Even omitting the TCM index and Shakespeare (Ed de Vere) flicks, there are more indelible lines in the remaining 100+ years of movie dialogue than there are lights to carpet a starry night sky. That includes the silent era, their captions and speaking parts in most every language under the Sun.
One clever quip certainly won’t carry a film but where there’s one golden nugget there’s sure to be more. With a top script, a director can make what would normally constitute just so many sharp looking wait-staff and personal trainers (actors) sound like gosh-darn poets.
Great dialogue can be as lengthy as Orson Welles “cuckoo clock” pitch (The Third Man) or as brief as Elizabeth Taylor’s modish “wow” as she peeked in on lonely billiard boy Montgomery Clift (A Place in the Sun).
It can be sung (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), whistled (“Steve” in To Have and Have Not), set to motion (Davis’ coat drape on Ratloff in All About Eve), read in the wink of an eye (Poitier to cell-mate Wilson In the Heat of the Night), a raise of the eye-brows (Shearer on Lermontov news in The Red Shoes), a nod of the head (Moore’s closing answer to Huston in Out of the Past (47)), a hand gesture (Ferrer’s puppets in Lili) and even delivered in rodent-speak (Perri). Meaning that nearly every action in a film, a good one that is, makes a statement.
Some of the quotes listed herein are célébrité (“We’re gonna need a bigger boat (Jaws)”), by itself no warrant for inclusion, others as obscure as this writer’s product. Some are funny, some sentimental, others pointed, viciously vague, suggestive in how far we’ve come or instructive in how far we have to go.
While most movie lines are best appreciated in their context, not subtext (oy vey), like “Tibbs” expert answer In the Heat of the Night (“I believe old Harv is a southpaw, now ain’t he, Shagbag (trooper)? What if he is, what’s that make him (Shagbag)? Innocent (Tibbs)”), most listed herein can stand on their own merit.
With a few exceptions, nearly all of these quotes are in English. That, even as its greatest proponent in the Bard (Shake-a-Spear) is rarely referenced, for if he (or Annie Hall) were, there‘d be no end to this write. What this list is is a smattering of the myriad of verbal gems that’ve been glittering on the silver screen for over a century and harvested in the heart by those viewers who mine for rarity.
This is a listing of memorable movie lines, a smorgasbord of flavorful offerings to sample for the film connoisseur and casual customer alike, not a ranking of the believed greatest dialogue ever delivered.
Selecting your favorites is fine and one can easily separate toppers from routine deliveries. But to claim an ability, a means to rank one line (or title (Citizen Kane (AFI #1 (ugh))) above others because you’ve consulted a cabal of credentialed critics is the highest order of arrogance and a clear sign of a film-lover fake.
So if you like classic flicks (< 2000), glory days for dialogue, and you prefer story over computerized imagery or the contemporary cocktail of gratuitous violence + sex, drink in some of these great lines, all natural flavors, gluten-free, no sugar-added and maybe one of ’em will “make (your) day.” Lights, camera, action!
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-We…rob…banks: Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway), Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
-Oh, I don’t know…everybody makes book on something: “Stoker Thompson (Robert Ryan),” The Set-Up (1949)
-Like Steve says, winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing: “Carol Williams (Sherry Jackson),” Trouble Along the Way (1953)
-Sun only shines half the day, Tom (Wayne), the other half is night: “Fen (Coleen Gray),” Red River (1948)
-There are two things better than a good gun, a Swiss watch and a woman from anywhere: “Cherry (John Ireland),” Red River (1948)
-Almost anything coming out of the mouth of Edna May Oliver (1883-1942)
-How would you define ballet, Lady Neston? Well, one might call it the poetry of motion perhaps, or…(Browne). One might, but for me it is a great deal more. For me it is a religion: “Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook),” The Red Shoes (1948)
-Why do you want to dance (“Lermontov“)? Why do you want to live?: “Victoria Page (Moira Shearer),” The Red Shoes
-Because dear miss…what was your name (Walbrook)? Victoria Page (Shearer). Yes, Miss Page, because when I come to a party I don’t expect to sit for an audition (Anton). Yes, you are quite right: “Vicky (Shearer),” The Red Shoes
-You cannot alter human nature (Massine). No? I think you can do even better, you can ignore it!: “Lermontov (Walbrook),” The Red Shoes
-You cannot have it both ways (to “Ljubov” & “Page”). A dancer who relies upon the doubtful comforts of human love can never be a great dancer. Never!: “Boris Lermontov (Walbrook),” The Red Shoes
-I want you to dance tonite with the same ecstasy I’ve seen in you only once before. At the Mercury Theatre (Vicky). Yes, in the Mercury Theater in London, on a wet, Saturday afternoon: “Lermontov (Walbrook) (Boris now in love)”
-What the devil have you (Craster) got to be worried about? It’s a fine score, a magnificent score! I only wish I had…go on! Former lead composer and conductor “Livingston ‘Livy’ Montague (Esmond Knight),” The Red Shoes
-Vicky, Vicky, dance to whatever tempo you like. I’ll follow you! New composer and conductor “Julian Craster (Marius Goring),” The Red Shoes
-Would he (“Craster”) give it up if you asked him (Walbrook)? I don’t know (Shearer). You do know! I wouldn’t ask him. Then why is he asking you?! Does he KNOW what he’s asking?: “Lermontov (Walbrook),” The Red Shoes (the crux)
-Nobody else has ever danced the Red Shoes since you left. Nobody else ever shall. Put on the red shoes, Vicky (now entranced), and dance for us again!: “Lermontov (Walbrook),” The Red Shoes
-If I could be anyone, a child who could be brave from the beginning: “Roslyn (Marilyn Monroe),” The Misfits (1961)
-It all blows-up in your face sometimes, doesn’t it?: “Joyce Harwood (Veronica Lake);” The Blue Dahlia (1946)
-I got a new suit (Brian Donlevy). It looks like the suit got you: “The Boss (Akim Tamiroff),” The Great McGinty (1940 (loud suit))
-You know this fish, he don’t go to school, he don’t know French but he pretty smart, too: “Manuel (Spencer Tracy),” Captains Courageous (1937)
-You (Freddie Bartholomew) show is a tonic to yoself: “Doc” the cook (Sam McDaniel),” Captains Courageous
-He (Douglas) will hug you to pieces then take those pieces home with him: “Manuel (Tracy),” Captains Courageous
-Fiddle dee-dee. War, war, war, this war talk’s spoiling the fun at every party this spring! “Scarlett O’Hara (Vivian Leigh),” Gone With the Wind (1939)
-Whistle (Gable). Gasp (Leigh). Has the war started?: “Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) (meets “Scarlett” for the first time),” Gone With the Wind
-All we’ve got is cotton, slaves and…arrogance: “Butler,” Gone With the Wind
-Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn: “Butler (Gable) (says goodbye to his “Scarlett“),” Gone With the Wind
-But tomorrow…is another day!: “Scarlett (Leigh),” Gone With the Wind
-A tribe’s greatness is figured by how mighty its enemies be: “Del Gue (Stefan Gierasch),” Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
-Is it possible that something is holy to the celebrated agnostic (March)? Yes, the individual human mind in a child’s power to master a multiplication table, there is more sanctity than in all your shouted ‘amens,’ ‘holy holies’ and ‘hosannas!’ An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral and the advance of knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or the parting of the waters: “Col. Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy),” Inherit the Wind (1960).
