Famous Lines from Classic Movies
Famous Lines from Classic Movies
From Frankenstein to Jack Torrance
By Shawn Dwyer, Classic Movies Expert, About.com
"Here's Johnny!"
Its alive! Its alive
Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive)
Frankenstein (1931), Dir: James Whale
I want to be alone.
Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo)
Grand Hotel (1932), Dir: Edmund Goulding
Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) to Scarlett OHara (Vivien Leigh)
Gone With the Wind (1939), Dir: Victor Fleming
There's no place like home.
Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland)
The Wizard of Oz (1939), Dir: Victor Fleming
Rosebud.
Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles)
Citizen Kane (1941), Dir: Orson Welles
The stuff that dreams are made of.
Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart)
The Maltese Falcon (1941), Dir: John Huston
Here's looking at you, kid.
Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) to Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman)
Casablanca (1942), Dir: Michael Curtiz
Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
Lou Gehrig (Gary Cooper)
The Pride of the Yankees (1942), Dir: Sam Wood
Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.
Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) to Jerry Durrance (Paul Henreid)
Now, Voyager (1942), Dir: Irving Rapper
You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.
Marie Browning (Lauren Bacall) to Harry Steve Moran (Humphrey Bogart)
To Have and Have Not (1944), Dir: Howard Hawks
Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!
Gold Hat (Alfonso Bedoya) to Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart)
The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948), Dir: John Huston
Made it, Ma! Top of the world!
Cody Jarrett (James Cagney)
White Heat (1949), Dir: Raoul Walsh
Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night.
Margo Channing (Bette Davis)
All About Eve (1950), Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
I am big! It's the pictures that got small.
Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) to Joe Gillis (William Holden)
Sunset Blvd. (1950), Dir: Billy Wilder
I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.
Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Dir: Elia Kazan
Shane. Shane. Come back!
Joey (Brandon deWilde) to Shane (Alan Ladd)
Shane (1953), Dir: George Stevens
You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.
Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) to Charley (Rod Steiger)
On the Waterfront (1954), Dir: Elia Kazan
Well, nobodys perfect.
Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown) to Joe/Josephine (Jack Lemmon)
Some Like It Hot (1959), Dir: Billy Wilder
A boy's best friend is his mother.
Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) to Marion Crane (Janet Leigh)
Psycho (1960), Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Bond. James Bond.
James Bond (Sean Connery)
Dr. No (1962), Dir: Terence Young
They call me Mister Tibbs!
Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) to Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger)
In the Heat of the Night (1967), Dir: Norman Jewison
Im walking here! Im walking here!
Ratzo Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman)
Midnight Cowboy (1969), Dir: John Schlesinger
Youve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood)
Dirty Harry (1971), Dir: Don Segal
I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.
Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando)
The Godfather (1972), Dir: Francis Ford Coppola
You're gonna need a bigger boat.
Brody (Roy Scheider) to Quint (Robert Shaw)
Jaws (1975), Dir: Steven Spielberg
Forget it, Jake. Its Chinatown.
Lawrence Walsh (Joe Mantell) to Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson)
Chinatown (1975), Dir: Roman Polanski
Attica! Attica! Attica!
Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Dir: Sidney Lumet
I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!
Howard Beale (Peter Finch)
Network (1976), Dir: Sidney Lumet
You talking to me?
Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro)
Taxi Driver (1976), Dir: Martin Scorsese
May the Force be with you.
Obi Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
Star Wars (1977), Dir: George Lucas
I love the smell of napalm in the morning."
Colonel Kilgore (Robert Duvall)
Apocalypse Now (1979), Dir: Francis Ford Coppola
Here's Johnny!
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) to Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duvall)
The Shining (1980), Dir: Stanley Kubrick
"Say 'hello' to my little friend!"
Tony Montana (Al Pacino)
Scarface (1983), Dir: Brian De Palma
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Can you think of other famous lines from classic films? Please quote the line, the movie, who said it to whom (if you know), the names of the characters and the actors, and the year the film was released. To maintain the classic genre, the movie should be at least 25 years old.
I have two contributions:
"The truth is on the march, and nothing will stop it."
The Life of Emile Zola (1937), Emile Zola played by Paul Muni (mumbled to himself).
"Go ahead, make my day."
Sudden Impact (1983), Harry Callahan, played by Clint Eastwood.
Good one, John.
