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The American Film Institute (AFI) today announced that AFI's 100 Years . . . 100 Movie Quotes will be the theme for AFI's eighth annual celebration of 100 years of American movies.
AFI'S 100 Years . . . 100 Movie Quotes: America's Greatest Quips, Comebacks and Catchphrases will count down America's 100 greatest lines of dialogue spoken in the movies, as chosen by experts of the motion picture community, in a three-hour television event on the CBS Television Network in June 2005.
Some of the ballot items here are really fascinating. Many, out of context, are completely dull:
This is this.
(The Deer Hunter)
Help me! Help me!
(The Fly, 1958)
Others are far from the best lines the film in question had to offer:
They may take away our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!
(Braveheart), for example. What about:
Every man dies. Not every man really lives.
Not listed.
On the other hand, they also managed to pull great quotes from utterly awful films, such as:
Mama, face it. I was the slut of all time.
(Butterfield 8)
And sometimes they picked the best line of a movie, after all:
Do, or do not. There is no try.
(The Empire Strikes Back)
Also, some quotes, despite lacking real signficance outside the frame of the movie, are just great anyway, because you can remember so viscerally the first time you saw them uttered:
Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!
(The Day the Earth Stood Still)
and
You're gonna need a bigger boat.
(Jaws)
My dad will love the inclusion of:
Nobody puts Baby in a corner.
( Dirty Dancing), which is particularly funny since it's obviously not true. She's sitting in the corner when Patrick Swayze, who says the line, arrives.
and
BOBBY DUPEA: Now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.
WAITRESS: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?
BOBBY DUPEA: I want you to hold it between your knees.
(Five Easy Pieces)
and especially
Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!
(Planet of the Apes)
One frome the movie I saw last night, which we enjoyed immensely:
I need him like the axe needs the turkey.
(The Lady Eve)
And, finally, one that seems surprisingly wise, if you avoid remembering that Matthew Broderick said it before he turned 30:
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
(Ferris Bueller's Day Off)
via Beautiful Stuff
Posted by Hilary at January 8, 2005 02:50 PM