and the rest of the cast offer dynamic portrayals as well. It was nominated for nine Oscars and Waltz won for his role as Col. Hans Landa.

Inglourious Basterds

4 'life is beautiful' (1997), directed by roberto benigni.

Amid devastation, it can be seemingly impossible to find hope or joy, but that is what one courageous father does in the moving and precious film Life is Beautiful . Seeking to mentally and emotionally shield his young child from the horrors of the Holocaust, Guido ( Roberto Benigni ) uses the guise of a game to reframe the events unfolding around him and his son, Giosué ( Giorgio Cantarini ).

Benigni is remarkable in the movie and won an Academy Award for his acting . The film also took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Music, Original Dramatic Score. The loving and affectionate relationship between Guido and his son is endearing and heartbreaking as they navigate through unimaginable circumstances. It is a vignette of juxtaposition between the very best and worst of human capabilities .

Life Is Beautiful

3 'jojo rabbit' (2019), directed by taika waititi.

Jojo Rabbit ( Roman Griffin Davis ) is a young boy who wants to belong. As the Hitler Youth propaganda engulfs the country, Jojo gets swept up in the excitement and inclusive feelings of belonging to the cause. But his mother, Rosie ( Scarlett Johansson ) harbors secret and contradicting beliefs . When Jojo discovers an unexpected and hidden houseguest, Elsa ( Thomasin McKenzie ) he is challenged to not only see his mother's perspective, but discover what his own truly are.

Davis is outstanding in the film and proves talent knows no age limit . As Jojo creates an imaginary version of Adolf ( Taika Waititi ) to be his imaginary friend, the audience gets a guided tour of his inner hero's journey. The tension between Jojo and his mother is well done, and Thomasin McKenzie is perfect as Elsa. Jojo Rabbit is a great film that explores the psychological and ethical ramifications that war and political dogma have on children. The comedic timing, clever dialogue, and surprising twists make it a highly rewatchable movie.

Jojo Rabbit

2 'dr. strangelove or: how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb' (1964), directed by stanley kubrick.

Ahead of its time, the visionary and resonating Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb centers around a fictitious scenario with U.S. politicians and generals trying to avoid nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The cerebral and nuanced film was nominated for four Oscars and is considered by some to be one of the greatest achievements in filmmaking history .

Phenomenal acting, an unsettling soundtrack, and the use of a black and white color palette allow Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb to convey its bold statements. The quintessential film has no real comparison and is open to manifold interpretations , making it a dynamic piece of art. Peter Sellers delivers a tour-de-force performance and plays three of the film's major characters.

Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb

Stanley Kubrick's 1964 black-and-white satire Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb parodies the growing tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Starring Peter Sellers, the plot revolves around a US Air Force general who orders a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union against the wishes of the government.

1 'The Great Dictator' (1940)

Directed by charles chaplin.

From the imaginative and innovative mind of Charles Chaplin , comes The Great Dictator . Chaplin wrote, directed, and starred in the classic film, and it was nominated for five Oscars . The story follows a dictator named Adenoid Hynkel (Chaplin) as he seeks to achieve ultimate power. However, an officer in his inner circle and a poor farmer who bears an uncanny resemblance threaten his plans for world domination.

Chaplin was already an established icon in silent movies when "talkies" featured sound in motion pictures. But success in one genre did not guarantee it in the other, as many silent film actors found out. It is a testament to Chaplin's immense talent that he not only survived this transition, but did it well . The Great Dictator was his first talking film. The artistic and humorous film blends clever and witty dialogue with the traditional physicality and movement-based performance of silent films. Interwoven with meaningful moments and expression, it is a triumph of using satirical commentary to express profound and insightful perspectives.

The Great Dictator

NEXT: The 10 Most Overused War Movie Tropes

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5 best war movies to stream this Labor Day weekend

Labor Day is a holiday dedicated to the workforce. The first Monday of September honors the labor movement that helped shape the United States, and the workers who represent the backbone of the country. Hopefully, Labor Day is a day off from work, providing much-needed rest and relaxation on the unofficial last day of summer.

Soldiers comprise some of the most admirable and well-respected laborers in America. War films also happen to be one of Hollywood’s most popular genres. A great war film, like Saving Private Ryan and  Apocalypse Now,  can leave an important legacy on the American public. If American soldiers are on your mind, watch these five movies for Labor Day weekend, including an epic Western, an underrated action gem, and a colossal showdown between two of the greatest actors ever.

The Patriot (2000)

An American outlaw takes on the British army in The Patriot . After fighting in the French and Indian War, South Carolina resident Benjamin Martin ( Mel Gibson ) wants nothing to do with the Revolutionary War. After his son (Heath Ledger), a soldier, is captured by the British, Benjamin has no choice but to join the fight. Benjamin’s efforts inspire others to join the cause and fight under his leadership.

Thanks to their guerrilla warfare tactics, Benjamin’s militia turns the tide for the Americans, but it also puts a target on him and his family. Despite its historical inaccuracies, The Patriot features an effective performance by Gibson and invigorating battle scenes, especially the climactic Battle of Cowpens.

