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40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes

by Matthew Belinkie — Wed, Dec 10, 2008, 2:18pm
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So way back in April, I first had the idea of editing together inspirational speeches. Since then, the Dow has dropped 3,000 points and one million jobs have been lost. The people of the United States are now a ragtag bunch of scruffy underdogs, down by three touchdowns at halftime, with a whole horde of orcs waiting for us right outside those locker room doors. Inspiration has become something we need. (By the way, you couldn’t tell because it started the sentence, but “Inspiration” was capitalized.)

What I’m trying to say is, I may have just single-handedly saved the economy with this montage:

TRANSCRIPT:

Shame on you. This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you’re going to let it be the worst. 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. Well, I’m not going home. We’ve come too far! And I’m going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause. A day may come when the courage of men fails… but it is not THIS day. The line must be drawn HERE. This far, no further! I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. You’re going to work harder than you ever worked before. But that’s fine, we’ll just get tougher with it! If a person grits his teeth and shows real determination, failure is not an option. That’s how winning is done! Believe me when I say we can break this army here, and win just one for the Gipper. But I say to you what every warrior has known since the beginning of time: you’ve got to get mad. I mean plum mad dog mean. If you would be free men, then you must fight to fulfill that promise! Let us cut out their living guts one inch at a time, and they will know what we can do! Let no man forget how menacing we are. We are lions! You’re like a big bear, man! This is YOUR time! Seize the day, never surrender, victory or death… that’s the Chicago Way! Who’s with me? Clap! Clap! Don’t let Tink die! Clap! Alright! Let’s fly! And gentlemen in England now abed shall know my name is the Lord when I tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our Independence Day!

Some behind-the-scenes notes for editing nerds only.

  • Obviously, there was some fudging to get it all in one aspect ratio. Some clips were 4:3, so I had to blow them up to fill a 16:9 frame. Other clips were 2.35:1, and I had to blow those up too. You don’t really notice, because you’re watching the finished product in a little box.
  • The music sort of picked itself. A problem I always run into doing these videos is that you can’t just push a button and make a movie’s soundtrack magically disappear. I actually discarded certain clips because they had loud music I couldn’t cover up (Starship Troopers: “Everyone fights, no one quits.”) But there were two clips I felt like I needed that had really loud music -- Animal House and Henry V. So I got those mp3s, synced them up with those two clips, and then dragged the audio out to underscore the entire piece.
  • For a while, I was going to end it with Henry V to ID4, like this: “… and hold their manhoods cheap, while any speaks who fought with us upon OUR INDEPENDENCE DAY!” But I like going back to Braveheart, because it’s sort of a subtle, subconscious fakeout. The video began with the Braveheart speech, and when William Wallace pops back up, you think it’s going to end there. You don’t expect that last cut to Bill Pullman.
  • I’m grateful to Mr. Stokes, who suggested that I use longer clips at the beginning. At the time I had even more movies packed in there, with more cuts. But Jordan is usually right, and it definitely works better with more of a build.
  • My favorite cut: Chaplin as a Hitler-esque dictator, to George C. Scott as Patton. Not an accident.
  • The clips at the end aren’t exactly in random order. It’s seven shots of characters with arms raised in triumph: the boy from Neverending Story, Rudy, Andy Dufresne, the Grinch, Ferris Bueller, Lincoln, and Rocky.
  • My favorite speech? Animal House, actually. Maybe it’s the positive associations we all have with that movie, or the positive associations we all have with Belushi. But by jingo, it works.

So what’s your favorite inspirational speech?

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143 Comments on “40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes”

  1. Paul Nicholson on Wed, 10th Dec 2008 3:03 pm 

    Great video.

    I have a list of what i think are the movies you used. Still missing a few.

    Can you fill them in?

    http://paulnich.blogspot.com/2008/12/most-inspirational-movie-ever.html

  2. fenzel on Wed, 10th Dec 2008 3:03 pm 

    I love the “peace with/by inches” speech from _Any Given Sunday_, which of course you included in this excellent piece.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rFx6OFooCs

    I used to keep an mp3 of that speech on my desktop in college, and when I hit the wall late nights writing a paper or working on a project and couldn’t go any further, I’d play it and recharge.

    I remember I played it for the YPMB scriptwriting committee once, I think before we wrote our Harvard script. It seemed to have a pretty powerful effect on everybody.

  3. mlawski on Wed, 10th Dec 2008 3:19 pm 

    I haven’t been the annoying feminist in a long while, so here it is: Isn’t it sad that there are only 2.5 women in that video? (The .5 is for Peter Pan.)

    What, we’re not allowed to be epic and inspirational? We’re not important enough to make the big, final speeches to rouse up the team or the country or the Ancient Roman armies? Where’s the video for us? Because, I’ll tell you, where would the movie Troy be without Helen? Where would Rocky be without Adrian? Where would Bastian be without that weird princess girl? Where would William Wallace be without that dead wife of his? Where would the president of Independence Day be without that dead wife of HIS?

    No. We’re going to fight! We’re gonna live on! Today, my friends, is our Women’s History Month!

