Yore Movie Swells: "We Rob Banks" & the Bonniest Lines in Film
There are more indelible lines in the 100+ years of movie dialogue than lights in the night sky. One clever quip won’t carry a film but where there’s one golden nugget there’s sure to be more. With a top script, a director can make what would normally constitute just so many sharp looking wait-staff & personal trainers (actors) sound like gosh-darn poets. Great dialogue can be as long as Welles “cuckoo clock” pitch (The-Third-Man) or as brief as Taylor’s modish “wow” as she peeks in on sad billiard boy Clift (A-Place-In-The-Sun). It can be sung (Umbrellas-Of-Cherbourg), whistled (To-Have-And-Have-Not), set to motion (Davis' fur coat drag in All-About-Eve), read in wink of an eye (Poitier to cell-mate Wilson In-The-Heat-Of-The-Night), an impressed eyebrow raise (Shearer on Lermontov in The-Red-Shoes), a hand gesture (puppets in Lili) and even delivered in rodent-speak (Perri). All meaning that nearly every stylized expression in a film is a statement. Some quotes listed herein are célébrité (“We’re gonna need a bigger boat" / Jaws), by itself no warrant for inclusion, others as obscure as this writer’s product. So if you like classic flicks (< 2000), the glory days for dialogue, and story over CGI or the contemporary cocktail of gratuitous sex + violence, drink in these great lines, all natural, no sugar-added and one just might “make (your) day.”
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- DirectorArthur PennStarsWarren BeattyFaye DunawayMichael J. PollardBored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.Bonnie: We .. rob .. banks
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsSpencer TracyFreddie BartholomewLionel BarrymoreA spoiled brat who falls overboard from a steamship in the 1920s gets picked up by a New England fishing boat, where he's made to earn his keep by joining the crew in their work.Manuel: This fish, he don’t go to school, he don’t know French but he pretty smart, too
Doc (cook): You (Little-Fish) show is a tonic to yoself
Manuel: He (Dad) will hug you to pieces, then take those pieces home with him - DirectorVictor FlemingGeorge CukorSam WoodStarsClark GableVivien LeighThomas MitchellA sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.Scarlett: Fiddle dee-dee, war war war ..
This war talk's spoiling the fun at every party this spring!
Scarlett: (Throws vase at wall)
Rhett: (Whistle)
Scarlett: (Gasp!)
Rhett: Has the war started?
Rhett: All we’ve got is cotton, slaves .. and arrogance
Rhett: Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn
Scarlett: But tomorrow .. is another day! - DirectorStanley KramerStarsSpencer TracyFredric MarchGene KellyBased on a real-life case in 1925; two great lawyers argue the case for, and against, a Tennessee science teacher accused of the crime of teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.Col.Brady: Is it possible that something is holy to the celebrated agnostic?
Col.Drummond: Yes, the individual human mind, in a child's power to master the multiplication table, there is more sanctity than in all your shouted amens, holy holies and hosannas! An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral and the advance of man's knowledge a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes or parting of the waters
Col.Drummond: Progress has never been a bargain, you have to pay for it. Sometimes I think there's a man who sits behind a counter and says, ‘All right, you can have a telephone but you lose privacy and the charm of distance. Madam, you may vote, but at a price. You lose the right to retreat behind the powder puff & petticoat. Mister, you may conquer the air but the birds will lose their wonder and clouds will smell of gasoline'
Col.Drummond: Mr. Brady, why do you deny the one faculty of man that raises him above the other creatures of the earth, the power of his brain to reason? What other merit have we? The elephant is larger, horse swifter & stronger, the butterfly is far more beautiful, the mosquito is more prolific, even the simple sponge is more durable
Col.Drummond: The bible is a book, it's a GOOD book, but it's not the only book!
Mrs-Brady: Youth can be so pure. What do you know of good or evil? What do you understand of the sum of a man's life?
Rachel: He betrayed me!
