Those words, uttered by Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell in Ron Howard’s Oscar-winning Apollo 13, plastered across posters for the film, have become a ubiquitous part of the English lexicon—even though they’re not exactly what the real Jim Lovell actually said. According to Wikipedia, Lovell, repeating his fellow Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert, actually said, “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” All rightee then.
Speaking of which, “All rightee then” is another one of those phrases you hear everywhere, often from people who have no idea where it comes from, or even that it comes from anywhere at all. When Morgan Freeman as God said it to Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty, it took me a beat to process that Freeman was repeating the phrase to the actor who had originated it—in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
Movie quotations suffuse our language. Sometimes we use them knowingly, sometimes not. A recent article in the Guardian, “The Universal Language of Film Quoting” (warning: offensive language), took stock of this phenomenon. “Pop quiz, hotshot,” the article begins: When you hear the phrase “Pop quiz, hotshot,” what do you think? The source is Dennis Hopper in Speed, but you don’t actually need to know that to pick up on the vibe.
From the article:
[A]fter a lifetime of saturation-exposure to pop culture, soaking through our brains like solvents through sodden cotton wool, we have at our mental command a quote to fit every situation. And we draw on it constantly and frequently, sometimes without even thinking. Quotes accentuate our dialogue: they make it funnier, richer, deeper and more engaging. Of course, they also make it rather childish and trivial, but we won’t let that bother us …
There is absolutely nothing to beat the exact right line from a movie or TV show – whatever suits that precise moment best. Something goes well and you hiss “Exxxcelleeent” like Mr Burns [from “The Simpsons”], and everyone laughs along. Recently my dad stood as godfather for my brother’s baby: cue lines about kissing the hand of the “padrino”, may your first-born child be a masculine one, you’ve never invited me over for coffee. And so on and so on.
Such quotations can be universal, or they can be idiosyncratic to a particular family or circle of friends. Like the Guardian writer, I do say “Exxxcelleeent” in that Mr. Burns voice. But I wonder whether the Guardian writer or his circle of friends would recognize some of the sources of movie quotations in our household.
A Man for All Seasons, for instance. “I wish rain water was beer!” my wife Suzanne will say mockingly in response to some utopian political proposal. And if I tell my children, “Well, he cahn’t!” in the tone of Paul Scofield’s Thomas More telling Meg that Will Roper can’t marry her, they know it’s final.
Other sources are more familiar, even if the usage is idiosyncratic. Suzanne is fond of “Why does the floor move?” from Raiders of the Lost Ark. She may use it if she sees bugs in the house, or perhaps if a child is slinking along under a blanket.
Even baby Catie, a year and a half, drops movie quotations. She’s discovered Havarti cheese (it comes in the Costco party pack), and when she wants more she says, “Cheese, Gromit!” (Actually, it comes out more like “Tee, Dromit!”)
More obscurely, when she’s fussing for something, she sometimes interrupts herself to shout, “Haaam!” That’s from Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo, but Catie doesn’t know that. She’s just quoting her siblings, whom she’s heard say “Ham” in response to her fussing.
Sometimes during our family rosary, I may expand upon the mysteries with a brief meditation. One line I like for the Nativity is: “Behold, I have become human. If you should not want to join me in becoming God, you would do me wrong.” I think it’s a quotation from Meister Eckhart—but I know it as an intertitle from one of my favorite films, Into Great Silence.
How about you? What are some favorite or commonly used quotations in your family or circle of friends? Or do you have any least favorite quotations—anything you’re sick of hearing?
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Considering my first ‘date’ with my now husband consisted of his telling me the best of Bill Murray’s lines from “Caddyshack”, movies have long been a part of my marriage and family.
