Most of the great movies are filled with 'remember them forever' kind of amazing lines. But only some of these have great speeches, a cluster of great lines spoken at the opportune of moments that leaves you with goosebumps which take time to settle. And that is why when you come across one, you remember it for long. If you are as crazy as me, you listen to it again after again till you have learnt each line, each pause, each change in the tone and pitch and then you recite them to an audience and enthrall them (in my case, scare them) with your amazing grip on the language. Such great speeches are more common in the Hollywood underdog sports movies than anywhere else. While Al Pacino's raging talk to his team in Any Given Sunday or Sylvester Stallone's emotional speech to his son in Rocky Balboa come to mind easily, there is one inspirational speech in one of the most underrated sports movies that I feel deserves to be there with the cream.
It does not taunt or bully, it does not impart wisdom that we were not aware of, it does not scream right in front of you. It is placid, calm, soothing. And yet it makes your heart thud. It builds with a rhythm that I cannot describe. It connects emotionally, such that at the end you know what you got to do. You got to not disappoint this man. This is the speech delivered by Kurt Russell to a young US team of ice hockey players playing in the 1980 Winter Olympics, right before this team is about to enter the arena for one of their toughest fights ever -- a semi-final matchup against the gigantic Russian team. Kurt Russell was enacting the role of the real-life coach Herb Brooks who achieved an impossible dream in these Winter Olympic games and rose to instant stardom. The movie of course has been aptly titled Miracle.
The speech would be better understood and felt in the context of the movie and if you have missed it, I urge you to get your hands on it. It is a real delight to watch, inspiring, riveting and emotionally connecting. If you have already watched it then you know what I am talking about! Here is the youtube video of the speech delivered by Kurt Russell, to re-live that moment.
And this speech seems to have inspired people from all age groups... I mean all. Check out this little one re-creating the magic, with more than 5 million views on youtube and counting!
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