-Progress has never been a bargain, you have to pay for it. Sometimes I think there’s a man who sits behind a counter and says, ‘all right, you can have a telephone but you lose privacy and the charm of distance. Madam, you may vote, but at a price. You lose the right to retreat behind the powder puff or your petticoat. Mister, you may conquer the air but the birds will lose their wonder and the clouds will smell of gasoline’: “Col. Henry Drummond (Tracy)
-All you have to do is knock on any door and say, ‘If you let me in I’ll live the way you want me to live and I’ll think the way you want me to think and all the blinds will go up and all the doors will open and you’ll never be lonely ever again. If that‘s the case I‘ll change the plea, this is if you know the law‘s right and you’re wrong: “Col Drummond (Tracy),” Inherit the Wind
-Mr. Brady, why do you deny the one faculty of man that raises him above the other creatures of the earth, the power of his brain to reason? What other merit have we? The elephant is larger, the horse swifter and stronger, the butterfly is far more beautiful, the mosquito is more prolific, even the simple sponge is more durable: “Col. Henry Drummond (Tracy),” Inherit the Wind
-The bible is a book. It’s a good book but it is not the only book: “Col. Henry Drummond (Tracy),” Inherit the Wind
-Youth can be so pure, what do you know of good or evil? What do you know of the sum of a man’s life? He betrayed me (Anderson)! You betrayed yourself! You see my husband as a saint, and so he must be right in everything he says and does, and then you see him as a devil and everything he does must be wrong. Well, my husband’s neither a saint nor a devil, he’s just a human being and he makes mistakes. How can you defend him? it’s not he I’m defending but the 40 years I’ve lived with this man and watched him carry the burdens of people like you. If he’s been wrong at least he stood for something. What do you stand for? Do you believe in Bertram Cates (York)? I believe in my husband. What do you believe in?: “Mrs. Sara Brady (Florence Eldridge),” Inherit the Wind
-What touches you (Kelly), what warms you? Every man has a dream. What do you dream about? What, what do you need? You don’t need anything, do you, people, love, an idea just to cling to? You poor slob. You’re all alone. When you go to your grave, there won’t be anybody to pull the grass up over your head, nobody to mourn you, nobody to give a damn. You’re all alone (Tracy). You’re wrong, Henry. You’ll be there. You’re the type. Who else would defend my right to be lonely?: “E.K. Hornbeck (Gene Kelly),” Inherit the Wind
-Nobody lives forever: “Nick (John Garfield),” Nobody Live Forever (1946)
-Spill it punk or I’ll splash your brains out!: “Mickey,” 99 River Street (1953)
-Who are you (Wood (POY)))? I’m next: “Tyrone ‘Mr. Clean’ Miller (Laurence Fishburne),” Apocalypse Now (1979)
-You can lick me if you want and I’ll still love you: “Betsy Bartlett McMasters (Claudette Colbert),” Boom Town (1940) (context)
-You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce, the cuckoo clock: “Harry Lime (Orson Welles),” The Third Man (1949)
-Course, a situation like that (black market) does tend to amateurs but…but, well, they (floaters) can’t stay the course: Carol Reed (narrator), The Third Man
-Be sensible, Martins (Howard). I don’t have a sensible name, Calloway: “Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton), The Third Man
-Dancing means everything to me!: “Judy (O’Hara),” Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
-Pardon, how do I wire congratulations to the Pacific Ocean?: “Matt Libby (Lionel Stander),” A Star is Born (1937) (context)
-In Italian there is a no word for this ‘crooner (“de Vinci (Adolphe Menjou)“). That’s okay, Professor, there’s no word in English for spaghetti: “Dick Purcell (Dick Powell),” Broadway Gondolier (1935)
-I was married twice before – once at 16, once at 21. One was a crybaby and the other was a caveman. Between the two of them I said goodbye to girlhood: “Helen Wright (Joan Crawford),” Humoresque (1946)
-Here’s to love: “Helen Wright (Joan Crawford),” Humoresque
-The earth is my body, my head is in the stars!: “Maude Chardin (Ruth Gordon),” Harold and Maude (1971)
-Oh, I don’t drink (“Harold (Bud Cort)”). It’s okay, it’s organic: “Maude (Gordon),” Harold and Maude
-It’s best not to be too moral, you cheat yourself out of too much life: “Maude (Gordon),” Harold and Maude
-I made you breakfast…scrambie eggs: “Chip (Jim Carrey),” The Cable Guy
-You mean Heather is a prostitute (“Steve”)? Of course she is, you think a girl like that’d hang out with us if she wasn’t? “Chip (Carrey),” The Cable Guy (1996)
-I always had a hard time realizing how important we are: “George Hasting (Russell Hicks),“ The Big Store (1941)
-Course, I’ll have to notify the police (Gerstle). This is a case for homicide. Homicide (O‘Brien)!? “I don’t think you fully understand, Bigelow, you’ve been murdered: “Dr. MacDonald (Frank Gerstle),” D.O.A (1950)
-I knew there was something wrong with that guy. Never met a gin-drinker yet that you could trust: “Parnell (Arthur O’Connell),” Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
-It’s up to you: Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner)), JFK (1991) (context)
-It was a violation of the most basic protection codes and the best indication of a massive plot (to kill JFK) in Dallas: “Mister X (Donald Sutherland),” JFK (1990)
-I’ll show you how a Prussian officer can fight (Schell). And I’ll show you how the Iron Crosses grow: “Sgt. Rolf Steiner (James Coburn),” Cross of Iron (1977)
-Why don’t you buzz off on your broomstick!: “Maxine (Ava Gardner),” The Night of the Iguana (1964)
-Her eyes said ‘NO’ in big, blue capital letters: “Miss Hannah Jelkes (Deborah Kerr),” The Night of the Iguana
-All women, whether they want to face it or not, want to see a man in a tied-up situation. They spend their entire lives trying to get a man in a tied-up situation. Their lives are fulfilled when they an get a man or as many men as they can into a tied-up situation!: “Shannon (Richard Burton), The Night of the Iguana
-I respect anyone who’s had to fight and howl for their decency (Kerr). What do you respect in me, Miss Thin, Standing-Up, female Buddha (Burton)!? Far more than I respect those ones who had theirs handed out to them at birth and never afterwards snatched away from them by unbearable torments: “Jelkes (Deborah Kerr), The Night of the Iguana
-And what is my problem, Miss Jeltz (Burton)? The oldest one in the world, the need to believe in someone or something, almost anyone or anything: “Jelkes (Kerr),” The Night of the Iguana
-I don’t regard a home as a place, a building, bricks, wood, stone. I think of a home a something two people have between them in which each can nest, rest, live in, emotionally speaking: “Jelkes (Kerr),” The Night of the Iguana
-I’m not a bird, Mr. Shannon. I’m a human being and when one of that unique species builds a nest in the heart of another, the questions of permanence or propagation are not the first or even the last things to be considered: “Jelkes (Kerr),” The Night of the Iguana
-There are worse things that chastity, Mr. Shannon (Kerr). Yes, lunacy and death: “Shannon (Burton),” The Night of the Iguana
-Nothing human disgusts me, Mr. Shannon, unless it is unkind or violent: “Jelkes (Kerr),” The Night of the Iguana
-How did you, how did you beat this blue devil of yours (Burton)? I showed him I could endure him and make him respect my endurance: Endurance is something spooks and blue devils respect. And they respect all the tricks panicky people use to outsmart and outlast the panic (Kerr). Like taking deep breaths (Burton)? Or rum cocoas: “Miss Jelkes (Kerr),” The Night of the Iguana
-Why don’t we go down to the beach (Gardner)? I can a…I can get down hill, Maxine, but I’m not too sure about getting back up (Burton). I’ll get you back up, Baby. I’ll always get you back up: “Maxine (Gardner),” The Night of the Iguana
-He wishes: “Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis”), Now, Voyager (1942)
-If we both try hard to protect that little strip of territory that is ours: “Charlotte (Bette Davis),” Now, Voyager
