My Top Ten Movie Quotes
Here's a Top Ten list of my favorite movie quotes of all time. Most of them, you've probably either never heard or forgotten entirely; this isn't about the quotes' fame, or the fame or even quality of the movie. Yes, this is a highly subjective list, and yes, few of these quotes mean much out of context -- but then again, so do few of the better-known "great" movie quotes people talk so much about. So how did I make my decision? Find out below -- but first, a run-down of the quotes themselves. Try to figure out which movies they belong to, before you read the answers below.
10. My god! It's full of stars!
9. My reputation precedes me. If it didn't, I'd be late for all my appointments.
8. It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage.
7. You think the crowd's ugly, you should see the dancing girls!
6. I was misinformed.
5. You're gonna need a bigger boat.
4. Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say "YES"!!
3. There isn't a government on this planet that wouldn't kill us all for that thing.
2. Don't even turn around to say goodbye.
1. This . . . is all . . . far . . . from over.
10. 2010: The Year we Made Contact: Out of all the quotes on this list, this is perhaps the best known, reaching almost iconic status; only the Jaws quote is any competition in the fame category. So why is it listed as # 10, after a whole series of relatively obscure lines? Because, frankly, I am not a fan of either 2001 (the film this quote is usually attributed to) or its sequel, 2010 (the film the quote actually appears in). When all is said and done, 2001 and 2010 are, for all their acclaim and epic scope, a couple of boring movies. But this line . . . if these films really had as much wonder in them as this line does (delivered by Keir Dullea, as astronaut Dave Bowman) -- that would really be something to watch.
9. Who's Harry Crumb? I don't know of anyone -- not even the few people who know and like this relatively obscure film -- would list it as one of the greats. It's a fun but ultimately insignificant comic mystery, enjoyable, but easy to dismiss as Hollywood's version of a throw-away gift. Actually, it was originally intended as anything but; at the time, TriStar Pictures was hoping to expand the film into not one, but two comedy/ mystery franchises, one featuring the further adventures of bumbling private eye Harry Crumb, and the other featuring his brilliant ancestors. Poor box office returns nixed that idea, and we ended up with only this one solo adventure, starring John Candy as Crumb.
Why do I consider this one Grouchoesque quote so great? Because with just this one line, the movie sums up the character of Harry Crumb, and, to an extent, the charm of the late, great John Candy. There is something about the way Candy delivers this line that is paradoxical -- exuding both charm and comical over-confidence in that charm -- that truly encapsulates the character, and the persona of Candy himself. How often does an actor get a line that does all of that?
8. Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Indiana Jones films are known more for their spectacular stunts and thrilling storylines than they are for their dialogue. But Raiders of the Lost Ark was co-written by none other than Lawrence Kasdan, a man who, to say the least, knows how to turn a phrase. By the time Raiders reaches its mid-point, poor Indy has been brutally beaten, double-crossed, and shot at by countless Nazi thugs -- and it's clear that this is not the first time he has knocked at death's door. So when ex-flame Marion gripes that he's not the same man she knew ten years ago, Indy's reply that it's not the years but the mileage means a lot more than how far he's traveled on a map. More to the point, it's a reply that mixes wit with a type of world-weariness to which we can all relate at times.
7. The Muppet Movie: The Muppets -- and I'm talking about the brilliant Jim Henson Muppets here, not the watered-down dreck that his company has churned out since his death -- have always not only used outdated humor, so much as reveled in it, made it their home. They work in a vaudevillian theater, perform time-worn acts, tell groan-inducing jokes, and associate with the likes of Bob Hope, George Burns, and Milton Berle, who at one point tries to tell Fozzie Bear that his jokes are so old they've got whiskers on them -- itself an eye-rollingly old pun. In this flashback film that allegedly explains how the Muppets first met, Kermit encounters Fozzie in a bar that's so rough that the owner himself is violently thrown out the door. When the dancing girls call in sick, Fozzie and Kermit try to appease the angry crowd with an impromptu soft-shoe number.
"The crowd's getting ugly!" Kermit exclaims to an unflappable Fozzie. "You think the crowd's ugly, you should see the dancing girls!" Classic.
