Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Films, TV shows, and books of the 'modern' era
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moira finnie
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Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by moira finnie »

I'm honestly of two minds about the line below, but here it is, to kick off a thread devoted to lines heard in movies that make us wince with pain and sometimes smile with admiration.

"As me mother used to say, 'If there's stardust in your soul, sure there's a jumble in your head."

- Gus O'Toole (David Wayne, who seemed to be auditioning for a part in Finian's Rainbow) in Portrait of Jennie (1948).

I'm not sure which one of the writers threw this one in the pot, but this visually, aurally and occasionally romantically sumptuous movie, bursting at the seams with talent, has a slew of writers (credited & uncredited) in adapting Robert Nathan's ethereal novel: Leonardo Bercovici, Paul Osborn, Peter Berneis, Ben Hecht, and David O. Selznick.
Avatar: Frank McHugh (1898-1981)

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Rita Hayworth
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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by Rita Hayworth »

“Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

When, Allie McGraw (In Love Story) said that to Ryan O'Neal ... I was watching this corny movie with my girlfriend at the time during my High School Years ... I was kind of shocked when she said that ... and I thought it was so lame backed and I was stunned when my girlfriend started to cry when she said that. To me, this is got to be the worst line that I heard in any romantic movie. What so bad about it ... it's got used over and over again a zillion times and I started to hear this in my sleep ... it is that bad.
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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by Professional Tourist »

Ronnie: Loretta, I love you :!:
Loretta: :shock: <smack> <smack> Snap out of it !!

From Moonstruck
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movieman1957
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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by movieman1957 »

Favorite -

"Have you tittled your last wink, Cyril?" (The Quiet Man)
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by knitwit45 »

Rick Leland: [comparing his gun to Dr. Lorenz's] Mine's bigger than yours.

Rick Leland: Hey, are you getting sick?
Alberta Marlow: I don't know. How do girls usually act when you kiss them?
Rick Leland: Well, they don't turn green.
Alberta Marlow: Then I'm sick. Get me out of here

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moira finnie
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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by moira finnie »

These are fun, guys! Thanks for posting them. Here are a few more:

“I sell gasoline, I make a small profit. With that I buy groceries. The grocer makes a profit. We call it earning a living. You may have heard of it somewhere.”
- Robert Mitchum as Jeff in Out of the Past (1948)

It takes quite an actor to give this line just the right spin, but somehow, Joseph Cotton manages in Love Letters (1945):
"Call her... a pin-up girl of the spirit."
______________________________________________

"I am...The Scarf!"

"You're beautiful when you're angry!"
- Victor Mature in Betrayed (1954). He delivered both of these lines with a (relatively) straight face. And he claimed he was "not an actor - and I've got 64 films to prove it!"
______________________________________________

"Sure I know what love is - it's what goes on between a man and a 45 pistol that won't jam."
- Alan Ladd in Appointment with Danger (1951)
Avatar: Frank McHugh (1898-1981)

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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by knitwit45 »

Osgood: You must be quite a girl.
Daphne: Wanna bet?

Osgood: I am Osgood Fielding the third.
Daphne: I'm Cinderella the second.

Osgood: [shrugs] Well, nobody's perfect! <---------this IS the best line...ever!


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JackFavell
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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by JackFavell »

I couldn't agree more, knitty!

From The Miracle of Morgan's Creek:

Emmy: Nobody's gonna believe it. Nobody believes good unless they have to if they've got a chance to believe something bad.
Trudy: I wonder what papa's going to say?
Emmy: Oh probably not much He'll just haul off and shoot Norval so full of holes he'll look like a swiss cheese. That was a swiss on rye you wanted, wasn't it?
Trudy: Norval? Where does he fit in?
Emmy: He took you out didn't he? He brought you home didn't he? At eight o'clock in the morning didn't he? He fits like the skin on a wienie.
Trudy: Poor Norval. We'd better warn him.
Emmy: We'd better marry him.
Trudy: MARRY him? How can you say such things Emmy?
Emmy: What's the matter with you? He was made for it. Like the ox was made to eat and the grape was made to drink. I'll get you that swiss on rye.

-Diana Lynn as Emmy Kockenlocker and Betty Hutton as Trudy KockenLocker

*

"The responsibility for recording a marriage has always been up to woman. If it wasn't for her, marriage would have disappeared long since. No man is going to jeopardize his present or poison his future with a lot of little brats hollering around the house unless he's forced to. It's up to the woman to knock him down, hogtie him, and drag him in front of two witnesses immediately if not sooner. Anytime after that is too late."

- delivered by the great Al Bridge

*

"You don't have to cry about it. You're not the first dumb cluck who couldn't find her husband. What with the war and all, there'll probably be millions of 'em. They say they have much the prettiest babies."

- Diana Lynn as Emmy Kockenlocker
_____________________________________________________________________

From What's Up, Doc?:


Judy: Love means never having to say you're sorry.
Howard: That's the dumbest thing I ever heard.

- Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal

_____________________________________________________________________
From My Man Godfrey:

Detective: Just a minute, sister!
Molly: If I thought that were true, I'd disown my parents.
Detective: [chuckles] So you got a passion for jewelry, huh?
Molly: Yes... I got a passion for socking cops.
Detective: Where are they? (meaning the pearls)
Molly: Most of them are in cemeteries.

- Jean Dixon and Edward Gargan
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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by RedRiver »

John Wayne As Davy Crockett.

"There's right and there's wrong in the world, and you gotta do the one or the other. Do the one and you're living. Do the other and you may be walking around, but you're dead as a beaver hat."

Maybe not an exact quote, but close!
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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by JackFavell »

Harold: You hop in any car you want and just drive off?
Maude: Well, not any car - I like to keep a variety. I'm always looking for the new experience.
Harold: Maybe. Nevertheless, I think you're upsetting people. I don't know if that's right.
Maude: Well, if some people get upset because they feel they have a hold on some things, I'm merely acting as a gentle reminder: here today, gone tomorrow, so don't get attached to things. Now, with that in mind, I'm not against collecting stuff.


- Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort in Harold and Maude
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JackFavell
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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by JackFavell »

I've always hated the line "Victor, I'm frightened. Please don't go to the Underground meeting tonight."
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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by knitwit45 »

Hey,KR, thanks,thats one of my favorites,too, but PT actually listed it.
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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by CharlieT »

I have two favorites.

John Wayne: You'd be beautiful if your eyes were blue.
Patricia Neal: My eyes are blue.
John Wayne: I know.
(Not sure... think it's from Operation Pacific.)

and...

Does this really need to be Identified?

"Hey, Boo."
"I'm at my most serious when I'm joking." - Dudley

Don't sweat the petty things - don't pet the sweaty things.
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Re: Best and Worst Lines in Movie History

Post by knitwit45 »

"The Calla lilies are in bloom."
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