-Oh Jerry, don’t let’s ask for the moon. We have the stars: “Charlotte (Bette Davis),” Now, Voyager (context)
-(On plane, “Jack” shows his altered FBI badge now with his picture to 9 (?) boy seated aside): It looks fine…to me: Scott McAfee, Midnight Run (1987)
-You two are dumbest bounty hunters in history…you couldn’t deliver a bottle of milk!: “Jon Mardukas (Charles Grodin),” Midnight Run
-Did you ever have sex with an animal, Jack? Remember those chickens around the Indian Reservation, there were some good-looking chickens around there, Jack, you know, between us (Grodin). Yeah, there were a couple there I mighta’ taken a shot at (laughter): “Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro),” Midnight Run
-I don’t think she’s coming back (Grodin). Yeah, I don’t either, I don’t either (De Niro). Sometimes you just have to let go, just get yourself a new watch: “Jon (Grodin),” Midnight Run (context)
-What do you think you are, for Christ-sake, crazy or something? We’ll you’re not, no crazier than the average asshole out walking the street: R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson),” One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
-Koufax’ curveball is snapping off like a fucking fire-cracker: “McMurphy (Jack Nicholson),” One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
-Somebody give me a wiener before I die!: “Randall P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson),” One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
-Mr. Scanlon (Fletcher)? I want to know why the dorm is locked in the daytime and the weekends: “Scanlon (Delos Smith),” One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
-A man like him (“Jim McKay“)…is very rare: “Ramon (Alfonso Bedoya),” The Big Country (1958) (context)
-All I can say McKay is you take a hell of a long time to say goodbye: “Steve Leach (Charlton Heston),” The Big Country (moonlight fistfight)
-Greenhorns have to get knocked around a little: “Jim McKay (Gregory Peck),” The Big Country (1958)
-Obviously Mr. McKay is man who is afraid of only one thing, that people may suspect him of showing off: “Julie Maragon (Jean Simmons),” The Big Country
-You want me, Pop (Connors)? Before you was born, I did: “Rufus Hannassey (Burl Ives),” The Big Country
-I’m not responsible for what people think, only for what I am: “Jim McKay (Gregory Peck),” The Big Country
-How do you like Blanco Canyon, huh (Ramón)? It’s a hell of place for sailor: “Jim McKay (Gregory Peck),” The Big Country
-Some people you can’t insult at all, others get upset over the littlest thing: “Pat Terrell (Carroll Baker),” The Big Country
-An amazingly good actor met an amazingly receptive audience: Napoleon Bonaparte (Claude Rains), Hearts Divided (1936)
-Almost anything that came out of the mouth of Ned Sparks (1883-1957)
-And how is your cousin, Edmond de Boeldieu, who was Military Attaché in Berlin (von Stronheim)? He is well and happy. He lost an arm and married a very rich wife (Fresnay). A fine career: “Captain von Rauffenstein (Erich von Stronheim),” The Grand Illusion (1937)
-I ain’t spittin’ on my whole life: “Monte (Lee Marvin),” Monte Walsh (1970 (turning down job as a Western dude))
-I want to make love to you until you scream (Morris). Can’t scream!: “Jerry Martin (Norma Shearer),” The Divorcee (1930)
-She’s a grifter, just like her brother. Probably had grifter parents and grifter grandparents and someday they’re each gonna’ spawn little grifter kids: “Tom (Gabriel Byrne),” Miller’s Crossing (1990)
-Nobody knows anybody, not that well: “Tom (Byrne),” Miller’s Crossing
-Old man’s still an artist with the Thompson: “Terry (L.Flaherty),” Miller’s
-If you can’t trust a fix, what can you trust?: “Caspar (J.Polito),” Miller’s
-You used to be big (Holden). I am big, it’s the pictures that got small: “Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson),” Sunset Boulevard (1950)
-There were children in those days (Revolution) who lived off human flesh: “Lt. Gen. Yevgraf Andreyevich Zhivago (Alec Guinness),” Doctor Zhivago (1965)
-Don’t you want to believe it (Guinness)? Not if it isn’t true!: “Tonya Komarova (Rita Tushingham),” Doctor Zhivago
-A nameless number (Christie) on a list that was later mislaid: Lt. Gen. Yevgraf Andreyevich Zhivago (Alec Guinness),” Doctor Zhivago
-You only had one glass (Cowan)? But you kept filling it up: “Jeffrey Baird (Edward Everett Horton),” Shall We Dance (1937)
-I want to change their minds, not kill them for having the same weaknesses we all possess: Mohandas Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), Gandhi (1982)
-It’s the story of my life, I always get the fuzzy end of the lollipop: “Sugar (Marilyn Monroe), Some Like It Hot (1959)
-You don’t’ understand Osgood, I’m a man (Lemmon)! We’ll, nobody’s perfect: “Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown),” Some Like It Hot
-I’m getting a cramp in the most peculiar place: “Francesca Cunningham (Ann Todd),” The Seventh Veil (1945)
-Life is short, art long, decision difficult and experiment perilous: “Bederaux (Paul Lukas),” Experiment Perilous (1944)
-So help me, he (Jordan Benedict IV) looks like a little wet-back: “Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson),” Giant (1956)
-Never trust a nigger (Hackman). He could’ve been white (Scheider). Never trust anyone!: “Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman),” The French Connection (1971)
-Take your last look at free-side, kid: Inmate (Gail Bonney?), Caged (1950)
-For that forty bucks I heisted, I certainly got myself an education: “Marie Allen (Eleanor Parker),” Caged (1950)
-Can’t beat aces: “Nick (Humphrey Bogart),” The Wagons Roll at Night (1941)
-La-dee-da, la-dee-da: “Annie Hall (Diane Keaton),” Annie Hall (1977)
-The only word for this is transplendent: “Pam (Shelley Duvall),” Annie Hall
-You know how to whistle, don’t you Steve? You just put your lips together and, blow: “Slim (Lauren Bacall),” To Have and Have Not (1944)
-He didn’t invent it (Bogart). Invent what (Moran)? Being afraid: “Harry ‘Steve’ Morgan (Humphrey Bogart),” To Have and Have Not
-What manner of man is it I’ve married (O‘Hara)!? A better one than I think you know, Mary Kate: “Hugh Forbes (Charles Fitzsimmons),“ The Quiet Man (1952)
-There’ll be no bolts or locks between us Mary Kate, except those in your little mercenary heart: “Sean Thornton (John Wayne),” The Quiet Man
-As only an American would think of emerald green! “Elizabeth Playfair (Eileen Crowe),” The Quiet Man (Sean’s new cottage)
-By the way, don’t underestimate Danaher, he’s got a tremendous right and jaw of granite: “Rev. Cyril Playfair (Arthur Shields),” The Quiet Man (persuading)
-Will you join me in a glass of…no…you’ll be in training now, of course: “Playfair (Shields),” The Quiet Man (converted)
-No, no, you just said you loved her. There’s some difference between lovin’ and likin.’ When I married Jennie’s mother, I-I didn’t love her, I liked her, I liked her alot. I liked Martha for at least three years after we were married and then one day it just dawned on me I loved her. I still do…still do. You see, Sam, when you love a woman without likin’ her, the night can be long and cold, and contempt comes up with the sun: “Charlie Anderson (Jim Stewart),” Shenandoah (1965)
-(Test bout) I won’t hurt you…I don’t think I’ll even hit you: “Harry Watson (Rhys Williams),” Gentleman Jim (1942 (test)
-Being a good loser is hard but being a good winner is even harder: John L. Sullivan (Ward Bond, handing first belt dated 7.4.1887 to new champion, James J. Corbett), Gentleman Jim (1942)
-Right or wrong, the brand sticks: “Shane (Alan Ladd),” Shane (1953)
-Shane, there’s too many!: “Joey (Brandon deWilde),” Shane (1953)
-♫ Some enchanted evening, you will see a strangeeeeeer ♫: “Nobody Falfa (Harrison Ford),” American Graffiti (1973)
-Rome wudn’t burnt in a day: “Joe (Bo Hopkins),” American Graffiti (1973)
-Why don’t you kiss my sister’s black cat’s ass: “Clarence ‘Crazy’ Lee (Bo Hopkins),” The Wild Bunch (1968)
-Wunden mein herz mit einer monotonen mattigkeit (Wounds my heart with a monotonous languor): German officer, The Longest Day (1962)
-You see, Mr. Gittes (Jack Nicholson), most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and the right place they’re capable of anything: “Noah Cross (John Huston),” Chinatown (1974).
