Greatest Movie Lines Ever!

Verbal · May 25, 2010

In putting the final gloss on my script, it occurs to me that I'm torturing myself to come up with catchy, memorable classic lines before they are ever uttered by the as-yet un-casted cast.

I'm zipping along, then one of my characters responds with a line that blows me away: "I'm gonna' rock out with my cock out!"

I sit back and thank the creative Gods for bringing such a great line to my humble fingers. But then, hold on, the line starts to bug me. There's something about it. It's TOO good. And, by God, it sounds familiar...

That's because Stiffler utters it in American Pie.

(SFX of Pacman disappearing)

Well, who ever said screenwriting was easy?

But it got me thinking about the great movie lines of all time and maybe we can all take heart that at one time, all those writers sat at their computer or typewriter to come up with great, classic lines before they were made great and classic by great and classic actors. Lines like:

"I'm gonna' make him an offer he can't refuse." -The Godfather Part I

"Uh, I'm familiar with the fact that you're going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you in the ass!" -Jaws

"It's the stuff that dreams are made of." -The Maltese Falcon

"I'll be back." -The Terminator

"Why so serious?" -The Dark Knight

"Ohhh. Great warrior. Wars not make one great." -Empire Strikes Back

"I gave up writing when I was ten. Too dangerous." -Naked Lunch

"Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time." -Casablanca

Would love to hear the ones that inspire you!

scriptwriter74 · May 25, 2010

Greatest line

Do you know the muffin man?

Lady Ice · May 25, 2010

'You know how to whistle, don't you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow' (To Have and Have Not)

nmstevens · May 25, 2010

Verbal said:
In putting the final gloss on my script, it occurs to me that I'm torturing myself to come up with catchy, memorable classic lines before they are ever uttered by the as-yet un-casted cast.

I'm zipping along, then one of my characters responds with a line that blows me away: "I'm gonna' rock out with my cock out!"

I sit back and thank the creative Gods for bringing such a great line to my humble fingers. But then, hold on, the line starts to bug me. There's something about it. It's TOO good. And, by God, it sounds familiar...

That's because Stiffler utters it in American Pie.

(SFX of Pacman disappearing)

Well, who ever said screenwriting was easy?

But it got me thinking about the great movie lines of all time and maybe we can all take heart that at one time, all those writers sat at their computer or typewriter to come up with great, classic lines before they were made great and classic by great and classic actors. Lines like:

"I'm gonna' make him an offer he can't refuse." -The Godfather Part I

"Uh, I'm familiar with the fact that you're going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you in the ass!" -Jaws

"It's the stuff that dreams are made of." -The Maltese Falcon

"I'll be back." -The Terminator

"Why so serious?" -The Dark Knight

"Ohhh. Great warrior. Wars not make one great." -Empire Strikes Back

"I gave up writing when I was ten. Too dangerous." -Naked Lunch

"Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time." -Casablanca

Would love to hear the ones that inspire you!

We are such stuff that dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. ~ Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act IV.

All due respect to Dash Hammett, but that line in the Maltese Falcon was paraphrasing Shakespeare.

NMS

PEBKAC2 · May 25, 2010

"Why I make more money than Calvin Coolidge. . . put together!" - Miss Lina Lamont from Singin' in the Rain

Cyia · May 25, 2010

I absolutely detest the movie, but love one of Amidala's lines in Revenge of the Sith:

"So this is how democracy dies... to thunderous applause."

And the entire script of The Princess Bride should be studied ad nauseum by anyone attempting comedy.

"Hello. I am Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

(How in the world, with every other movie reference imaginable, did Shrek come up with a Spanish, sword fighting cat and NOT USE THAT LINE????)

Miss Plum · May 25, 2010

My favorite line is in All About Eve.

"I wanted to go to Radcliffe too, but Father wouldn't hear of it. He needed help behind the notions counter."

Mac H. · May 25, 2010

I find it frustrating when a great classic line from history gets used in a modern film .. and then everyone credits the movie (or worst still - the ACTOR) with the line.

eg: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist" is straight from Baudelaire (in the 1800s) and made popular in English by C.S Lewis (of Narnia fame).

Yet people keep giving credit to an actor !

Worst still - if I were to use the line in a script, I'd be accused of pinching bits from modern films, yet it would as famous as "To be, or not to be" to anyone who was familiar with theology.

Mac

nmstevens · May 26, 2010

Mac H. said:
I find it frustrating when a great classic line from history gets used in a modern film .. and then everyone credits the movie (or worst still - the ACTOR) with the line.

eg: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist" is straight from Baudelaire (in the 1800s) and made popular in English by C.S Lewis (of Narnia fame).

Yet people keep giving credit to an actor !

Worst still - if I were to use the line in a script, I'd be accused of pinching bits from modern films, yet it would as famous as "To be, or not to be" to anyone who was familiar with theology.

Mac

I thought that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people that a nation could get rich on credit.

NMS

xhouseboy · May 26, 2010

Yippee-ki-yay motherf****r.