  4. Siwi on Wed, 10th Dec 2008 3:41 pm 

    I need a name for something. It’s that line that marks where irony and earnestness sort of collide. I can’t be sure how much you intended the earnest side of it, but speaking as someone who has loved and been moved by many of these, I can’t experience it just as irony, and it’s much too smart (Oh my God, Superman with the flag) to experience just as earnest (yes, stating the obvious, sorry). I’m fairly certain that is what you were going for. Good freaking job. For the record, the way I’d refer to that line right now, lacking a name, would be “that space OverthinkingIt occupies most of the time.”

    First little gasp/laugh of delight: appearance of Newsies. Another favorite moment: Jimmy Stewart to Return of the King. To Patrick Stewart. Stewart sandwich! (That’s not why, just funny). Keira Knightley, moment I never would’ve remembered, totally working. Maybe that was more inspirational than I realized?

    (rewatching)

    Jesus, this thing is like bottled happiness. And I don’t even want to keep watching it because I hate knowing climactic scenes from movies I haven’t seen (of which there are a few in here). But I can’t stop! So… thanks?

    Letting the sentiment go for a second, it never until now occurred to me how heavily the gender balance of these things is skewed (It’s just Keira and Peter Pan on the other side, right? Heh. Half the female representation is Peter Pan). It’s not surprising, I guess–these speeches are generally given by people at the confluence of leader, authority figure and older, experienced one, all of which are categories we’ve usually associated with men. And there is of course the whole “Henry V was a dude, of course it’s a dude” angle. But, you know, interesting.

    So, if anyone else cares, how are inspirational speeches gendered, and why? When I think back to “Strong Female Characters,” there have to be some great ass-kicking lines from, say, Aliens and Terminator 2, but in those cases the women were defending very specific things. Is it easier, culturally, to let women stand up for themselves or specific others like their own children, before we let them crusade for ideas like Jimmy Stewart or lead groups of people like Braveheart? Is there a speech in, say, Norma Rae that totally belongs here?

    That’s quite enough for a comment, so I’m going to stop myself. Much food for thought, and very good job!

  5. Siwi on Wed, 10th Dec 2008 3:44 pm 

    Mlawski says it better, as I would expect. And doesn’t forget Kirsten Dunst.

  6. Paul Nicholson on Wed, 10th Dec 2008 3:55 pm 

    @mlawski Good point. Obviously the fact that most of these movies are sports and historically set war/battle movies means mostly men. Valid point though.

  7. mlawski on Wed, 10th Dec 2008 4:12 pm 

    I mostly just wanted to make an inspirational speech :)

    @Siwi: I love that you said that OTI is where irony and earnestness collide. That is SO AWESOME!*

    *Was that irony or earnestness? I’ll never tell.

  8. What I’ve Been Up To: Year in Review « In Case You Were Wondering on Wed, 10th Dec 2008 6:47 pm 

    [...] Also, the first “cool thing on the internet.” Watch this and don’t be inspired, I dare you. Inspiration! [...]

  9. Siwi on Wed, 10th Dec 2008 6:48 pm 

    I’m not sure you even know yourself, I think that’s the secret. The AWESOME secret.

  10. Gab on Wed, 10th Dec 2008 6:58 pm 

    It’s even in sing-along format in the clip I found:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUhwA-C-ACg

    This one is one of my favorite political drama ones:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44R5BapEdYY

    This one, too:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw5wetGMCrA

    But that makes me realize something along the lines of the already-discussed gender disparity. In the two speeches by men I thought of, the man giving the speech was, in some way, defending a woman. Both women are what I would argue “strong female characters,” yet still are under fire in their movies because of “scandal” and such. Sigh.

  11. Ned Y on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 12:50 am 

    Nice job Matt! That is pretty outstanding.

  12. sarielthrawn on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 12:56 am 

    I love that you threw Swingers in there. “You’re a bad man.”

    Well done Mr Belinke. Perhaps this falls into one of those ‘on shoulders of giants’ categories.

  13. fenzel on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 9:23 am 

    One big reason Hollywood inspirational speeches are gendered is that they appear primarily in sports movies, war movies, science fiction movies and fantasy movies, which overwhelmingly feature male actors and are overwhelmingly for male audiences.

    I guess you could have an inspirational montage of everyone’s wives dying or getting kidnapped (Helen of Troy, Independence Day, etc.), but I suspect it would have the opposite effect of what you’d like. You might be better off making a montage of Stephen Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Brian Bosworth just saying “NOOOOO!!!!” over and over again.

    Yes, they could do a lot more movies about women’s sports – so I guess _Stick It_ is the bold vanguard you’re looking for. They could even get ahead of reality a bit and make more than 45% of the coaches in those movies women.

    But yeah, you’re going to have problems finding female field generals to give big inspirational speeches in historical epics.

    And sure, you could make _The Mists of Avalon_ over and over and over again, but I suspect it would get tiresome.

    Mainly – it’s not that Matt didn’t pick those scenes from those movies, it’s that those scenes disproportionately don’t exist or aren’t interesting, either because of the requirements of the genre, the precedent on which they are based, the audience they are looking for, or that fighting against type just for feministic reasons can be pretty counterproductive, since these speeches are all about “TYPE, TYPE, TYPE.”

    Only a few movies and shows have really done this well, and certainly not enough to make a quality montage. This is a fight worth waging going forward, but it is not worth diminishing the brilliant work of Bill Pullman or Charles S. Dutton, who have done nothing wrong (except perhaps _Mr. Wrong_).

