JohnDoe
Bryn
BrentonWhat is your Favourite Film Quote? - Footage Included
January 25th 2007 02:55
John Doe's Memorable Movie lines
Look in your heart!
John Doe intends to pen meaningful and complex screenplays that weave real world issues into a captivating, fictional universe. Endlessly researching, (that’s my excuse anyway) I eat breath and sleep celluloid, intently listening to dialogue as though each gasp was the whispered clues to the meaning of life.
I’m not going to quote whole scenes for this list. Instead one liners and monologues, not a best-of list (so no, “Bond, James Bond” or “Luke I am your father”) just some honed scripts that have enriched my existence and pop into my head on this rainy January morning.
“We're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired.” – Glengarry Glen Ross written by David Mamet
-Click below to view the scene and prepare to sell, sell, sell
“If I knew we were going to cast our feelings into words I would have memorised the song of Psalm.” – Millers Crossing written by the Coen Bros
“Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.” – The Big Lebowski written by the Coen Bros
Is it Friday already?
“I don’t know, fuck your father and take a shower.” – Hockney
Usual Suspects written by Christopher McQuarrie
“Restate my assumptions: One, Mathematics is the language of nature. Two, Everything around us can be represented and understood through numbers. Three: If you graph the numbers of any system, patterns emerge. Therefore, there are patterns everywhere in nature. Evidence: The cycling of disease epidemics; the wax and wane of caribou populations; sun spot cycles; the rise and fall of the Nile. So, what about the stock market, the universe of numbers that represents the global economy, millions of hands at work, billions of minds, a vast network, screaming with life, an organism, a natural organism. My hypothesis: Within the stock market, there is a pattern as well...Right in front of me...hiding behind the numbers. Always has been.” - Pi written by Darren Aronofsky and Sean Gullette
-Here is another scene from the movie rich in ideas and high brow concepts
“I can't take it anymore, Felix, I'm cracking up. Everything you do irritates me. And when you're not here, the things I know you're gonna do when you come in irritate me. You leave me little notes on my pillow. Told you 158 times I can't stand little notes on my pillow. "We're all out of cornflakes. F.U." Took me three hours to figure out F.U. was Felix Ungar!” – The Odd Couple written by Neil Simon
“We didn't need dialogue. We had faces!” – Sunset Boulevard written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett
-Click Below to view the scene and hear the complete quote
“What's this all about? I'll make a quick guess. You were out with some guy who thought "no" was a three-letter word. I should have thrown you off that cliff back there. I might still do it. Where are ya headed?” - Kiss Me Deadly written by A I Bezzerides and Mickey Spillane
-Heres an old trailer for the film that doesn’t do it justice but was the best I could find
“There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?” – Lord of war by Andrew Niccol
-Here is the trailer that features some witty exchanges and loaded comments
“Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering, god damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.” – Fight Club Written by Chuck Palahniuk and Jim Uhls
Im fit as a fiddle.
“If they move, kill em” – The Wild Bunch written by Walon Green
-Click below to see the trailer that features this immortal line and other great quotes
“Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the colour of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts.” – Memento written by John and Chris Nolan
“I mean - come on! You can have a Billion Man March! If you don't put down that malt liquor and chicken wings, and get behind someone other than a running back who stabs his wife, you're NEVER gonna get rid of somebody like me!”- Bulworth written by Warren Beatty
Click below to witness one of warren Beatty’s blatantly honest rap
“I met him, fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face and, the blackest eyes... the devil's eyes! I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply...evil!” – Halloween written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill
“First of all, Papa Smurf didn't create Smurfette. Gargamel did. She was sent in as Gargamel's evil spy with the intention of destroying the Smurf village. But the overwhelming goodness of the Smurf way of life transformed her. And as for the whole gang-bang scenario, it just couldn't happen. Smurfs are asexual. They don't even have... reproductive organs under those little, white pants. It's just so illogical, you know, about being a Smurf. You know, what's the point of living... if you don't have a dick?” – Donnie Darko written by Richard Kelly
-A very smurfy scene
“You don't know how lucky you are being a monkey, because consciousness is a terrible curse. I think. I feel. I suffer. And all I ask in return is the opportunity to do my work. And they won't allow it... because I raise issues.’ – Being John Malkovich written by Charlie Kaufmann
“We are now up against live, hostile targets. So, if Little Red Riding Hood should show up with a bazooka and a bad attitude, I expect you to chin the bitch.” – Dog Soldiers written by Neil Marshal
-A UK trailer
So what are some of your favourite movie dialogue moments that have engrained themselves into your psyche?