-Course I’m respectable. I’m old. Politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough: “Noah Cross (Huston), Chinatown (1974)
-I hope you don’t mind. I believe they should be served with the head (“Cross (John Huston)”). Fine, just as long as you don’t serve chicken that way: “Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson),” Chinatown
-Almost anything that came out of the mouth of Thelma Ritter (1902-69)
-That must be your friend over there. They didn’t leave much of him (Evans). Must have taken out his heart, eh?: “Bubba (Geoff Parry),” Mad Max (1979)
-When it’s time to shoot, shoot, don’t talk: “Tuco (Eli Wallach),” The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
-There are two kinds of people in this world, Tuco, those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig: “Blondie (Eastwood),” The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
-You’re (Eastwood) the son of a 1000 fathers, all of them bastards, too!: “Tuco (Wallach),” The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
-How’s that calf ever gonna’ dry off if she keeps licking her?: “Arnold (Butch Jenkins),” Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)
-I’m five (Jenkins). Oh!: “Viola Johnson (Frances Gifford),” Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945, most adorable ‘Oh’ in movie history)
-You’re capable of such beautiful dreams and horrible nightmares: Vegan as dad of “Ellie Arroway (David Morse),” Contact (1997)
-In the few hours we had together we loved a lifetime’s worth: “Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton),” The Terminator (1984)
-I’ll be back: “T-800 Model 101 cybernetic android (Arnold Schwarzenegger),” Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991 (in friendship v, 1984 bad guy))
-There is no fate but what we make: the younger “John Connor (Ed Furlong),” Terminator 2: Judgment Day
-Phoebe, I call myself Phoebe (Bates)! And so you should: “Addison DeWitt (George Sanders),” All About Eve (1950) (sarcasm)
-It’s time the piano learned it didn’t write the concerto!: “Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe),” All About Eve
-Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy nite!: “Margo Channing (Bette Davis),” All About Eve
-Some folks say things never die, they just go on livin’ in a different way: “Will (Dan) (George Montgomery),” Gun Duel In Durango (1957)
-♫ Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies, farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain ♫: “Quint (Robert Shaw), Jaws (1975)
-Here lies the body of Mary Lee, died at the age of a hundred and three, for 15 yrs she kept her virginity, not a bad record in this vicinity: “Quint (Shaw), Jaws
-Know the thing about a shark he’s got…lifeless eyes, black eyes like a doll’s eyes. When he comes at ya,‘ doesn’t seem to be livin,’ until he bites ya,’ and those black eyes roll over white and then…aw then you hear that terrible high pitched screamin,’ the ocean turns red in spite of all the poundin’ and hollerin’ and they all come in and they…rip ya’ to pieces: “Quint (Shaw), Jaws
-I used to be afraid of the water (“Brody”). I can’t imagine why: “Hooper,” Jaws
-Do you think this was all the work of little Don Segretti? “Deep Throat (Hal Holbrook),” All The President’s Men (1976)
-I screwed up (revealing LBJ plan to replace FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover), but I wasn’t wrong: Bradlee (Jason Robards), All the President’s Men
-I have a wife, family, dog and a cat!: Clawson voice, All The President’s Men
-You know the results of the latest Gallup Poll? Half the country never even heard of the word Watergate. Nobody gives a shit. You guys are probably pretty tired, right? Well, you should be. Go on home, get a nice hot bath, rest up, 15 minutes. Then get your asses back in gear. We’re under a lot of pressure, you know, and you put us there. Nothing’s riding on this except the, uh, first amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys fuck up again, I’m going to get mad: Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards), All the President’s Men
-Death ends a life, but it doesn’t end the relationship which struggles on in the survivors mind towards some resolution which it may never find: “Gene Garrison (Gene Hackman),” I Never Sang to My Father (1970)
-For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering a warning that all glory is fleeting: General George S. Patton (George C. Scott), Patton (1970)
-I have alot of faults, Brad, but ingratitude isn’t one of ‘em. I owe you alot. Hell, I know I’m a prima donna. I admit it. What I can’t stand about Monty is, he won’t admit it: General Patton (Scott), Patton
-Who said anything about Palermo (Gen.Patton)? I can read a map! General Omar Bradley (Karl Malden), Patton
-What son of bitch (Bradley) is in charge of this operation (G.I.)!? I don’t know but they aughta’ hang him: Omar Bradley (Malden), Patton
-Gen. Alexander says you are not to take Palermo (staffer). Ask him if he wants me to give it back: George Patton (Scott), Patton
-You’re right, Dick, the world grew up. Hell of a shame…god how I hate the 20th century: George Patton (Scott), Patton
-You (Guinness)? Youuuuuuu: “Commander Shears (William Holden),” The Bridge On the River Kwai (1957)
-Go Bears!: Hooker #2 (Melissa Peterman), Fargo (1996) (context)
-Thanks a bunch!: “Chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand),” Fargo
-Being crazy about a woman (Burnstyn) like her was always the right thing to do: “Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson),” The Last Picture Show (1971)
-Her and her husband was…young and miserable with one another like so many young married folks are: “Sam (Johnson),” The Last Picture Show
-Sonny, your food’s gettin’ cold: “Sam (Ben),” The Last Picture Show (mercy)
-We play the game, fate controls the cards: “Grandpere (A.Hale),” Algiers (38)
-Who ever heard of starting a war in December!: “Violet Price (Spring Byington),” The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
-Get up, Spartacus, you Thracian dog! Roman legion (?), Spartacus (1960)
-You might even be intelligent..dangerous for a slave: “Marcellus,” Spartacus
-Most Romans love her (the City) as their mother but Crassus (Olivier) dreams of marrying the old girl: “Gracchus (Charles Laughton),” Spartacus
-It would take a great woman to get Crassus to fall out of love with himself: “Gracchus (Laughton), Spartacus
-When a free man dies he loses the pleasure of life. A slave loses his pain. Death is the only freedom a slave knows. That’s why he’s not afraid of it: Spartacus (Kirk Douglas),” Spartacus
-You’ve already been made a fool (Dall), let’s not add the trappings of a clown: Crassus (Laurence Olivier), Spartacus
-I am Spartacus!: “Antoninus et al (Tony Curtis et al),” Spartacus
-Let us drink to a new world of gods and monsters!: “Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger),” Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
-Almost anything that came out of the mouth of Hattie McDaniel (1895-52)