    If you want big inspirational speeches from women who are in the shit, I’d recommend getting as excited as I am about the new season of _Battlestar Galactica_.

  14. gwhiz on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 10:03 am 

    my favorites are henry v, network, and rudy. can you give a list of all the films i would like to see some of them.

  15. Gab on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 10:49 am 

    _Babylon 5_ has some good speeches by women, too, if we’re talking series, now. I can’t find it, but Delen gives a great speech about the awesomeness of humans in the first season. Here’s a clip of the President of the Earth that is a little depressing, but still rings with the ones ^up there^. (It’s sort of a spoiler, too, just in case anyone cares…)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbBRrK9Q-rw

  16. fenzel on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 11:22 am 

    Susan Ivanovna from B5 is one of the most kickass spaceship flying type people in any media ever.

    My favorite speech from her starts about 45 seconds into this clip, although she has others that are of a more inspirational bent:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXyDi_91UXw&feature=related

  17. mlawski on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 12:28 pm 

    @Fenzel: The funny thing about that clip is the one guy working in the background who seems to be completely ignoring her awesome speech but once or twice looks over his shoulder. So it’s not that he doesn’t hear her; it’s that he heard her, shrugged it off, and went back to work. “‘God sent me’? That’s interesting. Oh, well. Back to pushing buttons. Push the button. Push the button. Look over my shoulder again. Push the button.”

  18. fenzel on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 12:42 pm 

    @Shana: Yeah, that’s sort of how the financial crisis happened ;-)

  19. Siwi on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 12:48 pm 

    “and are overwhelmingly for male audiences.”

    I’m going to pick on this bit, not because I disagree that they are thought of and marketed that way, but because I wish there were a better way to refer to this–there’s not some even split between movies for guys and movies for girls. What I mean is, I think the proportion of girls who see movies like Mighty Ducks versus the proportion of boys who see movies like, say, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is very different. The reason, I think, that the focus has tended to be on “guy’s” genres like sports, war, sci-fi and fantasy is that, for those successful among them, it’s really not just guys going. Had the audience for Lord of the Rings been as gendered in either direction as Sex and the City, it could never have been the hit it was.

    The upshot seems to be that girls see guy movies, more than guys see girl movies. This means guy movies are more profitable and tend to dominate the marketplace, because they’re playing to more quadrants or whatever. This also means that I’m not sure we should still be thinking of them as guy movies. I think it plays to a false divide and perhaps limits them from being as good as they can be, as movies. (And I’d say excellent examples are given by series you bring up like BSG… as far as I know, no guys refuse to watch the show because it has kickass women or women in positions of leadership, so why should it follow that putting them there is in opposition to the genre or audience? I’m not saying the traditional association was groundless, just… perhaps unnecessary).

    Attempting to be brief: I never had any intention of slamming the montage for this. I just saw it as a jumping off point and excellent gathering of evidence to overthink inspirational speeches in movies and gender. I would never mean that to read as a condemnation of Belinkie, Bill Pullman, or anybody, except the faceless “institutions” that are of course at fault for everything. I only starting looking for suggestions of female speeches because that would tend to weaken my argument that they are disproportionately not there.

  20. Siwi on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 12:53 pm 

    Heh. Button-pushing man.

  21. Weaz on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 1:21 pm 

    Love the piece. If you ever do one again, throw in something from the speech in Boondock Saints, the speech they give when they kill someone.

  22. Matthew Belinkie on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 2:22 pm 

    @Siwi – Thanks so much for your comment. There are definitely times when you’re tediously ripping DVDs and you think, “Why exactly is this worth it?” But then you read a comment like that, and you remember, “Oh yeah, I heart making cool things and sharing them with thousands of like-minded strangers.” So thanks.

    I also think you touch on something very true, about the intersection between irony and earnestness. I once performed a rousing rendition of “Proud to Be an American” in a karaoke bar. After it was done, a guy asked me if the performance had been sincere or ironic, and I sort of shrugged at him. The song is very cheesy, but it’s also kind of awesome. It really does hit this sort of weird sweet spot where I enjoy it simultaneously on two levels.

    So Siwi, let me suggest the word “earony,” to mean something which is enjoyed partially earnestly, partially ironically. Let me try and use it. “The South Park movie is an earonic take on musicals.” That is, the movie both mocks musicals and celebrates them.

  23. Matthew Belinkie on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 2:49 pm 

    The disproportionate gender balance is an interesting issue. But I think if you look at how many of these speeches come either from coaches or generals, and then think about how many women have had those jobs historically, it’s not surprising.

    Gab – not sure I’d hold Sister Suffragette up as pro-woman. The mom in Mary Poppins pretty much just exists to give feminists a bad name.

    The Babylon 5 speech is indeed cool. But for this montage, I had a loose rule to use only movies, no TV shows (I cheated a little with Charlie Brown and Peter Pan). Otherwise, there definitely would have been Buffy in there.

    So people, what are the great inspirational movie quotes by women? IS there anything from T2 or Aliens? I actually watched G.I. Jane recently, and didn’t see anything that jumped out at me as an uplifting speech.

