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Any Given Sunday

1999 film by Oliver Stone

Any Given Sunday is a 1999 film about professional American football that provides a behind-the-scenes look at the life-and-death struggles of modern-day gladiators and those who lead them.

Directed by Oliver Stone. Written by John Logan and Oliver Stone.
Life is a contact sport.taglines

Tony D'Amato

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  • This game has got to be about more than winning. You're part of something here... along the way, I want you to cherish it, because when it's gone, it's gone forever.
  • Doesn't make sense, my not having a home, a family, a life.
  • [to Beamen] You're very, very young... and your very, very stupid.
  • I don't know what to say, really. Three minutes 'til the biggest battle of our professional lives all comes down to today. Now either we heal as a team or we're gonna crumble, inch by inch, play by play, until we're finished. We're in hell right now, gentlemen, believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell, one inch at a time.

    Now, I can't do it for ya. I'm too old. I look around. I see these young faces, and I think, I mean, I made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make. I, uh, I pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who's ever loved me. And lately, I can't even stand the face I see in a mirror. You know, when you get old in life, things get taken from you. I mean that's, that's, that's part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losin' stuff. You find out life's this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game - life or football - the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast, and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second.

    On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all those inches, that's gonna make the fuckin' difference between winnin' and losin'! Between livin' and dyin'! I'll tell ya this - in any fight, it's the guy who's willin' to die who's gonna win that inch. And I know if I'm gonna have any life anymore, it's because I'm still willin' to fight and die for that inch. Because that's what livin' is! The six inches in front of your face!!

    Now, I can't make you do it. You gotta look at the guy next to you. Look into his eyes! Now I think you're gonna see a guy who will go that inch with ya. You're gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows, when it comes down to it, you're gonna do the same for him! That's a team, gentleman! And, either we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That's football, guys. That's all it is. Now, what are you gonna do?

  • That's what a leader's about: sacrifice. The times he's gotta sacrifice because he's gotta lead, by example. Not by fear and not by self-pity.
  • It's TV, it changed everything, changed the way we think forever. I mean the first time they stopped the game to cut away to some fucking commercial that was the end of it. Because it was our concentration that mattered, not theirs, not some fruitcake selling cereal.
  • Four seconds is a lifetime!
  • On any given Sunday you're gonna win or you're gonna lose. The point is - can you win or lose like a man?
  • You're a goddamn quarterback! You know what that means? It's the top spot, kid. It's the guy who takes the fall. It's the guy everybody's looking at first - the leader of a team - who will support you when they understand you. Who will break their ribs and their noses and their necks for you, because they believe. 'Cause you make them believe. That's a quarterback.

Willie Beamen

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  • I'm trying to win coach. I ain't trying to disrespect nobody, but winning is the only thing I respect.
  • I look at those pictures on the wall, it just makes me sad. Its like a room full of ghosts. When I'm done with the game, or the game is done with me, I don't wanna be some ghost up on the wall, I wanna be more than that.
  • Maybe it's not racism, maybe it's placism. A brother has to know his place, right, coach?
  • If I play my way, I just might win. Then what the fuck was your life about, anyway?
  • And with the time I got left, I'm going to play my way. Get my dollars up. So when you go to waive me, trade, injured reserve me, or whatever the fuck y'all do, I'll be worth ten times what I was worth before I got here.

Luther 'Shark' Lavay

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  • [to Willie Beamen] Let me tell you something: For every sucker who makes it, for every Barry Sanders, for every Jerry Rice... there's a hundred niggers you never heard of. Sure, the game's taught you how to strut, how to talk shit, how to hit. But what else? Suddenly, there's no more money. No more women, no more applause. No more dream. This is what I'm trying to say to you. When a man looks back on his life, he should be proud of all of it. Not just the years he spent in pads and cleats. Not just memories of when he was great. You gotta learn that in here. Or if you don't, you ain't a man, you're just another punk.
  • [after slicing Beamen's car in half when he insulted the defense] In football, you have the offense and the defense. You can't have one without the other. Respect will be paid.
  • Don't you guys drop me. I'm worth a million dollars.
  • Football's my life, Coach, my life. [whispers] Its all I know how to do.

Dr. Harvey Mandrake

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  • What's next, stigmata?
  • He's fucked up; they're all fucked up.
  • He's so freaked about Beamen taking his spot, he'd play with a fractured neck.
  • I'm going to consult with a player? What are you talking about? I know his answer! And getting killed, what? Maybe, maybe not. One chance in a thousand. They couldn't take a piss in the morning, without the pills. You want to play innocent? Fuck your innocence! You don't want to hear the answer, don't ask the question. I didn't have to ask him, because I knew the answer. These men are football players, they are gladiators. They will not live with shame, like you. And long ago, they made that choice. Not you, not you. Not me. And I'm not going to take responsibility for standing between them... Didn't you ever have a... dream?
  • Fine, stay here and get butt-fucked by 12 Neanderthals.

Others

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  • Jack Rose: It's like my ex-wife. 21 different personalities and 7 of them hated me.
  • Jack 'Cap' Rooney: Hey, they love you today, but a season is 16 games kid, and its how you live through the bad ones that make you a quarterback, not a punk.
  • Margaret Pagniacci: She will sell the team, and everything her father stood for is going to die.
  • Margaret Pagniacci: And what will you do after football, Tony, with no one to control?
  • Commissioner: [about Christina Pagniacci] I honestly believe that woman would eat her young.

Dialogue

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Tony D'Amato: If you're gonna be a loser, raise your hand. IF you're gonna act like a pussy, raise your hand.
[Julian Washington stands up and raises his hand]
Tony D'Amato: What the hell are you doing, J?
Julian Washington: Well, I didn't want you to be the only pussy with your hand up, so I thought I'd help you out.
Luther 'Shark' Lavay: Coach, calm down you're gonna have a stroke!
Montezuma Monroe: I don't get strokes muthafucka! I give 'em!

Taglines

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  • Life is a contact sport.
  • This Christmas. It's Better To Give Than Receive.
  • Play or be played

Cast

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