# Favorite movie opening/closing lines **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947 "2003-08-09T00:14:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/1 "2003-08-09T00:14:25Z")
I searched and didn’t find anything similar–if there were threads like this, they’re probably older and I don’t want to bring up dead threads. So, what are some of your favorite opening or closing lines from movies? Not necessarily the most dramatic or the best, but the ones you’ve enjoyed the most. (Please provide spoiler boxes if necessary) Favorite opening: “This story is about love.” (Christian, _Moulin Rouge_) Favorite closing: _Sleepy Hollow_, spoilers just in case. “You’ll soon get your bearings, Young Masbeth. The Bronx is up, the Battery’s down…and home is this way.” Ichabod Crane, spoiler-boxed because there are some points in the movie where you might think he won’t make it, and since he has the last line, you can deduce he does. Don’t want to ruin the tension. Another favorite closing: _Pirates of the Caribbean_, spoiler-boxed because it’s rather new. “Now bring me that horizon…[hums]…and really bad eggs.” Captain Jack Sparrow ---
**Author:** ![xanadu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c4cdca/32.png) [@xanadu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanadu)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/2 "2003-08-09T00:24:27Z")
Okay, someone has to do this: From Leathal Weapon 3 (and most probably all of the others): “I’m getting too old for this shit!” ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/3 "2003-08-09T00:34:41Z")
I mentioned this in another thread. Not the best movie in the world (in fact a pretty bad movie) but at the end of The Pickup Artist Mollie Ringwald and Robert Downey Jr’s characters are getting busy. Robert is going on and on. The last line is Molly saying “If you shut up, I’ll come.” It was the only time I laughed watching that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/4 "2003-08-09T02:20:58Z")
Johnny Depp much, Buckleberry? 🙂 I think some of the same discs playing in my house lately are at your house, too. I’m partial to _Hudson Hawk_’s closer: “And so, Eddie finally got his cappuccino.” _Hudson Hawk_ is like a really ugly, stupid puppy you can’t help but love, even though it keeps shredding the couch cushions. As a film, it’s focus on it’s own trivia just makes it better. Who even _remembered_ the cappuccino by that point? ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/5 "2003-08-09T02:40:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Juniper200 \* > \*\*Johnny Depp much, Buckleberry? 🙂 \ \*\* :dubious: I hadn’t noticed :: innocent :: :: whistles :: Really, I’ve only seen those two–I can’t gather the courage to watch _Blow_ and I can’t seem to find _Edward Scissorhands_ or _Benny and Joon_ to rent (I don’t want to buy them and find out I don’t like them…though I doubt that would happen). I rented _From Hell_, but there was so much nudity and blood in the first few minutes I turned it off. :: shudder :: Um…it appears I’ve lost focus. Aha! Another favorite closer: “We may yet, Mr. Frodo. We may yet.” Samwise Gamgee, paraphrased reply to Frodo’s “I don’t suppose we’ll ever see them again, Sam,” _Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring_. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/6 "2003-08-09T02:55:23Z")
I can never remember exact quotes, so this is going to have to be paraphrased. But the last line of _The Man Who Knew Too Much_ (1956) is an excellent example of understatement: “Look, everybody! Hank’s back!” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/7 "2003-08-09T03:30:38Z")
Some people say the best closing line in movie history was in _Some Like it Hot_. Those people are wrong. The best closing line is from _ **My Man Godfrey** _ (1936): A down-on-his-luck socialite, played by William Powell, works as a butler for the eccentric Bullock family and eventually works his way back up to a little status and independence. In the final scene, Irene Bullock, the brilliant Carole Lombard, breezes into his new apartment and proceeds to take over his life. In fact, the mayor is pressed into service to perform a civil wedding ceremony. (“Does your family know you’re getting married?” “Oh, everybody knows about it except Godfrey”) Everyone in place, the happy bride and befuddled groom join hands and she says “Stand still, Godfrey, it’ll all be over in a minute.” ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/8 "2003-08-09T04:00:48Z")