  24. fmkg on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 4:37 pm 

    cool vid….what’s the music playing in the background? (could only identify the music from ID4 in the end)

  25. fenzel on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 4:54 pm 

    Good stuff starts a bit more than a minute in –

    **STEEL MAGNOLIAS SPOILERS**

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Ai4SUrj8w

  26. JimBob on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 5:43 pm 

    is there anyway to download a copy of the movie?

  27. lee on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 7:46 pm 

    Trey Parker and Matt Stone are the masters of “earony.” See also _Team America: World Police_ for another outstanding example of such.

  28. ozhand on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 7:56 pm 

    what is the music during the clip? the high strings part. what score is that?

  29. Jeff Hentosz on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 9:03 pm 

    The music is from Branagh’s “Henry V,” composed by Patrick Doyle. The soundtrack is full of stirring, inspirational stuff like that.

  30. Ricar on Thu, 11th Dec 2008 9:52 pm 

    awesome!

  31. Gab on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 3:11 am 

    Fenzel: Ivonovah is probably my favorite character in the series.

    Belinkie: I think “Sister Suffrogate” is pro-woman in a comical way. I find it refreshing. “[a]s a group/ They’re rather stupid.” Kills me. And really, the lyrics are pretty tongue-in-cheek. The crazy feminists like her in the suffrage movements both in Europe and here helped drive the men in power holding back their right to vote over the edge. THIS “daughters’ daughter” surely “adores” them for it. Thus, and in answer to your last question, check out _Iron Jawed Angels_ about Alice Paul and the women involved in the American movement for women’s suffrage under Wilson, the wave of feminism that finally got us the vote. No, it’s not an action flick, but it’s a great movie, imo.

    Another strong Joan Allen performance, her portrayal of Goodie Proctor in _The Crucible_. I haven’t seen it in a while, but I do remember her having a number of really big/heavy scenes. Hm, and she was also in _Mists of Avalon_ too… Now that I think about it/ IMDB her, she seems to play awesome women fairly frequently. I mean, c’mon, I haven’t seen _Death Race_ yet, but I’m sure she’s scary-cool in it. Patty Nixon, Betty Parker, Pamela Landy… Maybe a Joan Allen montage of some sort would be fun, if I was able. Alas, I’m clueless as to how to make a YouTube video.

  32. fenzel on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 9:40 am 

    I heart Joan Allen.

  33. Quick inspiration: 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes « EJ’s Blog on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 12:42 pm 

    [...] inspiration: 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes December 12, 2008 Matthew Belinkie at overthinkingit.com pieced together this delightful video montage of great (or at least memorable) inspirational [...]

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  35. Thomas on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 1:05 pm 

    I’ll admit it, this made me cry.

  36. McColley.net » Blog Archive » Forty Inspirational Speeches from the Movies in Two Minutes [Motivation] on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 1:30 pm 

    [...] the link below to read the transcript of the whole vid. So? Whadja think? 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes [Overthinking it via [...]

  37. Rialtus on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 1:45 pm 

    The ending speech of “The American President”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44R5BapEdYY

    And I’ll second anything from Babylon 5.

  38. A Better Man Bloomed? » YouTube - 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 1:45 pm 

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  40. Ray on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 2:26 pm 

    Spectacular! The only improvement I have found would be to let the music complete or fade more gracefully at the end. Right now, it’s rather abrupt.

  41. Del DeVries on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 2:27 pm 

    Powerful – but just too short! These are awesome clips that because most are familiar leave me wanting about 20 seconds more of each one! It is interesting how some of these story lines become a part of our lives. I’ve used Mel Gibson in Braveheart as a metaphor at least twice this week.

    Nice compilation job. I liked how you built the story line clip by clip. Your efforts are appreciated! And your site name gives me a good smile as well!

  42. Motivate Yourself « Google Me, BITCH on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 3:37 pm 

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  43. Trav on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 3:41 pm 

    Linked from Lifehacker. I agree-it’s a great way to end the week.

    FWIW, you could also put Natalie Portman with her arms up in the rain in V for Vendetta.

  44. 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes | One Consciousness on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 3:58 pm 

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    [...] December 12, 2008 by Charles Schneider Schools out, and in honor of the beginning of a long break from independent original thought I’ve found an awesome clip. It’s 40 inspiration speeches from various movies mashed into a two minutes and 15 seconds. via Overthingkingit.com [...]

  46. nomad on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 4:41 pm 

    Hey that is cool. what program do you use to edit that? i need a editing program close to that. free or for a coupe of bucks,lol. any help here,thanks.

  47. Go Get ‘em Tiger! « On ideas on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 5:02 pm 

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  48. Rex Hammock on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 5:40 pm 

    Brilliant. Just, brilliant.

  49. Gab on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 6:28 pm 

    Ok, here’s an inspirational line from a woman:

    “Imagine, in the midst of all this slaughter, to die in a way that means something.”

    ;p

  50. 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes | ettf.net on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 6:32 pm 

    [...] single-handedly saved the economy with this montage. You can read the whole transcript on his site overthinkingit.com. « Pogo [...]