In that movie I also liked the James Coburn lines: "You lost." and "It was a terrible shot. I was aiming for the horse."Another good one is from History of the World, Part One (1981), Mel Brooks plays Moses.The Lord Jehovah has given unto you these fifteen... (whereupon he drops one of the [three] tablets, which promptly shatters) Oy... ten! TEN Commandments! For all to obey!Yeah, I remember that line well. Margot Kidder is a Canadian.
Buzz-- how about a few from classic science-fiction films?
For our policemen, we created a race of robots.
Klaatu (Michael Rennie) to planet Earth The Day The Earth Stood Still, 1951
Relatively simple alcohol molecules with traces of fusil oil. Would sixty gallons be sufficient?
Robby the Robot to Cookie (Earl Holliman) Forbidden Planet, 1956
''Feed me'', from Little Shop of Horrors.
"Fear is the mind-killer" Dune, (1984) Kyle McLaughlin playing Paul Atreides, eventually known as Moa'dib, and Usul.
"Beam me up, Scotty." Star Trek, the Movie, (1979)Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner
I've got 3 from the classic Dr. Strangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb).
The first is George C. Scott as General "Buck" Turgidson: "Mr. President, I am not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than 10 to 20 million killed. Tops. Depending on the breaks." (at the 2:15 minute)
The second quote is Peter Sellers as ex-Nazi professor Dr. Strangelove: "Mein Fuhrer, I can walk!!"
The 3rd is Peter Sellers (again) as President Merkin Muffley: "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here. This is the War Room".
"To be or not to be; that is the question." Hamlet (1948), Prince Hamlet played by Sir Laurence Olivier
"I'll have what she's having." When Harry Met Sally (1989). Estelle Reiner (Director Rob Reiner's mother). When Estelle Reiner died at age 94 in 2008, The New York Times referred to her as the woman "who delivered one of the most memorably funny lines in movie history". (Wickipedia)
"That's not a knife. THAT'S a knife." Crocodile Dundee (1986) Paul Hogan as "Crocodile" Dundee.
Steve Martin
The Man With Two Brains
1983"Mexican Americans ... love education ... so they go to night school ... and take Spanish ... and get a B."Cheech MarinCheech and Chong's Next Movie1980
Let's talk scenarios - whole dialogues. Besides the Spaceballs "Asshole" scenario, my favourite is from Annie Hall, where Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) is standing in a line to buy movie tickets and a loudmouth is talking behind him:
Alvy Singer: [the man behind him in line is talking loudly] What I wouldn't give for a large sock with horse manure in it!
Alvy Singer: [to audience] Whaddya do when you get stuck in a movie line with a guy like this behind you?
Man in Theatre Line: Wait a minute, why can't I give my opinion? It's a free country!
Alvy Singer: He can give it... do you have to give it so loud? I mean, aren't you ashamed to pontificate like that? And the funny part of it is, Marshall McLuhan, you don't know anything about Marshall McLuhan!
Man in Theatre Line: Oh, really? Well, it just so happens I teach a class at Columbia called "TV, Media and Culture." So I think my insights into Mr. McLuhan, well, have a great deal of validity!
Alvy Singer: Oh, do ya? Well, that's funny, because I happen to have Mr. McLuhan right here, so, so, yeah, just let me...
[pulls McLuhan out from behind a nearby poster]
Alvy Singer: come over here for a second... tell him!
Marshall McLuhan: I heard what you were saying! You know nothing of my work! You mean my whole fallacy is wrong. How you got to teach a course in anything is totally amazing!
Alvy Singer: Boy, if life were only like this!
One of my favorite scenes from 'Casablanca'...
Captain Renault: ..."I've often speculated on why you don't return to America. Did you abscond with the church funds? Did you run off with a Senator's wife? I like to think that you killed a man-- it's the romantic in me."
Rick: "It was a combination of all three."
Captain Renault: "And what in Heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?"
Rick: "My health... I came to Casablanca for the waters."
Renault: "The waters-- what waters? We're in the desert."
Rick: "I was misinformed..."
I have always considered Casablanca to be my favourite movie for more than one reason, but one of the most important was the constant repartee between Rick Blaine and Captain Renault.
"Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?"
Enrico "Little Caesar" Bandello - played by Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar, 1931)
Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford): "He's not as tough as he thinks."
Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman): "Neither are we."
