American Rhetoric: Movie Speech

"The Wizard of Oz" (1939)

The Wizard's Offer

Audio mp3 delivered principally by Frank Morgan

Oz: Come FORWARD!

Cowardly Lion: Tell me when it's over. Look at that. Look at that! Uhhuhhuhhuhhuhhuh....I wanna go home....

Oz: I am Oz -- the Great and Powerful. Who are you? Who are you?!

Dorothy: If you please, I am Dorothy -- the small and meek. We've come to ask --

Oz: Silence!

                                                                              Dorothy: Oh, Oh, Jiminy Crickets!

Oz: The Great and Powerful Oz knows why you have come. Step forward, Tin Man.

  Tin Man: Uahh.

Oz: You dare to come to me for a heart, do you? You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk!

Tin Man: Oooohhh. Uh, yes, yes sir. Yyyes, your Honor. You see, awhile back we were walking down the yellow brick road and --

Oz: QUIET!!!

Tin Man: Oooohhhhhh!

Oz: And you, Scarecrow, have the effrontery to ask for a brain! You billowing bale of bovine fodder!!

 

 

Scarecrow: Thanks, your Honor -- I mean, your Excellency -- I mean, your Wizardry.

Oz: Enough! And you, Lion. Well?!!      

[The Cowardly Lion faints]

Dorothy: You oughtta be ashamed of  yourself, frightening him like that when he came to you for help!

Oz: Silence, Whippersnapper. The beneficent Oz has every intention of granting your requests.

 

The Cowardly Lion: [coming to] ...What's that? Huh? What'd he say? What'd he say?

 

 

Oz: But first you must prove yourselves worthy by performing a very small task. Bring me the broomstick of the Witch of the West. The Scarecrow: Bbbbbbbbut...if we do that, we'll have to kill her to get it. Oz: Bring me her broomstick and I'll grant your requests. Now, go. The Cowardly Lion: But what if she kills us first?

Oz: I said GO!!!