6. Casablanca has a lot of classic lines -- certainly too many to list here -- but this relatively overlooked line is, for my money, the movie's best. Bogie says it to Claude Rains, whose character, the charmingly conniving Louis Renault, is trying to figure out what led the mysterious Rick Blaine to open a business in the dangerous town of Casablanca. "I came here for the waters," Rick enigmatically explains. "But we're in the desert!" Louis objects. "I was misinformed." Yes, it's a funny line, but it's more than that, it enhances Rick's mystery by refusing to reveal his motivation. And it helps establish the relationship between Louis, who is constantly trying to find the angle, and Rick, who is always dodging his past (until he can't any longer).
5. Jaws: Everyone knows this one. In the movie that put Steven Spielberg on the map (Duel had earned critical acclaim, but had hardly made him a household name) the threat of the great white shark that has been terrorizing Amity's waters has been building at a steady pace. The three main characters -- grizzled Robert Shaw, scholarly Richard Dreyfuss, and slightly aquaphobic everyman Roy Scheider -- join forces to hunt down and kill the shark once and for all. Then, while Dreyfuss and Shaw are preoccupied, Scheider gets the first glimpse of the shark, whose massive form breaks the surface just long enough to give Scheider's Police Chief Brody an idea of what they're up against. The understatement of Brody's observation is a classically Spielbergian moment of simultaneously building tension and earning a laugh -- and, considering what follows, also serves as a brilliant use of foreshadowing.
4. Ghostbusters: People love to quote this movie; it doesn't rank with Monty Python and the Holy Grail as the most overly-quoted movie, but it is in the same league. This line, though, delivered during the Ghostbusters' climactic battle with the villainous deity Gozer, earns a laugh no matter how many times we hear it. "Are you a god?" Gozer asks Ray Stantz. When Ray admits that he isn't, Gozer punishes the Ghosbusters with near-lethal rays of spectral energy. There's something about Winston's admonition that Ray should have said "yes" -- maybe it's the line's way of coming across as comical advice for everyday life, or maybe it's the unapologetic New York defiance between the words in the line -- that makes the moment unforgettable.
3. Sneakers: A group of private security specialists have been hired by the government to steal a mysterious black box. Among these experts is Donald Crease, a former agent for the C.I.A. who knows the bitter, dark side of the spy game all too well. There is a brilliant scene which parallels two simultaneous conversations being had by various members of the group. As one conversation reaches the unnerving conclusion that their employers may or may not be legitimate government agents, the other stumbles upon the discovery that the box is a universal code breaker, allowing its user to hack into any government or private electronic system in the world. They've stumbled upon a job they didn't even know was way over their heads, and Don Crease, played by the rock-solid actor Sidney Poitier announces that their lives are in danger in ways they previously couldn't imagine. "There isn't a government on this planet that wouldn't kill us all for that thing," he quietly warns his friends. He turns out to be right.
2. Mad Dog and Glory: Not many actors can trace their career path to a single line, but David Caruso may be one of them. In Mad Dog and Glory, he plays Mike, a police detective who oozes confidence and quiet masculinity -- in direct contrast to his best friend Wayne, a humble, nervous, shy detective played by a surprisingly meek Robert DeNiro. After Wayne fails miserably in an attempt to scare off his neighbor's abusive boyfriend, Mike gives it a shot -- and manages to reduce the massive brute to a terrified bowl of jelly, without so much as raising his voice. Caruso's performance in this scene is what inspired Stephen Bochco to cast him in the role that made him famous, N.Y.P.D. Blue's Detective John Kelly. But the scene is powerful enough in its own right.
1. Dead Again: This is the closing line of the very first scene of Dead Again, an intelligent thriller skillfully directed by Kenneth Branagh and brilliantly scripted by Scott Frank. Because the line occurs so early in the film, we know that the prediction is necessarily right on at least one level. Because it's spoken by a man about to be executed, a man who refuses to elaborate on the meaning behind his words, the line takes on the very essence of ambiguous, ominous foreshadowing. What does convicted killer Roman Strauss mean, exactly, when he says this? Is he threatening to return from the grave, or is he merely warning that his case will continue to reveal layer after layer even after his death?
