Monday, August 21, 2006

I'll take Movie Quotes for $500, Alex

I have been watching a lot of movies lately - pretty stupid ones at that. I think I hit a new low when I actually paid to see Nacho Libre. I guess spanish accents and mexicans are funny to some people, but not too me - at least not $8 bucks worth of funny. I was thinking though, that there will be a rash of quotes from Jack Black out of this character and I have noticed that people quote memorable lines from movies quite a bit. Especially men. Men have entire conversations in which they talk for considerable lengths of time where they don't say anything they have thought of themselves but deal out these one liners from movies, usually comedies and usually dumb comedies, obscure comedies or dumb and obscure comedies. Its good fun, usually results in a laugh and someone, ultimately says, "that's a classic". It got me thinking about "classic" movie lines. What makes a line and the delivery of that line a "classic"? How broad of an audiance must it appeal to and how long must it endure? There are certain lines of movies that have even defined actors:

"Say hello to my little friend" - Al Pacheno in Scarface
"You talkin' to me" - Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver
"You come to me on the day of my daughter's wedding" - Marlon Brando, The Godfather Part 1
"I love the smell of Napalm in the morning", Robert Duvall, Apocalyse Now

And these are pretty standard fare. I am sure you can think of lots more that they use on movie clip montages on the days leading up to the Oscars. We could almost say them in our sleep. I mean, I knew Robert Duvall and the napalm line, and I never even saw Apocalyse Now (and I never read Heart of Darkness either, get off my back!) But here, on this post, I want to dedicate some space to the lines that may not get any academy awards but are definitely b-side classic one liners from movies.



  1. "Watch the hair" - John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever
  2. "Here's to swimmin' with bow-legged women" - Robert Shaw, Jaws
  3. " Isms", in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an "ism". He should believe in himself. John Lennon said "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." A good point. Afterall, he was the Walrus. I could be the Walrus and I'd still have to bum rides off people." - Matthew Broderick, Ferris Bueller's Day Off
  4. "You look like a man-o'- lantern" - Seth Rogen, 40-Year-Old Virgin
  5. "It could have been the soft mattress.Or, it could've been the midnight rape... or the nude, gay artshow that took place in my room...one of those probably added to the lack of sleep..." Vince Vaughn, The Wedding Crashers
  6. "So it's sorta social...demented and sad, but social."Judd Nelson, The Breakfast Club
  7. "Wouldn't it be great if life were like this?" Woody Allen, Annie Hall
  8. "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor! Hell no!" John Belushi, Animal House
  9. "We're going streaking through the quad!" Will Farrell, Old School

I am not a movie quoter but I like the conversations nonetheless. So, new classics? What are they? I am sure this is not an exhaustive list. I am ready for suggestions...and please, let's get some definition around this before Nacho Libre gets deemed "a Classic"!

8 Comments:

At Tuesday, August 22, 2006, Blogger Dim said...

I can tell you one instant classic from a movie that just came out:

"I've had it with these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane!"

I think that's all that needs to be said.

Fantastic topic, Pog. Scorcese fan, are you? Couldn't tell...though "I made him an offer he couldn't refuse" is more memorable in my opinion.

As a guy, any line from Caddyshack, Fletch, or Swingers is an ace in the hole.

Also there's one that Winston Wolf says in Pulp Fiction that my friends and I all say when we are getting about something prematurely.

I think there is a difference between a movie quote that finds its way into everyday life ("You're so money!") and quotes that define movies and actors.

But still, a brilliant post and one that I will be chewing on for awhile...

- D.

 
At Tuesday, August 22, 2006, Blogger Jenny G said...

"You shoot me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize." Harvey Keitel, Reservoir Dogs

 
At Tuesday, August 22, 2006, Blogger Simone said...

Oh I read Heart of Darkness.
Anyway, the instant classics I remember are random quotes from old movies. There are soooooo many we could add like "Rosebud" from Citizen Kane and "hey, Stella!" from STreetcar Name Desire"
and don't forget Sally...
"Forget it! I'm stayin' right where I am. It's gonna take you and the police department and the fire department and the National Guard to get me outta here!" - Sally Field in Norma Rae

 
At Tuesday, August 22, 2006, Blogger Simone said...

Obviously I'm not a movie quoter in real life...I wouldn't win the "fun new movie quote classics" for $500 Alex... it would have to be more like "old used movie classics for $300"...including Airplane! --

"We have clearance, Clarence.
Roger, Roger. What's our vector, Victor?"

 
At Tuesday, August 22, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, I am hopeless at movie quotes unless it's from a disney movie, as those are the only types of movies I get to see lately due to the kiddo's.

Loved the post though gave me a lot to think about..... Real movies....

 
At Tuesday, August 22, 2006, Blogger Steve H said...

"Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people who miss the same imaginary place." - Garden State

"Yo, Adrian!" - Rocky

"I see dead people" - Sixth Sense

 
At Tuesday, August 22, 2006, Blogger pog mo thoin said...

Oooo, these are really good! Probably they deserve another post but I am not qualified. Dim, you are right, movie lines do fall in different classes - ones that define the movie/actor and ones that people just say "you had me at ..." I think someone else should post on both of them.

I got one...

"Why do I have to be Mr. Pink"
Reservoir Dogs (thought of it reading Jenny's comment)

 
At Wednesday, August 30, 2006, Blogger Viszlát Sjáumst said...

"Great Odin's raven!"

- Ron Burgundy
- Channel 4 News Team

 

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