My kids can fill almost any conversation with a well-placed movie quote. They send their father off to work with “Have fun storming the castle!” from “The Princess Bride” which is an excellent source of lines. Our family considers ourselves “The Incredibles” and I rely on “Bob, it is time to engage” when I need some help from my dh. And motivating my kids as they do their chores is easier with “Keep moving forward” from “Meet the Robinson’s”
But my current favorite line comes from “Bright Star” the elegant telling of John Keats and Fanny Brice. She laments their situation with “We were not made for this world. We were not made to endure such pain.” (or something similar). Those words help me through some tough parenting days - as we weren’t made for this world but heaven. I wonder if God has a favorite line? I always laugh and think that Noah’s must have been “we’re gonna need a bigger boat”!
From “The Princess Bride” - many excellent quotations in our household:
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
“It’s possible, Pig, I might be bluffing. It’s conceivable, you miserable, vomitous mass..”
“Thank you; I’ve worked hard to become so. “
From “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
“I particularly like the Laurel” (this is a modification of the actual quote “I like the laurels particularly”).
“You can’t expect to wield supreme power just ‘cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!”
“Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help, I’m being repressed!”
” I blow my nose at you, so-called Ah-thoor Keeng, you and all your silly English K-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-niggits!”
My siblings and I watched several Bob Hope and Danny Kaye movies growing up, so we tend to quote those movies fairly often. (Our father bought our first VCR when I was only 8 or so, so we got to watch them over and over again.) I don’t have a readily-memorized list of the quotes we use—they tend to just come up in conversation—but whenever we’re together, we sometimes bewilder the non-family members in our presence by lapsing into a sort of secret code.
If, say, you were to serve us a certain food item, one of us might suddenly shout, “Potato salad! She’s waiting for me!” And this might be followed soon after by a bit of head-shaking as someone says, “Pint of pelican? Shoosh-shoosh-shoosh.” (That’s from 1945’s Wonder Man.) Or there’s “If you don’t mind, my slippers” and “Our dear departed father”, the latter pronounced with a thick Irish accent. (That’s from 1954’s Knock on Wood.) Or there’s “I’ve got the Parcheesi board all set up.” (That’s from 1944’s The Princess and the Pirate.) Or there’s one of my favorite mixed metaphors, from 1953’s Off Limits: “This girl needs a seeing-eye dog, she overshot the runway”; I don’t often quote the full line, but whenever I refer to someone “overshooting the runway”, I have that movie in mind. And I haven’t even mentioned 1956’s The Court Jester or 1952’s Son of Paleface, which just might be my favorite Kaye and Hope movies, respectively.
Jumping to a completely different movie: 1971’s Fiddler on the Roof has always been a favorite, and I’m sure we have used many lines from that film, but the first that comes to mind right now is: “I won’t be late! If you ever stop talking, I won’t be late!”
I have quite a few that pop in and out of my conversation, but perhaps one of my favorites is, “Lemonade, with ice.” from LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. One of the beauties of this one is that it’s so obscure; I have yet to meet someone who actually gets it. I actually tried this at a hot dog stand at a baseball game. The poor girl serving the food was confused, since the lemonade they would was a slushy.
I think it is a telling sign of cultural decay that movie quotes have replaced quotes from Shakespeare, the Bible and the classics of Western Civ as language shorthand. Not that I am innocent of the practice.
My wife and I watched A Man for All Seasons last night, I had been calling her “My Lioness” whenever she acted like Alice More. But in the movie he said something different, oh well… She’s still my lioness.
endless quotes from the Goonies:
“i’m going to set a booty trap”
“first we start with the fleshy palms!”
“i have the key to one-eyed willie”
“truffle shuffle”
“was it better than the time michael jackson stopped by your house to use the bathroom”
and a zillion others…
quotes from office space:
“my stapler…[murmuring]”
“sounds like somebody’s got a case of the mundays”
“that’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my life, Tom.”
“what would ya say ya do do”
“did you finish up them TPS reports?”