| 183 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
- The 'Do I amuse you' scene from Goodfellas with Joe Pesci
- The opening scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
- When Rob meets up with Charlie, High Fidelity
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
It was hard to stop and I ended up taking twice as long to finish it because there was always just-one-more-quote that desreved to be mentioned...I had to just give up in the end.
Great choices on the choices of dialogue, all A-level material...any more?
Comment by David
Heaps ...
"And you three? What a bunch of Cocksuckers!" (Muriel's Wedding) ...
"Baby (grunt mmmfff arrrrrrrrgh mfff) wants to (mfff) fuck Mummy." (Dennis Hopper - Blue Velvet) ...
"I don't like smart cunts like you." (accompanied by gut punch) (Bad Boy Bubby) ...
"Were you a cop, or were you not good enough to be a cop? Cos, that's the impression I'm getting here." (Cape Fear) ...
"I'll fuck anything that moves." (Joe Pesci - Raging Bull) ...
"Are you talking to me, shitheel? Fucker? (looking around his lonely isolated room) ... "Cos there's no-one else here." ... (Travis Bickle - Taxi Driver) ...
"For the first time in my life, I feel alive." (Robert Downey Jr - after killing someone for the first time in his journalistic life [with a gun, not a pen] * (Natural Born Killers) ...
"Wow!" (female breast needle injected druggie - Pulp Fiction) ...
"Oh, he didn't know ... " (The original John Doe 7 ... "Detective? Detective? DeeeeeeeetecccTIVE!!!!
"Don't (grunt grunt) reckon (sniff grunt) reckon I got any reason to be killing anyone any more." ... Billy Bob Thornton ... (Slingblade) ...
"Pa-tet-ic!" (Russian Serial Killer, Andrei Chikatilo's wife when he can't come inside her (because he needs to come over the bodies of young girls while he's stabbing them to death with multiple stab wounds) ... (Citizen X)...
and ...
"Better to be King for a Day, than Schmuck for a Lifetime" ... (Rupert Pupkin - The King of Comedy [most undderatted comedy in the history of cinema ...
That's enough for now ... (just a brief collection ..
David ...
Oh should add one from the film I wrote:
"He's that sick fuck I told you about. The one who taught his dog to lick salt off sausages." ... (Co Writer? (Actually: Script Editor? : Duncan Thompson ... (Head of the Australian Film School ...
Cheers ...
Comment by DuskDevi
Rugby World Cup 2007
Can I just stick with this one?
Yoda: Why wish you become Jedi?
Luke: Well, mostly because of my father, I guess.
Yoda: Ahh, father. Powerful Jedi was he. Powerful Jedi.
Luke: How could you know my father? You don't even know who I am. Oh, I don't even know what I'm doing here! We're wasting our time!
Yoda: I cannot teach him. The boy has no patience.
Obi-Wan: He will learn patience.
Yoda: Much anger in him... like his father.
Obi-Wan: Was I any different when you taught me?
And...
"No. I am your father."
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
My favourite quote from a film can be found here on Youtube. It's from John Carpenter's They Live and is delivered by pro-wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper. But I don't want to spoil the surprise. Just click damnit.
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Here's just a few of my favourite quotes:
American History X:
Edward Furlong: Life's too short to be pissed off all the time.
Fight Club:
The Narrator: If you wake up at a different time, at a different place, could you be a different person?
The Dreamers:
Father: Listen to me, Theo. Before you can change the world you must realize that you, yourself, are part of it. You can't stand outside looking in.
Wonder Boys:
Grady Tripp: [Narrating] So there it was. Somewhere in the night, a Manhattan book editor was prowling the streets of Pittsburgh; best-selling author at his side, dead dog in his trunk.
American Beauty:
Lester: [...]it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain[...]