Mrs-Brady: You betrayed yourself! You see my husband as a saint, and so he must be right in everything he says and does. And then you see him as a devil and everything he says and does must be wrong. Well, my husband is neither a saint nor a devil! He's just a human being and he makes mistakes.
Rachel: How can you defend him!
Mrs-Brady: It's not he I'm defending! I'm defending the 40 years I've lived with this man and watched him carry the burdens of people like you. If he's been wrong at least he stood for something. What do you stand for! Do you believe in Bertram Cates (York)? I believe in my husband. What do you believe in!
Col.Drummond: What touches you, what warms you? Every man has a dream. What do YOU dream about? What, what do you need? You don't need anything, do you, people, love, just an idea to cling to? You poor slob. You're all alone. When you go to your grave, there won't be anybody to pull the grass up over your head, nobody to mourn you, nobody to give a damn. You're all alone.
E.K.Hornbeck: You're wrong, Henry. You'll be there, you're the type. Who else would defend my right to be lonely? - DirectorSydney PollackStarsRobert RedfordWill GeerDelle BoltonA mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta by the Crow tribe and proves to be a match for their warriors in single combat on the early frontier.Del: For some Indians, a tribe’s greatness is figured by how mighty its enemies be
- DirectorHoward HawksArthur RossonStarsJohn WayneMontgomery CliftJoanne DruDunson leads a cattle drive, the culmination of over 14 years of work, to its destination in Missouri. But his tyrannical behavior along the way causes a mutiny, led by his adopted son.Fen: Sun only shines half the day, Tom, the other half is night
Cherry: Two things better than a good gun, a Swiss watch and woman from anywhere - DirectorGeorge MarshallStarsAlan LaddVeronica LakeWilliam BendixAn ex-bomber pilot is suspected of murdering his unfaithful wife.Joyce (Lake): It all blows-up in your face sometimes, doesn’t it?
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsBrian DonlevyMuriel AngelusAkim TamiroffDan McGinty has great success in his chosen field of crooked politics, but he endangers it all in one crazy moment of honesty.McGinty: I got a new suit!
Boss: It looks like the suit got you - DirectorJohn HustonStarsClark GableMarilyn MonroeMontgomery CliftA divorcée falls for an over-the-hill cowboy who is struggling to maintain his romantically independent lifestyle.Roslyn (MM): If I could be anyone, a child who could be brave from the beginning
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsAnton WalbrookMarius GoringMoira ShearerA young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.Boris: Why do you want to dance?
Vicky Page: Why do you want to live?
Boris: When I come to a party I don’t expect to sit for an audition
Vicky Page: Yes, you are quite right
Boris: How would you define ballet, Lady Neston?
Lady: Well, one might call it the poetry of motion perhaps, or ..
Boris: One might, but for me it is a great deal more. For me it is a religion
Ljubov: You cannot alter human nature!
Boris: No? I think you can do even better, you can ignore it!
Boris (to Ljubov & Vicky): You CANNOT have it both ways. A dancer who relies upon the doubtful comforts of human love can NEVER be a great dancer. Never!
Boris: I want you (Vicky) to dance tonite with the same ecstasy I've seen in you only once before, at the Mercury Theatre in London on a wet, Saturday afternoon
Livy: What the devil have you (Craster) got to be worried about! It’s a fine score, a MAGNIFICENT score! I only wish I had .. go on!
Julian: Vicky .. VICKY, dance to whatever tempo you like. I’ll follow you!
