Maybe it's the athlete in me, or the fact that I have loved movies since I was old enough to understand them, or that I was in the military, I don't know, but I love over-hyped boo-yah speeches in movies. You see them all the time. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. But when they do work you get pretty pumped up, goose bumped, and ready to kick ass. This short list is about some of my favorite speeches in movies - - you know, when the chips are down and you're on your last dime and all that - - that helped propel the main character(s) past their final obstacle and achieve their dreams. Enjoy, but be warned the video clips contain words not found in G Rated movies. .

The St. Crispin's Day speech from the Battle of Agincourt. Many may not know that lines from this speech like, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers," came from Shakespeare. The speech has been recited in many films, from Renaissance Man to Tombstone, and gives me chills every time I read it.

The St. Crispin's Day speech from the Battle of Agincourt. Many may not know that lines from this speech like, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers," came from Shakespeare. The speech has been recited in many films, from Renaissance Man to Tombstone, and gives me chills every time I read it.

The Delta House Fraternity is kaput at their school thanks to their poor grades, run-ins with rival frats, peeping tom ways, and double secret probation. But they aren't going out without a fight. After their ring leader, Otter, is beaten up and it looks like it's over, Bluto asks one of the most famous questions in film history, "Over?! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" Of course this leads to a rallying cry and a pre-A Team montage when a car is transformed into a death mobile to prepare for their final strike of revenge on the Dean and preppy frat rivals. This scene is one of many great ones in a movie that has stood the test of time. And it has even been adopted by professional sports teams to help rally their teams late in the game. It's worth watching Animal House again for John Belushi's performance alone.

I am putting these two together because there are a lot of movies in this genre where the alpha leader rallies thousands of scared and uncertain warriors to bring out their fighting spirit before a huge battle. In Braveheart Mel Gibson's William Wallace boasts that their enemies "can take their lives, but they can never take their freedom." A pretty fantastic scene in a great movie. And in Gladiator when Maximus (Russell Crowe) readies his lieutenants prior to the first battle of the movie with the Germans he tells them, "Brothers, what we do in life...echoes in eternity." Both these speeches set the tone for the type of leader they are, and bolster the faith their subordinates have in them as leaders.

Turn off your computer and run yourself straight into a wall if you have never seen Rudy. The story of an under-sized underdog who wanted nothing more than to play football at Notre Dame. The film is filled with kick-ya-while-you're-down moments only to show Rudy, (Sean Astin) rise above it all to see his dream realized. Charles S. Dutton (T.V's Roc) plays his friend, a maintenance worker with a secret who scolds Rudy when he has finally let adversity get to him, "You're 5 foot nothing. A hundred and nothing. And you've got hardly a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in with the best college football team in the land for two years..." If you have a heart you'll be crying in the last few minutes of the movie.

Gene Hackman. Dennis Hopper. Old-school Indiana basketball. "I love you guys." ‘Nuff said.

"A-B-C...A-Always...B-Be...C-Closing." A movie, based on the David Mamet play of the same name, filled with heavy hitting talent. Glengarry Glen Ross is the story of salesmen who would do anything to get leads and makes sales, only they aren't. This is a character driven piece with pre-fame Kevin Spacey as a smarmy office boss, and Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, and Alan Arkin, as account executives that seem to be passed their prime and in much need of a motivational pep-talk, only they don't want one. Alec Baldwin, out of the blue and incendiary, drops a few pearls of wisdom that do little to inspire and more to annoy, but his quick scene steals the movie and makes it a must watch. You'll want to know his name, just don't ask him what it is.

As discussed in a previous hub, Patton's opening scene is what all motivational speeches in all movies aspire to be. George C. Scott scooped up an Oscar for his portrayal of Gen George S. Patton, and his strong performance was like a heavily artillery piece...with the back ground of a giant American Flag, an iconic Scott as Patton climbed the stage to give a six and a half minute speech to Soldiers you never see. The speech was actually part of a speech Patton had given many times to rousing choruses of cheers from the troops and reminded the frightened warriors who would soon face the uncertainty of war and the certainty of death, that, "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."

We've all seen the locker room speech. It's in many a movie. The team, usually with no reason to be there, or having the talent but recently saddled with some heavy baggage, is hanging it's heads. Then the coach storms in and whispers or shouts, or massages their egos in just the right way so that the end result is fist pumping, hand-clapping, table-flipping, and running out of the locker room by the players. Well that is what Al Pacino does in Any Given Sunday. Oliver Stone directs a movie about a fictitious Miami pro football team, the Sharks, who are in a fight for the playoffs. In my opinion, it's not that great a movie. But it has its moments and none better than the four minute speech Pacino gives in the locker room prior to their last game. You will be fired up, you will re-live certain past glories in your head, and you will believe Pacino's coach Tony D'Amato when he says, "I don't know what to say, really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives. All comes down to today, and either, we heal as a team, or we're gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play. Until we're finished..."

Stripes (Bill Murray whips the troops into shape in time for graduation)

Rocky I,II,& III (First Mickey, teaches Rocky to crap thunder than later Apollo gives Rocky the Eye of the Tiger)

Full Metal Jacket (Anything R. Lee Ermey spits at us)

Network (Peter Finch's "Mad as Hell" rant)

Varsity Blues (Yep, Vanderbeek charged me up)

Major League (Shitburgers?)