“um, yeah, I’m gonna need ya to come in on saturday”
“Good luck with your layoffs, all right? I hope your firings go really well.”
and a handful of inappropriate quotes that I won’t use…
Christopher Walken quotes:
“I need more cowbell”
“I put my pants on the same way you do, except when I put my pants on, I make gold records, I’m tellin’ ya baby, you’re gonna be a hit, now give me more cowbell”
I always quote almost anything from OFFICE SPACE. Indeed, right now, the “signature line” on the Wash Times’ inter-office messaging system (it is a “subhead” on the “headline” that identifies that the message as being sent by me), reads “Remember to put the cover sheet in your TPS reports.”
When someone complains:
“Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”
You KNOW we do!
From BABE the Pig, “that’ll do Pig” is one of our favorites. And most unfortunately, none of us can stop saying “I fart in your general direction!”
A man’s got to know his limitations.
A great line from “Dirty” Harry Callahan, and also a great theological insight.
There’s a fantastic YouTube video featuring a scene of a tirade by Adolph Hitler, overwritten with captions suitable to a Catholic audience. As the Fuhrer goes on with his fit of rage, he vents about his frustration at having lost the youth to Pope Benedict. At one point, he shouts, “We’ve been schooled by an octogenarian from Bavaria!”
Sometimes, it’s the only thing that crosses my mind when I read some brilliant commentary or excerpt from a general audience. Yes, we have been schooled by an octogenarian from Bavaria, and thank God for it!
While it’s hard to think of some lines without context—often the right line just pops into your head—the Lord of the Rings trilogy (“But not this day!”) and Pirates of the Caribbean are good sources.
But since my wife and I are both Star Trek fans, that’s where most of our lines come from: “He’s dead, Jim.” “I’m a ___ not a ___” (fill in the blanks for the current situation). “Khaaaannnnn!” “If days were as hours….” “I have always been, and will always be, your friend.” “Remember.” “I don’t believe in the no-win scenario.” “You green-blooded, pointy-eared, ....”
Okay, I could go on for a LONNNNGGG time, so I will stop now!
Half of my life consists of “There Will Be Blood” quotes. “I’m finished!” “I drink your milkshake!” “I’ve abandoned my boy!” Sometimes, the circumstances under which these quotes have come up have been quite hilarious.
We have entire conversations that consist of nothing but quotes - movie and tv. To continue your thoughts, Seinfeld has brought “double dipping”, “Yada, yada, yada” and several other phrases into common usage. And though not a movie, Fawlty Towers is a family favorite; it is full of excellent quotables:
“I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it”
“These sausages are off - they should have been eaten by the third”
“You might as well ask the cat”
“I can speak English. I learned it from a book”
“I don’t use it - it wears the batteries”
and of course
“He’s from Barcelona”
And our family considers the entire script of “The Princess Bride to be quotable”. All the above mentioned, and many, many more
Some great responses here!
A number have noted the high quotability of The Princess Bride. Inigo Montoya’s “You kheep usin that word. I dinna think it mins what you think it mins” gets a lot of play in our house also (bonus points for doing the accent). And of course there’s “Inconceivable!”
Peter: “Why, it’s a lion I married, a lion!” :)
“You’re gonna need a bigger __________” from Jaws is often useful.
Ian: I certainly agree that declining familiarity with the Bible is a worrisome phenomenon, and marks a sort of cultural decay. I wonder, though, whether the average person a hundred years ago knew Shakespeare better than the average person today.
In any case, I doubt whether the cultural penetration of films like The Godfather or The Incredibles can be taken as signs of cultural decay. If I had to assemble a list of, say, the top 500 or 1000 works of Western civilization since Shakespeare in any art form, I might easily wind up including either or both of these films.
A variant on Mr. Burns. “Excellent work, Smithers. Excellent…”
“I’m not dead yet!”
“She turned me into a newt! I got better.”
“Make it so!” or “Engage.”
“I am not a merry man!”
“I want a shrubbery!”
“We are no longer the knights who say ‘Ni!’”
“No soup for you!”
“Mulder?” or “Scully?”
“If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas.”
“Why did it have to be snakes?”
“George is getting upset!”
“I have alot of problems with you people!”
