Let”s Take Care of It: The Top 10 Inspirational Team Talks in Cinema History

Over the years cinema has conjured up some of the most inspirational and motivating speeches of all time. Who can forget Atticus Finch’s superbly performed and moving closing argument in To Kill a Mockingbird? How about Harrison Ford’s Presidential speech in Air Force One? If you are not a fan of that and a good old fashioned rollicking gets you motivated, how about Alec Baldwin’s abuse in Glengarry Glen Ross, or Ben Affleck’s foul mouthed address to the stock brokers in Boiler Room? We could go on, but instead here is our definitive list of the team talks in cinema history. 

1. Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) in Friday Night Lights
   

   Coach Gaines’ talk stands on its own in originality. Instead of spurring his team on to win the game, his only concern is that the players can look each other in the eyes and know that they did their best. And he’s not just talking about the game, but life in general. A truly superb inspiration.

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   The Clincher: ‘Being perfect is about being able to look people in the eye and know that you didn’t let them down’.

2. Coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) in Remember the Titans
   

   This memorable team talk has Coach Boone taking his team on a long run through the woods to the scene of a memorable historic battle. He compares the battlefield to that of the football field and tells them they should unite just like the troops and be willing to die on the field. Let’s hope for their sake he doesn’t mean that literally.

   The Clincher: ‘If we don’t come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed like they were’.

3. Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) in Miracle
   

   A good old fashioned traditional team talk. Herb Brooks’ pre-match speech almost mimics word for word what he actually said before the USA’s gold medal game in 1980. His tone changes from the pushy coach that no one likes to a wise old man with nothing but respect for his players.

   The Clincher: ‘This is your time! Now go out there and take it!’

4. Tony D’Amato (Al Pacino) in Any Given Sunday
   

   Oliver Stone’s sporting film has a team talk that contains something that probably no other coach has ever admitted. Al Pacino’s Tony D’Amato character admits that he has ruined his life and is too old to change it, but he wills his team to never stop fighting to be better. What starts out as a dreary confession becomes a talk that has you aching to get on the playing field.

   The Clincher: ‘Either we fight as a team or die as individuals’

5. Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Mel Gibson) in We Were Soldiers
   

   Not every team has the sports field as their battleground. Hal Moore’s troops fight on a life or death pitch. He inspires his team to unite against race and their differences and promises to make sure everyone, living or dead, returns. His speech has the same style of those used in sporting circles, which shows how often the two things coincide.     

   The Clincher: ‘You will watch your comrade’s back and you will not care what colour his skin is or by what name he calls god’

6. William Wallace (Mel Gibson) in Braveheart
   

   Mel should be the next United manager if he can inspire people so effectively this often. In his second appearance on our list he inspires the fleeing Scottish army to turn round and fight the English even though they are outnumbered. William Wallace convinces them that dying on the battlefield is better than running away and living, something that is common in these inspirational moments.

   The Clincher: ‘Our enemies may be able to take our lives, but they will never be able to take our freedom’

7. Michael Collins (Liam Neeson) in Michael Collins
   

   Liam Neeson’s incarnation of the Irish politician certainly got the Oscar nominations flying in, maybe in part because of his speech to the Irish people in an attempt to make it an independent state. His speech ends in a violent way, but it is once again the underdog fighting back.

   The Clincher: ‘If they shut me up, who will take my place?’

8. President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) in Independence Day
   

   While this speech of extreme patriotism will have anyone who is not American throwing up, it is still an inspiration. Mr. President encourages his fighter pilots to make Independence Day a worldwide holiday to represent the day they stood up to the badass, green s**t firing aliens. God bless America!!!  

   The Clincher: ‘It will be the day when the word declares in one voice, ‘we will not go quietly into the night and we will not vanish without a fight!’ Today we celebrate our Independence Day’    

9. Kenneth Branagh (Henry V) in Henry V
   

   While Kenneth Branagh’s interpretation of Henry isn’t a patch on Laurence Olivier’s character; Henry’s speech is exactly as how you-know-who originally wrote it. It is superbly delivered by Branagh who was also making his directorial debut. The fact he went on to do more Shakespeare play adaptations shows this speech definitely didn’t fall on deaf ears.

   The Clincher: ‘But he’ll remember, with advantages, what feats he did that day’

10. Maximus (Russell Crowe) in Gladiator
    

    Sometimes in this film it is difficult to tell what Crowe is saying in his deep powerful voice, but a small segment of his one minute pre-battle conference with his troops will catch everyone’s attention. It’s what you might expect really from a man with a name so long it doesn’t fit in the heading.

    The Clincher: ‘What we do in life echoes in eternity’