Fight Club:
Narrator: Tyler was a night person. While the rest of us were sleeping, he worked. He had one part time job as a projectionist. See, a movie doesn't come all on one big reel. It comes on a few. So someone has to be there to switch the projectors at the exact moment that one reel ends and the next one begins. If you look for it, you can see these little dots come into the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Tyler Durden: In the industry, we call them "cigarette burns."
Narrator: That's the cue for a changeover. He flips the projectors, the movie keeps right on going, and nobody in the audience has any idea.
Aside: Did you know David Fincher worked as a projectionist? I think it's fabulous that he enjoyed reel enough to comment on it before moving on to subvert its presence.
Donnie Darko:
Donnie: [reading from card] Ling Ling finds a wallet on the ground filled with money. She takes the wallet to the address on the driver's license but keeps the money inside the wallet. [Scoffs] I-I'm sorry Mrs. Farmer. I don't get this. Life isn't that simple. I mean who cares if Ling Ling returns the wallet and keeps the money? It has nothing to do with either fear or love.
Kitty Farmer: Fear and love are the deepest of human emotions.
Donnie: Okay. But you're not listening to me. There are other things that need to be taken into account here. Like the whole spectrum of human emotion. You can't just lump everything into these two categories and then just deny everything else!
Dr Strangelove... :
President Merkin Muffley: Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room.
The Matrix:
Trinity: It’s the question that drives us, Neo.
Morpheus: What is "real"? How do you define "real"?
Great post!
Cya later, Epiphanie
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
"I think in all fairness, I should explain to you exactly what it is that I do. For instance tomorrow morning ill get up nice and early, take a walk down over to the bank and... walk in and see and uh... if you don't have my money for me, I'll... crack your fuckin' head wide-open in front of everybody in the bank. And just about the time that I'm comin' out of jail, hopefully, you'll be coming out of your coma. And guess what? I'll split your fuckin' head open again. 'Cause I'm fuckin' stupid. I don't give a fuck about jail. That's my business. That's what I do."
Nicky, from 'Casino'
Comment by Sports Insider
Dutch, in the movie Predator
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
"You lookin' at me ...?"
Is it the raw immediacy of the lines, or the sub-text resonanting after ...?
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop to look around, you might just miss it ..."
Great dialogue for me is like great jokes, I never seem remember them in their entiriety ... then someone pulls one out of the hat and I go "Yeaaaah!, that's a great fucking line, I'd forgotten that one!"
But here's some truly great dialogue that I do remember:
Withnail: I've some extremely distressing news.
Peter Marwood: I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear anything! Oh God, it's a nightmare, I tell you, it's a nightmare.
Withnail: We just ran out of wine. What are we gonna do about it?
Peter Marwood: I don't know, I don't know. Oh God, I don't feel good. Look, my thumbs have gone weird! I'm in the middle of a bloody overdose. Oh God. My heart's beating like a fucked clock! I feel dreadful, I feel really dreadful!
Withnail: So do I, so does everybody. Look at my tongue; it's wearing a yellow sock. Sit down for Christ's sake, what's the matter with you? Eat some sugar.
...
Withnail: Right, you fucker, I'm going to do the washing up!
Peter Marwood: No, no, you can't. It's impossible, I swear it. I've looked into it. Listen to me, listen to me! There are things in there, there's a tea-bag growing! You haven't slept in sixty hours, you're in no state to tackle it. Wait till the morning, we'll go in together.
Withnail: This IS the morning. Stand aside!
Peter Marwood: You don't understand. I think there may be something alive.
Withnail: What do you mean? a rat?
Peter Marwood: It's possible, it's possible.
Withnail: Then the fucker will rue the day!
...
I could quote Withnail and I til the fucking cows come home! Personally I think its oen of the finest screenplays ever written ....
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
A brief reply because time is ticking fo rme today..
Great work David, Citizen X, King Of Comedy, Blue Velvet, Cape Fear, NBK.....assaultive language that triggers a cerebral and emotional reaction, just the sort of stuff I love...
DuskDevi, all the dialoguie on Dagobah shaped my youth..."do or do not, there is no try" and extra kudos for correctly quoting Empire with "No, I am your father"...
Hellvis, I dont need to click to know the quote from Carpenter's They Live, I have used it in real life to my detriment several times...kicking ass and chewing bubblegum, is there any better way to make your feelings clear....Bad Boy Bubby is a wise film with much to say...we look for similar notes in our screenplays it seems...