Verbal · May 26, 2010

So good. I keep reading these lines and going, "Oh, yeah! That's such a great line!"

The Usual Suspects, for instance. So interesting that in an early draft of McQuarrie's script, Kaiser Soze was Kaiser Sume.

WMcQuaig · May 30, 2010

Can't forget...

"I just shot marvin in the face." - John Travolta, Pulp Fiction

or

Anything Sam Jackson says. "I'm tired of these Motherf**kn' snakes on this motherf**kn' plane."

I think this is the only line that has even more fame because of the TV dub. "I'm tired of these Monkey fightin' snakes on this Monday-to-Friday plane."

JulieHowe · May 30, 2010

From the movie Stepbrothers:

"Hey, you're embarrassing yourself, you geriatric f**k!"

MattW · May 30, 2010

"Wolfman's got nards!"

JaMy · Jun 1, 2010

Much of "About Last Night..."....proving that tons of great lines can add up to a not-so-great movie.

Although now that I think about it, maybe it was Jim Belushi's delivery.

BruceJ · Jun 1, 2010

"I'm so far out of your league that your league could explode and I wouldn't hear the sound for three days." - The Librarian

Lady Ice · Jun 1, 2010

'Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night' (from All About Eve)
'I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way' (Jessica Rabbit, from Who Framed Roger Rabbit)

Amergin · Jun 1, 2010

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."
(Obi Wan to Luke as they approach Mos Eisley spaceport, in "Star Wars IV A New Hope" aka the original)
What a great line, esp the way Alec Guiness rolls his rrrrs in "wrrrretcched"
Cracks me up every time :-D

AmbitiousJ · Jun 1, 2010

I have so many.... Here are some that I love. The irony is, I'm not sure I believe in these kind of loves.

1"I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it."

"When they ask me what I liked best, I'll say it was you." Both are from; City of Angels

2. “I love him and I don’t care what you think. I love him for the man he wants to be and I love him for the man he almost is.” - Jerry Maguire

3."You complete me" -Jerry Maguire

4. “You’re my heart. And you know I can’t live without my heart.”
- Blow

5. "Nobody puts Baby in the corner" -Dirty Dancing

6."Yo Adrian" -Rocky

I have more but I think that's enough

Verbal · Jun 2, 2010

AmbitiousJ said:
I have so many.... Here are some that I love. The irony is, I'm not sure I believe in these kind of loves.

1"I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it."

"When they ask me what I liked best, I'll say it was you." Both are from; City of Angels

2. “I love him and I don’t care what you think. I love him for the man he wants to be and I love him for the man he almost is.” - Jerry Maguire

3."You complete me" -Jerry Maguire

4. “You’re my heart. And you know I can’t live without my heart.”
- Blow

5. "Nobody puts Baby in the corner" -Dirty Dancing

6."Yo Adrian" -Rocky

I have more but I think that's enough

All great ones!

If I may...

"Alright, that's it! If I have to come in here again, I'm crackin' skulls!" -The Breakfast Club

"Whadoya mean I'm funny, like I'm a clown, like I'm here to amuse you?" -Goodfellas

(noticing Henry drinking a coke for breakfast)
"Why don't you just pour battery acid down your throat?"
"No caffeine." -The Paper

"Sure I remember the name. Zihuatanejo. A name like that is just too pretty to forget.

I find I am excited, so excited I can hardly hold the pencil in my trembling hand. I think it is the excitement that only a free man can feel, a free man starting a long journey whose conclusion in uncertain.
I hope Andy is down there.
I hope I can make it across the border.
I hope to see my friend and shake his hand.
I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope."
-The Shawshank Redemption

"Look at me, jerking off in the shower. This will be the high point of my day. It's all downhil from here." -American Beauty

imagegod · Jun 2, 2010

'Rosebud!'

That single word encapsulates the world's best movie, the most talented director, and the greatest (ironic)* collapse of that same singular talent, in all of Hollywood history.

*(Ironic because Welles was foreshadowing his own artistic collapse via the world's greatest Artistic portrayal of a powerful man's collapse).

DKM · Jun 10, 2010

This quote should be in a movie

Warren Buffett said, "There's an economic war going on and our side is winning."

Mann Crux · Jun 10, 2010

"Here's another curse for you - may all your bacon burn." - Calcifer; Howl's Moving Castle

"Because if the scanner sees only darkly, the way I do, then I'm cursed and cursed again. I'll only wind up dead this way, knowing very little, and getting that little fragment wrong too." - Fred; A Scanner Darkly

"I aim to misbehave." - Captain Mal Reynolds; Serenity

Greatest Movie Lines Ever!

Suspicious of Bunnies

Sirius

Makes useful distinctions

What happened?

Will crit for food.

Rewriting My Destiny

Board Visitor

What happened?

In the Yellow Woods

Suspicious of Bunnies

insert something original or whitty

Spent the night with Jack Daniels

Company Man

Me and my Muse

Makes useful distinctions

I'm Blessed to be a Blessing!

Suspicious of Bunnies

In an interstitial space

Love it would be much better