comment #1

ZacharyTF says ...

I'm with you every step of the way there Jeff. I remember seeing this in theaters and applauding after Pacino was done.

Anyone notice a certain Gotham DA there? :)

comment #2

Mr. Gittes says ...

With some help by the great John Logan, right?

comment #3

DarthCorleone says ...

Yeah, I agree it's very good. Per the critical consensus, it would seem that I love this movie way more than I should, but I'm a big NFL fan and sports fan in general. I enjoy the themes and all the performances.

Just one minor quibble, though, for the trivia buffs: this is a pregame speech - not a halftime one.

comment #4

hiviper says ...

good scene and good writing, no doubt.
but the editing on that movie completely turned me off - can this guy just edit a flick without the fancy cuts and other bullshit that calls attention to itself? Scorcese's editor manages it.

comment #5

dre says ...

I actually love the editing in this movie. And this speech is phenom....its pretty much everything else in this movie I dislike. So many unlikeable characters, no one to root for, and no one interesting enough to observe objectively. But man, it is a truly great speech.

comment #6

R. Hunt says ...

The greatest motivational speech in movie history (and the most neglected supporting actor performance) was delivered by Michael Kidd in Michael Ritchie's "Smile": "And that girl.... had a wooden leg."

comment #7

citizenmilton says ...

Thanks for posting this. I just e-mailed a link to it to someone who is fighting for something important, personal, and within their grasp. But tough enough to obtain that there's still some struggle ahead. The perfect speech for that situation.

BTW- for me the biggest revelation in the film was Foxx; at that point, all I'd seen him in is *horrible* comedy sketches - this film announced him as a serious talent to watch. Not a great film, not Stone's best work - but, moments of inspiration; and this is clearly one of them.

comment #8

filmsofdust says ...

Indeed it is, and it was used to great effect by the creative and independent folks supporting the Ron Paul campaign:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQNIS3WfLUi

comment #9

StoneFan1 says ...

I'd have to say it's a tie between this and Gene
Hackman's pre-game talk in "Hoosiers" during
one of the playoff games.

Jamie Foxx was a stud in that part and Pacino
has never had a better year with "AGS" and
"The Insider."

The sound was fantastic! Ditto editing and
cinematography. A truly underrated film. I'd
rank it as Stone's third or fourth best effort.

comment #10

The InSneider says ...

they play this in the 4th quarter of celtics games all the time, along with nicholson's you can't handle the truth scene from a few good men cuz paul pierce's nickname is the truth. they are the greatest two films clips you can possibly play. burgess meredith in rocky would replace the nicholson clip outside of a celtics game though. no more perfect match than that nickname and that line from that actor in that movie.

comment #11

atticusrex says ...

I agree that the film has issues good and bad. I felt that the way it opened was smart. Just put you there into the mix, the game, the thrill of the moment.

This speech is also a great moment. But for me, my actual favorite moment in the film is the way it ends. I love what Pacino does at the end. For me it made the movie.

Besides the Doors it's the only Stone movie I own with the exception of course of his best scripted/non-directed achievement: Scarface. Please don't flame me over this... I know that Midnight Express is also good.... but damn Scarface just rules as the ultimate junkfest-kitchen sink-guilty pleasure of all time!

comment #12

Josh Massey says ...

I just wish Oliver Stone had ever watched a football game before he made that movie.

comment #13

Chase Kahn says ...

The other 3 hours were pretty good, too, right? Oh......whoops.......

comment #14

JD says ...

Good stuff but, without Robert Richardson, Oliver Stone has no idea what to do with the camera. Post-U-Turn his movies have all been disasters, visually speaking.

comment #15

oranthal james says ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Lhw4M-GTg

comment #16

StoneFan1 says ...

Give me a break! Richardson is the best DP out
there, but Stone knows what to do with the
camera, sorry! JD's statement simply has no
basis in fact what so ever.

Also, Stone is a huge football fan, so he did watch
a game (or two or 100) before making the film.
In fact, we were both at the same game back in
November of 1995 / Cowboys Vs. 49ers

Scarface is a piece of shit. You can't be a serious
film fan without owning JFK or Nixon, sorry!

comment #17

Balthazar says ...

Hiviper said: "good scene and good writing, no doubt. but the editing on that movie completely turned me off - can this guy just edit a flick without the fancy cuts and other bullshit that calls attention to itself? Scorcese's editor manages it. "

Absolutely, the editing mostly ruined that scene.

comment #18

atticusrex says ...

Stonefan1: Excuse me? Fine, I'll take the bait...

Scarface is not a piece of s**t. It's a cultural touchstone of '80's excess in the world of corrupt drug dealers. It's insane, over-the-top to be sure... but Al is having a grand time... and the entrance of Michele is a stunning knockout... riding down in that clear elevator.

