# Little lines in movies that you love or saved the movie for you. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917 "2006-02-24T13:10:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/61 "2006-02-27T02:59:07Z")
‘Sometimes my wife forgets that she _isn’t_ a space alien.’ - **The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra** ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/62 "2006-02-27T04:42:59Z")
> [@Buckler of Swashing](#): > > ‘Sometimes my wife forgets that she _isn’t_ a space alien.’ - **The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra** Every single line of dialogue in Lost Skeleton is classic, though. “Well, I suppose in my time I’ve seen a bear do even some things a bear wouldn’t do.” ---
**Author:** ![bob\_loblaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@bob\_loblaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_loblaw)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/63 "2006-02-27T06:05:11Z")
> [@This space intentionally blank](#): > > Among my friends from high school, the line by the Italian guy (what’s his name?), “We could kill EVERYONE!” from **The Boondock Saints** […] and the following line: “i’m strangely comfortable with that.” ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/64 "2006-02-27T06:48:31Z")
Nobody has mentioned _Showgirls_??!! There are a million of them, but the best is: > [@](#): > > I used to love Doggy Chow too! Before that line, I thought I was watching the worst movie of all time. After, I realized it was high comedy. Now, _every_ line in that film is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/65 "2006-02-27T14:34:42Z")
> [@vaderspal](#): > > Nobody has mentioned _Showgirls_??!! > > There are a million of them, but the best is: Before that line, I thought I was watching the worst movie of all time. After, I realized it was high comedy. Now, _every_ line in that film is hilarious. **vaderspal** , welcome to the SDMB. As a denizen of Cafe Society, there’s something we should let you know about _Showgirls_… ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/66 "2006-02-27T15:07:37Z")
From _Star Trek: Nemesis_: “Data, shut up.” I always have this impression of him leaning towards Riker and saying, “I’ve wanted to say that for years.” ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/67 "2006-02-27T15:23:25Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > **vaderspal** , welcome to the SDMB. As a denizen of Cafe Society, there’s something we should let you know about _Showgirls_… Okay, that one was kind of funny. So, I’m picky about dialogue. I hated wasted lines, stupid lines, the stupid empty shit characters say just to have something to say there, like: “Let’s go.” So we could debate whether\* Reservoir Dogs\* is a legitimate masterpiece on its own terms or whatnot all day, but when Joe says “All right, ramblers, let’s get ramblin’”, instead of “Let’s go” or “Let’s get going” or “Let’s roll” or - heads should roll - “Let’s get this show on the road”, I love that. Maybe it’s schticky, but what the hell. There’s a romantic sports comedy called _The Cutting Edge_ that I would happily go to bat for, despite the fact that most romance and most sports flicks leave me cold. It’s not perfect, but…Moira Kelly juggles bitchy, witty, intense, petulant, charming, and a range of temperatures from freezing to steaming hot without batting a lash, and even dumb, pretty lug D.B. Sweeney has moments of real warmth and clarity. Sorry, I sound like I’m selling the veal. The point is, I love it in part because there’s little BS in the script. It starts with a “Meet Cute” (thanks Ebert) for crying out loud, but one of my favorites, and here’s one example of the kind of lines it’s full of: Both are late for their Olympic games, running through the hallways at top speed as the music above them swells. They collide; he knocks her to her ass, she curses him, and he says, nastily, “Honey, where I’m from we _stand_ for the National Anthem.” Later, when her fiancee, in one of those (all too rare, these days) moments where some character advances the plot by being moderately observant instead of incredibly, unbelievably stupid, declares, “Foreplay” as he figures out why she keeps fighting with her skating partner, that’s the perfect line for the moment. But the context is what sells both of these moments. I used to be more impressed with individual, well-crafted lines than I am now. Now I look for lines used like pillars, and beams, perhaps decorative but always functional, informing us in some small way about someone, or something, essential to the film. I’ve never seen _Boondock Saints_ - though everyone should see the documentary about its making, _Overnight_ - but I bet I wouldn’t like it, and that ten years ago I would have _loved_ it. This is not a comment on the maturity of people who like it, just my own changing tastes. I could be wrong, of course. I’ll check it out sometime and see. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/68 "2006-02-27T15:59:52Z")
“I have come to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And I’m all outta gum.” Pretty much all of _They Live_, actually. ---
**Author:** ![archmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/69 "2006-02-27T16:21:04Z")
From **Elizabeth** Walsingham: Your Grace must go with these men to the Tower. Norfolk: I \*must \*do nothing by your order. I am Norfolk! Walsingham: You \*were \*Norfolk. The dead have no titles. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/70 "2006-02-27T17:42:05Z")
> [@RobuSensei](#): > > In whatever Muppet movie had them going to England, when they were dropped from the plane in cargo crates, the fact that Gonzo’s was labeled “whatever” cracked me up. Also the exchange between a truck driver and Oscar the Grouch: > > Driver: What are YOU doing here? > Oscar: A very short cameo. > Driver (Peter Ustinov): Me too. There was another good line from another of the Muppet’s movies (they all run together, can’t remember which one) from Diana Rigg. Kermit: Why are you telling us all of this? Diana Rigg: It’s all plot exposition and character development; it has to go _somewhere_. ---