“How the hell do I know why there were Nazis? I don’t even know how the can opener works!” (fill in the blank for Nazis; sometimes just “I don’t even know how the can opener works!”
“When I was in school, I cheated on my metaphysics exam: I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.”
“If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.”
“George is getting upset!”
“I have a lot of problems with yo
I have a feeling that for anyone who attended school, Shakespeare was a very familiar author. Even when I was in high school I had to memorize at least one long passage from a play. When my parents were in school they both had to read a lot of Shakespeare.
Before the advent of tv and movies, literature and Scripture was the common shorthand for speeches and letters. If you read speeches from the past, they are riddled with quotes from the past. Since the speaker was trying to make a point by including such quotes, you have to assume that the audience would understand the reference.
Ian, I memorized Shakespeare in high school too. (The Prologue of Romeo and Juliet, “Two houses both alike in dignity…” I also made a point of noting and memorizing the exact scene and line reference for Puck’s famous line, “Lord, what fools these mortals be!” so that I could pull it out on cue—Act III, Scene II, line 119—but that’s just a party trick. It did impress the heck out of my English teacher, though. Even got me out of a test period early.)
Do high school students today not read Shakespeare? (I know my nephews are reading him in grade school, but it’s a private school.) Yes, the political discourse of earlier generations is astonishingly sophisticated by today’s standards. I can’t argue with you there.
“Yer bleedin’ all over my bed, cowboy.”
Conager (played by Sam Elliot) says this to a fatally wounded enemy that he has risked his life to comfort in his last minutes while his remaining attackers make up their minds whether to retreat or not…
I use this line with my boys when tending to their bloodier boo-boos. It always makes them smile through the tears!
Probably not coincidentally, I find that many situations in life are perfect for a quote from my favorite movie, Raising Arizona. There are really too many to even attempt to document without basically quoting the whole movie.
From a great movie:
If you use a movie quote, or anything from a masterpiece,
and they ask
“Did you come up with that?”
Reply “No, it was Mendelsohn.”
The proper response is “That’s good.”
Also, “It would be fun ... but it would be worthless.”
From a bad movie:
Surely, you can’t be serious.
I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.
OR the Harry Potter version: I am surely, and don’t call me Sirius.
P.S. There’s one episode of the Simpsons where Homer is trying to imitate Mr. Burns’ “Excellent,” but it comes out “Exxxactly.”
My friend who is soon to be ordained would always say this when “Excellent” would be appropriate and now I say it, too.
From Lord of the Rings: Fellowship, I frequently use “I’m gettin’ one!” Usually in regards some kind of drink, not necessarily alcoholic, as it was in the film. I use the accent, too. Usually gets laughs.
I say “Yip! Yip!” when the person in front of me hasn’t moved for a while after the light turned green. Hopefully, after The Last Airbender comes out this Summer, everyone will get it. I mostly just get dead stares from my friends.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this” from Star Wars is very common.
From Sunset Boulevard: “They’ll love it in Pomona!”
When I was at UC Santa Barbara in the theater dept, we’d use lines from the current plays running that quarter or any recent movie we’d all seen. We had a sort of competition to see who could use them most frequently in casual conversation. Way too fun.
Oh, I just remembered another one that my younger sister and I use a lot—and it’s a contemporary reference, i.e. from a film that was made during our lifetimes: “You’re… mocking me, aren’t you?” I won’t spoil the fun by saying which movie that’s from. :)
I totally forgot 1 I use all the time, though I’m ashamed of the movie it’s from, Fast Time at Ridgemont High.
“Learn it. Know it. Live it.”
Also, I’m a big C-3PO quoter:
“We seem to be made to suffer. It’s our lot in life.”
“I’m not sure this floor is entirely stable.”
“For a mechanic, you seem to do an excessive amount of thinking.”
“You know better than to trust a strange computer!”
“It’s against my programming to impersonate a deity.”
“That’s funny, the damage doesn’t look as bad from out here.”
