# Repeated lines in movies... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789 "2003-12-03T21:24:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raymond_luxury_yacht/32/4099_2.png) [@Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raymond_Luxury_Yacht)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/21 "2003-12-04T07:39:48Z")
“…and then there was Johnny Two Times, who was called that on account of he repeated everything he said.” ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/22 "2003-12-04T08:28:37Z")
This was used in _Equilibrium_, in reference to a Frost (I think) poem or story encountered earlier in the movie, “Be careful Preston, you’re treading on my dreams.” It was sloppy because there’s no telling how the character knew that Preston would recognize the line, but the actor is cool and made it sound sweet. ---
**Author:** ![acrossthesea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@acrossthesea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acrossthesea)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/23 "2003-12-04T11:06:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rabid\_Squirrel \* > \*\*Related to the repeated lines, but on a slightly different tact. > > Can’t name a specific example, but it _really_ annoys me when they say the same line twice in the same sentence, trying to sound dramatic. This is normally ecountered at the end of the film with an extreme close up shot. > > Note to scriptwriters, this is cheesy, cliched and boarding on self-parody. Stop it now. > > Example: Heroic character mourning the loss of his friend: “We saved them - we saved them all”. \*\* Hehehe, I use this technique often in the plays I write to be intentionally overdramatic. Sight hijack and self promotion: ( I write comedies and the over dramatic shakespearean monologue in the middle of nowhere thing is what I love doing most.) In one play I have a character shouting “I am a bookseller! I am a seller of books! I sell them to you, the book buyer! One who buys books!” And later a character says "Today was a horrible day, a horrible day indeed. Tanks are coming. Tanks, oh tanks yes. Tanks came and ran over my good friend Big Stick. Tanks. " ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/24 "2003-12-04T14:28:01Z")
Maybe I missed it, but nobody seem,s to have brought up the **Star Wars** line: “I’ve got a BAD feeling about this!” Personally, I _hate_ when the repeat the same chunk of dialogue over and over and over. It really grates on my nerves (I mean that they keep reporting the same recording time and again). I hated it in **The Conversation** and in **Klute** , and that’s why I’ve never seen those films a second time. They did it with the imagery in **Insomnis** , which I don’t intend to ever watch again, either. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/25 "2003-12-04T14:31:23Z")
“You’ll shoot your eye out!” From _A Christmas Story_. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/26 "2003-12-04T14:35:04Z")
“Who _are_ those guys?” ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/27 "2003-12-04T15:44:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CaptEgo \* > \*\*I’m actually a bit curious that you find this particular script matter so offensive. It is in fact lifted directly from the book (the repetition of said line) if not used in exactly the same fashion. > \*\* I don’t know, for some reason, it sticks out more in a movie than in a book. Also, in the book, two of the mentions are in a conversation, where it makes more sense. In the movie, it’s three separate scenes. How often in real life do you bring up an exact quote that someone said to you hours or days earlier? I don’t think I was quite clear on the particular type of repeated line that annoys me. Running gags don’t count, so “I’m not even supposed to be here today” “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” “the back of a Volkswagon” “I’m getting too old for this shit.” aren’t what I’m going for. (I happen to love all those lines) It’s not when it happens in the same scene, so: “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!” isn’t it either. It’s when a line is set up, maybe a half hour into the movie, and then gets repeated at a crucial time later, often at the climax, for dramatic effect. “It can’t rain all the time” is definately in the category. hrmm… must find better examples… Here, I’ll make one up. Early in the movie, Action Hero uses some preposterously complicated plan to escape from the enemy, along with Funny Sidekick. Funny Sidekick: “How’d you know that would work?” Action Hero: “A wise man once told me: even if you don’t think the plan will work, act like it will.” 90 minutes later, Funny Sidekick jumps in front of a bullet meant for Action Hero. Funny Sidekick looks up at Action Hero and with his dying words says “even if you don’t think… the plan will work… act like it will.” Action Hero screams “NOOO!” and kicks some villian ass. That’s the feeling I get from that kind of line. ---
**Author:** ![BrandyFine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrandyFine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandyFine)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/28 "2003-12-04T15:53:20Z")
Gonzoron, I think the best time the repeated line was done was in “Throw Momma From The Train.” The woman in Crystal’s writing class is reading aloud from her melodramatic and poorly written story, and she reads (in her over-the-top rendition) “Looks like we foiled them again! And the other one said, Yes, we foiled those bastards again! Yeah, said the captain.” That was a funny moment, and it makes fun of the phenomenon you started the thread about. ---