  51. Sinan on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 6:43 pm 

    aww, sweet this is just what we need in Digital Movie Processing in college. We’re in Post Production of an ad we’re working on, and we’ve got until Wednesday to get it finished [we've only just moved into Post Production - and we've 15-30 mins of footage, where most is definitely goin to be thrown out]. We needed inspiration. And we get it in spades.
    You sir, are a legend :)

  52. jeffmilner.com » Blog Archive » 40 Inspirational Speeches on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 6:45 pm 

    [...] (via) [...]

  53. BothTeamsPlayedHard on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 7:58 pm 

    That’s amazing, but no Frank Slade is borderline unforgivable. If I was half the commenter I was six years ago, I’d take a FLAAAMEthrower to this place.

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  56. Matthew Belinkie on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 9:31 pm 

    @BothTeamsPlayedHard – Yeah, I thought about Scent of a Woman. But one of the rules I was trying to stick to is no actor appears more than once. And there was really no place for the flamethrower line.

    But of course, this is one of these projects where there’s no right or wrong answers – I’m sure if I’d started on a different day, everything would have come together differently, with different clips.

  57. IRP on Sat, 13th Dec 2008 1:50 am 

    Even though I had no idea what they were talking about, that was the most inspirational thing I’ve ever seen.
    Also, points for using Street Fighter.

  58. Hannah on Sat, 13th Dec 2008 2:29 am 

    I would like to see a list of the movies these clips are from. I recognize plenty of then (braveheart, newsies ;), etc.) but some I didn’t recognize and would like to see.

  59. Licence to Roam » Inspirational Moments on Sat, 13th Dec 2008 3:21 am 

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  60. Paulo Brabo on Sat, 13th Dec 2008 6:36 am 

    Hello,

    Amazing job! I’d love tho share this with my Brazilian friends!

    I made Portuguese subtitles for the video, but I can’t put them on Youtube because I’m not the author. They’re in the srt format; to upload them choose Captions and Subtitles on the Youtube video page.

    http://www.brabo.ppg.br/files/not-an-option.srt

    Cheers from Brazil

    PB

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  63. kimmy on Sat, 13th Dec 2008 11:14 am 

    thanks… posted this to my facebook page… people like it.

  64. Gab on Sun, 14th Dec 2008 12:42 am 

    I have another line: “Dodge this.”

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  71. Eva on Mon, 15th Dec 2008 10:18 am 

    I really love the speech in Newsies! It’s my favourite child movie, I think i’ve seen it for at least 30 times.

  72. phil 0 on Mon, 15th Dec 2008 4:09 pm 

    clever. really unique, but i feel you are missing one crucial cinematic staple in american culture… you left out star wars….. some dorks might be offended that star trek and LOTRs got in there…. give luke some love bud

  73. phil 0 on Mon, 15th Dec 2008 5:09 pm 

    and everyone commenting on the whole feminist argument really knows how to ruin a funny thing. way to be a downer and spoil a good time.

    love,

    someone who actually knows how to enjoy life

  74. Mike G on Mon, 15th Dec 2008 6:38 pm 

    What’s the freakish looking guy in a Superman shirt on a pirate ship? I don’t remember a scene like that in The Elephant Man…

  75. mlawski on Mon, 15th Dec 2008 6:48 pm 

    @phil: I guess it’s a perspective thing. I think Overthinking Things ™ makes them more fun, but I can see how others would think it sucks the fun out. You say potato, I say potato.

  76. 2 minutos de pura motivación: BlogOficinas on Tue, 16th Dec 2008 11:57 am 

    [...] Overthinkingit 2 minutos de pura [...]

  77. Clara on Tue, 16th Dec 2008 2:18 pm 

    @phil: Can you see the problem in complaining that people who analyze things are being “downers” in the comments of a blog called *Overthinking It*? Can you?

  78. Gab on Tue, 16th Dec 2008 6:07 pm 

    Internet high five, Clara. No, make that ten.

  79. Gabriela on Tue, 16th Dec 2008 11:39 pm 

    @Mike G, the guy in the Superman shirt is Sloth Fratelli from “The Goonies”, love that movie.

    @Matthew you did an outstanding job, as soon as I saw the title of the video I knew I’d see Henry V, you can’t get a more inspirational speech than that. Thanks for sharing.

  80. christina on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 4:02 am 

    thank you so much for this! its 4 am and finals, and some inspiration was SO necessary. im sure there are 100 other clips that could have been inspirational and im not going to sit here and argue for them, but i just reallyyyy need to thank you for this extra push…

    now back to studying, or as i like to say “second star to the right, and straight on till morning!”

  81. chip on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 4:36 am 

    B-I-T-C-H-I-N !!!

  82. Dain Sinjin on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 7:08 am 

    How about the ‘life is like a mop’ speech in UHF by Stanley Spudowski (Michael Richards)…”I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.”

  83. pyla33 on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 7:54 am 

    Great stuff u got there guys!! it surely overthinking of it cos i never thought bout this would be exsisted. haha honestly I’m touched by this clip. it sure lots hardwork and dedication to made this clip. really appreatiate it. my fav speech is the braveheart scenes. I still love to watch it till todays.
    Thanks again for the Inspirational Speeches.

  84. Lady Jaye on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 8:04 am 

    I heart Jimmy Stewart and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I can’t watch that movie without crying.

