The Best Film Quotes

I enjoy watching Charlie Gibson on the ABC Evening News. I'm not often home in time to see the early news, but when I am, Charlie's my man.

Yesterday evening, he mentioned that Budd Schulberg, the screenwriter for On the Waterfront, died Wednesday at the age of 95.

Charlie quoted the lines Marlon Brando made famous: "You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am."

He said that the American Film Institute listed those lines as third in the one hundred best movie quotes.

Of course, this pushed me to write my own list of the top ten movie quotes of all time.

I had a bit of difficulty because MY favorite lines were not necessarily the ones that I thought should be on the top ten list. Here are the ones I thought would be on the top ten list. I have numbered them in the order that I expected them to appear. In parentheses after the quote is the name of the film and the ranking that AFI attributed to them:

1) Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. (Gone With the Wind #1)

2) Play it. Play it again, Sam. (Note: I misquoted: It should be "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'." Casablanca #28)

3) Here's looking at you, kid. (Casablanca #5)

4) I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. (A Streetcar Named Desire #75)

5) Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas any more. (The Wizard of Oz #4)

6) Go ahead. Make my day. (Note: I thought it was Dirty Harry, but it was Sudden Impact #6)

7) I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti. (The Silence of the Lambs #21)

8) It was beauty that killed the beast. (King Kong #84)

9) Houston, we have a problem. (Apollo 13 #50)

10) I see dead people (The Sixth Sense #44)

In addition to the ones above, here are my own personal favorites together with the number given (or no number if they didn't make the list):

2) I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse (The Godfather)

11) What we've got here is failure to communicate. (Cool Hand Luke)

19) I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this any more! (Network)

36) Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges! (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)

47) Shane! Shane! Come back! (Shane)

-- Pfc. William Santiago is dead, and that is a tragedy. But he is dead because he had no code. He is dead because he had no honor, and God was watching. (A Few Good Men)

-- Get away from her, you bitch! (Aliens)

-- I've seen things you people wouldn't believe . . . All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die. (Blade Runner)

-- I came across time for you, Sarah. I love you. I always have. (The Terminator)

-- Jean Louise. Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing. (To Kill a Mockingbird)

But, for me, the single film which has the best lines in all of movie history will always be The Lion in Winter. Here are my five favorites:

-- In a world where carpenters get resurrected, everything is possible.

-- I even made poor Louis take me on Crusade. How's that for blasphemy. I dressed my maids as Amazons and rode bare-breasted halfway to Damascus. Louis had a seizure and I damn near died of windburn... but the troops were dazzled.

-- My life, when it is written, will read better than it lived. Henry Fitz-Empress, first Plantagenet, a king at twenty-one, the ablest soldier of an able time. He led men well, he cared for justice when he could and ruled, for thirty years, a state as great as Charlemagne's. He married out of love, a woman out of legend. Not in Alexandria, or Rome, or Camelot has there been such a queen.

-- I'm villifying you for God's sake - pay attention!

-- Well, that's the way deals are made. We've got him if we want him. He'll sell us all, you know... but only if he thinks we think he won't.

To read the entire list of 100 best quotes, go here.