**Author:** ![BrandyFine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrandyFine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandyFine)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/29 "2003-12-04T15:56:02Z")
Gonzoron I think that one fits, according to your last post, because the character was **trying** for the very effect you are talking about. She was trying to be very dramatic with it. Of course the joke being that it was so silly and wasn’t dramatic at all. I notice this a lot too, and I don’t know of what to call it because it isn’t really foreshadowing. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/30 "2003-12-04T16:42:19Z")
What about in _The Big Lebowski_, when Walter says, “that rug really tied the room together, did it not?” and then a little while later the Dude says to Mr. Lebowski, “It’s just that it really tied the room together” ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/31 "2003-12-04T19:12:48Z")
“Ah, Venice” From _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_ said three times by Indy in three different styles. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/32 "2003-12-05T02:58:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\*Maybe I missed it, but nobody seem,s to have brought up the **Star Wars** line: “I’ve got a BAD feeling about this!” > > \*\* Um, scroll up to my first post in the thread. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dizzy\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dizzy\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dizzy_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/33 "2003-12-05T03:51:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gonzoron \* > **It’s when a line is set up, maybe a half hour into the movie, and then gets repeated at a crucial time later, often at the climax, for dramatic effect.** “I’ll kill you!” -Twelve Angry Men ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/34 "2003-12-05T05:30:56Z")
“I love you.” “I know.” Leia to Han and Han’s cocky reply right before he’s encased and taken away in the frozen carbonite (or something like that) in _Empire Strikes Back_. And then again in _Return of the Jedi_, only Han to Leia when he sees she’s all right after getting hit and has a gun ready to kill the Imperial trooper with a gun on them. Leia smirkingly gives Han the same reply. Excellent use of a ‘call back.’ ============= “What is it?” - Every Doctor Who sidekick three times every episode. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raymond_luxury_yacht/32/4099_2.png) [@Raymond\_Luxury\_Yacht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raymond_Luxury_Yacht)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/35 "2003-12-05T06:09:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ender\_Will \* > \*\*What about in _The Big Lebowski_, when Walter says, “that rug really tied the room together, did it not?” and then a little while later the Dude says to Mr. Lebowski, “It’s just that it really tied the room together” \*\* In the opening scene, when the Dude is writing a check for less than a dollar, he pauses to listen to Poppy Bush on the tv saying “this unchecked agression will not stand.” The Dude uses this line later in the film. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/36 "2003-12-05T06:52:59Z")
How about Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan? “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one”- Spock’s death speech. Repeated in ST 3, reversed to “sometimes the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many,” after the _fal tor pan_ ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/37 "2003-12-05T07:16:51Z")
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned these yet: “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled is convincing the world he didn’t exist.” “And like that…poof…he’s gone.” And this was in the first movie and the lesser-known sequel: “You may think you know what you’re dealing with, but, believe me, you don’t.” ---
**Author:** ![Fang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/96bed5/32.png) [@Fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fang)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/38 "2003-12-05T07:22:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jehovah68 \* > \*\*In the opening scene, when the Dude is writing a check for less than a dollar, he pauses to listen to Poppy Bush on the tv saying “this unchecked agression will not stand.” The Dude uses this line later in the film. \*\* Hint: one of the gags in the film is just how many lines are repeated. I think it’s to show what idiots these guys are, that they find one expression they like and keep reusing it, even if it’s not appropriate: “This is a very complicated case Maude. Lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous…” “They’re gonna kill that poor woman!” “Shut the fuck up Donny.” And so forth. ---
**Author:** ![BIH\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/49beb7/32.png) [@BIH\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BIH_Boy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/39 "2003-12-05T11:30:09Z")
Star Wars Trilogy: It’s not my fault. Han uses it when the Falcon doesn’t jump to light speed more than once and in ROTJ Llando says it as well under similar circumstances. Donnie Brasco - fuggedaboutit ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789/40 "2003-12-05T12:09:43Z")
From _The Searchers_: “That’ll be the day!” John Wayne repeated it throught the movie. It became such a catchphrase at the time that Buddy Holly used it as the basis for his song. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repeated-lines-in-movies/216789.md?page=3)