Frankly my dear, why do I give a damn?

Hey Everyone! So the AFI came out with there top 100 movie quotes this week - they've been coming out with these type of lists for a few years now and it's a great idea. It's generated lots of publicity and has gotten people talking about movies. There's the expected outrage over the subjective placement of certain films and films that have been left off entirely. But overall, I think it's a good thing. If it gets old movies exposure, maybe more people will see them and maybe somehow it will inspire future filmmakers and we'll be rewarded with better movies. A girl can hope. I was fairly pleased with the list of top 100 movie quotes. They ranged from the sublime (Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn - #1 mind you) to the banal (I'm king of the world at #100). The top 13 in particular are all stellar.

The ranking of everything in between seems pretty random. The movie with the best dialogue that was not adapted from a book is easily Casablanca. If I ordered this list, it would be extremely tough for me not to put line after line at the top of the list. Something magical happened on that set, as that's where most of the lines were written by the Epstein brothers, Howard Koch and a myriad of other contributors. Instead they're scattered throughout the list. The most annoying placement for me is my fav: “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine,” ranked #67, compared to "I see dead people" from Sixth Sense coming in at #44. How does that make any sense?

Lines from many of my favorite movies were left out all together. Here are a several I compiled with the help of IMDB:

• Donger's here for five hours, and he's got somebody. I live here my whole life, and I'm like a disease. Samantha Baker, Sixteen Candles
• Would you stop feeling sorry for yourself? It's bad for your complexion! Randy, Sixteen Candles
• I loathe the bus. There has to be a more dignified mode of transportation. Samantha Baker, Sixteen Candles
• Life is not whatnot, and it's none of your business. Samantha Baker, Sixteen Candles
• What was he wearing? Well, uh, let's see, he was wearing a red argyle sweater, and tan trousers, and red shoes... No, he's not retarded. Grandpa Howard, Sixteen Candles
• I can't believe this. They f***ing forgot my birthday. Samantha Baker, Sixteen Candles (This line almost led to an extremely tragic event in the Kurtz household. For some reason I didn't see this movie at the show (maybe it was because we only had a two screen Tivoli back then and it didn't make it to Ardmore). Whatever the reason, it was one of the first movies I got to rent with my first fav appliance, the VCR , replaced by my current favorite and far superior appliance, the Replayer. Anyway, this line was uttered near the beginning of the movie and as luck would have it my dad was somewhere in the vicinity. When he heard that most terrible of curses, he threatened to stop the movie. This resulted in utter terror from me and a dramatic pleading like none ever delivered in our household. I felt my very life was on the line. As miracles would have it, my mom came to the rescue on this one and the movie was saved. Whew. I would certainly be a different person had I not seen this movie in junior high. Besides, little did my dad know that the inmates at the juvenile detention center masquerading as Dickson Junior High bombarded the populace daily with far worse language.)
• Did you hear that? That's the story I just wrote. Yes, yes, I know we had a bargain. I just said I'd write it, I didn't say I wouldn't tear it up! It's all in little pieces now, Walter, and I hope to do the same for you some day! And that, my friends, is my farewell to the newspaper business. Hildy, His Girl Friday
• Diabetes! I should've known better than to hire somebody with a disease. Walter Burns, His Girl Friday
• I do believe Marsellus Wallace, my husband, your boss, told you to take ME out and do WHATEVER I WANTED. Now I wanna dance, I wanna win. I want that trophy, so dance good. Mia Wallace, Pulp Fiction
• I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy but they're definitely dirty. But, a dog's got personality. Personality goes a long way. Jules, Pulp Fiction
• Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true? Vincent, Pulp Fiction
• Well we'd have to be talkin' about one charmin' motherf***in' pig. I mean he'd have to be ten times more charmin' than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I'm sayin'? Jules, Pulp Fiction
• Harry Lime's cukoo clock quote from my previous blog entry
• Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father: prepare to die. Inigo Montoya, Princess Bride
• Is this a kissing book? Grandson, Princess Bride
• Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while. Westley, Princess Bride
• Am I going MAD, or did the word "think" escape your lips? You were not hired for your brains, you hippopotamic land mass. Vizzini, Princess Bride
• As you wish. Westley, Princess Bride
• I thought all writers drank to excess and beat their wives. You know one time I secretly wanted to be a writer. Dex, Philadelphia Story
• This story's gonna grab people. It's about this guy, he's crazy about this girl, but he likes to wear dresses. Should he tell her? Should he not tell her? He's torn, Georgie. This is drama. Ed Wood, Ed Wood
• Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else's dreams? Orson Welles, Ed Wood
• This is the most uncomfortable coffin I've ever been in. Bela Lugosi, Ed Wood
• Bunny? We're making another movie! Yes. I got the Baptist Church of Beverly Hills to put up the cash! Ed Wood, Ed Wood
• The secret, I don't know... I guess you've just gotta find something you love to do and then... do it for the rest of your life. For me, it's going to Rushmore. Max Fischer, Rushmore
• I saved Latin. What did you ever do? Max Fischer, Rushmore
• Dr. Guggenheim, I don't want to tell you how to do your job. But the fact is, no matter how hard I try, I still might flunk another class. If that means I have to stay on for a post-graduate year, so be it... Max Fischer, Rushmore
• All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people. Alexander Bullock, My Man Godfrey
• You mustn't come between Irene and Godfrey. He's the first thing she's shown any affection for since her pomeranian died. Angelica Bullock, My Man Godfrey
• I went to Venice, and one night I went for a ride in one of those rowboats that the man pushes with a stick. Not a matador. That was in Spain. But something like a matador. Irene, My Man Godfrey
• Godfrey loves me! He put me in the shower! Irene, My Man Godfrey
• Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot, and look like an idiot, but don't let that fool you: he really is an idiot. I implore you, send him back to his father and brothers, who are waiting for him with open arms in the penitentiary. I suggest that we give him ten years in Leavenworth, or eleven years in Twelveworth. Rufus T. Firefly, Duck Soup
• Remember, you're fighting for this woman's honour, which is probably more than she ever did. Rufus T. Firefly, Duck Soup
• I'll see my lawyer about this as soon as he graduates from law school. Rufus T. Firefly, Duck Soup
• You think you've raised hell. Verna, Miller's Crossing
• Sister, when I've raised hell, you'll know it! Tom Reagan, Miller's Crossing
• Nothing more foolish than a man chasin' his hat. Tom Reagan, Miller's Crossing
• Oh, Nicky, I love you because you know such lovely people. Nora Charles, The Thin Man
• How'd you like Grant's tomb? Nick Charles, The Thin Man
• It's lovely. I'm having a copy made for you. Nora Charles, The Thin Man
• Oh, it's alright, Joe. It's alright. It's my dog. And uh, my wife. Nick Charles, The Thin Man
• Well you might have mentioned me first on the billing. Nora Charles, The Thin Man
• You know, that sounds like an interesting case. Why don't you take it? Nora Charles, The Thin Man
• I haven't the time. I'm much too busy seeing that you don't lose any of the money I married you for. Nick Charles, The Thin Man

There are millions of others I love as well, but tempus fugit. After all, tomorrow is another day.

-sunday