  85. Girls by Design: This is a Blog » Blog Archive » 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 10:48 am 

    [...] You can read the transcript of the video here. [...]

  86. Frank on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 11:10 am 

    For fun I subtitle vids for the Deaf and Hard of hearing. Can I use the transcript to subtitle your vid? Would like to give it a try please.

    Thanks,
    Subtitleman

  87. Matthew Belinkie on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 11:24 am 

    Give it a shot, Subtitleman!

  88. Rick on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 12:43 pm 

    YOU FORGOT THE BEST ONE; FAR SUPERIOR TO ALL YOU MENTIONED: THINK “GLADIATOR” DUMB ASS

  89. Matthew Belinkie on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 12:52 pm 

    Oh Rick you charmer, I didn’t forget anything. I took a look at the ol’ “what we do in life” speech, but it’s got this driving music behind it. Like “BUH dadadadad BUH dadadada BUH.” So I had to leave it out.

    And leave my ass out of this.

  90. cafedave.net » 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 1:58 pm 

    [...] 40 inspirational (movie) speeches in 2 minutes – doesn’t work so much as a speech, but gives an insight into that whole genre of movie scene. This entry was written by dave, posted on Today at 4:58 am, filed under link. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment. « places to download free sound effects [...]

  91. nate calloway on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 2:30 pm 

    That was great. Should have been way longer and it needed the Paul Newman Slpashot speech as as well as a speech from Mick in Rocky.

  92. David on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 3:01 pm 

    Very well done. I do wish that Warriors would have gotten in there.

    Can you dig it? Caaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn yooooooooouuuuuuuuuu diiiiiiiiiiggggggggggg iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttt?

  93. Maria C on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 3:11 pm 

    This is way cool and so freaking creative!!! Thank you so much for sharing this with everyone. I do believe your inspirational objective was achieved. Awesome Job!!! Happy Holidays to everyone.

  94. Eddie on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 3:16 pm 

    Matthew- this is unbelievable. I don’t know if appreciation levels ever jump the shark for you to where “if you’ve seen one anonymous internet stranger thanking you and appreciating your work, then you’ve seen them all”, but count me in as one more to top the pile.

    Thanks again and thanks for the first free sample of my newest addiction to OTI.

  95. Ben on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 7:58 pm 

    I think the reason this works so effectively, and why such speeches in movies work in general, is because they ARE so silly; so bombastic. From a fundamental standpoint, self-aggrandizing bombast tends to come from one of two places: either a feeling of inherent superiority or from a desire to become bigger than one’s self. The kind of movies whose speeches are collected in this 135 seconds of joy here celebrate the latter while condemning the former, in some plot related way.

    Aragorn could’ve done what Sarumon did and conceded to Sauron, but he didn’t. He stood and fought, even when hopelessly outnumbered, and never gave up.

    The boys from Old School could’ve just given up on their fraternity, but they didn’t. They worked hard and fought against the evil Jeremy Piven, and didn’t give up. And so on.

    We all know it’s silly, but at the same time it moves us, because it strikes at a central chord of what makes us human: If we didn’t believe that we could dig down deep and make it through, regardless of odds, how the hell could we get out of bed in the morning?

    And I think that, more than any innate sexism in society is why a girls will see “guy” movies, but not the other way around. When the women buy shoes in Sex and The City, it’s pretty much just women buying shoes. At best, you could argue it’s a metaphor for consumerism, but even then it’s just buying something as a metaphor for buying things in general. From a basic standpoint, women buying shoes is something that is really only interesting to women.

    Conversely, when Rocky goes the distance with Apollo in Rocky, it’s boxing as a metaphor for damn near anything you want it to be. Everyone, man or woman, can relate to needing redemption, to being an underdog, to wanting just one more shot, etc.

    I must admit, also, I’d been searching for a way to communicate what I’d described as “Loving something for it’s strengths, while knowing of it’s faults and loving those too” while trying to describe the appeal of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On a Prayer”, which I feel like is the musical equivalent of one of these speeches. I think earony is absolutely a perfect term for it. So thanks for that as well.

  96. Lindy on Wed, 17th Dec 2008 9:14 pm 

    Baha. As a Robert Sean Leonard fangirl, I watched the entire thing just to see if Mr. Keating’s speech from Dead Poet’s Society was in there. Also, I’d like to point out that DPS and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off were the only movies in there that I recognized and have seen. I feel pathetic.

  97. Matthew Belinkie on Thu, 18th Dec 2008 1:06 am 

    @Ben – Living on a Prayer definitely invokes strong earony. Great example!

  98. PerfectHorse on Thu, 18th Dec 2008 2:03 am 

    This was just…AWESOME…I can’t quit watching it…nuff said.

  99. Marvin on Thu, 18th Dec 2008 2:04 am 

    What was the whole Charlie Brown speech?

  100. janadr13 on Thu, 18th Dec 2008 2:13 am 

    “So people, what are the great inspirational movie quotes by women?”

    The only real ‘on the verge of battle’ inspirational speech by a woman I can think of is Elizabeth I: The Golden Age (or Elizabeth I, HBO series) both scenes from Tilbury.

    From the movie with Cate Blachete:
    “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.”

  101. Matt on Thu, 18th Dec 2008 11:31 am 

    @Janadr13 – That DOES seem like a good speech. Is the movie good? It’s got Clive Owen, who is awesome.