As an actor, Branagh can never be accused of subtlety. As Roman Strauss, Branagh stretches Roman's last words out into an ominous whisper that hints at evil deeds destined to occur. When the events have finally finished unfolding, the movie's characters -- and viewers -- will never be able to forget Roman's deathbed warning.
10. My god! It's full of stars!
9. My reputation precedes me. If it didn't, I'd be late for all my appointments.
8. It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage.
7. You think the crowd's ugly, you should see the dancing girls!
6. I was misinformed.
5. You're gonna need a bigger boat.
4. Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say "YES"!!
3. There isn't a government on this planet that wouldn't kill us all for that thing.
2. Don't even turn around to say goodbye.
1. This . . . is all . . . far . . . from over.
10. 2010: The Year we Made Contact: Out of all the quotes on this list, this is perhaps the best known, reaching almost iconic status; only the Jaws quote is any competition in the fame category. So why is it listed as # 10, after a whole series of relatively obscure lines? Because, frankly, I am not a fan of either 2001 (the film this quote is usually attributed to) or its sequel, 2010 (the film the quote actually appears in). When all is said and done, 2001 and 2010 are, for all their acclaim and epic scope, a couple of boring movies. But this line . . . if these films really had as much wonder in them as this line does (delivered by Keir Dullea, as astronaut Dave Bowman) -- that would really be something to watch.
9. Who's Harry Crumb? I don't know of anyone -- not even the few people who know and like this relatively obscure film -- would list it as one of the greats. It's a fun but ultimately insignificant comic mystery, enjoyable, but easy to dismiss as Hollywood's version of a throw-away gift. Actually, it was originally intended as anything but; at the time, TriStar Pictures was hoping to expand the film into not one, but two comedy/ mystery franchises, one featuring the further adventures of bumbling private eye Harry Crumb, and the other featuring his brilliant ancestors. Poor box office returns nixed that idea, and we ended up with only this one solo adventure, starring John Candy as Crumb.
Why do I consider this one Grouchoesque quote so great? Because with just this one line, the movie sums up the character of Harry Crumb, and, to an extent, the charm of the late, great John Candy. There is something about the way Candy delivers this line that is paradoxical -- exuding both charm and comical over-confidence in that charm -- that truly encapsulates the character, and the persona of Candy himself. How often does an actor get a line that does all of that?
8. Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Indiana Jones films are known more for their spectacular stunts and thrilling storylines than they are for their dialogue. But Raiders of the Lost Ark was co-written by none other than Lawrence Kasdan, a man who, to say the least, knows how to turn a phrase. By the time Raiders reaches its mid-point, poor Indy has been brutally beaten, double-crossed, and shot at by countless Nazi thugs -- and it's clear that this is not the first time he has knocked at death's door. So when ex-flame Marion gripes that he's not the same man she knew ten years ago, Indy's reply that it's not the years but the mileage means a lot more than how far he's traveled on a map. More to the point, it's a reply that mixes wit with a type of world-weariness to which we can all relate at times.
7. The Muppet Movie: The Muppets -- and I'm talking about the brilliant Jim Henson Muppets here, not the watered-down dreck that his company has churned out since his death -- have always not only used outdated humor, so much as reveled in it, made it their home. They work in a vaudevillian theater, perform time-worn acts, tell groan-inducing jokes, and associate with the likes of Bob Hope, George Burns, and Milton Berle, who at one point tries to tell Fozzie Bear that his jokes are so old they've got whiskers on them -- itself an eye-rollingly old pun. In this flashback film that allegedly explains how the Muppets first met, Kermit encounters Fozzie in a bar that's so rough that the owner himself is violently thrown out the door. When the dancing girls call in sick, Fozzie and Kermit try to appease the angry crowd with an impromptu soft-shoe number.
"The crowd's getting ugly!" Kermit exclaims to an unflappable Fozzie. "You think the crowd's ugly, you should see the dancing girls!" Classic.
