AFI's
100 Years...
100 Movie Quotes

100 Greatest Quotes
in American Movies

The Winners


The American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles, California conducted their eighth polling, 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes highlighting "America's Greatest Quotes in the Movies."

See also this site's informative sections listed at Greatest Film Quotes, including:

AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movie Quotes revealed the 100 greatest movie quotes in American films, as chosen by leaders of the entertainment community, in a three-hour television event, that aired on the CBS Television Network in June 2005.

These are some facts about the official winning list of 100 Greatest Movie Quotes:

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films
that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films
  • Casablanca (1942) had the most quotes (6) in the top 100, with Humphrey Bogart's (Rick Blaine) "Here's looking at you, kid" the highest at # 5; the others were at # 20 "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship", # 28 "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'", # 32 "Round up the usual suspects", # 43 "We'll always have Paris", and # 67 "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."

  • The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Gone With the Wind (1939) were the second most quoted films, with 3 on the top 100 list -- Judy Garland's (Dorothy) line "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" was the highest at # 4; the other two were at # 23 "There's no place like home" and # 99 "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!"

    -- Clark Gable's "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" was the # 1 quote; the other two were at # 31 "After all, tomorrow is another day!" and # 59 "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again."

  • The earliest film quote in the top 100 was from The Jazz Singer (1927): Al Jolson's (Jakie Rabinowitz) "Wait a minute, wait a minute - you ain't heard nothin' yet" at # 71; the most recent quote in the top 100 was from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002): Gollum's (aka Smeagol) (Andy Serkis) "My precious" at # 85

  • The most recent quote in the top 10 was from Sudden Impact (1983), "Go ahead, make my day" at # 6

  • Eleven quotes from ten films released since 1990 made the top 100 list:

    The Silence of the Lambs (1991) at # 21 "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."
    Jerry Maguire (1996)
    at #25 "Show me the money!" and # 52 "You had me at 'hello'"
    A Few Good Men (1992) at # 29 "You can't handle the truth!"
    Forrest Gump (1994)
    at # 40 "My mama always said, 'Life is (was) like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get'"
    The Sixth Sense (1999)
    at # 44 "I see dead people"
    Apollo 13 (1995)
    at # 50 "Houston, we have a problem"
    A League of Their Own (1992) at # 54 "There's no crying in baseball!"
    Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) at # 76 "Hasta la vista, baby"
    The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) at # 85 "My precious"
    Titanic (1997) at # 100 "I'm (the) king of the world!"

  • Humphrey Bogart had the most quotes (5) on the top 100 list at # 5 "Here's looking at you, kid", # 14 "(What is it?)" "The stuff that dreams are made of" (from The Maltese Falcon (1941)), # 20 "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship", # 43 "We'll always have Paris" and # 67 "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine" - the other four from Casablanca (1942)

  • Marlon Brando had 3 quotes: at # 2 "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse" (from The Godfather (1972)), # 3 "You don't understand! I could've had class. I could've been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am" from On The Waterfront (1954)), and # 45 "Stella! Hey, Stella!"(from A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)), as did Vivien Leigh at # 31 "After all, tomorrow is another day!", # 59 "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again" (both from Gone With the Wind (1939), and # 75 "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" (from A Streetcar Named Desire (1951))

  • Many critics commented that two real-life quotes shouldn't have been counted: # 50: "Houston we have a problem" (from Apollo 13 (1995)) and # 38: "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth" (from The Pride of the Yankees (1942))

  • Silent films were ignored, although there could be some inter-titles that were worthy of choice

  • Short, simple catchphrases and quips were over-emphasized, rather than actual monologues/speeches, words of true wit, or conversational dialogues

 




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