This is another classic. Al Pacino's monologue at Charlie's disciplinary hearing towards the end of the movie 'Scent of a woman'
Mr. Trask: Mr. Sims, you are a cover-up artist and you are a liar.
Col. Frank Slade: But not a snitch!
Trask: Excuse me?
Slade: No, I don't think I will. This is such a crock of s**t.
Trask: Mr. Slade, you will watch your language. You are at the Baird School now not your barracks. Now Mr. Sims I will give you one final opportunity to speak up.
Slade: Mr. Sims doesn't want it. He doesn't need to labeled, "...still worthy of being a 'Baird Man.'" What the hell is that? What is your motto here? Boys, inform on your classmates, save your hide. Anything short of that we're gonna burn you at the stake? Well, gentlemen, when the shit hits the fan, some guys run and some guys stay. Here's Charlie--facing the fire, and there's George--hiding in big Daddy's pocket. And what are you gonna do? You're gonna reward George, and destroy Charlie.
Trask: Are you finished, Mr. Slade?
Slade: No. I'm just gettin' warmed up. Now I don't know who went to this place--William Howard Taft, William Jennings Bryan, William Tell. Whoever. Their spirit is dead--if they ever had one--it's gone. You're building a rat ship here. A vessel for sea going snitches. And if you think you are preparing these minnows for manhood you better think again. Because I say you are killing the very spirit this institution proclaims it instills. What a sham! What kind of show are you guys puttin' on here today. I mean, the only class in this act is sittin' next to me. And I say, this boy's soul is intact. It is non-negotiable. You know how I know. Because someone here--I'm not gonna say who--offered to buy it. Only Charlie here wasn't selling.
Mr.Trask: Sir, you are out of order!
Slade: Out of order, I'll show you out of order! You don't know what out of order is Mr.Trask! I'd show you but I'm too old, I'm too tired, and I'm too f****n' blind. If I were the man I was five years ago I'd take a flame-thrower to this place. Out of order, who the hell do you think you're talking to? I've been around you know? There was a time I could see. And I have seen, boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there isn't nothin' like the sight of an amputated spirit, there is no prosthetic for that. You think you're merely sending this splendid foot-soldier back home to Oregon with his tail between his legs but I say that you are executing his soul. And why? Because he's not a Baird man. Baird men, you hurt this boy, you're going to be Baird Bums, the whole lot of ya. And Harry, Jimmy, Trent, wherever you are out there, f**k you too.
Mr. Trask: Stand down Mr. Slade!
Slade: I'm not finished! Now as I came in here, I heard those words...cradle of leadership. Well, when the bow breaks, the cradle will fall. And it has fallen here, it has fallen! Makers of men, creators of leaders, be careful what kind of leaders you're producing here. Now, I don't know if Charlie's silence here today is right or wrong; I'm no judge or jury. But I can tell you this: he won't sell anybody out to buy his future! And that my friends is called integrity, that's called courage. Now that's the stuff leaders should be made of. (pause) Now I have come to the crossroads in my days, and I have always known the right path, always, without exception, I knew. But I never took it, you know why? Because it's too damn hard. Now here's Charlie; he's come to the crossroads. And he's chosen a path, it's the right path. It's a path made of principle, a path that leads to character. Let him continue on his journey. You hold this boy's future in your hands committee! It's a valuable future. Believe me! Don't destroy it...protect it...embrace it. It's gonna make you proud some day...I promise.
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius. Commander of the Armies of the North. General of the Felix Legions. Loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife…and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
... You don't become a cop because you want to serve and protect. You join the force because they let you carry a gun and a badge. You do it because you get respect.....
..... Most people respect the badge. Everyone respects the gun....
... nothing wrong with a little shooting, as long as the right people get shot....
Metal chairs. Bad light. Crawford sits, cuffed, at a table,
waiting. Looks up as the door unlocks.
A GUARD lets Willy in, locks the door behind him.
Crawford watches Willy take a legal pad, files, pens from his
briefcase, set them on the table.
CRAWFORD
How's my wife?
WILLY
I don't know.
CRAWFORD
I heard somewhere, I think it was on
N.P.R., that you're supposed to talk
to people in a coma. Play their
favorite music. Supposedly it reaches
them.
Willy, now ready, lets Crawford study him.
