Its a great movie moment- The hero has to face the bad guy. The bad guy is better than the hero. The hero knows this but has to face him anyway. The villain Johnny Ringo shows up and expects to find Wyatt Earp, the hero. Instead he finds Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday and Johnny is afraid.
“I’m your huckleberry.”
In Punch Drunk Love with Adam Sandler- After he and Emily Watson meet up in Hawaii, they are lying in bed together. Sandler looks at her and says “I want to take a hammer and smash your face.” He says it with such tenderness and honest admiration. Her response is actually touching “I want to take your eyeballs and chew them up.” It’s also a great character reveal as up to that point you haven’t had any clue why her character, who seems otherwise nice and normal, would be interested in such a damaged person like Sandler’s character. You then realize, “Holy shit! She’s fucked up too! But she’s learned how to be functional.”
Not a Movie, but an anime line that has always stuck with me.
Sailor Moon, season 1 dubbed. When Darien reveals that he’s Tuxedo Mask.
“He can’t be…he is.”
The line just has this “Oh no…” quality to it that perfectly sums up their relationship. You can almost hear Serena’s heart drop with those last two words.
It’s so hard to choose; Oldman delivers a whole bunch of great lines in that movie; I also like the laughter/weeping followed by “they’re not here” when he opens the case to find the stones missing and the “oh no” just before the bomb blows.
Heh. Me and my friends saw this in the theater, and ass soon as he hit ‘pleasant’, he pauses, just for a half a moment, as if trying to find the right word. It’s the controlled rage, as you’ve said. My friends and I realized the crap was about to hit the fan at that momentary word choice.
The other amusing bit in that scene is when the priest is trying to explain Henry’s claim to France, and he pauses for a moment durring the explaination, looking to see if Lord Exiter (sp?) understands it. It’s not a line, per se, but a look: Exiter just motions with his eyes exasperatedly towards the king, as if to say to the priest, “Remember who you’re selling this to, moron!”
Morgan Freeman as God in Bruce Almighty:
Bruce: [being overwhelmed with hearing prayers] Give me a break!
[Bruce is instantly transported to meet with God]
God: Really something, isn’t it?
Bruce: Is this heaven?
God: No, this is Mount Everest. You should flip on the Discovery Channel from time to time. But I guess you can’t now, being dead and all.
[pause]
Bruce: I’m dead?
God: Naw, I’m just messing with ya.
His delivery on the “messing with ya” line is just exquisite.
And then later on, he and Carrey chorus on: “It’s GOOOOD!” Cracks me up every time.
And for sheer, awesome power and force, you cannot beat R. Lee Ermey as Gunny Hartman in Full Metal Jacket. One example:
Are you quitting on me? Well, are you? Then quit, you slimy fucking walrus-looking piece of shit. Get the fuck off of my obstacle. Get the fuck down off of my obstacle. Now. Move it. I’m going to rip your balls off, so you cannot contaminate the rest of the world. I will motivate you, Private Pyle, if it short-dicks every cannibal on the Congo.
“I could have done more.” This is when I start bawling like a baby. The sheer enormity of what Schindler did, singlehandedly, and yet he is still overwhelmed by the one or two or five he couldn’t save. Because for him, they weren’t numbers, they were individuals.
Cate Blanchett, as Elizabeth in the movie of the same name, has a wonderful (if aphocryphal) speech to the smarmy Duke of Anjou (brother to the King of France), whom she has been avoiding the advances of. She finds him wearing a dress and wig, cavorting in a homosexual Bachnalian revelry with some friends. She is elated, as this is obvious excuse enough to avoid marrying him, yet she needs to be diplomatic as all get out to avoid war with his country.
“Your Grace…” she says, “Although my affection for you is undiminished, I have, after an *agonising *struggle, determined to sacrifice my own happiness for the welfare of my people.” and hands him back his ring.
Cate’s mix of bemusement, politics, and above all relief is just perfect, and she captures in that one simple line the essence of Elizabeth’s power as a monarch and woman.
In the “Sound of Music” the Captain, and Herr Zoeller are sparring verbally, Herr Zoeller, in a blatant attempt at one-upmanship says, “You flatter me, Captain.” The Captain replies with total aplomb: “How clumsy of me, I meant to accuse you.”
I love that line, and the after delivery nonchalance as he turns to his other guests is just perfect.
There are dozens of amazing deliveries in The Godfather parts I-II.
For example, John Cazale’s “He said there was something in it for me! On my own!” and then Pacino’s icy response, “You’re nothing to me now. You’re not a brother and you’re not a friend.”