-It was a glorious time. The wise guys were all over the place. It was before Appalachia: “Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), Good Fellas
-Now go home and get your fuckin’ shine-box (to “Tommy”)!: “Billy Batts (Frank Vincent),” Good Fellas (1990)
-I’m funny how, I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you, I make you laugh, I’m here to fuckin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how, how am I funny?: “Tommy (Joe Pesci),” Good Fellas
-If there is any doubt, there is no doubt: “Sam (Robert De Niro),” Ronin (1998)
-What we have here is…a failure…to communicate: “Captain (Strother Martin),” Cool Hand Luke (1967)
-Stay down, your beat!: “Dragline (G.Kennedy),” Cool Hand Luke (empathy)
-There’s gonna’ be a whole lotta’ world shaking going on, Luke. We’ll send ya’ a postcard: “Dragline (Kennedy),” Cool Hand Luke
-Sometimes nothin’ can be a real cool hand: “Luke (Newman),” Cool Hand Luke
-What, are you calling me a liar (Dragline)? No, just that you have a common & likable tendency towards exaggeration: “Society (J. Cannon),” Cool Hand Luke
-Nobody can eat 50 eggs: “Society (J.D. Cannon),” Cool Hand Luke (stubborn)
-♫ As he started to go I started to know how it feels when the universe reels ♫: “Esther Smith (Judy Garland),” Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)
-♫ Soooo, have yourself a merry little Christ..mas…nooooooooooooooow ♫: “Esther (Garland),” Meet Me in St. Louis
-You shouldn’t kiss a girl when you’re wearing that gun, leaves a bruise: “Helen (Velma) (Claire Trevor),” Murder My Sweet (1944)
-Hey, you done good, buddy boy (Smith). Thanks, Daddy-Oh!: “Anybody’s (Susan Oakes),“ West Side Story (1961)
-Huh?: ”Del Griffith (John Candy),” Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) (his surprise after plowing into a bad motel and just before burn-rubber getaway)
-We have about as good a chance of playing pick-up-sticks with our butt-cracks as we do getting a flight out of here tonite: “Del Griffith (John Candy),” Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
-Love is not a big enough word (for my wife): “Del Griffith (John Candy),” Planes, Trains and Automobiles
-Daddy! “Marti Page (O. Burnette),” Planes, Trains and Automobiles (home)
-Those aren’t pillows! “Neal (Steve Martin),” Planes, Trains and Automobiles
-You don’t need to be crazy to do this but it doesn’t hurt: “Buck Kennedy (Buck Jones) (roping routine),“ Hollywood Round-Up (1935 (context))
-So shines a good deed in a weary world (de Vere): “Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder),” Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
-I aughta’ take this pencil and draw a circle around you: “Billie (Judy Holliday),” Born Yesterday (1950)
-I’ve never been insured in my life. I don’t believe in it. There’s no risk: “Lewis Medlock (Burt Reynolds).” Deliverance (1972)
-Sometimes you have to lose yourself before you can find anything: “Lewis Medlock (Burt Reynolds),” Deliverance
-This corn is special, isn’t it?: “Bobby Trippe (Ned Beatty),” Deliverance (to break the mood (“Ed”) at the dinner table)
-Why do you wanta’ go messin’ with that river (Seamon Glass)? Because it’s there!: “Lewis (Reynolds),“ Deliverance
-Almost anything that came out of the mouth of Frank Morgan (1890-49)
-Well, we’re back (gasp) in the car again (Mazzello). Well, at least you’re out of the tree: “Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill),” Jurassic Park (1993)
-They remember: “Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck),” Jurassic Park
-What are you rebelling against, Johnny ((Maley)? What do ya’ got?: “Johnny (Marlon Brando),” The Wild One (1953)
-I’m gonna’ go down there (pier) and get my rights: “Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando),” On the Waterfront (1956)
-I coulda’ been contender. I coulda’ been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am: “Terry (Brando),” On the Waterfront
-Then shut your mouth…before your guts run out: “Crunch (Frank Mazzola),“ Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
-And what about you (Wood)? Are you always at ringside?: “Jim ‘Jamie’ Stark (James Dean),” Rebel Without a Cause
-Welcome to the wonderful world of pussy, Meadows: “Signalman 1st Class ‘Badass’ Budusky (Jack Nicholson),“ The Last Detail (1973)
-Madam, please!: “Andrew Larkin (Van Johnson),” In the Good Old Summertime (1949, to repel anymore wind-aided brush-ups from “Veronica”)
-What am I, a criminal, a murder (Granger)? You might be if you keep driving through town at 85 miles per hour: “Cindy (Jane Powell), Small Town Girl (53)
-You want a player who won’t fight back? I want a ball-player who’s got the guts to not fight back: Rickey (Minor Watson), The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)
-30,000 (“Baptista (Kaszner)” offer to marry his daughter)! Fatheeeeeer!: “Petruchio (Howard Keel),” Kiss Me Kate (53) (deal struck)
-Well!? I wont to be alone: “Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo),” Grand Hotel (1932)
-Grand Hotel, always the same, people come, people go, nothing ever happens: “Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone), Grand Hotel
-Dyin,’ that’s easy, choosin’ a way to live, that’s the hard part: “Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan),” The Naked Spur (1953)
-How perfectly delightful it is to be sure.” Robert Crumb, Crumb (1994)
-Oh no, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast: “Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong),” King Kong (1933)
-Fortune’s ally to the brave: “Zeus (Laurence Olivier),” Clash of the Titans (81)
-What was his business (cop)? He used to be a big-shot: “Panama Smith (Gladys George),” The Roaring Twenties (1939)
-They aughta’ put you in mass production: “Fred (Dana Andrews),” The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) (to Theresa Wright)
-It’s funny, the things we love best are either illegal, immoral or make us fat: “Terry McKay (Irene Dunne),” Love Affair (1939)
-Who’s this (#2 on phone)? It’s me..it’s you..it’s us (#1)! Hold on a second (#2). Great, now I can’t even talk to myself: “’Steve (Keaton),’” Multiplicity (96)
-Sad state of affairs when a man has to indulge his vices by proxy: “General Sternwood (C. Waldron),” The Big Sleep
-You’re the only one I’ve met who didn’t claim to know everything in the whole world: “Collister (Beeson Carroll),” Bound for Glory (1976)
-He’s (workin’ folk) afraid to smile ‘cause somebody’s gonna’ swipe his teeth out of his mouth: Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (David Carradine), Bound for Glory
-She knows! Anne Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), The Miracle Worker (1962 (With Anne’s help, blind – deaf girl Helen Keller has an epiphany)
-I’m not gonna’ live by their rules, anymore!: “Phil Connor (Bill Murray),” Groundhog Day (1993 (driving car on train-tracks))
-Sextus, you once said ‘how’ to fight an idea…with another idea: “Messala (Stephen Boyd),” Ben Hur (1959)
-Bravely stated: “Sheik Ilderim (Hugh Griffith),” Ben-Hur (1959 (sarcasm)