  102. georgia tech on Thu, 18th Dec 2008 9:10 pm 

    it reminded me of my childhood(:

  103. Tim on Thu, 18th Dec 2008 10:32 pm 

    Whats the name of that song that plays through the whole thing? I need it.

  104. Inspiration to End 2008 « The Scholarly Kitchen on Fri, 19th Dec 2008 6:30 am 

    [...] 2009, please find a montage of inspiring speeches and outtakes from famous movies as assembled by Matthew Belinkie. [...]

  105. DesignNotes by Michael Surtees » Blog Archive » Link Drop for the Week Ending in Friday the 19th (December 2008) on Fri, 19th Dec 2008 6:33 am 

    [...] 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes Overthinking It wrote “So way back in April, I first had the idea of editing together inspirational speeches. Since then, the Dow has dropped 3,000 points and one million jobs have been lost. The people of the United States are now a ragtag bunch of scruffy underdogs, down by three touchdowns at halftime…” [...]

  106. Listen to these Speeches - Deadly Computer Blog on Fri, 19th Dec 2008 10:57 am 

    [...] to these Speeches Dec.19, 2008 in awesome, haha!, internet, movie, video Overthinkingit.com has put together a great 2 minute video compiled of 40 inspirational speeches from movies spanning [...]

  107. Get Inspired for 2009 | Sharing Experiences on Mon, 29th Dec 2008 10:06 am 

    [...] moving with this ‘inspirational video montage’ courtesy of Matthew Belinkie over at Overthinkingit. Matthew says: What I’m trying to say is, I may have just single-handedly saved the economy with [...]

  108. nd76.net » Forty Inspirational Speeches from the Movies in Two Minutes [Motivation]: on Mon, 29th Dec 2008 10:02 pm 

    [...] the link below to read the transcript of the whole vid. So? Whadja think? 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes [Overthinking it via [...]

  109. 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes on Tue, 30th Dec 2008 1:09 am 

    [...] See Overthinking It for a transcript [...]

  110. Hanttula » Most Inspirational Speech Ever on Tue, 30th Dec 2008 2:04 pm 

    [...] This could be the most inspirational speech ever filmed. [...]

  111. Javi on Wed, 31st Dec 2008 8:14 pm 

    GREAT VIDEO, Belinks! I love it.

  112. Top Posts of 2008 | Overthinking It on Thu, 1st Jan 2009 1:32 pm 

    [...] 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes [...]

  113. kevin on Thu, 1st Jan 2009 5:16 pm 

    Hey Paul or any of you , do you know where to find the full speeches in Audio or on clips? thanks Kevin

  114. René on Thu, 1st Jan 2009 6:45 pm 

    Way cool! You should have ended it with “Caaaaaaaan youuuuu dig iiiiiiiiiit!”

  115. Kim Brooks on Thu, 1st Jan 2009 7:27 pm 

    Thanks so much for making this video montage (sp?)! I’ve added it to my blog (philipandfamily.blogpsot.com) after finding it on msn.com. It motivated me to “seize the day” or actually this whole new year! Wanted my friends and family to be movitated too. Kim

  116. Noelle on Fri, 2nd Jan 2009 10:04 am 

    What an awesome compilation! At first I sort of smirked at the over-the-top cheesiness of the Big Speeches, but by the end, I was truly moved. I think that’s my own personal definition of ‘earony’ in this case – to start out feeling cynical about and almost scoffing at the “We Can Do It!” theme, but then falling under the spell of that very theme and feeling my heart swell and my eyes mist.

    I was especially tickled to see the clips from The Goonies and The Neverending Story, partly b/c you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see them in a montage like this. Matt Belinkie, you rock!

  117. Kenny on Sat, 3rd Jan 2009 4:46 pm 

    It also gives you a warm feeling about the movies, and how much uplift we can get from them when they’re at their best. Even the lesser movies represented here are exciting to see. This should be an Oscar show clip montage.

  118. Buddy on Sun, 4th Jan 2009 6:39 pm 

    Awesome!

  119. Krista on Tue, 6th Jan 2009 12:22 pm 

    Great video. Does anyone know the piece of music in the background??? HELP!!!!!

  120. Forty Inspirational Speeches from the Movies in Two Minutes [Motivation] on Wed, 7th Jan 2009 5:59 am 

    [...] the link below to read the transcript of the whole vid. So? Whadja think? 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes [Overthinking it via [...]

  121. 135 Seconds Of Nonstop Motivation | Heck Of A Guy on Thu, 8th Jan 2009 1:13 pm 

    [...] Of Mashup,  Heck Of A Guy is proud to offer the second video in its Actuation  Efficiency Series: 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes, a high-density, high-octane energizer compiled from cinematic exemplars of the motivational talk [...]

  122. joe on Fri, 9th Jan 2009 8:46 pm 

    you should get that thing on i tunes

  123. Montage Time - Inspirational Movie Speeches | onelargeprawn on Sat, 10th Jan 2009 7:19 am 

    [...] people at Overthinking It are on a mission to save the US economy with a 2-minute montage of 40 inspirational speeches from [...]

