AFI Top 100 Quotes from US movies - what should be in/out?

Cafe Society
81

The list has three lines from The Wizard of Oz, including There’s no place like home, which in my opinion is a little weak. The line is not original to the movie. I would replace it with Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. This line is not only memorable and original, it has become part of the language.

From Patton I would choose 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.

From Glengarry Glen Ross, Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired.

By the way, for Pride of the Yankees they re-wrote Gehrig’s famous speech. The arrogance! Here is a web page with the text of both the original speech and the movie version.

82

That quote isn’t original to the movie Patton, either.

83

As he should. He was excellent in that role.

Am I the only one who was a little disappointed to see nothing from Wayne’s World? Yeah, probably. I’ll throw this one out anyway just for fun (bear with me, I’m quoting from memory):
“Did you ever see that Twilight Zone where the guy signed a contract and they cut out his tongue and put it in a jar and it wouldn’t die, it just grew and pulsated and gave birth to baby tongues? Pretty cool, huh.”

84

What?!?! No Monty Python quotes on this list?
“Ni!” - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

“How do you know he’s a king?” “He hasn’t got sh*t all over him.” - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

“Ah, I see you have the machine that goes, ‘Bing!’” - The Meaning of Life

“It’s just a wafer thin mint.” - The Meaning of Life

85

AFI lists are restricted to AMERICAN movies. Month Python films are not American.

86

“Shakespeare in Tombstone…It’s been a long time since I’ve heard Shakespeare.”

87

Before I made my posting I suspected the quote was from Patton himself. I did some research and found this forum on military quotes, in which someone quotes the entire speech from the movie and the original speech by Patton that the movie speech was based on. The “poor dumb bastard” quote is in the movie speech, but not the original. Perhaps Patton said it at some other time, but I’d like a citation.

Even if the line originated with Patton rather than a scriptwriter, at least it would be original to Patton. The line There’s no place like home was already trite by the time it was included in The Wizard of Oz.

88

I think Homer Simpson summed it up best when he said:

“Look, Marge, you don’t know what it’s like. I’m the one out there every day putting his ass on the line. And I’m not out of order! You’re out of order. The whole freaking system is out of order. You want the truth? You want the truth?! You can’t handle the truth! 'Cause when you reach over and put your hand into a pile of goo that was your best friend’s face, you’ll know what to do! Forget it, Marge, it’s Chinatown.”

89

Oh, that’s a good one.

How about:

“Heineken? Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon!” from
Blue Velvet?

90

Woody Allen is a bit under-represented on this list. Some lines that ought to be included:

“Ah, marijuana. The grand illusion that lets white women think that they’re Billie Holliday.” - Annie Hall

“You have a really authoritarian voice, you know that? Kind of like Moses, or the computer from 2001.” - Manhattan

“Don’t Speak!” - Bullets Over Broadway

91

I don’t know if these are more great moments than great lines, but:
“You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and… blow.”

a then 19 year old Lauren Bacall to a 44 year old Humphrey Bogart, in “To Have and Have Not”

and:

John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn confronts four outlaws across a field:

Ned Pepper: What’s your intention? Do you think one on four is a dogfall?
Rooster Cogburn: I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker’s convenience. Which’ll it be?
Ned Pepper: I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.
Rooster Cogburn: Fill your hands, you son of a bitch.

I’m sure there are other good John Wayne quotes out there. Anybody got a better memory than me at the moment?

92

There is no spoon.

93

No. 34 on the AFI list.

94

And of course the sendup from Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid: “You know how to dial, don’t you? Just put your finger in the hole, and make little circles.”

95

Patton: A Genius for War by Carlo D’Este, p. 578.

