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Thursday, June 23, 2005

Movie Quote Wrap-up

On Tuesday, AFI unveiled their choices for the top 100 movie quotes in American film. As you know (and are probably sick of hearing), I came up with my own list. So how did these movie elites stack up against this average Joe movie fan? Some observations:

I won't quibble with their #1 ("Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."). They put my #1 ("Here's looking at you, kid.") at #5. But my #2 ("There's no place like home."), probably the most quoted line from one of the most popular films in history, was #23 on their list. But they didn't leave The Wizard of Oz unrepresented in the top 5. They put a different quote ("Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.") at #4. A great line, no doubt, but I'm not following their logic.
I had all of their top 10 on my list. The lowest on my list (#45) was their #6 ("Go ahead, make my day."). A great quote, for sure. I probably put it too low.
I had 4 of their top 10 in my top 11.
Which brings me to my first glaring error - #11 ("What we've got here is a failure to communicate."). It wasn't on my list. In my defense, I've never seen Cool Hand Luke but I certainly have heard the line before. I booted that one. But this and other rankings indicated to me a higher appreciation for films from the 60s and 70s than I have. Cool Hand Luke was a 1967 release. More on that later.
My next glaring omission was #13 ("Love means never having to say you're sorry."). I carry this "error" as a badge of honor. What a stupid line. And when was this film released? 1970.
They put "E.T. phone home." down at #15. I thought that was too low.
And again, "There's no place like home." at #23. Morons.
I had 16 of their top 20 on my list.
I omitted 5 of their next 10 (#21-30). Oops. One was "Show me the money!" There were actually 2 Jerry Maguire quotes in the top 52. The other was "You had me at hello." (lame.) Way too much respect for that film.
I didn't have #21 from Silence of the Lambs. I don't enjoy cannibal quotes as much as most people, I guess.
Another miss was #27, "I'm walking here! I'm walking here!" (Midnight Cowboy, 1967). Never saw it.
Going down the list I had 8 of 10 (#31-40) and 6 of 10 (#41-50).
Of the top 50 on their list, I was only missing 15 from my full list.
#31 ("After all, tomorrow is another day.") was a surprise. I've heard a lot of Gone With the Wind quotes, but never that one.
#35, "You're gonna need a bigger boat." (Jaws, 1975) is way too high.
Another quote from the late 60s doesn't belong at all - "We rob banks." (Bonnie and Clyde, 1967).
Also overrepresented: The Graduate, 1967.
Not right: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Ryan O'Neal, & Barbra Streisand made the list. Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne did not.
Humphrey Bogart had 5 quotes - could've been more.
Tom Hanks, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, & Bette Davis had 3. All well deserved. Heston, Nicholson, & Eastwood had 2.
There were 6 quotes from Casablanca, shoulda been 7. Only 3 quotes from The Wizard of Oz.

So that's it. I enjoyed it but I will now show you mercy and never mention it again.

posted by Gary at 10:10 | [Permalink] (0) comments

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