The mind-boggling movie quote?

[Loopus]

Let’s employ some logic here. If it is from any halfway well-known movie (or book) the source would have been identified by now. If it is from an obscure movie (or book) not nearly so many people would think it sounded familiar. Therefore, it isn’t from anywhere.

I agree with Dr. Kenneth Noisewater. It sounds familiar because the two components (“That’s the beauty of it” and “It doesn’t do anything”) are common and they sound good together. So by putting them together you get a quote that sounds familiar but, likely as not, never happened.

[Hilarity_N.Suze]

@Biffy the Elephant Shrew

I’m 100% sure you won’t find the quote there. But Yellow Submarine is always worth watching.

Okay, this quote is not there.

And I confabulated Yellow Submarine and Bande a part thinking that the one minute of silence was in YS – wrong. Well, it’s been a long time (for both of them).

[andrewdt85]

Thanks- and no, I remember they just waste a minute as they count it.

I already watched Jumanji and Peggy Sue Got Married- no, but worth rewatching, and I have the Mask ready to view. Someone want to watch What Dreams May Come with the sig. other?.. not my kinda movie.

BTW, it’s been 3 1/2 weeks since I sent out 19 letters to technology firms about the quote. The one I sent to Microsoft was returned b/c I didn’t address it specifically to the Ad department, I think (they weren’t sure where to send it in the corp.) and the Philips Magnavox one came back weeks ago w/ a generic letter about the product line- apparently I need to call directly, which I’ll do this week. Besides that there’s no telling if the other 17 are in somebody’s inbox or something. I’m not holding my breath.

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

@Evil Captor

Mrs. Evil Captor, aka Terrorcotta, has a suggestion, and I think she is probably right. You’re all on the wrong track. It’s from the movie “Lover Come Back” with Doris Day and Rock Hudson, and the “it” is Vip! the product Hudson’s character creates that … doesn’t do anything.

Nope. Just saw it. Nothing like either of those two phrases appear in it. They do mention several times however that “it doesn’t exist.”

[AncientHumanoid]

@Loopus

Let’s employ some logic here. If it is from any halfway well-known movie (or book) the source would have been identified by now. If it is from an obscure movie (or book) not nearly so many people would think it sounded familiar. Therefore, it isn’t from anywhere.

I agree with Dr. Kenneth Noisewater. It sounds familiar because the two components (“That’s the beauty of it” and “It doesn’t do anything”) are common and they sound good together. So by putting them together you get a quote that sounds familiar but, likely as not, never happened.

Giys, this HAS to be it. we would’ve won by now if otherwise.

[li_l_Dickie_Dirtz]

Sounds like Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to me.

[andrewdt85]

:smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack:

Please tell us you’re joking.

[li_l_Dickie_Dirtz]

Not joking, just too brain dead to realize that I didn’t finish reading the thread before I posted. Sorry.

[marque_elf]

I realize this thread has been going for a while but I just encountered it today. I want to add my vote to those who remember it auditorally (is that a word?). At first I thought it had to be from Douglas Adams and the 80s BBC series.
But then someone mentioned Yellow Submarine and I flashed on a different Beatles movie Help. I hear it in mind being said by Vincent Spinetti, a wonderful British actor and comedian, about a machine he has invented that he’s trying to get funded by the British government. One of the Beatles, probably John, asks: “But what does it do?”
and Spinetti answers “That’s the beauty of it. It doesn’t do anything.”

Of course, this is probably my brain trying to supply an answer to a vexing question. But that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

[Nature_s_Call]

After having racked my brains on this, along with half the internet it seems, I thought I’d spring this on the lunch table at work. Motive: have them join the fun. Expectation of an actual answer: none.

However, one cow-orker friggen found it - within ½-hour!!!

You ready… It was a Bob Newhart sketch.

Now… off to find a copy so I can watch/listen to it (again?)…

[CC]

Very good. But I fear there’s something missing. It’s the - That’s the beauty of it - it doesn’t DO anthing - part. That reading is missing. Maybe it’s the source material, though. However, what’s MOST interesting to me is that the sketch was on an old Bob Newhart comedy record. Now, THAT’s a medium that no one thought to consult. Because it isn’t used anymore, it wasn’t even considered a source. We all thought “movie?..tv show?..comic strip?..book?..” which are media we still employ. most interesting. xo, C.

[Zebra]

But Bob Newhart was famous for phone conversations where you don’t hear what the other person is saying. Not all of his bits are like that but his most famous ones are so that line wouldn’t be there.

[CC]

Well, it does say that it’s a paraphrase. It could have been put into dialog form because the original, one-person-on-the-phone version, may not read all that well. Remember, a lot of his act relied on inflections.

[andrewdt85]

It doesn’t have ‘That’s the beauty of it’ in it, does it?

*Let’s employ some logic here. If it is from any halfway well-known movie (or book) the source would have been identified by now. If it is from an obscure movie (or book) not nearly so many people would think it sounded familiar. Therefore, it isn’t from anywhere.