It’s not just the line, but the facial expressoin. In True Romance, when James Gandolfini is talking to Patricia Arquette, juuust before he roughs her up. He tells her to turn around, then turn back, and bam pops her one. The look on his face right after that is astonishing. He conveys so much emotion there; you can feel how much he hates this part of his job. He might not shy away from violence upon scum, but he knows this girl doesn’t deserve it.
At that moment in 1992, I knew this man would be a huge star someday. And I hoped I’d be the one to cast him as a lead role. Dammit.
Just saw this again the other day - Sir John Gielgud in “Arthur”
Arthur: Do you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to take a bath.
Hobson: I’ll alert the media.
Arthur: Do you want to run my bath for me?
Hobson: It’s what I live for.
No-one could have delivered those lines like Gielgud - the layers of irony, and one right after the other. Still priceless to this day.
Aragorn: For Frodo. (This is usually where I start bawling.)
Galadriel: Yet hope remains, if the company is true. (While looking at Sam, who looks back unflinchingly.)
Sam: And Rosie Cotton dancing…she had ribbons in her hair. (So much wistfulness.)
Smeagol/Gollum: And they doesn’t taste very nice, does they, precious?/No. Not very nice at all. (Just the calculating way Gollum says that last bit is chilling.)
Frodo: Mordor, Gandalf. Is it left or right? (I really like that line, because here you have all your heroes setting out on this vitally important quest, everything’s very formal and solemn, and here’s your Ringbearer with no clue which way to go.)
or Boromir’s “One does not simply walk into Mordor…” speech
and lots of Gandalf’s lines, but esp. when he says “…it was pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand. There are many the die that deserve life…” etc.
Oh - and Elijah Wood as Frodo saying “What must I do?” there in Bag End.
Man those movies were gifted with good actors.
I’ll stop now.
Wait- before I stop, how about some of Johnny Depp’s line readings? In POTC they are essentially what made the movies blockbusters. (“Son…I’m Captain Jack Sparrow”.) and in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” near the end when he says he doesn’t have anywhere to go - well the way he says it makes it heartbreaking.
I’m not a huge fan of Tolkien, but when I saw the trailer for FOTR I was pretty enthusiastic about seeing the movie.
Right before it opened a radio station played the audio of Ian McKellen as Gandalf reciting the inscription on the One Ring.
After hearing that, I HAD to see the movie!
Just from his intonation, McKellen made it clear that the inscription was not a silly little rhyme, but a description of a machine built to enslave the entire world.
Still gives me chills! LOTR is a great, GREAT movie experience.
From Eye of the Needle I have two. Not delivery of words, but in actor’s actions:
Donald Sutherland, as a ruthless Nazi spy in England just before D-Day, is confronted on a train by the one person who can identify him. The spy kills the witness just like that, hardly even breaking his speech patterns. That felt very real to me. Sad, but real.
and
Kate Nelligan plays an Englishwoman on an isolated island where Sutherland has ended up. They become lovers. She discovers who he is, and that he’s killed her husband. But she can’t let him know that she knows, because he’ll kill her too. The expressions on her face during their next tryst capture all the emotions involved.
John Travolta, Get Shorty: Look at me, Harry. No- look at me like I’m lookin’ at you.
Kevin Costner, Bull Durham: Damn- that ball got outta here in a hurry! Something that flies that far should have a stewardess on it, don’t ya think?
George Clooney and Andy Garcia, in Ocean’s Eleven- [Danny (Clooney) had been sitting at the table with Tess (Julia Roberts) trying to talk her into leaving Terry (Garcia), when Terry walks up. Danny and Terry obviously hate each other. Danny stand up, Terry sits down. There is some final banter.
Then- ]
Garcia, while gazing at Roberts: “Danny”
Clooney, while also watching Roberts: “Terry”
-the way they both kind of spit out each other’s name, they manage to convey their intense dislike for each other with one word, used as the final brush off.
Practically every line of Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead. I damn near hyperventilated the first time I saw the game of Questions, I was laughing so hard.
“You’re gonna need a bigger boat”
Every line delivered by F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus. But in particular, his description of the planned moment of triumph. “Salieri has been touched by God at last. And God is forced to listen! Powerless, powerless to stop it! I, for once in the end, laughing at him!”
This bit of dialog from X-Men is a real jewel:
Wolverine: It’s me!
Cyclops: Prove it!
Wolverine: You’re a dick.
Cyclops: Okay.
The best delivered line in The Princess Bride was a single syllable. During the duel between Inigo and Westley – Inigo’s reply when Westley says “Get used to disappointment.”