Following Rick Moran’s lead, here are some of my favorite movie lines. In no particular order:
“This is what we fought all night to get back to?”, The Warriors
“Don’t f*** with the babysitter.”, Adventures in Babysitting
Major Clipton: “Madness. Madness!”, The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Wizard: “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”, The Wizard of Oz
Mrs. Marcus (Ethel Merman): “Now what kind of an attitude is that, these things happen? They only happen because this whole country is just full of people, who when these things happen, they just say these things happen, and that’s why they happen!”, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Captain Renault: “Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects.”, Casablanca
Nick Charles: “Now don’t make a move or that dog will tear you to shreds.”, The Thin Man
Terry (Marlon Brando): “You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it. It was you, Charley.”, On the Waterfront
Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen): “Talk? Anyone can talk.”, Singin’ in the Rain
Molouney, the train guard: “Do you see that road over there? Well, don’t take that it’ll do you no good.”, The Quiet Man
There are some pictures—The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Singin’ in the Rain, The Quiet Man—that are almost endlessly quoteable. It’s hard to pick just one quote.
Not to quibble, but isn’t the Lina Lamont line more like:
“Of course we can talk! Doesn’t everybody?”
but it sounds like:
“Of curse we cin tawk! Dud ent evree buddy?”
BTW, my choice for a Lina Lamont line would be:
“I make more money than Calvin Coolidge PUT together!”
From 2001, HAL:
Without your space-helmet, Dave, you’re going to find that rather
difficult.
Treasure of Sierra Madre:
We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!
Duck Soup, Groucho:
Go! And never darken my towels again!
Marx Brothers pictures but in particular Duck Soup are almost endless quoteable. I think the Nat Perrin dialogue may have something to do with it.
I got quite a rise out of the white-haired, tuxedo clad piano player at an Easter brunch some years back with “I thought I told you never to play that song.”
I’ve also wanted to make myself a seven pointed silver star, bearing the text “We are Federales. You know, the mounted police” and put a scratch n’ sniff panel in the middle.
And don’t forget “Bad table manners, my dear GiGi, have broken up more marriages than infidelity.”
You’ve got the wrong Lina Lamont line. You should have used: ” ‘People’? I ain’t ‘people.’ I am a – ‘a shimmering, glowing star in the cinema firmament.’ “
A lot of Jean Hagen’s lines in Singin’ in the Rain are eminently quoteable. Indeed, one of her lines in Adam’s Rib just missed the cut on my list.
One of these days I’ll have to write a post on Jean Hagen. IMO she’s an under-appreciated gem. One little in joke from Singin’ in the Rain: Jean Hagen did her own singing. She had a legitimate voice. Jean Hagen dubbed Debbie Reynolds dubbing Lina Lamont.