Postmodern, so good that there is another Wonderboys lover in our midst..I could have just translated that whole script as a fave movie quote...StrangeLove, darko, Fight Club, American History X same thing...really liked that one from The Dreamers, I cant remember where it was said though...
Luke, I love that quote in Casino and Pesci's non chalant delivery of it..Scosese film character moments never leave the ear once youve heard them...Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, King Of Comedy etc
Sports Insider, a classic from childhood there.. in the same league as "Yippe Kiyaa motherfucker" or "Guess we have to register you as a Lethal Weapon" taglines for a generation..."Ill be back"
Thanks for all the replies and drop back anytime to post new ones.......
I will leave you now with a less is more exchange that makes me grin-
"Shit" - Elwood
"What" - Jake
"Rollers" - Elwood
"No" - Jake
"Yep" - Elwood
"Shit" - Jake
The Blues Brothers
Comment by Sisi
I think Mean Girls has some really funny memorable quotes...
Regina: But you're, like, really pretty.
Cady: Thank you.
Regina: So you agree?
Cady: What?
Regina: You think you're really pretty?
Cady: Oh... I don't know
Cady: And they have this book, this "Burn Book" where they write mean things about girls in our grade.
Janis: Well what does it say about me?
Cady: You're not in it.
Janis: Those bitches.
Mr. Duvall: So, uh... how was your summer?
Ms. Norbury: I got divorced.
Mr. Duvall: Oh. My carpal tunnel came back.
Ms. Norbury: I win.
Cady: Wow. Your house is really nice.
Regina: I know, right?
Gretchen: Make sure you check out her mom's boob job. They're hard as rocks.
Comment by Nina
There are some lines of dialogue in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that I love. Since I've just had a long day at work, the one that seems most appropriate at the moment is Joel's line, 'Constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating.'
Comment by Nathan P. Mahney
NerdBlog
The Comic Nerd
I have to go back to the Star Wars trilogy, which is just full of good bits of dialogue. My favourite would have to be the whole exchange where Han is talking over the intercom pretending to be an Imperial Officer. It's more in the delivery than the actual lines, but it cracks me up every time.
Highlander has some favourites:
POLICEMAN: "Are you a faggot Nash?"
RUSSELL NASH: "Why? You cruising for a piece of ass?"
There are a couple of outright classics from SHAFT and SHAFT GOES TO AFRICA:
SOME GUY: "Why don't you take a seat Mr. Shaft?"
SHAFT: "I don't like your chair."
Some guy offers a camel for Shaft to ride.
SHAFT: "I don't ride camel. I ride ass."
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Sisi, laughing with you at the Blues Brothers, fun quotes from Mean Girls too, though I did find teh film to be a bit of a toned down Heathers- "You don't have anything for her either. Come on. It will be very. The note will give her shower-nozzle masturbation material for weeks"
Nathan, "There can be only one"....the first Highlander movie is it........Shaft is sucha bad muthafu (shut your mouth), I will cite from Superfly "I ain't givin' you shit! I'll tell you what you do, you go get you a gun and all those black folks you keep doin' so much talkin' about get guns, and come back ready to go down, then I'll be right down front killin' whitey. But until you can do that, you go sing your marching songs some place else. Now we're through talkin'. " - Priest
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Thanks for trying to find a clip, and yes I remember the scene in Dreamers now you mention the dinner....
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Also, from the new Shaft:
Shaft: Do you want the LD, or just wanna be held?
Girl: I want the LD, then I wanna be held.
From Coming to America:
Bathing Girl: The Royal Penis is clean, your Majesty...
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Ive got a hard on for Fincher too and Zodiac looks like another quality entry in his cannon.
I didnt like that TV spot as much as the original trailer (horrible voiceover) but the extra shots were nice.
Im not a huge TobeyM fan either, Robert Downey Jnr however is one of my fave actors since Less Than Zero.
The commentary track on Fight Club is Fincher at his caustic best.....love the Norton, Pitt repartee too, so I reckon the Zodiac track should be a keeper too.
Do you know the official Ausralian release date for Zodiac?
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Comment by KarenC
Genghis Gal
The Kurgan and Russell Nash in the church:
TK: Nuns, no sense of humour.