CRAWFORD
You represent Jennifer. The voice of
the victim, judicially speaking. But
you haven't gone to see her?
38
WILLY
Not yet.
CRAWFORD
Too busy getting up to speed on
Armstead Pharmaceutical?
Beat.
WILLY
I beg your pardon?
CRAWFORD
I'm not judging you. I think anyone -
coming from...what you came from -
then paying your way through East-Okie
Cowshit College and Tulsa Law by
writing papers for Princeton kids on
the internet - my God, it must have
eaten your liver! Sixty-thousand
dollars in debt, eighty-four percent
conviction rate: you deserve this.
Willy tries to stay in control.
WILLY
What the hell have you been doing.
CRAWFORD
I'm permitted the use of a private
investigator.
WILLY
Not to investigate me!
CRAWFORD
Why not? You're investigating me.
WILLY
You shot your wife.
CRAWFORD
Allegedly. That's how it works,
right? If I can't introduce something
in court as evidence - it doesn't
exist. Legally.
WILLY
Look - I don't want to play games with
you.
CRAWFORD
I'm afraid you have to.
39
Beat. Willy reconstructs his formal cool. Takes some pages
scrawled NO from a folder, pushes them across the table.
WILLY
Is this some form of - communication?
CRAWFORD
You sent me a box of papers.
WILLY
It's called Discovery. The State has
a legal obliga-
CRAWFORD
There's nothing in it, Willy. You
haven't 'discovered' anything. Have
you found the gun?
Beat.
WILLY
Not yet.
CRAWFORD
No.
(Beat)
Does it bother you that I call you
Willy?
CRAWFORD
I'd like you to consider becoming my
lawyer. I'll pay you. A lot of
money.
WILLY
I'm - prosecuting you.
CRAWFORD
Yeah, but I'm offering you a chance to
get on the right side of this whole
mess while you still can.
WILLY
Are you out of your mind?
40
CRAWFORD
I think - on advice of counsel - I'll
decline to answer that one.
Willy studies him. Decides: it's an elaborate act. Begins
to put away his papers.
WILLY
I don't need the gun to convict you,
by the way.
CRAWFORD
She was cheating, you know.
Willy looks at him, slightly taken aback. He didn't know; it
wasn't in the confession.
As he considers whether it makes a difference - he notices
Crawford watching, enjoying. Willy shuts his briefcase.
WILLY
It doesn't matter what she did...Tom.
What you did is a crime.
CRAWFORD
Perhaps. But - maybe my so-called
peers will look at me and see
themselves. Betrayed. Frustrated.
Humiliated. And you and I both know,
Willy, that people have an infinite
capacity for believing in their own
innocence.
WILLY
Great. Take the stand. Tell your
story. I'd appreciate it.
CRAWFORD
Not to mention the fact you have no
actual evidence connecting me to the
crime.
Willy smiles, gets up.
WILLY
Except your confession.
Crawford watches him go to the door.
CRAWFORD
My grandfather was an egg farmer.
Willy stops, annoyed.
41
WILLY
Is this gonna be about how you had a
rough childhood?
CRAWFORD
I used to candle eggs at his farm.
You know what that is? You hold an
egg up to a light, and look for
imperfections.
(beat)
The first time I did it, he told me to
put the ones that were cracked or
flawed in a bucket - for the bakery.
(beat)
He came back an hour later and there
were three hundred eggs in the bakery
bucket. He asked me what the hell I
was doing.
(beat)
I found a flaw in every single one.
Thin places in the shell, minuscule
cracks.
(smiles)
Look closely enough and you'll find
everything has a weak spot...where it
can break.
WILLY
Looking for mine?
CRAWFORD
No, I've found yours.
WILLY
Illuminate me.
Crawford considers how to put it.
CRAWFORD
You're a winner, Willy.
Silence. Willy pushes the call-button by the door.
WILLY
Huh. Well. Joke's on me then, I
guess.
CRAWFORD
Yes. It is.
WILLY
I'll see you in court, Mr. Crawford.
42
The door unlocks. Crawford winks.
Willy hesitates for a second - then leaves.
this is really funny ...i don't remember the movie ...
....but in that movie you can find gulshan grover saying this every time ..he does a murder i can't stop laughing ..he is such a funny creature.
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