Scarface is never meant to be taken as truth. It's a parable if anything... but it's shot and written with verve and cajonies.

It's fine Stonefan1 if you don't like it. And yes JFK and Nixon are good movies but not ones I want to watch over and over again. For the most part Stone as a director doesn't make films that I want to see over and over unlike say The Coens, Michael Mann and others. That's not a knock on Stone mind you though I never forgave him for Natural Born Killers or U-Turn... though I do admit Billy Bob was great in U-Turn.

comment #19

Josh Massey says ...

As a former high school player who, between the Georgia Bulldogs and Atlanta Falcons, attends roughly 15 football games a year, I can tell you Oliver Stone has absolutely no understanding of how football is actually played. Well, either that, or he willfully ignored realism in that terrible movie.

But yeah, Scarface is a piece of shit.

comment #20

D.Z. says ...

Josh: "As a former high school player who, between the Georgia Bulldogs and Atlanta Falcons, attends roughly 15 football games a year, I can tell you Oliver Stone has absolutely no understanding of how football is actually played."

I think the "six inches in your face" line is what tipped me off. That sounds like a gay double entendre.

comment #21

JoshNY says ...

I thought this scene was sappy and trite.

comment #22

bluefugue says ...

[quote]Scarface is a piece of shit. You can't be a serious
film fan without owning JFK or Nixon, sorry![/quote]

Why must opinions always be stated in these tiresome absolutist terms? Just say "I like JFK and Nixon," for chrissakes...

comment #23

StoneFan1 says ...

I would if I could, but these anti-Stone pople are
the ones who won't allow you to just state your
opinion.

D.Z. - Stone wasn't going for "realism" in the
football sequences. And, even if he was, why
does everything have to be realisitc? Come on!
Grow up some, okay!

atticusrex
I don't care if "Scarface" was "a cultural
touchstone of '80's excess" because the acting,
cinematography, editing, production design,
over-the-top foul language made it into a "piece of
shit," sorry! Just because something is a "first" or
a "touchstone" doesn't mean it's any good. I think
"Redel Without a Cause" is horrible. Michelle makes
me sick in that film, she's WAY TOO thin. I nearly
throw up everytime I see her in a still image from
the film. I don't watch every Stone film over and
over, just "JFK," "Nixon," and parts of others. I
wouldn't step in front of a guy wanting to burn
the original camera negative of "Natural Born
Killers" if my life depended on it. "U-Turn" was
awful, but old Billy Bob was great.

Balthazar - Editing ruined that scene? Really? I
recall the editing being very straighfoward on
that scene compared to the rest of the movie.

JoshNY - "scene was sappy and trite," maybe so,
but it had to be that way for the final act to work.

comment #24

NotImpressedYet says ...

Any Given Sunday was good tasting trash, and that's meant as a compliment. Very satisfying, fun, and one of those movies whose slickness and energy actually make up for how empty it is.

I'd love to see how someone like a Michael Mann would handle a big football movie. He certainly likes to show us people who are good at their jobs (shit, he even made taxidriving seem like something to take pride in). Imagine what he could do with the NFL...

comment #25

MDOC says ...

I love this speech. I have an MP3 of it that I listen to in my car. The speech redeems Any Given Sunday, and makes me like the movie. I always envisoned that somebody wrote the speech first than wrote the rest of the script around it.

comment #26

Richardson says ...

"I don't watch every Stone film over and over, just "JFK," "Nixon," and parts of others."

I just wanted to point out that this guy previously claimed to have watched 'Alexander' 35 times beginning to end. He got insulting when somebody suggested that it was a bad movie. It was pretty funny.

comment #27

Richardson says ...

"Stone wasn't going for "realism" in the football sequences. And, even if he was, why does everything have to be realisitc?"

So, wait, you're saying that if he had tried to be realistic, and failed to be realistic, it still wouldn't be an artistic failure?

Jeez, and I thought *I* liked Oliver Stone more than was rational...

comment #28

StoneFan1 says ...

No, I meant that Stone was going for (as usual)
his own visual take on football and wasn't
concerned with a non-cinematic and/or realistic
view of the sport. I'm sure football seems slower
at the high school and college level, but he needed
a faster pace for his pro league.

Wait, "AGS" is empty? Give me a break! There's
a ton of stuff going on in "AGS." Generational
conflict, age conflict, sports vs. society conflict,
racial conflict, etc. Just because it isn't a somber,
stoic view of football, doesn't make it empty. God
help us if Clint Eastwood got his hands on it. I'd be
sleeping within 10 minutes. Michael Mann's style
doesn't seem to go well with football, unless it's a
"Friday Night Lights" type thing.

comment #29

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