Buy or rent The Patriot on YouTube , Prime Video , Google , or Apple .

Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1 (2024)

By now, I’m assuming you’ve heard of Kevin Costner’s passion project, Horizon: An American Saga . Between self-financing the project and insisting on theatrical releases, Horizon: An American Saga   is truly one of the biggest gambles in recent memory. The gamble even has a numerical value of $38 million. That’s how much Costner has personally spent on the epic Western.

Horizon: An American Saga explores how the Old West was formed from 1861 to 1865 during the Civil War. Chapter 1 introduces audiences to the frontier town of Horizon in its early stages of development. Chapter 1 is a lot of exposition, which, at times, can feel tedious. However, Costner understands the scope of the frontier and how to shoot it on film. It’s Costner and a Western. That’s a good start.

Stream Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1 on Max .

The Outpost (2019)

The Outpost  is the definition of an underrated movie . It’s a low-budget war film with a few recognizable actors, but it feels like a big-budget blockbuster with pulse-pounding action and harrowing violence. During the War in Afghanistan, a small group of U.S. soldiers are stationed at PRT Kamdesh, a U.S. military outpost in the secluded valley. Soldiers at the outpost include Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha (Scott Eastwood), Specialist Ty Michael Carter (Caleb Landry Jones), and Captain Benjamin D. Keating (Orlando Bloom).

With mountains on all sides, the outpost is vulnerable to an attack. Unfortunately, that attack from the Taliban comes sooner rather than later. The ensuing firefight became known as the Battle of Kamdesh, one of the bloodiest battles in the entire war.  The Outpost  shines a necessary light on these brave soldiers who sacrificed themselves to defend this country.

Stream The Outpost on Netflix .

Crimson Tide (1995)

Denzel Washington versus Gene Hackman in  Crimson Tide  is a heavyweight showdown for the ages. It’s the acting equivalent of Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frazier — two Academy Award winners verbally sparring within the confines of a submarine. Oh yeah, and Top Gun auteur Tony Scott directs and Hans Zimmer provides the propulsive score. This movie was never going to fail.

In a post-Cold War society, Russian rebels threaten nuclear war, prompting the United States to prepare the submarine USS Alabama to strike if provoked. Captain Frank Ramsey (Hackman) leads the Alabama, with Lieutenant Commander Ron Hunter ( Denzel Washington ) as his executive officer. An incomplete order for a nuclear strike splits the two men down the middle. Ramsey wants to strike now, while Hunter wishes to wait for another message. The tense showdown plays out over two hours in a terrific action thriller.

Buy or rent Crimson Tide on YouTube , Prime Video , Google , or Apple .

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (2023)

Guy Ritchie is an English filmmaker with a very distinct style. Lively characters, fast-paced action, and quippy dialogue are Ritchie’s staples. Besides the action-packed scenes,   Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant  is a change of pace from his trademark crime capers like Snatch  and  The Man from U.N.C.L.E.  Change isn’t always a bad thing, with  The Covenant becoming one of Ritchie’s most underrated offerings.

During the War in Afghanistan, Master Sgt. John Kinley ( Road House ‘s Jake Gyllenhaal) relies on a local interpreter, Ahmed (Dar Salim), to translate for his unit. After an ambush leaves the team in shambles, Ahmed saves Kinley’s life by dragging him across miles of mountainous terrain. Kinley returns to the United States with a newfound respect for Ahmed. After learning Ahmed and his family are in danger, Kinley travels back to Afghanistan to rescue his new friend and bring him back to the States.

Stream Guy Ritche’s The Covenant on Prime Video .

Editors’ Recommendations

• 3 best (HBO) Max movies to stream this Labor Day weekend
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• 10 great movies to stream on Labor Day weekend

Labor Day typically signals the end of summer. It's our last chance to take that weekend road trip, lounge at the beach, or spend a leisurely evening watching a great movie. Considering how hot it's been for much of the continent this summer, lots of people are probably eagerly awaiting the cooler weather, but there's always a bit of summer magic that seems to flutter away once Labor Day comes to a close.

So, why not celebrate the last glimpse of summer with some great comedies? Whether you want a movie about slacking off at work (it is Labor Day after all), some family vacationing gone wrong, or one of the funniest shark movies ever made, be sure to check out these five great comedy movies over the holiday weekend.

Labor Day weekend marks the end of the summer. For kids, it's the last hoorah before school sets in. For adults, it's the final chance to escape to a beach house or experience a weekend getaway. Hopefully, you work at a job where you're lucky enough to have Labor Day off, so you can enjoy the rare three-day weekend.

If you have some downtime, sneak in a movie. Amazon Prime Video has thousands of movies ready to be streamed with the push of a button. Need a recommendation? These five movies revolve around high school teens or young adults. Our picks include an early comedy from Bill Murray, an underrated buddy cop movie, and a sweet film set at an amusement park. Meatballs (1979)

Labor Day is a great time for a barbeque to culminate the end of a long and fruitful summer. For some, though, it's also a great excuse to catch up on some movies, or watch ones you love again. If you're someone who loves to explore the intricate, imaginative worlds of science fiction, then this is the list for you.

