Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Great Cinematic Speeches: A Few Good Men

As the third entry in my recurring feature on great cinematic speeches (the first one being on Jaws and the second being on Twelve Angry Men) I thought I might highlight that electrifying speech delivered by Jack Nicholson at the climax of Robr Reiner's A Few Good Men. I really don't have much to say about it except that although I'm not sure I'm prepared to say it's one of the "all-time great cinematic speeches," it is certainly one of the most well-known (and often imitated). Many times have I been in a conversation when, somehow or other, the word "truth" was used, to which someone invariably said in their best Nicholson impression: "You can't handle the truth!" Thank you, Jack!

Once again, SPOILERS follow.

Scene Stealers : A Few Good Men : Jack Nicholson Pt 4

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2 comments:

The 'Stache said...

Hadn't seen that in awhile. Maybe not a great speech, but a helluva scene. It always amazes me how Cruise gets to work with so many good people, when he just does not have much skill as an actor. You can always sees the rotors turning.

tomdwayne said...

it certainly is one of the great cinematic speeches.
gosh, i miss those sessions watching it with a few friends trying to do a jack impression all along...fun times.
also thanks for your comment tlrhb - it can´t be stressed enough that tom cruise isn´t a great actor - why so many critics don´t seem to see his rotors turning all the time is beyond me - maybe it´s because he usually has roles where that´s part of the character. he never is a great actor, but sometimes a very effective one - or more precisely: a very efficient one. whenever he is supposed to be cool or elegant or gracious or whatever, he fails. i guess he was perfect in this movie after all - the perfect foil for everyone else involved.