Peter: “Oh, no, no, no, no, no!” ;)
They’re baaaaaaack! From Poltergeist…a movie I can’t watch anymore; too demonic.
“What was God thinking?” Return to Me
“I’m gonna have a heart attack from THAT surprise.” Aladin
“Hairy legs are your only link to reality.” Return to Me
“No, some of it is boiled in Swiss water.” Return to Me
“Certainty of death, small chance of success, what are we waiting for?” LOTR
“Corn, corn, corn.”: Secondhand Lions
Various and sundry Monty Python lines.
Many, many Muppets and Veggie Tales (esp - “The King wants you to make him a sandwich.”)
“May I have som’ ore, please, ma’am?” Oliver Twist
Lots of Princess Bride and Robin Hood Men in Tights.
“You must be takin’ stupid lessons from that buffalo” Home on the Range
“She’s not dead yet.” Home on the Range - usually in regard to my singing…
Here’s another one I often use, and I’m usually at least semi-sincere when I use it (even though the character who said it was being ironic or sarcastic in its original context):
“I live to collate, sir.”—Forest Whitaker accepting a menial task from Bruno Kirby, in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987).
Oh, and remembering Bruno Kirby reminds me of another great line that my younger sister and I use all the time:
“Draw SOMEthing resembling ANYthing!”—Bruno Kirby to Meg Ryan during a game of Pictionary, in When Harry Met Sally (1989).
“Sauerkraut…all over the place”: remarked by Maxwell Smart after an explosion on a loading dock filled with sauerkraut. I use it to this day when reading Ten Apples Up On Top to my little ones. After the big apple cart crash at the end, we go: “Apples…all over the place.”
No one seems to have taken up the suggestion of “worst lines.”
My classic example is from Star Wars, Episode II:
“I don’t like sand. It’s rough. Not like you; you’re soft.”
Anakin “seducing” Padme.
A close second is Star Wars, Episode III:
“My young apprentice, Anakin, will ‘take care of’ you.” Emperor to his allies. Get it? Ha ha.
John M, thanks for taking up the “least favorite quotations” suggestion, but I didn’t mean bad movie lines so much as lines that actually get quoted so much that you’re just plain sick of hearing ... or that were never that good to begin with.
Take “an offer he can’t refuse.” Great line from a great movie, but it’s not funny any more, at least when quoted today, precisely because it has long since lost its original ironic, euphemistic sense—it means what it means, now. Same thing for “Go ahead, make my day.” Oh, you know what’s another contender? Yeah, “I coulda been a contenda.”
Then there are quotes like “Show me the money!” and “I’m the king of the world!” that I never liked that much to begin with.
“You can’t handle the truth!”
“Yes, but you forget I have a flying bison.”
“Game over man! Game over!”: usually uttered during a board game of some kind.
Also commonly used during board games following the death of a character: “You killed the bishop!”(Stardust)
Recently I’ve been using “Kraken! Kraken!” from Ask a Ninja’s Dead Man’s Chest review whenever I need to describe something big and nasty.
Oh, my, Aliens, yes. I’m a stay-at-home parent and I can’t count the number of times I have wanted to say “I’m sick of your b———-” to one of my kids in more or less the same way that Sigourney Weaver says it to Bill Paxton after one of his whining fits. But, despite the temptation to do this, I never have, of course.
“Recently I’ve been using “Kraken! Kraken!” from Ask a Ninja’s Dead Man’s Chest review whenever I need to describe something big and nasty.”
I always heard it said “kray-kin.”
What? With a long A?
Uh-huh.
Na-na-na-na-no-no no. “Krah-ken”’s how it’s pronounced in the original Scandinavian, and “Krakken”’s closer to that.
Well we ain’t original Scandinavians, are we? Kray-kin.
It’s a mythological creature, I can calls it what I wants!
My husband is rather fond of slipping in asides taken from M*A*S*H. One in particular is “I’ve gone to bed with happier thoughts” as Henry Blake is getting dental work done and Frank Burns bugging him, making another inane observation. There are tons of good lines from that series.