We've selected five sci-fi movies that are all worth watching over this Labor Day weekend. These movies come from a wide array of different streaming services, and they represent the best of what sci-fi has to offer today.

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Trump has history sparking outrage for incidents around veterans even as military voters backed him

The Army says an Arlington National Cemetery official was “abruptly pushed aside” during an altercation with former President Donald Trump’s staff during a wreath-laying ceremony but declined to press charges.

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NEW YORK (AP) — The reported altercation at Arlington National Cemetery involving Donald Trump’s staff was far from the first time that veterans or the families of service members have criticized the former president for words or behavior they saw as disparaging.

Since his first run for the White House, Trump has picked fights with the military and veterans that no other major U.S. politician would, dating back to 2015 when he dismissed the late Sen. John McCain’s military record because McCain had been a prisoner of war. Trump’s allies argue he supports service members while reserving the right to lash out against his critics.

“I think that if you want to know how Donald Trump values and honors those who’ve served, and particularly those who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice, I think you can just talk to these families and they have a much better read on this issue than anybody who has a grudge against Donald Trump,” said Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, on Monday.

Monday’s incident at Arlington National Cemetery took place as the former president visited the graves of some of the 13 U.S. service members killed in the Kabul bombing during the 2021 U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan. The Army says a cemetery official was “pushed aside” by Trump campaign aides while trying to prevent them from filming and photographing in Section 60, the burial site for military personnel killed while fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Trump campaign later posted footage of the visit on its social media accounts. The family of a decorated Green Beret whose grave appeared in the photos issued a statement supporting those who lost loved ones in Kabul but asking for understanding for the concerns from relatives of service members whose graves were near them.

Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story, but has contested the allegation that a campaign staffer pushed a cemetery official.

Jon Stoltz, a U.S. Army veteran and co-founder of veterans advocacy group VoteVets, which supports Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy, said Trump tried to use a sacred place “for a political ceremony.”

“They don’t have a right to do that with other veterans who are there,” Stoltz said.

The Arlington incident came less than two weeks after Trump came under criticism for the way he discussed the Congressional Medal of Honor, the military’s highest decoration for service members.

Praising billionaire Republican donor Miriam Adelson, whom he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, Trump said she fared “much better” than receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor because recipients of that award are often badly injured or dead.

Despite the Veterans of Foreign Wars admonishing Trump by calling his comments “flippant” and “asinine,” he repeated a version of the remark at a campaign event in Michigan on Thursday, saying he’d “rather get” the Medal of Freedom because the Medal of Honor recipients, “oftentimes they’ve suffered greatly, right? They’ve suffered greatly or they’re not around.”

Earlier this year, then-Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley condemned Trump for questioning her husband’s whereabouts while he was serving a National Guard mission abroad.

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His former chief of staff John Kelly, a retired general, has alleged that Trump referred to Americans killed in World War I as “suckers” and “losers.” Trump has denied that allegation.

In the past, Trump has maintained strong support from veterans, who tend to be reliable voters that favor Republicans.

AP VoteCast found that about 6 in 10 military veterans said they voted for Trump in the 2020 election, as did just over half of those with a veteran in the household. About 60% of veteran voters in the 2020 election identified as Republicans and about half — 47% — considered themselves conservative.

Pew Research Center’s validated voter survey found that a similar share of veterans supported Trump in 2016. And among voters in this year’s South Carolina Republican primary, AP VoteCast found that close to two-thirds of military veterans and people in veteran households voted for Trump over Haley.

Trump argues he protected service members by pushing to end foreign wars like the two-decade conflict in Afghanistan. He has also taken credit — wrongly — for first passing a private sector health care program, Veterans Choice, that was initially enacted during the administration of former President Barack Obama.

Neither Trump nor Harris served in the military, with Trump obtaining a series of deferments during the Vietnam War, including one obtained with a physician’s letter saying he had bone spurs in his feet.

Both parties have courted veterans . They have stood up veterans coalitions and are backed by outside groups focusing on veterans issues. And both picked veterans as running mates.

Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating high school, serving four years as a combat correspondent, a type of military journalist, and deploying to Iraq in that capacity in 2005.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, served a total of 24 years in various units and jobs in the Army National Guard, although the circumstances of his retirement ahead of his unit’s deployment and several characterizations he’s made of his time in service have drawn criticism from Republicans — particularly Vance — and prompted the Harris campaign to issue clarifications. The campaign has also promoted Walz’s service as ranking member on the House Veterans Affairs Committee during his time in Congress.

Stoltz, co-founder of VoteVets, said that Trump’s stock with veterans could be damaged by the former president’s repeated slights, but he believes it has an impact broadly among voters because Trump’s comments and actions can be perceived as affronts on that community.

“I know there’s veterans who support Trump,” he said. “He’s just motivated people against him.”

On its website, VoteVets offers a number of pro-Harris-Walz items, including camouflage yard signs, of which Stoltz said the group had sold 10,000 in recent weeks.

“People are starting to view the military as just another thing that Trump wants to use for his own gain,” Stoltz said.

Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina. Associated Press reporters Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.