96

:smack:

stupid codeine…

97

“Tomorrow is another day” was the tag line from the Marx Brothers’ A Day at the Races, 1937.
Favorite Marx quotes:
*The Cocoanuts: * “Believe me, you have to get up early if you want to get out of bed.”–Groucho
Animal Crackers: “Ever since I met you, I’ve swept you off my feet.”–Groucho
Monkey Business: “Tell me when you want to be attacked and I’ll be there ten minutes later to defend you.”–Groucho
Horse Feathers: “Chicolini, I’m going to fix it for our team to win.” “Oh, no! I wanna play!” --Groucho & Chico
Duck Soup: “Oh, I’m sick of messages from the front! Don’t we ever get a message from the side?”–Groucho
"A Night at the Opera:
“An’a two hard boiled eggs.” “And two hard boiled egs.” [two dozen honks] “It’s either foggy out or make that two dozen more hard-boiled eggs.”–Groucho, Chico, Harpo
A Day at the Races:
“Take these bags up to my room and here’s a dime for yourself.”
“Oh, no, Dr. Hackenbush. This is Mr. Whitmore, our business manager.”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry. Here’s a quarter.”–Groucho & Margaret Dumont
Room Service:
“But he’s not cold yet!”
“I’ll fix that, I’ll phone for some ice. [on phone], Hello, Room Service? Send up enough ice to cool a worm-a body.” --Chico and Douglas MacBride
At the Circus:
“Hey waiter! Get me a doctor!” “What for? You ain’t tasted [the doughnut] yet!”–Kenny Baker and the doughnut vendor
Go West:
“You wait here while Stuffy and I break open the s-a-f-f!”
“You’re a one-man fifth column!”–Groucho & Chico
The Big Store: “How many grapes have you got? How many kids have you got? How many grapes have your kids got?”–Groucho
A Night in Casablanca: “Your trunks haven’t arrived? Put your pants on, nobody will notice!”–Groucho
Love Happy:
“Remember me?”
"Yes, I do! [she slaps him]
“No, I mean before that!”–Groucho and Ilona Massey

98

From “Goldfinger:”
James Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.

From “Blazing Saddles:”
Sheriff Bart: 'Scuse me while I whip this out.

99

Also:

Doc Holliday: You’re no daisy…you’re no daisy at’all

Doc Holliday: Say when!

Wyatt Earp: What does he want revenge for?
Doc Holliday: For bein’ born

Doc Holliday: If you were ever my friend you’d leave right now and never come back. Go find that spirited actress, take her in your arms and never let go…
(sniff)

100

It’s hard to argue with lists like this; you know what they say…

“Well, art is art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west, and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce, they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know.”
-Animal Crackers

But, there are a couple of instances where I would have preferred a different quote from the same movie…

  1. “La-dee-da, la-dee-da,” “Annie Hall,” 1977.

Sun is bad for you. Everything our parents said was good is bad. Sun, milk, red meat… college.

  1. “Toga! Toga!”, “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” 1978.

Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

  1. “Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac … It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole!”, “Caddyshack,” 1980.

Ty Webb: You take drugs, Danny?
Danny Noonan: Every day.
Ty Webb: Good.
I will also join in the general condemnation of the lack of any quotes from The Princess Bride.

And here’s a few that would have made my list…

“Never get off the boat”
“Charlie don’t surf”
-Apocalypse Now

“I’ve led a stange life, Mortimer”
-Arsenic and Old Lace

"When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, looks you crooked in the eye and asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol’ Jack Burton always says at a time like that: “Have ya paid your dues, Jack?” “Yessir, the check is in the mail.”
-Big Trouble In Little China

“I’m not supposed to be here today!”
-Clerks

“As it stands Plan B is to just keep on Given’r.”
-Fubar

“Colonel, fair’s fair… if I punch Hawkeye and nail Hot-Lips, can I go home too?”
-MAS*H

“Dr. Spivey: Well, the real reason that you’ve been sent over here is because they wanted you to be evaluated… to determine whether or not you are mentally ill. This is the real reason.
McMurphy: Well, as near as I can figure out, it’s 'cause I, uh, fight and fuck too much.”
-One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest

“I blame society”
-Repo Man

“MINKEY??? You said MINKEY!!!”
-Return of the Pink Panther

“Things sure have changed since we got kicked outta high school.”
-Rock n Roll High School

“Give yourself over to absolute pleasure.”
-Rocky Horror Picture Show

Reporter: Say listen, is he working on a case?
Nora Charles: Yes, he is.
Reporter: What case?
Nora Charles: A case of scotch. Pitch in and help him.
-The Thin Man

“As long as there’s, you know, sex and drugs, I can do without the rock and roll.”
-This Is Spinal Tap

“Ohhh, Martha? When is our son coming home?”
-Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?