“If I was to sink my teeth into your eye right now, would you be able to stop me before I blinded you?” – Shutter Island
The president’s Independence Day (1996) speech gets me almost every time.
Especially when he crescendos, “…the day when the world declared in one voice, we will not go quietly into the night. We will not vanish without a fight.”
The idea of every nation on Earth actually rallying behind a cause is such a romantic one.
Fun fact: that speech was a first draft. The writer made himself a note to revise it, but got busy enough with other stuff that he forgot. He remembered last minute when they were prepping to shoot the scene, but it was too late as Bill Pullman had already memorized it and had also spent time listening to unedited recordings of presidents giving big speeches throughout history to make sure it had the correct tone (this is also why he has the kind of awkward start).
I like the awkward start. It makes it feel more improvised, building confidence as he gets going. It’s portrayed in the movie as him speaking from the heart, and him struggling to find the words in the beginning helps sell it imo.
