It only takes a monologue to steal the show. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at monologues that combine good writing with a top-notch performance to create a moment that defines the film.
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00:00I took all my feelings, my wants and needs and dreams, and I buried them inside you.
00:06Welcome to Ms Mojo, and today we're looking at monologues that combine good writing
00:11with a top-notch performance to create a moment that defines the film.
00:15I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression.
00:21Number 10. Helen's Monologue, Diary of a Mad Black Woman
00:25Let me explain something to you. Old Helen is gone.
00:32If you're gonna title your movie Diary of a Mad Black Woman,
00:36then the titular angry black woman better steal the show.
00:39And oh boy, does Kimberly Elise's Helen do just that.
00:43Now I came here to help you, but now I'm gonna get even.
00:51After having her husband cheat on her for years and then leave her for another woman,
00:55Helen is shocked and broken. Eventually, she gets back on her feet,
01:00finding her strength, power, and voice. A voice she uses to its full potential in
01:05this angry yet pointed monologue, directed at her good-for-nothing soon-to-be ex-husband Charles.
01:12Got me all stressed out, my hair falling out, my weight up and down, can't keep anything down,
01:18two miscarriages, you took life from me, and you never even said I'm sorry.
01:24Number 9. Seduce and Destroy, Magnolia
01:28Magnolia runs at just over three hours long, and Tom Cruise is only on screen for 27 minutes.
01:34But for a portion of those 27 minutes, Cruise's Frank T.J. Mackey is in the spotlight. Literally.
01:40Taking on head first with the skills that I will teach you at work, and say,
01:45no, you will not control me. Mackey is a master pickup artist,
01:50teaching his angry and misogynistic techniques to a room of desperate men willing to do whatever he
01:56says. What he says isn't always easy to hear, but there's no way we could turn away.
02:01Because me and my brothers, we like to celebrate. And on the first of May, we celebrate V-Day.
02:09We weren't the only ones. In a film filled with some of the best actors around,
02:16Cruise was the only one nominated for an Oscar.
02:19I will not apologize for who I am.
02:23I will not apologize for what I need.
02:27I will not apologize for what I want.
02:30Number 8. You Don't Matter, Birdman
02:32This is my chance to finally do some work that actually means something.
02:35Means something to who? You had a career, Dad, before the third comic book movie.
02:41Sometimes, family is the only one that can say something. The only ones who don't have to tell
02:46us what we want to hear, but rather the hard truth that we can't, or don't want, to see.
02:52Face it, Dad, you are not doing this for the sake of art. You are doing this
02:56because you want to feel relevant again.
02:58In Birdman, Rigan Thompson used to be famous for playing a superhero,
03:02but now wants to put on an artistic and intellectual play. Why? Well, according to
03:07his daughter, Sam, played by Emma Stone, he's doing it because he's scared that he doesn't matter.
03:12You're doing this because you're scared to death, like the rest of us,
03:16that you don't matter. And you know what? You're right. You don't.
03:20With the unflinching camera set on her, Stone's monologue of anger and truth
03:24hits her father at his core, as it does to all who watch it.
03:29Number 7. Out of Order
03:31Scent of a Woman
03:32Mr. Simms, you are a cover-up artist and you are a liar.
03:36But not a snitch.
03:40Excuse me?
03:41No, I don't think I will.
03:43Watching Scent of a Woman for the first time, you might have thought Al Pacino stole the show
03:48when he did the blind man tango in a New York restaurant. However, Pacino hadn't yet delivered
03:53his loud, impassioned speech in defense of Chris O'Donnell to the prep school disciplinary committee.
03:59What is your motto here? Boys, inform on your classmates, save your hide.
04:06Anything short of that, we're gonna burn you at the stake.
04:08While the dance moves were certainly impressive, an actor as great as Pacino
04:13can just simply stay in one place and move an audience. That is exactly what he does here,
04:19showing the court what being out of order looks like.
04:22Sir, you're out of order.
04:23Out of order? I show you out of order. You don't know what out of order is, Mr. Trask.
04:29Number 6. Your Move, Chief. Good Will Hunting
04:33You don't have to be a genius to recognize the show-stealing power of this monologue
04:37by Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting.
04:39Thought about what you said to me the other day, about my painting.
04:43Huh?
04:44Instead of half the night thinking about it.
04:46What does it mean to truly love? What does it mean to truly feel?
04:50To tear down your walls and truly open up who you are to another person.
04:55When I ask you about love, you probably quote me a sonnet.
05:00But you've never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable.