**Author:** ![doglesby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b77776/32.png) [@doglesby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doglesby)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/71 "2006-02-27T17:45:03Z")
“He was aquitted but karmically convicted. He died of a heart attack right after.” from _Zero Effect_. There are so many lines from _Firefly_, but the one that convinced me I love that show is, “use of a s-what?” ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/72 "2006-02-27T18:38:31Z")
> [@archmichael](#): > > From **Elizabeth** > > Walsingham: Your Grace must go with these men to the Tower. > Norfolk: I \*must \*do nothing by your order. I am Norfolk! > Walsingham: You \*were \*Norfolk. The dead have no titles. Two of my other favourite lines ( **Elizabeth** was a great movie): The way Cate Blanchett delivers “Then let them sign it… and let it all be done”, in that cold, hard voice, is _chilling_. When she meets the Duke of Anjou in his quarters and he’s wearing a dress, her deadpan, almost-unable-to-keep-a-straight-face recital of “Although my affections for you remain undiminished, after an _agonizing_ struggle I have decided to put the interests of my people ahead of my affections” (or something like that) is brilliant. It’s more in the delivery than in the dialogue, but they’re fantastic lines. You have to see the movie to get them. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/73 "2006-02-27T19:31:11Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#): > > “You’re pretty funny for a guy with nine fingers.” I thought it was “You’re pretty funny for a guy taped to a chair”. Assuming we’re talking about the same movie, of course. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/74 "2006-02-28T00:25:52Z")
> [@Otanx](#): > > All of the Monty Python quotes in **Sliding Doors** , but the best one is the one at the very end of the movie. Got to _love_ a movie where the last words spoken are a Monty Python quote. I like the movie anyway, but that made it one of my favorites. > > -Otanx I really wasn’t expecting a mention of **Sliding Doors** , or even thinking about it, but you’re right. That is an amazing final line. Also from that movie: “I’m your friend, mate! I’m here to help you!” ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/75 "2006-02-28T09:09:47Z")
Just remembered this bit from _Kindergarten Cop_: [Crisp’s mother is buying a heap of pediatric medication] Cullen Crisp: The boy’s not sick. Eleanor Crisp: Doesn’t hurt to take precautions. Cullen Crisp: Mother, you are going to make him sick. You stuffed all this crap down my throat for years, and there was nothing wrong with me! Eleanor Crisp: That’s why there was nothing wrong with you. Cullen Crisp: …Now, how can you argue with that? ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/76 "2006-02-28T09:49:39Z")
I don’t remember the direct quote but… At the start of **Fight Club** Tyler asks if the Narrator has anything to say. He says “I can’t think of anything”. At the end of the movie they work the same scene again but this time the Narrator says “I _still_ can’t think of anything.” Tyler says “Oh, flashback humour. Very funny.” I also loved “If I had a tumor I’d name it Marla.” There are a ton of great little lines in the movie **Evolution** but the one that cracks me up everytime is when Harry freaks out because the alien fly got in his solid gold dancer enviro-suit. Ira is attempting to calm him down. Ira: It’s ok. It’s ok. Who’s the man? Harry: You’re the man. Ira: No… YOU’RE the man. Harry: I’m the man. It doesn’t read very funny, but the delivery is comic gold. Of course almost ALL of Ghostbusters has great lines. My personal favourites are: Ray: Listen! Do you smell something? and Ray: Where do these stairs go? Peter: They go up. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/77 "2006-03-01T02:01:29Z")
As far as lines that saved movies, **Star Wars III** has a single brilliant line that stands out amid the rest of Lucas’s dialogue: Padme: “So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.” Also, **Police Academy** is playing right now, and although it has a lot of giggle-worthy lines, my favorite is easy: Mahoney: “…I’m trapped here?” Commandant Lasaard: “Oh yes. We all are.” ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/78 "2006-03-01T03:06:09Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > **vaderspal** , welcome to the SDMB. As a denizen of Cafe Society, there’s something we should let you know about _Showgirls_… Er… 😕 Sorry, n00b here, you’re gonna have to explain that one to me. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/79 "2006-03-01T14:20:11Z")
> [@vaderspal](#): > > Er… 😕 Sorry, n00b here, you’re gonna have to explain that one to me. Even mentioning **Showgirls** in a thread is enough to kick off several pages of heated discussion over whether it’s a masterpiece of satire or a minorpiece of s\*\*t. And for heaven’s sake, don’t bring up **Starship Troopers**!!! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917/80 "2006-03-01T14:29:41Z")
There was a really lousy horror movie called Gator, which involves a giant, mutant gator roaming around a small Florida town eating anybody. The thing hid out in the sewers. Police scoping the situation had this to say: First cop: How many people have been killed? Second cop: We’re not sure. We think the first victim was a sewer worker named Ed Norton. The rest of the film was a complete waste of time, but it was worth for this one line. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-lines-in-movies-that-you-love-or-saved-the-movie-for-you/345917.md?page=5)