I agree with Dr. Kenneth Noisewater. It sounds familiar because the two components (“That’s the beauty of it” and “It doesn’t do anything”) are common and they sound good together. So by putting them together you get a quote that sounds familiar but, likely as not, never happened.*

This quote from before is true. Taking this in mind, the television commercial theory is the only one that makes sense to me- heck, I only felt a twinge of recognition when I first read the line. Most people haven’t heard that Newhart sketch or seen or heard the other guesses people have made on the blog for this or IMDB or here- the technology commercial theory is a better guess, I’d think, b/c national commercials played on major networks ad nauseam, with a clever ending, stick in your mind and the minds of a lot of others.

Personally, I go with the above quote- I don’t believe it exists, not that someone won’t find the quote somewhere in media, even in exact form, possibly (although very unlikely), but that even if they did it’s meaningless b/c most people haven’t seen that movie/tv episode/recording.

The television commercial is the only good theory, it would seem (except for the whole aliens-put-it-in-our-brains-in-prehistoric-times, or something about the meaning of life ). So, as I’ve said, I sent out 19 letters to technology companies 2 months ago w/ short letters asking if it appeared in one of their commercials. At the beginning of all this, in April of 03 when it was first posted by Ssywak on IMDB, a guy sent a letter to IBM and apparently got a nice response in less than 2 weeks. These companies

Dell
Gateway
Philipps Magnovox
Radio Shack
Siemens
AT/T
Intel
Microsoft
Sprint
Verizon
HP/Compaq
Apple
Alltel
Nextel
Cox
Priceline
Yahoo!

who make the most national commercials, only responded in this way: Microsoft sent the letter back, b/c I hadn’t specified what department. So I wrote ‘Advertising department, or whoever could answer a question about advertising’ on the envelope, and it got sent back for the same reason. And another company I had to email.

The point is none of them ever got back to me, and unless there’s something I’m not seeing, never will. That’s the beauty of taking the time to do this- it doesn’t do anything. Fuck them.

I personally have no desire to ‘solve’ this, b/c as I’ve said, I truly believe the above quote about it. In fact, I never got worked up about it, racked my brain over it, or ‘had to know’ anything (although the freaky meme-ness of it made me lose an entire night of sleep at first- seriously, it was scary how so many recalled something w/o placing it, and it was late at night) :rolleyes: . But I just wanted to completely eliminate the absolutely only sensical theory out there in a scientific manner, in order to help settle this for others sakes, and I couldn’t, and it sucks.

Face it folks- no one gives a crap about this. You can all go home.

[Nature_s_Call]

@CC

Well, it does say that it’s a paraphrase. It could have been put into dialog form because the original, one-person-on-the-phone version, may not read all that well. Remember, a lot of his act relied on inflections.

Further, the “beauty of it” could have been resulted from the paraphrasing effect of our collective memory, like “Elementary, my dear Watson” or “Play it again, Sam.”

[Cuckoorex]

Could it have been from The Iron Giant? I thought that there was a scene in there when Dean is trying to explain his junk sculptures to someone (maybe to the mom) and she asks “what does it do?” and he replies, “It doesn’t do anything…that’s the beauty of it.”

I could be WAY wrong, though.

[FriarTed]

@rjk

I’m not hearing it as a movie line, I’m reading it.

I think I read it in a sci-fi or a fantasy/horror done by a sci-fi author. The person who said it was a malevolent huckster type, and the hearer was a boy. I want to say that it was “Something Wicked this Way Comes”, but I apparently don’t have that book. And I can barely remember several other “naif in the magic shop” themed stories.

I hate to say, it because I am sure this is not right, but I somehow also associate this with Jason Robard’s voice and Ray Bradbury’s writing. However, I am absolutely sure it was not a line in the movie SOMETHING WICKED.

[CC]

@FriarTed

I hate to say, it because I am sure this is not right, but I somehow also associate this with Jason Robard’s voice and **Ray Bradbury’s writing. ** However, I am absolutely sure it was not a line in the movie SOMETHING WICKED.

Bolding mine. I feel very strong Bradbury vibes here (see above). But now that this thread’s been active for a couple of years, I’m wondering why no one has consulted the Master. Does anyone know the secret word?

[Zakalwe]

Okay, did I miss the joke or something? It seems odd that a two year old zombie thread would get woken up on the same day that Earl Snake-Hips Tucker posts a very probable solution to the question, but neither of the people posting seems aware of it (which is particularly odd since the zombie waker actually posted in the other thread).

So, is this just a giant whoosh?

[Zeldar]

@Zakalwe

Okay, did I miss the joke or something? It seems odd that a two year old zombie thread would get woken up on the same day that Earl Snake-Hips Tucker posts a very probable solution to the question, but neither of the people posting seems aware of it (which is particularly odd since the zombie waker actually posted in the other thread).

So, is this just a giant whoosh?

I can offer an explanation that may help. I had tried in vain to find this thread so as to compare notes with the one Earl Snake-Hips Tucker posted today with the answer. NoClueBoy found it and posted a link to it. Apparently, the zombie caught the attention of the latest posters who (it would appear) didn’t see the latest findings.

Seems like locking this one could spare some embarrassment. But I won’t be the one to report it.