Movies

4 speeches to put fire in your belly and put hairs on your chest

Edmond Chan · Jul 2, 2019 · Leave a Comment

These speeches will make you stand a little taller, with your chin held up, with your chest puffed that bit further out. And put fire in your belly and hairs on your chest.

I watch these whenever I need inspiration and some courage. Hopefully, they give you some too!

Al Pacino’s speech in Scent of a Woman (1992)

If you haven’t seen this film yet, then watch it before this humdinger of an ending speech.

For a very useful transcipt of the Pacino’s barnstorming speech, see this link from American Rhetoric.

Arnie’s 6 Rules of Success

Arnie is the man. Plain and simple. Champion bodybuilder, self-made millionaire businessman, blockbuster A-list acting legend, Governor of California, all-round great guy. Listen to this.

Rocky’s speech to his son in Rocky Balboa (2006)

Every Rocky film (except Rocky V of course) has made me cry. Floods of tears. The final struggle of the training sessions. The punishment Rocky inevitably takes in the ring. And then the beyond-rousing comeback of pure heart that is Rocky. I’m left a sobbing mess of heaving tears.

This scene always gets me.

Here’s a useful transcript of the speech.

Al Pacino’s Game of Inches speech in Any Given Sunday (1999)

For raw aggression, and channelling that aggression into a common goal of victory, this speech has no rivals:

Here’s a very useful transcript of the speech as well.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know what your favourite movie speeches are in the comments below!

“I need you to look like a man who belongs at that table” – what we can learn from Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale

Edmond Chan · Dec 14, 2015 · 2 Comments

Last night, I saw Casino Royale for probably the seventh time.

Such a good movie.

There’s a scene in particular that encapsulates everything that we’re trying to achieve here at www.howtobedapper.com.

Bond comes into the bathroom where Vesper is doing her makeup. They are preparing for the big high-stakes poker tournament. The stakes are high in monetary terms but also sky-high in terms of intelligence in the fight against terrorism.

Bond presents Vesper with a dress, explaining that he wants her to look fabulous so that when she walks into the room, the other players are distracted by her beauty and glamour. There’s certainly unsaid reasons such as she’d raise his own status and his opponents would treat him with greater respect for having such a woman on his arm.

As he himself goes to change for the evening, he notices a suit on his bed. He strides incredulously back into the bathroom and asks Vesper why she’s bought him a dinner jacket when he already has one.

“There are dinner jackets and dinner jackets. This is the latter. I need you looking like a man who belongs at that table.”

Bond begins to protest but then he tries it on and whilst admiring himself in the mirror, we the viewer see his transformation complete from the newly-qualified Bond to the immaculately tailored Bond we know and love.

In this short scene, we see how important the right clothes are in getting the most out of life.

The right clothes in terms of the perfect fit, the right outfit, carrying yourself like a man are essential in conveying status and eliciting respect from the outside world.

Particularly in eliciting respect from serious players in all aspects of your life.

What we can learn from this scene:

dress appropriately for the occasion. Bond is playing in a big leagues poker match in a grand hotel. A rental tux that doesn’t fit properly doesn’t come close to cutting it.
dressing your absolute best gives you a serious edge over being ‘okay’ dressed. Bond felt the power of a tailored suit and knew that Vesper was 100% correct.
dressing well gets you more respect from those around you. A no-brainer and a truth that regular readers with be very familiar with. Yet it’s incredible how few men do this.

Enjoy the scene here:

‘Be Better Than The Gap’ – 4 Things Men Can Learn From Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love

Edmond Chan · Aug 22, 2015 · 1 Comment

Yes it’s a rom-com, but there’s plenty that a man can learn from Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Steve Carell plays a family man whose wife has admitted she’s had an affair with a guy called David Lindhagen. Carell moves out and seeks solace at the local bar telling everyone how depressed he is and feeling sorry for himself. Needless to say he becomes a very sad case.

Enter Ryan Gosling’s character:

be better than The Gap — Crazy, Stupid, Love shopping scene

Gosling plays an accomplished ladies man. He’s super-confident, well-dressed and a natural at picking up women. He charms the women each night and more often than not leaves with them on his arm.

Gosling takes pity on Carell and takes him under his wing, brandishing his tough love approach to educating Carell.In a memorable line, he tells Carell that the reason he lost his wife is not because of David Lindhagen, but because he lost sight of who he is as ‘a man, a husband and probably as a lover’.

Ouch.

Lesson #1: Don’t lose sight of who you are as a man.

Remember that you are a man.

Don’t blame others for your misfortunes.

Take responsibility for your actions and for who you are.

Don’t whine and don’t make excuses.

Lesson #2: “Be better than The Gap”

The standout scene in the movie is when Gosling takes Carell shopping. Carell starts the scene in terrible clothes, symbolising how he has let himself go and descended into ‘dad’ clothes. He looks bland and invisible in clothes that don’t fit. He’s meek and submissive. He has no style of his own and has no impact on anyone around him. The contrast with Gosling is huge. Gosling’s character is sharply dressed. He doesn’t care so much about what people think and he is a much more confident personality who goes after what he wants. He knows the importance of good style and a strong personal appearance on how you are perceived in life. A strong impression helps you succeed in life.

Like Gosling says, “Be better than the Gap”.

Here’s the clip where Gosling says the line:

Lesson #3: Details matter

A recurring theme on www.howtobedapper.com is that details matter. People who know, know. From the clip above, check out Gosling tearing down New Balance sneakers, jeans from the Gap that give Carell a ‘mom-butt’, Carells’ Supercuts hairstyle and Carell’s velcro fastening wallet.
Details matter.

Lesson #4: Attitude and Confidence are everything

The way at the end of the scene when Gosling is confidently flirting with the hairstylist and he asks if she’d sleep with Carrell and she says ‘well, yeah!’. Contrast this confidence with the instant shock from Carrell that anyone would be interested in him. She starts to doubt whether she’s attracted to him anymore. Gosling points out the problem with his lack of confidence; everything was going well until Carell opened his mouth.

Be better than The Gap.