This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be rememberèd-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
Henry V -Saint Crispin’s Day 25 October 1415
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Thank you for this. I had forgotten.
In my opinion an outstanding movie.
I did hold myself cheap and accursed the day I stood below an Italian cliff with a band of brothers, telling of their winter battle there and sixty-plus years before. This was only made well by drinking grappa with these heroes, on top of the sacred battlefield.
Henry was right, in all ways. Those who deny or doubt are even more accursed than I.
Credit to Willy the Shakes. A toast to him, as well.
Well chosen, but I think the Lawrence Olivier version is better. 🙂
The most rousing battle speech in the English speaking world.
Jeff – I’m not so sure. For one thing it’s fictional, so that somewhat degrades its score. For another, Winston Churchill came up with some pretty good ones.
Another one is quite recent, and created by a screenwriter – in the work the film comes from, it’s represented as merely something like “he spoke to his men”. See if you can place it. (I’ve taken out the identifiers!)
My brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!
That would be Aragorn, from the Return of the King
Branagh’s best role. He’s never come close to equaling it.
Dunkirk was, meh.
I dunno. Branagh was pretty good in Much Ado About Nothing also. A lot of good performances in that one, Michael Keaton among them.
But I can watch this anytime. And that end of the battle scene, the long, long single shot, following him as he carries the body of one of the page boys across the battlefield. How long did it take to set up that shot? I can’t imagine. Every key character is in it. And the thing is, Branagh was the director, which meant he had to rely on the cinematographer to get it right.