  124. Spider Alton on Tue, 13th Jan 2009 2:25 pm 

    Is this video download-able? I would love to use this in my video class.

  125. Matt Stempeck, Americans for Campaign Reform | dgoodr on Fri, 16th Jan 2009 12:54 am 

    [...] an appreciation for life in me and the responsibility of sharing that. Also, I’m a sucker for inspirational movie speeches. A constant challenge? Getting back to emails. I’m pretty terrible at it. Time management. [...]

  126. Allan on Fri, 16th Jan 2009 9:46 pm 

    my guesses for the clips:

    braveheart/muppets take manhattan/animal house/rudy/ dunno /dunno / dunno / lord of the rings: return of the king/startrek next generation/dunno/stand and deliver/newsies/your a good sport charlie brown/apallo 13/ rocky / kingdom of heaven/nute rockney all american/alexander/dunno/hang em high or high plains drifter/ robin hood prince of thieves/ lil dictator/patton/any given sunday/pirates : at world’s end/300/troy/dunno/miracle/dead poets society/galaxy quest/star wars/ the untouchables/dunno/peter pan/hoosiers/mighty ducks/henry v/pulp fiction/ braveheart again/independance day/free willie/angels in the outfield/cool runnings/dead poets society/animal house/spartacus/goonies/never ending story/rudy/shawshank redemption/grinch christmas/ferris bueller/bill and teds excellent adventure/rocky

    how’d i do?

    P.S. I really liked what you put together.. well done

    Allan

  127. Sunday Funny « The Official Roni Weiss Blog on Sun, 18th Jan 2009 11:03 am 

    [...] 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes [...]

  128. jonathan katz on Sun, 8th Feb 2009 1:39 pm 

    hi,

    is there a way to download to a windows machine, 40 inspirational sppeches? my wife wants to use it for a presentation.

    jonathan katz

  129. J Pretto on Tue, 10th Feb 2009 2:12 pm 

    Hi Matthew,

    This is perfect! You did an exceptional job and the overall message is great. Is there anyway of downloading for use in a office presentation/pep talk. Appropriate credit would be given to you, Overthinkingit.com and the films included. I would really appreciate any feedback you could provide.

    Thank you!
    Judy

  130. we’re all doomed…right? « (almost) always thinking on Thu, 19th Feb 2009 9:03 am 

    [...] to fire us all up, here’s the rather brilliant 40 inspirational speeches in 2 minutes from overthinkingit via [...]

  131. The Ultimate Motivational Speech | Top Executive Coaching with Tony Mayo on Thu, 26th Feb 2009 1:19 pm 

    [...] The transcript and more details are here. [...]

  132. hvor vi vil vi ikke har brug for bønner « Bjjensen’s Blog on Sat, 28th Feb 2009 11:30 pm 

    [...] hvor vi vil vi ikke har brug for bønner By bjjensen videnskaben om Tilbage til fremtiden En post om den vidunderlige Overthinking Det , en pop kultur blog, at dejligt gør bare hvad Den opstiller til do . Nu that’s , hvordan vindende er færdig! [...]

  133. xmabaitx on Sun, 1st Mar 2009 2:30 am 

    Wow, as soon as the footage for Free Willy and the Goonies came up on there I laughed out loud for nearly 2 minutes straight! Great Job!

  134. The tapestry of life : Emberton Village « Olney, England on Sun, 15th Mar 2009 4:51 pm 

    [...] ’sausage dinner’ had been advertised on the community site of Olney and I had mental idea of a casual barbecue-like affair where a handful of people mill about, [...]

  135. Alverant on Wed, 8th Apr 2009 10:45 pm 

    Is there a list of the movies used and where the background music is from?
    Thank you

  136. Inspiration | Daily Danet on Sun, 10th May 2009 8:04 pm 

    [...] 40 great movie speeches in 2 minutes: [...]

  137. Tagz | "40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes | Overthinking It" | Comments on Sat, 16th May 2009 12:57 pm 

    [...] [upmod] [downmod] 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes | Overthinking It (overthinkingit.com) 1 points posted 5 months ago by SixSixSix tags imported videoz saved by [...]

  138. Mark on Tue, 14th Jul 2009 12:20 pm 

    To Matt,
    I really, really loved this.
    Just wanted to say thank you!
    Mark G.

  139. Anadya on Mon, 27th Jul 2009 9:08 am 

    i hate your site

  140. El Acordeonachi on Fri, 7th Aug 2009 12:06 pm 

    Fantastic!

    Yeah, I know I’m a little late to the party, but I had to throw this out there. I was hoping to see a clip from “The Warriors” of Cyrus shouting, “CAAAAN YOOOUUUU DIIIIGGGG IIIITT!!!!” near the end.

  141. Busra on Sun, 9th Aug 2009 12:03 pm 

    Hi,
    I want to use in my prensentation. I need to download it. Please help!!!
    How can I download?

  142. Darius on Fri, 4th Sep 2009 4:51 pm 

    I would love a list of the movies as well and the name of the soundtrack pieces. Great compilation.

  143. jack on Wed, 9th Sep 2009 9:13 pm 

    EPIC but whats that weird flying dog thing betweem superman and the football player? and you are amazing the movie get a 100/10 for the most EPIC scenes fomr any movie ever! MAKE MORE it;s great

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