1995 Braveheart

1995 Braveheart

"Aye, fight and you may die.  Run, and you'll live -at least a while.  And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take...OUR FREEDOM!"

"Every man dies, not every man really lives."

Terrific movie, but couldn't it have ended after the first 20 minutes, before William Wallace's love interest dies?  Seriously, they managed a more heartfelt, memorable, beautiful love story in 20 minutes or so of film than the last three Star Wars movies managed in like eight hours:
Terrific movie, but couldn't it have ended after the first 20 minutes, before William Wallace's love interest dies?  Seriously, they managed a more heartfelt, memorable, beautiful love story in 20 minutes or so of film than the last three Star Wars movies managed in like eight hours:

William: Of course, running a farm is a lot of work, but that will all change when my sons arrive.
Murron: So, you've got children?
William: Not yet, but I was hoping you could help me with that.
Murron: So, you want me to marry you then?
William: Well, that's a bit sudden, but alright.
Murron: Is that what you call a proposal?
William: I love you, always have. I want to marry you.



It breaks my heart just to think about poor Murron's death.  I guess it was necessary, as her death becomes the driving force that rouses Wallace to lead the Scottish in the fight against the English, but still... 


I like the other gal as well, Princess Isabella, who marries the English prince, and also has a brief romance with Wallace.  She's smart and feisty: "The king will be dead in a month and his son is a weakling.  Who do you think will rule this kingdom?"

Most of the rest of the movie is made up of battles, which tend to blur together in my mind.  Of course, the big group mooning sequence sticks in my mind.  That's how you start a battle.  Tyler could probably describe all these battles in detail, but I can't -he has an amazing memory for military minutia.

Mel Gibson was great (he directs and stars as William Wallace).  A shame he had to go batty in recent years -he was such a talent.

Tyler has come up with a rather brilliant idea for Braveheart, The Musical.  His songs are hilarious and catchy.  Take note, Broadway!

"The trouble with Scotland is that it's full of Scots."

"It can all end, right now. Peace. Bliss. Just say it. Cry out mercy."

It was a tough year, because Braveheart was up against Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility and Apollo 13, which both deserved Oscars in their own right.  Some years feast, some famine.

Elinor Dashwood: You talk of feeling idle and useless.  Imagine how that is compounded when one has no hope and no choice of any occupation whatsoever.
Edward Ferrars: Our circumstances are therefore precisely the same.
Elinor Dashwood: Except that you will inherit your fortune.  We cannot even earn ours.
Edward Ferrars: Perhaps Margaret is right.
Elinor Dashwood: Right?
Edward Ferrars: Piracy is our only option.
-Sense and Sensibility

Marianne Dashwood: Can he love her?  Can the soul really be satisfied with such polite affections?  To love is to burn --to be on fire, like Juliet or Guinevere or Eloise.
Mrs: Dashwood: They made rather pathetic ends, dear.
Marianne Dashwood: Pathetic?  To die for love?  How can you say so?  What could be more glorious?
Mrs: Dashwood: I think that would be taking your romantic sensibilities a little far.
-Sense and Sensibility


Jim Lovell: Houston, we have a problem.
-Apollo 13

Blanche Lovell: Don't you worry.  If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jimmy could land it.
-Apollo 13