RN: Ramirez's blade did not cut deeply enough
...
Priest enters :
Priest: This is the house of God. People are trying to pray. You're disturbing them.
TK: Who cares about these helpless mortals?
Priest: Of course he cares. He died for our sins.
TK: That shall be his undoing.
Father, forgive me. I am a worm. (Licks priest's hands and laughs - walking down aisle)
I have something to say:
It's better to burn out, than to fade away."
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Highlander was a fave of mine growing up too, love seeing heads roll. "If your head comes away from your neck, it's over!" - Ramirez
"I am Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. I was born in 1518 in the village of Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel. And I am immortal." - Mccloud
"He's a Highlander, by God, and the last sound he hears should not be that of a wailing woman!" - Angus McCloud
Please come back soon
Comment by charles
ZCars
Ponderous
"If he had told us the truth...I would have told him to stick that red pill right up his ass!!!" - The Matrix.
Not that it has any special meaning to me, but it's just one of those one-liners that really stick.
Charles.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Thanks for dropping in.
I really loved the "There is no spoon" line when it was reused in Dog Soldiers to comedic and existential effect.
Comment by D. Armenta
The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
L.A.M.P.
I'll try to limit mine; there are so many.
"If I weren't in this (wheel)chair you couldn't do all of these awful things to me!"
"But ya ARE, Blanche. Ya ARE in the chair!"
(Joan Crawford and Bette Davis in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?")
"Mind your manners, ya fuckin' prick"
("The Sins of the Father")
"What IS that in there?"
"I don't know, but it's weird and pissed off, whatever it is."
(John Carpenter's "The Thing")
"Your son looks gay to me. You'd better get married again soon or he's gonna have a cock in his mouth before you can say Jack Robinson."
(Paul Newman, "Slap Shot")
"What hump?"
(Marty Feldman, "Young Frankenstein")
"Gentlemen, rest your sphincters!"
(Harvey Korman, "Blazing Saddles")
..and the list goes on and on........
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Keep em coming,
"The sherrif is a ni......."
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Comment by D. Armenta
The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
L.A.M.P.
Bryn, that was the next one on my list!
"Go-o-ollee, Mister Lamarr, you use your tongue purtier'n a twenty dollar whore."
"Da hair-it bodder me"
"This piece is a sort of combination of Mozart and Bach. Sort of 'Mach', like that."
"It's lovely. What do you call it?"
" 'Lick my love pump.' "
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by D. Armenta
The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
L.A.M.P.
"Every sperm is sacred
Every sperm is great
If a sperm gets wasted
God gets quite irate.."
**Looks like you need to start another movie line post, JD--at least for you, me and Bryn.
I could do this stuff ad nauseam, nerd that I am.
"If you're gonna shoot, shoot. Don't talk."
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
“Wow, I feel sore. I mean physically, not like a guy who's angry in a movie in the 1950's” - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by D. Armenta
The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
L.A.M.P.
"I wasn't in on that Pearl Harbor thing."
AAAaagh! Stop me, stop me!!
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
"Ho no. I mean, no ho, sergent. Just plain ho."
"Once you start compromising your thoughts, you're a candidate for mediocrity."
Gotta love Jaramusch Bryn.
"If a warrior's head were to be suddenly cut off, he should still be able to perform one more action with certainty." What the fuck does that mean? "
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by D. Armenta
The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
L.A.M.P.
If that's the one, it was an interview with Hitchcock from "Terror in the Aisles"..
Hey JD, I just saw a comment of yours that you liked "Mister Show"--are you sure we weren't separated at birth or something??
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I thionk it was D's quote your talking about-it was in your "What scares us" blog you did, I think....Shame you can't get Terror in The Aisles in Oz, it was agreat little doco.
Hi D,
Yeah I am a big Mr Show fan, David Cross is brilliant........it does seem we travel in sinilar cinematic circles
Comment by D. Armenta
The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
L.A.M.P.
JD--got the whole season on DVD..that bit where they were having the fundraiser for the American Indian (he was in the foreground with a tear rolling down his cheek-Cross and Odenkirk were in the background in black leotards doing interpretive dance) had me literally in tears, I was laughing so hard.
"I sheet on your pees!"