The Sting (1973)
Patton: Now, I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
George C. Scott, as Patton, 1970, in an address to the troops.
Another one I love, from one of the movies with The Man With No Name series-- The Man With No Name is confronting a guy with a shotgun, who is threatening him. Clint squints and says, "Look at him! He's wearing a belt AND suspenders. How can you trust a guy who can't trust his own pants?" Boom!
I can't find which movie it was, nor when. But, I always thought it was funny...
"...and remember, this gun is pointed right at your heart."
"That is my least vulnerable spot."
That same line also appears in 'Once Upon a Time In The West'... did Leone plagarize himself???
Good one Swamijim! That line was said by the cold-blooded murderer Frank, undoubtedly the most evil character ever played by Henry Fonda.
I bet that was what I was thinking of... and got it mixed up with the Man with No Name series!
I tried to look it up, but was at work, and didn't have the time to spend. Today was my last day, and I was packing!
One of the most evil characters every played by anybody... and the only bad-guy role of Fonda's that I'm aware of.
Oddly enough, Clint Eastwood was offered the protagonist role in 'Once Upon a Time', and turned it down... so Leone went to Charles Bronson to play the part of 'Harmonica' (another Man With No Name).
I loved that movie!
"Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash!".
Top Gun!
"What do you mean, I'm funny?, funny how? I amuse you? Am I a clown? I'm here to fucking amuse you? Funny? Funny how?"
Good Fellas!
And, the best fucking movie EVER made....
"I was raised on a farm in Moooresville, Indiana. My mama died when I was three, my daddy beat the hell out of me cause he didn't know no better way to raise me. I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars, whiskey, and you... what else you need to know?"
"You ain't going nowhere. I'm gonna die an old man in your arms. We're too good for 'em. They ain't tough enough, smart enough or fast enough. I can hit any bank I want, any time. They got to be at every bank, all the time. That's why we're on top of the world. Ain't nobody can lay a glove on us. No ... I ain't going nowhere. Neither are you. What you got to say about that?"
Johnny Depp as John Dillinger!
~A
"YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!"
A Few Good Men
An epic line, and one that everyone remembers and quotes, regularly!
~A
Following "Not so fast, Louie" that's a perfect example of the repartee to which I referred.
Right. It's not that often that you see someone shoot a kid just because he heard the bad guy's first name mentioned.
The scene with the fly buzzing around the gunman's face was unexpected, and the director wisely decided to keep shooting the scene for the whole incident.
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Bounty hunter: A man's got to do something for a living these days.
Josey Wales: Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy.
Josey Wales: When I get to likin' someone, they ain't around long.
Lone Watie: I notice when you get to DISlikin' someone they ain't around for long neither.
Ten Bears: It's sad that governments are chiefed by the double tongues. There is iron in your words of death for all Comanche to see, and so there is iron in your words of life. No signed paper can hold the iron. It must come from men. The words of Ten Bears carries the same iron of life and death. It is good that warriors such as we meet in the struggle of life... or death. It shall be life.
Senator: And Fletcher, there's an old saying: To the victors belong the spoils.
Fletcher: There's another old saying, Senator: Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining.
Lone Watie: It's not right; this damn woman doing something like this to me. I used to have power. Now old age is creeping up on me.
Josey Wales: More like old habits than old age.
Lone Watie: You know she thinks I'm some kind of a Cherokee chief.
Josey Wales: I wonder where she ever got that idea.
Lone Watie: Get ready, little lady. Hell is coming to breakfast.
Lone Watie: We thought about it for a long time, "Endeavor to persevere." And when we had thought about it long enough, we declared war on the Union.
Lone Watie: I didn't surrender, but they took my horse and made him surrender. They have him pulling a wagon up in Kansas I bet.
Captain Terrill: Not a hard man to track. Leaves dead men wherever he goes.
Union Army officer: Now get back in line before I kick you so hard you'll be wearin' your ass for a hat.
Josey Wales: Are you gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?
John Wayne as Jacob McCandles in Big Jake "And now *you* understand. Anything goes wrong, anything at all... your fault, my fault, nobody's fault... it won't matter - I'm gonna blow your head off. No matter what else happens, no matter who gets killed I'm gonna blow your head off."
If it were 4 years older, I could add "I'm your huckleberry" (Doc Holliday, Tombstone)