10 More Movie Speeches That Dominated The Film

5. Old B*stard - Patton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b5g1avyCSA Patton begins with American General George S. Patton (George C. Scott) giving a speech in front of a huge American flag. Though the audience is supposed to be American troops (the text is adapted from Patton's speech to the Third Army before the Normandy invasion), the troops remain unseen, meaning that Scott is delivering the speech directly to the movie audience without any buffer. The words of the speech reveal exactly why Patton was known as "Old Blood and Guts," as from the opening line ("Now I want you to remember that no b*stard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country....") it is filled with hearty, do-or-die words to inspire his men to greatness. It is alternately harsh and humorous, but as a whole it would make anyone want to follow this man into battle. What's so brilliant about the opening speech in Patton is that it uses the general's own words to completely establish the attitude of the character in the first few minutes of the film. There isn't a single person in the movie audience who doesn't know who this man is or what he represents going forward.