# Best I'm-gonna-die-and-I-know-it moment and/or words in movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [March 7, 2025, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251 "2025-03-07T16:09:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/61 "2025-03-08T16:50:49Z")
**Star Trek: Generations** — The Klingons are beating the crap out of the _Enterprise_ when Riker and crew get the drop on them; Will says “Fire” and Lursa and B’Etor give each other _the look_ just before they’re all reduced to sub-atomic particles. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/62 "2025-03-08T17:12:43Z")
Let’s keep going Thelma and Louise ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/63 "2025-03-08T17:16:05Z")
“For a moment there I thought we were in trouble…” Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/64 "2025-03-08T17:27:55Z")
I won’t swear to it, but I thought he used that line in **Outlaw Josey Wales** , too. Chief Dan George was a national treasure. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/65 "2025-03-08T17:47:07Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > “Damn, this is funny.” > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Facing a firing squad. “Shoot straight, you bastards! Don’t make a mess of it!” Both were actual quotes. Still qualify for the topic, of course, but makes you marvel at how people can come up with these in real life. > [@Johanna](#): > > He culture-coded the Dwarves as Norse. And yet most Tolkein adaptations give them Scottish accents. What’s up with that? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/66 "2025-03-08T18:14:02Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > And yet most Tolkein adaptations give them Scottish accents. What’s up with that? Copying _Order of the Stick_. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/67 "2025-03-08T20:31:06Z")
Everybody loves Scottish accents, so “Rule of Popular,” as TV Tropes might call it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/68 "2025-03-08T20:47:27Z")
_“Scotland: Americans know it as ‘the birthplace of Shrek’ and ‘that accent you think you can do, but actually can’t’.”_ —John Oliver ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/69 "2025-03-08T20:53:00Z")
The Shetland Islands were historically part of Norway, until they were transferred to Scotland as a princess’s dowry. In the Orkney Islands and parts of the northern Scottish mainland Norn, a Norse language, used to be spoken. There’s _just_ enough overlap to fudge over the difference, if you squint a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/70 "2025-03-08T21:10:26Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > > [@mixdenny](#): > > > > “Today is a good day to die” > > Chief Dan George’s character says this near the end of _Little Big Man_ as he lay down to die. Problem: A raindrop hits him in the face, he curses and gets up and walks away with Dustin Hoffman. So not actually last. In the movie it’s supposed to be an old tribal expression used, for example, before going into battle. There’s also his quote that still comes in handy: “Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/71 "2025-03-08T23:00:48Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > > [@Johanna](#): > > > > He culture-coded the Dwarves as Norse. > > And yet most Tolkein adaptations give them Scottish accents. What’s up with that? Maybe they dont want characters that sound like this [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Ctv0x3jWQM8/hqdefault.jpg "The Swedish Chef -Hot Pepper sauce") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctv0x3jWQM8) ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/72 "2025-03-08T23:23:48Z")
“To be… or not… to be.” _BOOM_ ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2025, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/73 "2025-03-09T02:41:43Z")
“My God, it’s full of stars.” Astronaut David Bowman however not in the original _2001 A Space Odyssey_, but in the sequel _2010_ ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/74 "2025-03-09T03:12:50Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > And yet most Tolkein adaptations give them Scottish accents. What’s up with that? I suspect it has something to do with how later adaptations of Dwarves tended to made a big deal of clans. “Clans” in the Anglophone sphere tends to mean Scotland and Ireland, and so Dwarves picked up Scottish and Irish stereotypes. The accent and hard drinking, specifically. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2025, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/75 "2025-03-09T05:49:23Z")
I’d rather die on my feet, than live on my knees. Harry Dean Stanton, Repo Man ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2025, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/76 "2025-03-09T07:49:32Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > “For a moment there I thought we were in trouble…” > Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid I debated putting this quote up, but couldn’t decide if they actually knew it was the end or not. After all, they’d got out of plenty of other life-or-death/capture situations before. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2025, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/77 "2025-03-09T09:59:03Z")
You have it backwards. It’s better to live on your feet than to die on your knees. Old man in whorehouse, _Catch-22_ ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Steve\_McQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQwark)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251/78 "2025-03-09T15:27:47Z")
Adam Goldberg in Saving Private Ryan. He doesn’t have a final line, but the emotions playing across his face as he is losing the hand-to-hand combat with the much larger German… powerful stuff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-im-gonna-die-and-i-know-it-moment-and-or-words-in-movies/1015251.md?page=3)