Boris: Nobody else has ever danced the Red Shoes since you left. Nobody ever SHALL. Put on the red shoes, Vicky (entranced), and DANCE for us again! - DirectorRobert WiseStarsRobert RyanAudrey TotterGeorge TobiasExpecting the usual loss, a boxing manager takes bribes from a betting gangster without telling his fighter.Stoker: Oh, I don’t know, everybody makes book on something
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJohn WayneDonna ReedCharles CoburnAn ex-football coach is hired by a small Catholic college to train its football team in the hopes of winning games and making money to save the school from bankruptcy.Carole: Like Steve says, winning isn’t everything, it’s the ONLY thing
- DirectorJean NegulescoStarsJohn GarfieldGeraldine FitzgeraldWalter BrennanEx-GI Nick Blake gets involved in a scheme to fleece a rich, young widow, but finds himself falling for her, much to the displeasure of his racketeer cohorts.Nick: Nobody lives forever
- DirectorPhil KarlsonStarsJohn PayneEvelyn KeyesBrad DexterA former boxer turned cab driver has to hide from the police when his badgering wife is murdered by the jewel thief she was having an affair with.Mickey: Spill punk, or I’ll splash your brains out!
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.Bunny (Wood): Who're you?
Mr. Clean: I’m next - DirectorJack ConwayStarsClark GableSpencer TracyClaudette ColbertTwo buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a ten-year period, are in love with the same woman.Betsy: You can lick me if you want and I’ll still love you
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenAlida ValliPulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.Narrator (Reed): Of course, a situation like that (black market) does tend to amateurs but, but, well, they (floaters) can’t stay the course
Lime: You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce, the cuckoo clock
Calloway: Be sensible, Martins
Holly Martins: I don’t have a sensible name, Calloway - DirectorDorothy ArznerRoy Del RuthStarsMaureen O'HaraLouis HaywardLucille BallAfter a troupe of danseuses becomes unemployed, one of them takes up burlesque dancing while another dreams of performing ballet.Judy: Dancing means everything to me!
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanJack ConwayVictor FlemingStarsJanet GaynorFredric MarchAdolphe MenjouA young woman comes to Hollywood with dreams of stardom, and achieves them only with the help of an alcoholic leading man whose best days are behind him.Matt: Pardon, how do I wire congratulations to the Pacific Ocean?
Vicki: Hello, everybody .. this is Mrs Norman Maine! - DirectorLloyd BaconStarsDick PowellJoan BlondellAdolphe MenjouDick Purcell is an American taxi driver who wants to become a singer promoting cheese products. Oddly he thinks the way to do it is to become a gondolier from Venice. Along the way he sings and woos a sassy secretary Alice.Professor DeVinci: In Italian there is a no word for this a, crooner
Dick Purcell: That’s okay, Professor, there’s no word in English for spaghetti - DirectorJean NegulescoStarsJoan CrawfordJohn GarfieldOscar LevantA classical musician from the slums is sidetracked by his love for a wealthy, neurotic socialite.Helen: I was married twice before, once at 16, once at 21. One was a crybaby, the other a caveman. Between the two of them I said goodbye to girlhood
Helen (glass raise in tears): Here’s to love - DirectorHal AshbyStarsRuth GordonBud CortVivian PicklesYoung, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral.Maude: The earth is my body, my head is in the stars!
- DirectorCharles ReisnerStarsGroucho MarxChico MarxHarpo MarxA detective is hired to protect the life of a singer, who has recently inherited a department store, from the store's crooked manager.Hasting: I always had a hard time realizing how important we are
- DirectorBen StillerStarsJim CarreyMatthew BroderickLeslie MannA designer makes a grievious mistake when he rejects the friendship of a borderline cable guy.Chip: I made you breakfast .. scrambie eggs!
Steve: You mean, Heather is a prostitute?
Chip: Of course she is, you think a woman like that’d hang out with us if she wasn’t? - DirectorRudolph MatéStarsEdmond O'BrienPamela BrittonLuther AdlerFrank Bigelow, told he's been poisoned and has only a few days to live, tries to find out who killed him and why.Dr MacDonald: Of course, I’ll have to notify the police. This is a case for homicide
OBrien: Homicide?
Dr MacDonald: I don’t think you fully understand, Bigelow, you’ve been murdered