Great Cinematic Speeches

This is the first contribution to the Billy Wilder Blog-A-Thon over at filmscreed. I posted my thoughts on Stalag 17 before, and you can read that here. But for now, I'm posting this in anticipation of my thoughts on the only noir ever to win Best Picture. And yes, I'm blatantly borrowing this (I swear I'll give it back) from Damian over at Windmills of My Mind.

Arthur wasn't the first lovable alcoholic. Long before he took his first sip, Don Birnam extolled on the virtues of the sauce. What lifts the speech is his eloquence. It is easily the most well-written speech in the film, and it is about alcohol. It namechecks everything from Shakespeare to Cleopatra, and it is delivered with the perfect amount of passion. It is rare to see someone on film say something good about alcohol, but to see it put so intelligently is a marvel only Billy Wilder could pull off.