-The cheaper the crook (Cook) the gaudier the patter: “Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart),” The Maltese Falcon
-Why shouldn’t you (guess) if you’ve nothing to conceal (D.A. (J.Hamilton))? Everybody has something to conceal: “Spade (Bogart),” The Maltese Falcon
-You have always, I must say, a smooth explanation ready (Lorre). What do you want me to do, learn to stutter?: “Sam (Bogart),” The Maltese Falcon
-You are a liar (Bogart). I am. I’ve always been a liar (Astor). Well don’t, don’t brag about it. Was there any truth at all in that yarn? Some. Not very much: “Brigid O’Shaughnessy (Mary Astor),” The Maltese Falcon
-Suppose I wouldn’t tell you anything at all. What would you do, something wild and unpredictable (Astor)? Maybe: “Sam (Bogart),” The Maltese Falcon
-What is it (Ward Bond)? The a…stuff that dreams are made of: “Sam Spade (Bogart),” The Maltese Falcon
-I know where all the nukes are and I know the codes. You would be amazed, alot of shopping malls…DON’T repeat that!: “Megan (McCarthy),” Bridesmaids (’11)
-Temptation resisted is the truest measure of character: “Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman),” Papillion (1973)
-I know, I know, feed ‘em, fly ‘em, then forget ‘em: “Ace Boreman (William Gargan),” Women in the Wind (1939)
-Is there a Northwest passage (Hussey)? Who knows. It’s always a man’s dream to find a short route to his heart’s desire: “Langdon Towne (Robert Young),” Northwest Passage (1940)
-Do you wanta’ play with us? Okay. Say ‘ello to my l’il friend!: “Tony Montana (Al Pacino),” Scarface (1983) (then, rat-a-tat-tat)
-I’m gonna’ make him (John Marley (“Director Jack Woltz”)) an offer he can’t refuse: “Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando),” The Godfather (1972)
–Ohhhh! It damn hurts (Fowler snuffing a match)! Certainly it hurts (O‘Toole). Well what’s the trick then? The trick, William Potter is not minding that it hurts: T.E. Lawrence (Peter O‘Toole), Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
-Aqaba! T.E. Lawrence (O’Toole), Lawrence of Arabia (it begins)
-Nothing is written: T.E. Lawrence (O‘Toole), Lawrence of Arabia
-He (Lawrence) was a scholar, a poet and a mighty warrior. He was also the most shameless exhibitionist since Barnum & Bailey: “Jackson Bentley (Arthur Kennedy),” Lawrence of Arabia
-But the Krell forgot one thing: Monsters, John (Neilson), monsters from the Id: “Lt. “Doc” Ostrow (Warren Stevens),” Forbidden Planet (1956)
-It is through error that man tries and rises. It is through tragedy he learns. All the roads of learning begin in darkness and go out into the light…Hippocrates of Cos: The Body Snatcher (epilogue) (1945)
-J’adore le passé. C’est beaucoup plus pacifique que le présent (I adore the past. It’s so much more peaceful than the present): “Meneur de Jeu (“Game Master”) (Anton Walbrook),” La Ronde (1950)
-♫ Gone again, skip to my Lou, gone again, skip to my Lou, gone again, skip to my Lou, skip to my Lou my Darling ♫: “Charlie (K. Curtis),” The Searchers (56)
-I too believe that everyone should have a chance at a breath-taking piece of folly, once in his life: “Mrs. Brown (Ann Revere),” National Velvet (1945)
-What’s the meaning of goodness if there isn’t a little badness to overcome?: “Mrs. Brown (Ann Revere), National Velvet
-So many currents in such a little puddle: “Mr. Brown (Crisp),” National Velvet
-That’ll be a dispute to the end of time, Mr. Brown, whether it’s better to do the right thing for the wrong reason or the wrong thing for the right reason: “Mrs. Brown (Ann Revere),” National Velvet
-Who’s been in my box (Velvet)? Me (Donald). ‘I (Edwina correcting).’ You, too? “Donald Brown (Jackie Jenkins), National Velvet
-I’ll have a dubonnet with a twist (in the old Russian Tea Room (NYC)): “Michael Dorsey / Dorothy Michaels (Dustin Hoffman),” Tootsie (1982)
-I need a $1000 (Hoffman). For what (Pollock)!? For what! For what!: “Michael (Dorothy) (Hoffman),” Tootsie
-Time for courage: “Sydney Carton (Ronald Colman),” A Tale of Two Cities (1935) (pre-guillotine, comforts young “seamstress (Isabel Jewells)”)
-Makes the crown jewels in the Tower of London look like costume jewelry: “Peachy Carnehan (Peter O’Toole),” The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
-There hasn’t been a kiss like that since the beginning of time: “Peter Standish (Leslie Howard),“ Berkeley Square (1933)
-Oh, only which three books would you (Lloyd) have taken?: “David Filby (Alan Young),” The Time Machine (1960, at close)
-Max, how do you feel about getting old? I always feel like I’m starting over: “Jackie Brown (Pam Greer),” Jackie Brown (1997)
-Oh, how I love you, love you, love you, love you (to Garner)!: “Karen Wright (Audrey Hepburn),” The Children’s Hour (1961)
-Move your bloomin’ ass!: “Eliza (Audrey Hepburn),“ My Fair Lady (1964)
-Why don’t you sing a song (Rooney)? How do you know I can sing (Garland)? You sing when you walk, when you talk. Why your eyes, why they’re singing right now: “Tommy Williams (Mickey Rooney),” Babes on Broadway (1941)
-I’m watching you! “Jack Byrnes (Robert Di Nero (father) with two-fingered gesture to Ben Stiller),” Meet the Parents (2000)
-Nothing so revolting to the young as the sight of their elders at play: “Rupert Venneker (Peter Ustinov),” The Sundowners (1960)
-If it ain’t Wham, it ain’t ham!: “Gussie (Louise Beavers),” Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
-Mrs. Blandings little flower sink!: “Jim Blandings (Cary Grant),” Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (thoroughly frustrated)
-I do not care that you are not Chapel. I am with you! “Mr. Jones (Rhys Williams),” The Corn is Green (1945)
-I have never talked to a man for more than five minutes without wanting to box his ears: “Miss Lilly Moffat (Bette Davis),” The Corn Is Green
-If you do I shall strike you (“Bessie”) so hard I shall probably kill you: “Miss Moffat (Bette Davis),” The Corn is Green (young tart plays risky game)
-What happened (Dunnock)? We’ve met the Squire (Bruce) and he is ours! In ten minutes I have given the Squire the impression that he spends his whole time posturing genius in the illiterates. How? By soft soap and courtesy: “Lily Moffat (Bette Davis),” The Corn Is Green
-One shot: “Michael Vronsky (Robert De Niro),” The Deer Hunter (1978)
-You know we’re always fascinated when we find leg-irons with no legs in ‘em: “Deputy U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones),” The Fugitive (1993)
-Newman (Gerard)? Yes (Wood)? What are you doing? Thinking. Well think me up a cup of coffee and a doughnut with some of those sprinkles on ’em! “Deputy Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones),” The Fugitive
-Can you hear me now? Yes (Wood). I don’t bargain: “Gerard,” The Fugitive
-They killed my wife (Ford). I know Richard, I know: “Gerard,” The Fugitive
-I thought you didn’t care (Harrison Ford)? I don’t. Don’t tell anybody: “Deputy Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones),” The Fugitive
-What I want from each and every one of you is a hard target search in every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. Your fugitive’s name is Dr. Richard Kimble. Go get him!: “Gerard (Jones),” The Fugitive
