Maddenation
Best Movie Lines
Amazingly, the first four entries in this Entertainment Weekly list of “Best movie lines ever” are from The Princess Bride. And they missed, “He’s only mostly dead.”
There are many other lists of movie lines, many whose “credentials” may be better than EW. It’s remarkable how many different opinions there are. What needs to be done here is something similar to what was done in the book Human Accomplishment by Charles Murray. He rated people by how often and how extensively they were described in anthologies dealing with their field of study. This technique could be used to cull the “Best of the best” movie lines from all the lists by determining which lines occur in all or many of the lists. I haven’t done this yet, but perhaps we could begin to develop a family consensus about what lines are truly the best.
Dad • Connections/Movies/Quotes/Stuffs • 08/04/04 • 2 comments
Comments
Dad • 08/06/04 • 11:01 PM:I have been reading some of the lines quoted in the “other lists” and find many of them lacking. I think some general ground rules should be adopted if one is going to list the “best lines”. First of all, for a line to make the best list, the movie should be a great one, and preferably a blockbuster. There may be great lines from obscure movies, but nobody knows them. What good is that?
Secondly, I believe the line should say something significant. For example, “I’ll be back” is considered a great line, but actually people just like practicing their Schartzenegger impersonation. I think “what’s happening” is in there somewhere, but I would suggest that that line is too dependent on the context to be a great line. the line ought to move the plot and have significant impact in the movie. A great example of this is “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” It’s from a great movie, Gone with the Wind, it’s one of the all time great actors saying it, Clark Gable, and it may have been the first time “damn” was used in a movie dialog.
Also, I think the line ought to be one that was written for the movie, not just repeated. “Houston, we have a problem” is truly a great line, but it was not written for the movie. It’s a real life line and should be treated as such. Finally, a line means just that, not a paragraph. Some of these “lines” are just too long to be given serious consideration.
Patrick • 07/02/05 • 5:33 PM:I just found another list, from the American Film Institute, which should know. But they don’t, of course. They’re too stuck in the past, pulling six quotes from Casablanca and a throng of others I’ve never heard before. They also have lists of the 100 best songs, 100 best/worst heroes and villians, and many more (see the sidebar links). Their list reminds me of the Rolling Stone polls where they do the best songs of all time and it’s very past-heavy in homage to the forefathers, even though nobody really listens to Robert Johnson’s original “Crossroads” anymore, or whatever.
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
Please capitalize your name properly and use the same information each time you comment. We will not send you spam, and your email address will not be posted.