“What is your greatest ambition in life?”
“To become immortal and then die.”
- “Breathless”, Jean-Luc Godard
“It amazes me that whites avidly seek after all the accoutrements of black style. You pickle your bodies in gallons of tanning lotion, you broil your pale flesh brown in the tanning spas at great expense and all the while maintaining such a marvelous contempt for black people. You wily Caucasians.”
Chameleon Street
“I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.”
Norma Desmond, Sunset Blvd.
1) “Look sir, Droids!”
Stormtrooper, Star Wars
2) “I know I’m no Olivier, but the thing ain’t the ring, it’s the play. So give me a stage, where this bull here can rage. I know I’m a sight, but I’d much rather recite- THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT”
Jake La Motta, Raging Bull
3) “Come quietly, or there will be… trouble”- Robocop
4) “You know what a Chazzer is? It’s a pig that don’t fly straight”-Scarface
you know how to whistle, don’t you?
“how do you trust a man who doesn’t trust his own pants?”
Henry Fonda in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West
Naked Lunch
Bill Lee: What do you mean, “it’s a literary high”?
Joan Lee: It’s a Kafka high. You feel like a bug.
That line alone is pure brilliance.
“But there’s a bright side to this, and a moral. I think morals are good for you; I love morals. And the moral of this story is: if you’re walkin’ on eggs, don’t hop.”
Braddock (Warren Oates), in Blue Thunder
I don’t deserve this… to die like this. I was building a house.
Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.
“The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”
— The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
“Do you like scary movies?” “What’s the point they’re all the same, some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can’t act who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out the front door, it’s insulting.”
— Scream
“Who’s there?” “Never say who’s there… Don’t you watch scary movies? It’s a death wish. You might as well come out to investigate a strange noise or something.”
— Scream
“No, please don’t kill me, Mr. Ghostface, I wanna be in the sequel!”
— Scream
“Jesus, the camera, hurry!
My name isn’t Jesus.”
— Scream
“Look, Kenny, I know you’re about fifty pounds overweight, but when I say hurry, please interpret that as MOVE YOUR FAT TUB OF LARD ASS NOW!”
— Scream
“If I’m right about this, I could save a man’s life. Do you know what that would do for my book sales?”
— Scream
“One, two, Freddy’s coming for you. Three, four, better lock your door. Five, six, hang your crucifix. Seven, eight, don’t stay up late. Nine, ten, never sleep again.”
— A Nightmare on Elm Street
“I keep thinking about the old times…like when you was a fuckin’ baby!”
— The Devil’s Rejects
“Words create lies. Pain can be trusted.”
— Audition
“There’s something out there. That… that witch in the cellar is only part of it. It lives… out in those woods, in the dark… something… something that’s come back from the dead.”
— Evil Dead 2
""You start to play it and it’s like somebody’s nightmare. And then this woman comes on, smiling at you, right? Seeing you through the screen. Then when it’s over, your phone rings, someone knows you watched the tape and what they say is, ‘You will die in seven days.’"
— The Ring
“I spent eight years trying to reach him and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely and simply…evil.”
— Halloween
“Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.” Clint to Gene Hackman in The Unforgiven. One of my all-time fave quotes, Nick.
I don’t know if it’s quite up to the caliber of many of the quotes here, but I’m fond of this line by The Ultimate Evil, (re the Creator) in Time Bandits:
“Look at the way He wastes His time; 37 species of parrots! Nipples on MEN!!! Surely, we are in the hands of a lunatic!!!”
Gotta love those Pythons.
Simon Grim: I worked, while you sat back and comfortably dismissed the outside world as too shallow, stupid and mean to appreciate
your ideas.
Henry Fool: Is that such a priority? Is that some sort of measure of a man’s worth? To drag what’s best in him out into the street so every average slob with some pretense to taste can poke it with a stick?
Simon Grim: Maybe. Maybe it is.
HENRY FOOL (1997)
M: What do I owe you?
Electrician: If you ever find me face down in the gutter, turn me around to my back.
THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST (2002)
Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb: It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it is told.
Catherine Martin: Mister… my family will pay cash. Whatever ransom you’re askin’ for, they pay it.
Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb: It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.
[to his dog, Precious]
Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb: Yes, it will, Precious, won’t it? It will get the hose!
Catherine Martin: Okay… okay… okay. Mister, if you let me go, I won’t – I won’t press charges I promise. See, my mom is a real important woman… I guess you already know that.
Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb: Now it places the lotion in the basket.
Catherine Martin: Please! Please I wanna go home! I wanna go home please!
Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb: It places the lotion in the basket.
Catherine Martin: I wanna see my mommy! Please I wanna see my…
Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb: Put the fucking lotion in the basket!
SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
Deborah Kerr, to her lover Burt Lancaster-
Kerr: “Get inside, you’re gonna get wet.”
Lancaster: “I am wet!”
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY
“Heineken? Fuck Heineken! Pabst Blue Ribbon!!!”
– Dennis Hopper to yuppie Kyle McLachlan in BLUE VELVET
“Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.” (Walter, The Big Lebowski)
I also love the anti-quote: the last whisper from Bob Harris to Charlotte in Lost in Translation.
From Yellow Submarine:
Look, over there! It’s a cyclops!
—But he’s got two eyes.
Oh, then it must be a Bi-cyclops.
-You like movies don’t you?
-I do. I like musicals.
-but isn’t that annoying when they do the last song?
-why?
-cause, you know, when it goes real big, and the camera goes off the roof, and you know it’s gonna end, I hate that. I would just leave after next to last song, and the movie will just go forever.
Dances in the Dark
That’s dancer in the dark
“Me, I always tell the truth, even when I lie.”
-Scarface(1983)
The last time I was inside a woman was the Statue of Liberty.
-Crimes and Misdemeanors
Me too, Marianne
– Pierrot Le Fou
There are two types of people in this world, those with the loaded guns and those who dig.
-The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Tell my mother I love her.
But Llewelyn, your mother’s dead.
Then I’ll tell her myself.
- No Country For Old Men
I enthusiastically second “A strange man defecated on my sister,” from Crimes and Misdemeanors. I never stopped laughing after that one.
Homer Bannon (Dying in Hud’s arms): “I know you been waitin’ on this day a long time, Hud. And you ain’t a patient man…”
- Hud (1963)
Kyoko: Isn’t life disappointing?
Noriko: [smiles] Yes, it is.
- Tokyo Story (1953)
“Never underestimate the power of denial.” – Ricky Fitts in American Beauty
“I’m not bad, I;m just drawn that way.” – Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit
“I’d rather be a cuckold than a fool.” – Barry Lyndon
“Heeeeeere’s Johnnny!” – Jack Nicholson in The Shining
Dr. Gonzo: Sounds like big trouble. You’re going to need plenty of legal advice before this thing is over. As your attorney, I advise you to rent a very fast car with no top. And you’ll need the cocaine. Tape recorder for special music. Acapulco shirts. Get the hell out of L.A. for at least 48 hours. Blows my weekend.
Raoul Duke: Why?
Dr. Gonzo: Because naturally I’m going to have to go with you. And we’re going to have to arm ourselves… to the teeth!
-Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Our marriage was nothing more than a foxhole for you. And all it took for you to get out was a 10 cent razor and a tub full of water.
-Last Tango in Paris
I’ve run out of everything – my wife… the house… an adopted child… a successful job… everything except a few bad habits I could not get rid of.
-The Passenger
Steve Oerkfitz