-Look at this, we’re eatin’ oranges & makin’ IDs: “Gerard (Jones),” The Fugitive
-If they can dye the river green today, why can’t they dye it blue the other 364 days of the year?: “U.S. Marshal Robert Biggs (Daniel Roebuck),” The Fugitive
-And not only did they all come from healthy livers, they all came from the same liver (Lynch). Kathy you beauty: “Dr. Kimble (Harrison Ford),” The Fugitive
-Don’t worry, we’ll find her (Mom) for you. What are you, a football player, baseball player? Football (Robinson). Hey Doctor, they sent this one from downstairs. Get this one into Room Four, stat (Bruce)! Bye-bye, Joel: “Dr. Richard Kimble (Ford),” The Fugitive
-Richard!: “Gerard (Jones),” The Fugitive (spots RK descending City stairway)
-Hi!: Registration-table greeter girl (?), The Fugitive (flashback)
-Officer, officer, there’s a man in a blue coat waving a gun and screaming…at a woman: “Dr. Kimble (Ford),” The Fugitive (throwing off the cops)
-Frederick Sykes, 45, ex-cop and quite the clothshorse: “U.S. Marshal Erin Poole (L. Scott Caldwell),” The Fugitive
-Almost anything that came out of the mouth of Agnes Moorehead (1900-74)
-Wait a minute. I played a dirty trick on you (Garland). You better know, then you won’t feel so bad. When I offered to give you that song…I really didn’t mean it. I was playing you for a sap. I wanted to fix it so you’d give me a chance to try out with you. And all that sob stuff about me being ashamed of myself, that was just a bid for sympathy. I wasn’t ashamed, I thought I was being pretty cute. I’m ashamed now though. And this time, when I say I’m a heel, well, I’m not kidding: “Harry Palmer (Gene Kelly),” For Me and My Gal (1942)
-Is that alright with you (McNally)? You bet it’s alright!: “Jo Hayden (Judy Garland),” For Me and My Gal
-Hello, America, hang on to your lights, they’re the only lights left in the world!: “Huntley Haverstock (Joel McCrea),” Foreign Correspondent (1940)
-It is a crush, isn’t it (shelter)?: “Myra (Vivien Leigh),” Waterloo Bridge (1940)
-Myra’s just a sweet child, you can see that, can’t you (Field)? I can see that: “Captain Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor),” Waterloo Bridge
-You’re rather matter-of-fact (“Roy (Robert Taylor)”). And you’re a romantic: “Myra (Vivian Leigh),” Waterloo Bridge
-Here, take this (Leigh). You’re lucky charm (Taylor)!?: “Roy (Taylor),” Waterloo Bridge (+ music = most sentimental)
-War is no excuse for indecorum: “Madame (Ouspenskaya),” Waterloo Bridge
-The worst ain’t so bad when it finally happens: “Bob Curtin (Tim Holt),” The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)
-That’s Africa for you, one man dead, two beasts killed and no one the better for it: “Trader Horn (Harry Carey),” Trader Horn (1931)
-The lions let the jackal join in the kill (because) the jackal helps lead the lions to water: “Horn (Carey),” Trader Horn
-I don’t know why they named it after Thompson (gazelle). I showed him his first. Thompson was one of those guys who liked to carve his name into trees: “Aloysius ‘Trader’ Horn (Harry Carey),” Trader Horn
-(Africa) Either you’re killing someone to eat ‘em or trying to keep someone from killing you: “Trader (Carey),” Trader Horn
-One-she (one more (Sioux)): “Wind In His Hair (Rodney Grant),” Dances With Wolves (1990, warrior urges “Lt. Dunbar” to sit for one more story)
-This one’s for your shirts (Frankenstein), this other’s just for socks and poo-poo undies: “Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn),” Young Frankenstein (1974)
-Well, uh, this Delores, she, uh, she’s real proud of what nature done for her, you know? Anyway, she asks me, she says, uh, ‘Don’t you think I got classy build?’ And I say, ‘Sure.’ And so she starts to show me, but I didn’t do nothin’ wrong. I just didn’t stop her form tryin’ to prove her point: “Harvey (Scott Wilson), In the Heat of the Night (1967, speaking to “Tibbs” in jail cell)
-I’ve had it up to here (hand to throat) with your town (Poitier)! Boy, it would give me a world of satisfaction to horsewhip you, Virgil (Steiger)! My father used to say that (laughing), even did, once or twice (Poitier). Yeah, well, not enough to suit me!: “Chief Gillespie (Rod Steiger),” In the Heat of the Night (1967)
-I’m tellin’ you that you’re gonna’ stay. You’ll stay here if I have to have your chief remind you what he told you to do. But I don’t think I have to do that, you see? No. Because you’re so damned smart. You’re smarter than any white man. You’re just gonna’ stay here and show us all. You could never live with yourself unless you could put us all to shame. You wanta’ know something, Virgil? I don’t think that you could let an opportunity like that pass by: “Chief Gillespie (Rod Steiger),” In the Heat of the Night
-I can pull that fat-cat down. I can bring him right off this hill (Poitier)! Oh boy, man, you’re just like the rest of us? “Chief (Steiger),” In the Heat of the Night
-Thank you. Bye bye (Steiger). Bye (Poitier). Virgil? You take care now, ya’ hear (Steiger)? Yeah (Poitier (smile)): In the Heat of the Night (progress)
-With experience it seems possible to control the flow of the paint to a great extent. And I don’t use, I don’t use the accident because I deny the accident: Jackson Pollock (Ed Harris), Pollock (2000)
-Modern art, to me is nothing more than the expression of the contemporary aims of the age that we’re living in: Jackson Pollock (Ed Harris), Pollock
-There are no stars (in rugby). That’s soccer: “Frank Machin (Richard Harris),” This Sporting Life (1963)
-Well, don’t bother Sefton. I don’t like you. I never did and I never will (Graves)! Alot of people say that and the first thing you know, they get married: “Sgt. J.J.Sefton (William Holden),” Stalag 17 (1953)
-Ach soooo: “Sefton (Holden),” Stalag 17 (rat found)
-Welcome to Sherwood, me Lady! ”Sir Robin of Locksley (Errol Flynn),” The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
-The Internal Affairs people were here hours ago. Two college educated little pricks! Acted like they was born & breed in Ohio: “Mrs. Ritter (Geraldine Page),” The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)
-Blood? we’re not fucking blood, we’re third cousins (Mickey Rourke). With Italians, it’s like twin brothers with the Irish: “Barney” the safe-cracker (Ken McMillan), The Pope of Greenwich Village
-You got a sense of honor, I can smell it in ya!’ “Barney” the safecracker (Ken McMillan),” The Pope of Greenwich Village
-I’m not just an entertainer, I’m an influence, wielder of opinion, a force: “Larry ‘Lonesome’ Rhodes (Andy Griffith),” A Face In the Crowd (1957)
-They’re trained-seals (audience). Throw ‘em a dead fish and watch ‘em flap their flippers: “Lonesome (Griffith),” A Face In the Crowd