6. Casablanca has a lot of classic lines -- certainly too many to list here -- but this relatively overlooked line is, for my money, the movie's best. Bogie says it to Claude Rains, whose character, the charmingly conniving Louis Renault, is trying to figure out what led the mysterious Rick Blaine to open a business in the dangerous town of Casablanca. "I came here for the waters," Rick enigmatically explains. "But we're in the desert!" Louis objects. "I was misinformed." Yes, it's a funny line, but it's more than that, it enhances Rick's mystery by refusing to reveal his motivation. And it helps establish the relationship between Louis, who is constantly trying to find the angle, and Rick, who is always dodging his past (until he can't any longer).
5. Jaws: Everyone knows this one. In the movie that put Steven Spielberg on the map (Duel had earned critical acclaim, but had hardly made him a household name) the threat of the great white shark that has been terrorizing Amity's waters has been building at a steady pace. The three main characters -- grizzled Robert Shaw, scholarly Richard Dreyfuss, and slightly aquaphobic everyman Roy Scheider -- join forces to hunt down and kill the shark once and for all. Then, while Dreyfuss and Shaw are preoccupied, Scheider gets the first glimpse of the shark, whose massive form breaks the surface just long enough to give Scheider's Police Chief Brody an idea of what they're up against. The understatement of Brody's observation is a classically Spielbergian moment of simultaneously building tension and earning a laugh -- and, considering what follows, also serves as a brilliant use of foreshadowing.
4. Ghostbusters: People love to quote this movie; it doesn't rank with Monty Python and the Holy Grail as the most overly-quoted movie, but it is in the same league. This line, though, delivered during the Ghostbusters' climactic battle with the villainous deity Gozer, earns a laugh no matter how many times we hear it. "Are you a god?" Gozer asks Ray Stantz. When Ray admits that he isn't, Gozer punishes the Ghosbusters with near-lethal rays of spectral energy. There's something about Winston's admonition that Ray should have said "yes" -- maybe it's the line's way of coming across as comical advice for everyday life, or maybe it's the unapologetic New York defiance between the words in the line -- that makes the moment unforgettable.
3. Sneakers: A group of private security specialists have been hired by the government to steal a mysterious black box. Among these experts is Donald Crease, a former agent for the C.I.A. who knows the bitter, dark side of the spy game all too well. There is a brilliant scene which parallels two simultaneous conversations being had by various members of the group. As one conversation reaches the unnerving conclusion that their employers may or may not be legitimate government agents, the other stumbles upon the discovery that the box is a universal code breaker, allowing its user to hack into any government or private electronic system in the world. They've stumbled upon a job they didn't even know was way over their heads, and Don Crease, played by the rock-solid actor Sidney Poitier announces that their lives are in danger in ways they previously couldn't imagine. "There isn't a government on this planet that wouldn't kill us all for that thing," he quietly warns his friends. He turns out to be right.
2. Mad Dog and Glory: Not many actors can trace their career path to a single line, but David Caruso may be one of them. In Mad Dog and Glory, he plays Mike, a police detective who oozes confidence and quiet masculinity -- in direct contrast to his best friend Wayne, a humble, nervous, shy detective played by a surprisingly meek Robert DeNiro. After Wayne fails miserably in an attempt to scare off his neighbor's abusive boyfriend, Mike gives it a shot -- and manages to reduce the massive brute to a terrified bowl of jelly, without so much as raising his voice. Caruso's performance in this scene is what inspired Stephen Bochco to cast him in the role that made him famous, N.Y.P.D. Blue's Detective John Kelly. But the scene is powerful enough in its own right.
1. Dead Again: This is the closing line of the very first scene of Dead Again, an intelligent thriller skillfully directed by Kenneth Branagh and brilliantly scripted by Scott Frank. Because the line occurs so early in the film, we know that the prediction is necessarily right on at least one level. Because it's spoken by a man about to be executed, a man who refuses to elaborate on the meaning behind his words, the line takes on the very essence of ambiguous, ominous foreshadowing. What does convicted killer Roman Strauss mean, exactly, when he says this? Is he threatening to return from the grave, or is he merely warning that his case will continue to reveal layer after layer even after his death?
As an actor, Branagh can never be accused of subtlety. As Roman Strauss, Branagh stretches Roman's last words out into an ominous whisper that hints at evil deeds destined to occur. When the events have finally finished unfolding, the movie's characters -- and viewers -- will never be able to forget Roman's deathbed warning.
posted by Movie Man at
4:44 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home