ANY GIVEN SUNDAY CLIP VOTED MOST MOTIVATIONAL SPEECH
Al Pacino’s rousing ‘Inch by Inch’ speech as coach Tony D’Amato in the gritty tale Any Given Sunday has been named the Most Motivational Movie Speech for the England football team in a poll of film fans.
Accordingly LOVEFiLM, Europe’s largest subscription service streaming movies and TV episodes over the internet and sending DVDs by post, has sent the top motivational films for Fabio Capello’s attention at the Royal Marang Hotel in South Africa as inspiration for his half-time talks after over 2,000 members voted for their favourite motivational movie speeches.
Al Pacino’s performance scored high with 18 per cent of the vote for his locker room speech, where his character barks: ‘In any fight it’s the guy whose willing to die who’s going to win that inch and I know that if I’m going to have any life anymore it’s because I am still willing to fight and die for that inch…’
In second place is Viggo Mortensen’s sword wielding speech as Aragorn in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003). Aragorn caused a stir in Middle Earth with his firey words at the Black Gate: ‘This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!’
We may have taken first place from him but we would never take his freedom! William Wallace played by Mel Gibson in Braveheart marched in at number three with 15 per cent of the vote for his speech at the Battle of Stirling, and Mikey Walsh played by Sean Astin in 80s classic, The Goonies, comes fourth in the poll for the ‘Down here it’s our time’ scene.
Action favourite Sylvester Stallone comes in at number five (ten per cent), setting his son straight about life’s challenges in Rocky Balboa: ‘It ain’t about how hard you get hit, it’s about hard you can get hit and keep moving forward’ – it’s definitely not all sunshine and rainbows as Rio Ferdinand found out last week.
In sixth place (nine per cent) is chameleon actor Gerard Butler with his speech as King Leonidas of Sparta in action movie 300 to motivate the Spartans on their suicide mission against the Persians: ‘This is where we hold them! This is where we fight!’
Robin Williams as teacher John Keating from Dead Poet’s Society pulled in seven per cent of the vote for his ‘carpe diem’ speech – Latin for ‘seize the day’- and in hot pursuit is pupil Timo Cruz who secured eighth place for the moving ‘Our deepest fear’ scene in high school film Coach Carter. The speech was quoted from spiritual activist, author, lecturer and founder of The Peace Alliance, Marianne Williamson.
Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End was the highest ranked women in the poll taking four per cent of the vote (ninth place) with ‘Hoist the colours’, while Tom Cruise’s ‘Help me help you’ speech in Jerry Maguire failed to help anyone, lagging behind the rest of the motivators with just two per cent of respondents backing.
The Top Motivational Movie speeches are as follows:
- Coach Tony D’Amato: ‘Inch by inch’ speech (Al Pacino) Any Given Sunday (1999) – 18%
- Aragorn: ‘Black Gate’ speech (Viggo Mortensen) Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) – 16%
- William Wallace: ‘Freedom’ speech (Mel Gibson) Braveheart (1995) – 15%
- Mikey Walsh: ‘Down here it’s our time’ speech (Sean Astin) The Goonies (1985) – 12%
- Rocky’s speech to his son (Sylvester Stallone) Rocky Balboa (2006) – 10%
- King Leonidas’ ‘This is where we hold them’ speech (Gerard Butler) 300 (2006) – 9%
- John Keating: ‘Carpe diem’ speech (Robin Williams) Dead Poet’s Society (1989) – 7%
- Rick Gonzalez: ‘Our deepest fear’ speech (Timo Cruz) Coach Carter (2005) – 5%
- Elizabeth Swann: ‘Hoist the colours’ speech (Keira Knightley) Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End (2007) – 4%
- 10. Jerry Maguire: ‘Help me help you’ speech (Tom Cruise) Jerry Maguire (1996) – 3%
(Other – 1%)
Helen Cowley, Editor at LOVEFiLM commented:
“Al Pacino’s speech in Any Given Sunday is full of passion, honesty and determination and represents the perfect model for Fabio to follow with the England team. As the nation crosses its fingers for the Cup, we’re hoping our collection of films gives him that extra push to bring the boys success.”
“LOVEFiLM has a selection of over 67,000 titles to either rent or watch online, meaning you can watch your favourite motivational speeches and get in the football spirit. Our Extra Time promotion also gives existing and new members access to over three thousand titles to stream for free during the football month.”
