Line Up

In Dead Man Dancing I covered my personal best movie scenes and I was preparing another article about best lines both in movies and television, Channel 9 beat me to it. So I added few more after watching 20 to 1: best movie lines. With random order, here they come. (Disclaimer: hazardous material, could cause nostalgia!)

Good morning. And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night | Jim Carrey sure knows how to make lame lines like that sound pitchy, especially when bundled with a facial gesture. This line is part of the Truman Show.

At my signal, unleash hell | I did not watch 300 because I think it is a terrible movie, but that is a weird line; when a commander gives such a general order, it depends on the soldier's own perspective of 'hell', is it the same hell they were about to dine in? Will Gordon Ramzi be in the Kitchen?

Go ahead, make my day! | I never watched Sudden Impact, and I had no idea that line was first spoken there. I thought it was an idiom!

Bond, James Bond | I am not a Bond fan, I watched zero Bond movies! But I am smarter than to keep that line out of my list.

Daniel Son | In Karate Kid, one of the popular lines was wax on, wax off but I find the Daniel Son dubbing far more effective, it is very tempting to use every time you come across a Daniel, even if it is a she.

Who're you gonna call? | Ghostbusters. According to 20 to 1 that line was never said in the movie, but rather played as a chorus of the theme song, I think the song itself is one memorable line that it deserves to be logged here.

You make me want to be a better man | As Good As it Gets. And this is really the line where things get as good as it can possibly get, before Jack Nicholson crumble again.

I see dead people! | The Sixth Sense. It has been frequently mocked replacing "dead" with other adjectives, and it works every time, listen to this: I see dump people, on YouTube, or this: I see doped people, walking around like regular people, they don't see each other, they only see what they wanna see, they don't know they're doped!

Show me the money | Tom Cruise in Jerry McGuire. And Help me help you, are two good lines to start any business letter!

Run Forrest, run! | I can't help adding Forrest to any Run command I make. It just is too convenient. There is another Run line in a German movie I never got the chance to see, Run Lola Run!

Why Jim. Why? | This is my favorite Mission Impossible line. It is a major plot of the movie, revealed with total craft.

Oh Boy! | Do you remember 1990's Quantum Leap? That was Sam at the beginning and end of every leap, just anticipating the troubles he is about to leap in. Good times. And let's not forget Homer's D'oh!

These are their stories | This is the dark sound coming from behind a dark screen about dark crimes, at the beginning of every episode of Law and Order.

To boldly go where no one has gone before | You have to sing along after that elegant speech of Jean-Luc Picard in The Next Generation: Space, the Final Frontier... Other lines I remember from this series are: Beam me up Mr La Forge. (It is more widely known as Beam me up Scotty, but I never watched the earlier seasons, and according to Wikipedia, those lines where never really uttered on the show!) Though the one that stands out is Jean-luc's Engage!

You gotta give me one thing, I'm a scary judge of talent | Al Pacino has a very strong movie character, that even in Ocean's 13 (presumably a light hearted movie with no lessons to learn) he sounds so preachy! Those were the words in his closing scene in The Recruit.

They may take our lives but they'll never take our freedom! | That wasn't my personal favorite line of Mell Gibson in Braveheart, it was: Why? Why is it not possible? but this line was memorable enough to be promoted into sarcasm targeted quotes.

What else do you have in the warehouse? | That is the line I promoted as the best in Gone in 60 Seconds. The movie seriously begins after that well crafted line. Asking with a long face about cars in the warehouse sets you in the mood to see some car hijacking for the next hour.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing the world he didn't exist | The Usual Suspects is my all-time favorite movie, nothing came close to it in the past 15 years! Kevin Spacey in the closing scene utters these words: And like that, poof. He's gone. Another notable line: How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss? Here are all memorable quotes from The Usual Suspects on IMDB. 

Do I look like I'm negotiating? | This line is going down in history, the stance, the pitch, the look, it was all there, in Michael Clayton. He got us all fooled with that line! Here are all memorable quotes from Michael Clayton on IMDB.

Aside from lines, there are few signatures in movies that are becoming synonymous to every-day television. Theme song of The Good, The Bad And The Ugly is probably the most popular and over used, it denotes deadly confrontation. Then comes Mission Impossible theme song, simply denotes the onset of an impossible mission. And I believe CSI is working its way for a spot. Here are more to this list: the chung, chung sound effect in Law & Order, x-Files title theme, and The Sopranos title theme. Any more to this list?

What is your favorite movie line?