DC Film Society: Adam's Rib

Movie Quotes Redux

After the American Film Institute (AFI) released its list of the top 100 film quotes of all time, I felt compelled to offer my own list. At my request, some of my readers submitted their own favorites. In the meantime I realized that not only had the AFI left out one of the best film lines ever, but that I had also neglected this gem. Thank G-d for second chances.

From Eric Bleich:
Jim Malone (Sean Connery): “Isn't that just like a wop? Brings a knife to a gun fight.” - The Untouchables

From Charles Davis:
Rockhound (Steve Buscemi): “You know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?” - Armageddon

From Bill Henry:
Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart): “I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We’ve made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done.” - Star Trek: First Contact

From Brian Niemiec:
The Joker (Jack Nicholson): “Batman . . . Batman . . . Can somebody tell me what kind of a world we live in, where a man dressed up as a bat gets all of my press? This town needs an enema!” - Batman

Long Duk Dong (Gedde Watanabe): “No more yankie my wankie. The Donger need food!” - Sixteen Candles

Murray Fetterman (Dick Miller): “Goddamn foreign TV. I told you we should have gotten a Zenith.” - Gremlins

Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman): “Son, stocks may rise and fall, utilities and transportation systems may collapse. People are no damn good, but they will always need land and they'll pay through the nose to get it.” - Superman: The Movie

John Bender (Judd Nelson): “Stupid, worthless, no good, goddamn, freeloading son of a bitch. Retarded, big mouth, know-it-all, a-hole, jerk. You forgot ugly, lazy and disrespectful. Shut up, bitch. Go fix me a turkey pot pie.” - The Breakfast Club

HAL (Douglas Rain): “Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?” - 2001: A Space Odyssey

Willie (Billy Bob Thornton): “Things are f-ed up at the North Pole. Mrs. Claus caught me f-ing her sister, now I'm out on my ass.” - Bad Santa

Arnold Stoner (Strother Matin)“You get a job by sundown or we'll be shipping you off to military school with that goddamn Finkelstein sh-t kid! Son of a bitch!” - Up in Smoke

From Bivan Patnaik:
Colonel Madden (William Sadler): “First rule in dealing with the devil . . . don't!” - Solo

From Aaron Spector:
Gib (Tom Arnold): “Ballsy. Stupid, but ballsy.” - True Lies

Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum): “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.” - Jurassic Park

Dr. Evil (Mike Myers): “Austin Powers . . . he's the snake to my mongoose, or the mongoose to my snake. Either way it's bad. I don't know animals.” - Austin Powers: the Spy who Shagged Me

Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole): “What's happening?” - Office Space

Neville (John Cleese): “If I was bored, I’d go out and buy something . . . that’s the kind of spur of the moment chap I am” - The Great Muppet Caper

Barf (John Candy): “I'm a mog: half man, half dog. I'm my own best friend!” - Spaceballs

Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey): “How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?” - The Usual Suspects

Jim Malone (Sean Connery): “What are you prepared to do?” - The Untouchables

Harry Burns (Billy Crystal): “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” - When Harry Met Sally . . .

From Steve Spector:
Ryan Weaver (Ray Liotta): “Ya gotta love her.” - Turbulence

Mortianna (Geraldine McEwan) “Something vexeth thee?” - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

And here’s mine:
Harry Lime (Orson Welles): “In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love. They had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” - The Third Man

Adam Spector
September 6, 2005