Great movie lines become our own great lines, which we stand ready to pull out at just the right moment. It’s a great way to impress your friends at parties!
Still, the most famous quotes have become worn down with repetition: “Here’s looking at you, kid” from “Casablanca” (1942); “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” from “Gone With the Wind” (1939); and “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night” from “All About Eve” (1950).
Happily, there are plenty more delightful zingers to be found in dialogue from our best movies. Twenty of my own favorites are listed below. Hope you share my view that they’re well worth remembering.
— Lady Lou (Mae West), “She Done Him Wrong” (1933).
— Godfrey (William Powell) in “My Man Godfrey” (1936).
— Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart), “The Maltese Falcon” (1941)
— George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart), “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946).
— Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum), “Out Of The Past” (1947).
— Joe Gillis (William Holden), “Sunset Boulevard” (1950).
— Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (José Ferrer), “Moulin Rouge” (1952).
— Aunt Alicia (Isabel Jeans), “Gigi” (1958).
— Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), “The Apartment” (1960).
“Nothing is written.” — T.E. Lawrence (Peter O’Toole), “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962).
“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room.” — President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers), “Dr. Strangelove” (1964).
— Joe Buck, “Midnight Cowboy” (1969)
“Well, I guess that’s pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y’know, they’re totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd… but, uh, I guess we keep goin’ through it because, uh, most of us… need the eggs.” Alvy Singer (Woody Allen), “Annie Hall” (1977).
— Calvin Jarrett (Donald Sutherland), “Ordinary People” (1980).
— Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack), “Say Anything” (1989).
— Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994).
“That rug really tied the room together.” The Dude (Jeff Bridges), “The Big Lebowski” (1998).
“No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any fucking Merlot!” Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti), “Sideways” (2004)
— Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) in “12 Years A Slave” (2013).
