American Rhetoric: Movie Speech

"Succession" S4, Ep9 (2023)

Kendall Roy Eulogizes His Father, Logan Roy

Yeah, I -- I don't know how much I know, but I knew my father.

You know, I -- I've said it -- I said it, and it is true what I said, what my uncle said. Yeah, my father was a brute. He was -- He was tough.

But also, he built, and he acted, and there are many people out there who will always tell you, "No." And there are a thousand reasons. I mean there always are a thousand reasons not to, to not act. But he was never one of those.

He had a, you know, he had a vitality of force that could hurt, and it did. But, my god, the sheer the -- the, I mean, look at it, the lives and the livings and the things that he made.

And the money -- yeah, the money, the lifeblood, the oxygen of this -- this -- this wonderful civilization that we have built from the mud; the money, the corpuscles of life gushing around this nation, this world, filling men and women all around with -- with desire, quickening the ambition to own and make and trade and profit and build and improve -- I mean great geysers of life, he willed; of buildings he made stand, of ships, steel hulls, amusements, newspapers, shows and films, and life -- bloody, complicated life.

He made life happen. He made me and my three siblings, (sorry). And -- And yes, he had a terrible force to him and fierce ambition that could push you to the side. But -- But it was only that -- that human thing: the will to be, and to be seen, and to do.

And now people might want to tend and prune the memory of him to denigrate that force, that magnificent awful force of him. But, my god, I hope it's in me because if we can't match his vim, then god knows the future will be sluggish and gray.

There wasn't a room, from the grand estate room where his advice was sought to the lowest house where his news played, where he couldn't walk, and wasn't comfortable. He was comfortable with this world, and he knew it. He knew it, and he liked it, and I say amen to that.