05:03This monologue stands tall not just for its universal and human themes,
05:07but for Williams' performance as well. Without raising his voice,
05:11Williams calmly grabs our attention from the beginning and never lets go.
05:15Your Move, Chief.
05:16Number 5. Mad As Hell, Network.
05:26Network was nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning Best Original Screenplay.
05:31We sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had 15
05:36homicides and 63 violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be.
05:40We know things are bad, worse than bad. They're crazy.
05:44In 2005, the Writers Guild of America voted the script by Paddy Chayefsky
05:49as one of the 10 greatest screenplays in cinematic history.
05:53So, yeah, the writing was great.
05:55I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the
05:59crime in the street. All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.
06:02But it also takes a great performance to make a show-stealing monologue.
06:07That is precisely what Peter Finch gives as angry newscaster Howard Beale
06:11implores the nation to stand up, go on their windows, and yell,
06:16I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore!
06:19Even decades later, his words still ring true.
06:23Number 4. You Can't Handle The Truth, A Few Good Men.
06:27It's one of the most iconic lines in the history of movies.
06:30You want answers? I think I'm entitled.
06:32You want answers! I want the truth!
06:35You can't handle the truth!
06:36You Can't Handle The Truth has become such a part of our popular culture
06:41that some folks might have even forgotten that it was just the beginning of a pretty great monologue.
06:46You have the luxury of not knowing what I know,
06:49that Santiago's death while tragic probably saved lives.
06:53Well, we sure didn't forget about Jack Nicholson,
06:56the world of walls, and the men with guns who guard those walls.
07:00So, we will say thank you to Nicholson,
07:03not for the awful things his character did, but for the amazing monologue he gave us all.
07:08I would rather you just said thank you and went on your way.
07:11Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand to post.
07:15Number 3. Be The First, Hidden Figures.
07:18You of all people should understand the importance of being first.
07:22How's that, Mrs. Jackson?
07:24Well, you were the first in your family to serve in the armed forces.
07:28More important than any monologue are the real-life figures on which Hidden Figures is based.
07:33They stole the show at NASA, becoming the first African-American women to reach
07:38various positions inside the agency. But if we're talking about the movie,
07:42the one monologue that always stands out belongs to Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson,
07:47asking a local judge in Virginia to grant her permission to be the first
07:51Black woman to attend the all-white Hampton High School.
07:55I plan on being an engineer at NASA,
07:57but I can't do that without taking them classes at that all-white high school.
08:01The speech by Mrs. Jackson is one we'll remember forever. Forever, ever.
08:06Forever, forever, ever. Forever, ever.
08:08Number 2. All My Life I Had To Fight, The Color Purple.
08:12All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my uncles.
08:19I had to fight my brothers.
08:21When it comes to daytime television, Oprah Winfrey stole the show for 25 years.
08:26However, in 1985, one year prior to starting her now-historic run on television,
08:31Winfrey stole the show in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple.
08:35I loves Hoppo. God knows I do. But I'll kill him dead before I let him be me.
08:44The scene in question features an angry monologue by Winfrey in which she admits to her history
08:49with abusive men, from her father to her uncles and even her brothers, and how she will not accept
08:55treatment like that anymore. Her performance earned Winfrey a much-deserved Best Supporting
09:00Actress nomination at the Oscars. Heaven lasts always.
09:04Girl, you ought to bash Mr. Ted open and think about heaven later.
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09:241. 18 Years – Fences
09:28I got 18 years of my life invested in New York. I've stayed upstairs in my bed where you belong.
09:32Now listen to me, we can get a handle on this thing.
09:34In addition to winning an Emmy, Tony, Grammy, and Oscar, The New York Times ranked Viola Davis
09:41the ninth-greatest actor of the 21st century, a well-earned ranking due,
09:46in part, to performances like the one she gave in 2016's Fences.
09:50I gave 18 years of my life to stand in the same spot as you.
09:55Don't you think I ever wanted other things? Don't you think I had dreams and hopes?
09:59What about my life? What about me?
10:01Exemplified in this monologue in which she lays herself emotionally bare, revealing to her
10:06husband how her dedication to him for the past 18 years was at the expense of her own life's dreams.
10:12Five years earlier in The Help, Davis as Abilene Clark stole the show with a much quieter yet
10:18just-as-crushing monologue about the death of her son.
10:20He died right in front of me.
10:25He's just 24 years old, Miss Skeeter, best part of a person's life.
10:30Yet it was her work in Fences that earned Davis the aforementioned Academy Award.
10:36Leave us a short monologue of your own in the comments below.
10:39In our courts, all men are created equal.
10:47Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
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