Granted — when you find yourself in the mood for an action movie, it’s more deeds that words you’re after. Yet- as with virtually all genres of film, what separates good from great in an action outing has everything to do with plot and script.
It’s a bit of a mystery why lines like “Do I feel lucky?” (“Dirty Harry,” 1971) and “I’ll be back!” (“The Terminator,” 1984) enter the popular zeitgeist, but there’s no denying they do. And there’s magic and fascination in that.
Our best action movies are in fact crammed with memorable dialogue. Here are just some of our favorite bits:
1) Goldfinger (1964)
James Bond (Sean Connery): “Do you expect me to talk”?”
Auric Golfinger (Gert Frobe): “No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.”
2) Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
“We rob banks.”
3) Bullitt (1968)
Chalmers (Robert Vaughn): “Integrity is something you sell the public.”
Bullitt (Steve McQueen): “You sell whatever you want, but don’t sell it here tonight.”
4) Dirty Harry (1971)
The Mayor (John Vernon): “Callahan... I don't want any more trouble like you had last year in the Fillmore district. You understand? That's my policy.”
Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood): “Yeah, well, when an adult male is chasing a female with intent to commit rape, I shoot the bastard — that's my policy.”
5) The French Connection (1971)
Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle (Gene Hackman): “If that's not a drop I'll open up a charge for you at Bloomingdale’s.”
Buddy "Cloudy" Russo (Roy Scheider): “Make it Alexander's Toy Department.”
6) Dog Day Afternoon (1973)
Sonny (Al Pacino) [to the police officers moving toward him] : “What's he doing? Go back there man! He wants to kill me so bad he can taste it! Huh? ATTICA! ATTICA! ATTICA!”
7) Jaws (1974)
Brody (Roy Scheider): “You're gonna need a bigger boat.”
8) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Marion (Karen Allen): “You're not the man I knew ten years ago.”
Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford): “It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.”
9) Die Hard (1988)
Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman): “Who are you then?”
John McClane (Bruce Willis): “Just a fly in the ointment, Hans. The monkey in the wrench. The pain in the ass.”
10) Goodfellas (1990)
Tommy De Vito (Joe Pesci): “You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little fucked up maybe, but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?”
11) The Fugitive (1990)
Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford): [Holding Gerard at gunpoint] “I didn't kill my wife!”
Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones): “I don't care!”
12) Pulp Fiction (1994)
Vincent (John Travolta): “And you know what they call a... a... a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?”
Jules (Samuel L. Jackson): “They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?”
Vincent: “No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.”
13) The Usual Suspects (1995)
Verbal (Kevin Spacey): “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.”
14) Layer Cake (2004)
Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon): “You're born, you take shit. You get out in the world, you take more shit. You climb a little higher, you take less shit. Till one day you're up in the rarefied atmosphere and you've forgotten what shit even looks like. Welcome to the layer cake son.”
15) American Gangster (2007)
Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington): “That's a very, very, very nice suit, huh?”
Huey Lucas (Chiwetel Ejiofor): “Yeah.”
Frank Lucas: “That's a clown suit. That's a costume, with a big sign on it that says "Arrest me". You understand? You're too loud, you're making too much noise. Listen to me, the loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room.”
16) Drive (2011)
The Driver (Ryan Gosling): “If I drive for you, you get your money. You tell me where we start, where we're going, where we're going afterwards. I give you five minutes when we get there. Anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours. No matter what. Anything a minute on either side of that and you're on your own. I don't sit in while you're running it down. I don't carry a gun. I drive.”
17) Captain Phillips (2013)
Muse (Barkhad Abdi): “Look at me.”
Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks): “Sure.”
Muse: “I’m the captain now.”
Stream it tonight.
More: 18 Famous Movie Quotes You've Been Getting Wrong
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