You hadda bring up M*A*S*H:
“... to retrieve his ill-gotten booty. Or his ill-booten gotty.”
“Goodbye, Frank.” “That was completely uncalled-for!”
“My bear went off!”
“To cut off a man’s legs and steal his drawers!”
My mother and I spent a little time counting the classic lines from Casablanca, which nobody here has mentioned:
“We’ll always have Paris.”
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she had to walk into mine.”
“Round up the usual suspects.”
“Louie, this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
“Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By’.”
My wife and I quote Rian Johnson’s “Brick” so much we don’t even notice it anymore. “I’ll call you if whatever” is a customary farewell between us.
Also life-permeating is just about every line spoken by Catinca Untaru in Tarsem Singh’s “The Fall.” Among our favorites:
“I pinch your toe!”
“It’s not a time to sleep.”
“Very beautiful. And interesting.”
“What? WHAT??”
“Make dem kiss!”
“Personally I think we got hosed on that call.” —Bob Ueker, in Major League—
“There’s something you don’t see every day.” —Bill Murray seeing the Staypuft Marshmallow Man, in Ghostbusters—
Also, whenever playing a game (or watching a show/movie) where a protagonist falls victim to being lawful-stupid: “Evil will triumph because good is dumb.” (Spaceballs)
And although I usually keep this to myself, there’s a sound clip from the short-lived Dilbert tv show that I would love to use more in public: Dogbert giving a deadpan “You’re not allowed to talk anymore.”
Oh, and some useful tv quotes:
“Oooohhh, sign me up for THAT.” —MST3K—
(Speaking of MST3K, whenever someone over-analyzes a show or movie, quoting the theme song is appropriate: “repeat to yourself ‘it’s just a show, I should really just relax.’”)
“I’ve heard it both ways.” —Psych—
Two more that my sisters and I use a fair bit from Good Morning, Vietnam:
“I would like to leave the room now.”
“And if you doooo… and if you doooo…”
There are some other great lines from that film (e.g. “In my heart, I know I’m funny”), but I can’t say we use them in conversation the way we use those other lines.
Last night Suz dropped a common TV quotation in our house: “And so it begins,” Kosh’s ominous presentiment from the opening credits of (IIRC) the fifth season of “Babylon 5.” You have to say it all slow and portentous, with pregnant stress on “so.”
Just remembered another quote, though it’s not one that I have used myself. Back in the ‘80s, I worked with a guy who would always say “I’m moving the furniture” whenever he wanted to say he was unavailable for something. (If someone invited him to a party and he didn’t want to go, he’d say, “I’m busy that night. I’m moving the furniture.”) He later told me he got this line from one of the Pink Panther movies; my memory of these movies is hazy, but I believe the line comes from a scene in which Peter Sellers is posing as a utilities man so he can snoop around someone’s office, and when he gets his clothes caught in a desk or something, someone on the other side of the door asks why there is so much noise in the room, and Sellers, who doesn’t want to get caught snooping, replies, “I’m moving the furniture.”
Another line I sometimes quote, especially when I’m with my siblings, as spoken by Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: “I have no memory of this place.”
Avoid movies and other entertainment that are not rated “G”, most TV programs, etc.
Money talks.
In your spare time - Watch EWTN; Read the Bible starting with the New Testament; Read from cover to cover the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition” revised in accordance with the official Latin text promulgated by Pope John Paul II, first printed in the US in March, 2000.
From 4pm to 6pm, EWTN has children’s programs. EWTN has children’s games on EWTN.com
My dad and I have started using “Rorschac” as an adjective to describe people who are uncompromising on a position (in a goodish way).
My siblings and I like to use Flint’s “I don’t understand fishing metaphors!” whenever someone says something confusing.
And now I have to admit we commonly use a quotation from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
It’s the Trade Federation Viceroy’s line: “This is getting out of hand ... Now there are two of them!” Or simply “Now there are two of them!” With movie Japanese accent and all. It’s surprising how often it comes up.
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