I’ve seen some of my favorite movies so many times that I can recite much of the dialogue in a lot of them. Here are some more of my favorites. This post first ran in 2016.
“I want you to round up every vicious criminal and gunslinger in the west. Take this down: I want rustlers, cutthroats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists.” Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) in the 1974 laugh-a-minute comedy classic, Blazing Saddles.
“Nobody hates history. They hate their own histories.” – Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) in the 2006 thriller, The DaVinci Code.
“So, you Omar! Damn, man! You ain’t what I pictured. You ain’t nothing but a black dude. Probably from Decatur.” – James Payton (Ice Cube) in the 2014 buddy cop comedy, Ride Along.
“You want to talk to God? Let’s go see him together, I’ve got nothing better to do.” – Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in the 1981 adventure classic, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Bull Durham: Crash gets in Nuke’s face.
“Relax, all right? Don’t try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they’re fascist. Throw some ground balls; it’s more democratic.” – Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) to “Nuke” LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) in the hilarious 1988 baseball flick, Bull Durham.
“Do you think I made a mistake splitting his brain between the two of them?” – Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) in the 1975 “interactive” film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Ol’ Frank also said, “A mental mind fuck would be nice.”
“Writers don’t retire. We either drink ourselves to death or blow our brains out.” – Bill Bryson (Robert Redford) in the 2015 biopic, A Walk in the Woods. When asked by a TV host which one he would choose, he replies, “After this interview, probably both.”
“Isn’t the view beautiful? It takes my breath away. Well, it would if I had any.” – the Corpse Bride in the 2005 Tim Burton film of the same name.
“You know there are some children who aren’t really children at all, they’re just pillars of flame that burn everything they touch. And there are some children who are just pillars of ash, that fall apart when you touch them. Victor and me, we were children of flame and ash.” – Couer d’Alene storyteller Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams) in the 1998 Native American gem, Smoke Signals.
A lighter quote from Thomas in the same film, one of my all-time favorites: “Hey Victor! I remember the time your father took me to Denny’s. I had the Grand Slam Breakfast: two eggs, two pancakes, a glass of milk, and two strips of bacon. And juice. Some days, it’s a good day to die. And some days, it’s a good day to have breakfast.”
Great movie lines provide a constant source of fun. Count on many more in the future.