-Wait’ll I get to California! Gonna’ reach up and pick me an orange whenever I want it, or grapes. That there’s somethin’ I ain’t never had enough of! Gonna’ get me a whole bunch a grapes off a bush and I’m gonna’ squash ’em all over my face and just let the juice drain down offa’ my chin (Grapewin). Pa-raise the Lord for victory (Tilbury)! Maybe I get me a whole washtub fulla’ them grapes and just sit in ’em and scrooge around till they was gone!: “Grampa Joad (Charlie Grapewin),” The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
-Well, maybe it’s like Casy says, a fella’ ain’t got a soul of his own, but only a piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, and then…Then what, Tom (Darwell)? Then it don’t matter. Then I’ll be all around in the dark. I’ll be everywhere, wherever you look. Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad and I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready. And when our people eat the stuff they raise and live in the houses they build, why, I’ll be there too: “Tom Joad (Henry Fonda),” The Grapes of Wrath
-A woman can change better than a man can. A man lives in jerks. A baby’s born or then somebody dies, that’s a jerk. He gets a farm or loses one, and that’s a jerk. With a woman it’s all in one flow, like a stream, like little eddies, little waterfalls, but the river, it goes right on. Woman looks at it like that: “Ma Joad (Jane Darwell),” The Grapes of Wrath
-Maybe, but we’ve sure takin’ a beatin (Simpson). I know. Maybe that makes us tough. Rich fellas come up and they die, and their kids ain’t no good, and they die out. But we keep a-comin’. We’re the people that live. Can’t nobody wipe us out. Can’t nobody lick us. We’ll go on forever, Pa. We’re the people: “Ma Joad (Darwell),” The Grapes of Wrath
-Where to now (Faye)? Home: “Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews),” Fallen Angel (1945) (closing line – love realized)
-You (Fonda) look like the last grave over near the willow: “Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck),” The Lady Eve (1941)
-Plastics (to “Ben”): “Mr. McGuire (Walter Brooke),” The Graduate (1969)
-Can I have it (Curtis)? Nooooo, an officer’d take from you at Ft Benson. This gun’s too good for an officer: “Sgt. Wilkes (Jay Flippen),” Winchester ‘73 (1950)
-Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma (banging pot)! “Rubrick (Steve Martin),” Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
-Tranella speaks two languages, Italian and Brooklyn: Narrator on “Private Tranella (Richard Benedict),” A Walk In the Sun (1945)
-Don’t be a jerk all your life, take a day off: “Vic Dakin (Burton),” Villain (1971)
-Ahh, youth is wasted on the wrong people!: T-shirted man on porch (‘Why don’t you kiss her?!’) (Dick Elliott), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
-Smack (on Geoffrey Lewis’ face)! Don’t ever point a gun at me! Understand?! Not even a twig (Eastwood)! Got it! You come from the hitters: “Goody (Geoffrey Lewis),” Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
-Why’d they move it (Bridges (old school house with the hidden loot)? History, history, damn it: “Thunderbolt (Clint Eastwood),” Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
-I don’t think of us as criminals, you know? I feel we accomplished something. A good job. I feel proud of myself, man. I feel like a hero: “Lightfoot (Jeff Bridges),” Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Steven Keys
Photo credit: Bonnie&Clyde, wc.cca, A.Koehne; M.Shearer, wc, 10.11.54, M.Feinstein; S.Tracy-E.Bartholomew, CC, 1937, MGM; J.Crawford, MGM, TLMC, 1937; M.Gandhi, wc, pre-1942; B.Davis, AllAboutEve, 1950; H.McDaniel, wc, 1939; R.Ryan-J.Leigh, MGM, wc, 1953; C.Grant-M.Loy, RKO, 3.28.45, wc; R.Steiger, wc, TUW, 1957; popcorn, wc, T.Bresson, 6.15.16
Posted: 2.16.17 @ 2:06pm EST; update 6.13; Copyright © 2017
Tags: 99 River Street, A Face in the Crowd, A Star Is Born (1937), A Tale of Two Cities, A Walk In the Sun, AFI, Agnes Moorehead, Algiers (1938), All About Eve, All the President’s Men, American Film Institute, American Graffiti, Anatomy of a Murder, Annie Hall, Apocalypse Now, Babes On Broadway, Ben-Hur, Berkeley Square, Bonnie and Clyde, Boom Town, Born Yesterday, Bound For Glory, Bride of Frankenstein, Bridesmaids, Broadway Gondolier, cabal, Caged, Captain’s Courageous, Chinatown, cinema, Citizen Kane, Clash of the Titans 1981, clique, Contact, Cool Hand Luke, Cross of Iron, Crumb, D.O.A (1950)., Dance Girl Dance, Dances With Wolves, Deliverance, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Doctor Zhivago, Edna May Oliver, Edward de Vere, English literature, entertainment film, Experiment Perilous, Fallen Angel, Fargo, flicks, For Me and My Gal, Forbidden Planet, Foreign Correspondent, Frank Morgan, Gandhi, Gentleman Jim, Giant, Gone With the Wind, Good Fellas, Grand Hotel, great movie dialogue, great movie lines, Groundhog Day, Gun Duel In Durango, Harold and Maude, Hattie McDaniel, Hearts Divided, Hollywood Round-Up, Humoresque, I Never Sang To My Father, In the Good Old Summertime, In the Heat of the Night, Inherit the Wind, It's a Wonderful Life, Jackie Brown, Jaws, Jeremiah Johnson, JFK (1991), Jurassic Park, King Kong, Kiss Me Kate, La Ronde, Lawrence of Arabia, lights camera action, Lili, Love Affair, Mad Max, Meet Me In St. Louis, Meet the Parents, metaphor, Midnight Run, Miller's Crossing, Monte Walsh 1970, movie rankings, movie titles, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Multiplicity, Murder My Sweet, My Fair Lady, National Velvet, Ned Sparks, Nobody Live Forever, Northwest Passage, Now Voyager, On the Waterfront, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, Papillion, Patton, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Pollock, Rebel Without a Cause, Red River, Ronin, Scarface (1983), Shakespeare, Shall We Dance, Shane, Shenandoah, Small Town Girl, Some Like It Hot, Spartacus (1960), Stalag 17, Sunset Boulevard, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Adventures of Robin Hood, the Bard, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Big Country, The Big Sleep, The Big Store, The Blue Dahlia, The Body Snatcher, The Bridge On the River Kwai, The Cable Guy, The Children's Hour, The Corn Is Green, The Deer Hunter, The Divorcee, The Enchanted Cottage, The Fugitive, The Godfather, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, The Graduate, The Grand Illusion, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great McGinty, The Jackie Robinson Story, The Lady Eve, The Last Detail, The Last Picture Show, The Longest Day, The Maltese Falcon, The Man Who Would Be King, The Miracle Worker, The Misfits, The Naked Spur, The Night of the Iguana, The Pope of Greenwich Village, The Quiet Man, The Red Shoes, The Roaring 20s, The Searchers, The Set-Up, The Seventh Veil, The Sundowners, The Terminator, The Third Man, The Time Machine, The Treasure of Sierra Madre, The Wagons Roll At Night, The Wild Bunch, The Wild One, Thelma Ritter, This Sporting Life, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, To Have and Have Not, Tootsie, Trader Horn, Trouble Along the Way, Villain, Waterloo Bridge, West Side Story, Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Winchester ‘73, Women In the Wind, Young Frankenstein
Steven Keys