I’m going to have to give this question a little more thought…BF’s suggestions are good, as is the Some Like it Hot quote. If Gone with the Wind had ended with Rhett’s line, that would have been a good ending. The last lines of To Kill A Mockingbird are almost the same as the book ("…and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning") and they are beautiful. An aside (or hijack, is that the correct term?) for Buckleberry Ferry: We discovered Johnny Depp at my house with POTC and have been having a Depp video fest ever since. “From Hell” was too bloody for me too, but Mr. Depp was cool as ever and did you stay long enough to catch Robbie Coltrane -Hagrid!- as his assistant? I “rented” Benny & Joon, Edward Scissorhands, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and a couple others from our public library. Of those the one you must see is Gilbert Grape. end hijack, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/9 "2003-08-09T04:10:33Z")
[aside] **well he’s back** , I barely got a few seconds into his first opium…hallucination? I turned that off toot sweet. Too bad I didn’t get to see Mr. Coltrane. Much coolness. I’ve seen Sleepy Hollow roughly five times, though. (I say roughly because there was one time it was just on in the background and another where I wasn’t paying much attention.) Heard good things about _Grape_, however–might be my next rent. [/aside] Another good closer: (paraphrased) “You know, I have a feeling I’ve seen that ship…a long time ago…when I was very young.” George Darling, _Peter Pan_ And the opener, by the narrator of the same: “All this has happened before. And it will all happen again. But this time it happened in London.” ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/10 "2003-08-09T04:24:29Z")
[more hijack] I watch _Sleepy Hollow_ a minimum of once a week because a) the costumes rock my world, and b) my own personal name is Katrina and I just like to hear him say it.[/hijack] As for opening lines, you can’t beat “Rosebud!” ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/11 "2003-08-09T05:24:45Z")
“Twas beauty that killed the beast” ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/12 "2003-08-09T05:40:11Z")
**Airplane! (1980)** Afetr ALL the credits have gone by this truly IS the last line of the movie - “Just 15 more minutes…that’s all I’m giiving him” - spoken by a taxicab passenger who has been waiting (for about three quarters of the movie) for the driver to return. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/13 "2003-08-09T07:01:29Z")
Last line… “The name’s Plisskin!” ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/14 "2003-08-09T08:17:04Z")
Best opening AND closer comes from _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_… OPENING: “We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.” CLOSING: “… Just another freak in the freak kingdom.” Speaking of Johnny Depp… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/15 "2003-08-09T09:44:32Z")
Of all the movies I own on DVD, I think my favorite opening (although it’s only partially the line) is **Terminator 2** … the camera pans across a freeway, the super-ominous movie plays, then the flash, and the fire, and the skulls, and… “Three billion human lives ended on August 29, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day…” Good times. As for ending lines, this is more lighthearted, but the last line of **Dragnet** with Tom Hanks and Dan Akyroyd is one of the single funniest moments in any movie, ever. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/16 "2003-08-09T10:23:26Z")
“September 9, 1945–That’s the day I died.” From _Grave of the Fireflies_ That was the opening line (in English). ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/17 "2003-08-09T11:18:21Z")
I’m not sure why this sticks in my mind. Maybe because it’s the first time in the entire movie that he smiles. From **Robocop** : “Murphy.” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/18 "2003-08-09T16:10:52Z")
**Pitch Black’s opening line** "“They say that most of your brain shuts down in cryosleep, all but the primitive side, the animal side. Guess that’s why I’m still awake.’” ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/19 "2003-08-09T17:06:32Z")
I just watched _The Breakfast Club_. Best closer: Brian’s letter to Vernon: \ …But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947/20 "2003-08-09T23:50:13Z")
**Millier’s Crossing** Opening line: “I’m talkin’ about friendship. I’m talkin’ about character. I’m talkin’ about… hell, Leo, I ain’t embarassed to use the word… I’m talkin’ about ethics.” (said by Johnny Caspar, a gangster) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movie-opening-closing-lines/193947.md?page=2)