50 Great
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50 Great Movie Quotes of the Last Half Century

50 Great Movie Quotes: In the July 30, 2004 article entitled "Now Hear This" in Entertainment Weekly, the magazine's editors provided various lists of the greatest cinema quotes ever. Almost all of the article's selected or honored quotes have already been listed on this site (found within the Greatest Film Quotes by Decade pages), but not in this particular configuration or grouping.



50 Great Movie Quotes
(listed in ranked order)

"I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it."
- TERRY MALLOY (Marlon Brando) in On the Waterfront (1954)
Play clip (excerpt): On the Waterfront

"We all go a little mad sometimes."
- NORMAN BATES (Anthony Perkins) in Psycho (1960)

Play clip (excerpt): Psycho - 1960

"Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me, aren't you?"
- BEN BRADDOCK (Dustin Hoffman) in The Graduate (1967)

Play clip (excerpt): The Graduate - 1967

"Hey, don't knock masturbation. It's sex with someone I love."
- ALVY SINGER (Woody Allen) in Annie Hall (1977)

Play clip (excerpt): Annie Hall - 1977

"She's my daughter!...She's my sister! She's my daughter! My sister, my daughter...She's my sister and my daughter."
- EVELYN CROSS MULWRAY (Faye Dunaway) in Chinatown (1974)

Play clip (excerpt): Chinatown - 1974

"Open the pod bay doors, please, HAL."
- DAVE BOWMAN (Keir Dullea) in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Play clip (excerpt): 2001: A Space Odyssey - 1968

"Take your stinkin' paws off me, you damn dirty ape."
- TAYLOR (Charlton Heston) in Planet of the Apes (1968)
Play clip (excerpt): Planet of the Apes - 1968

"Because when you're a call girl, you control it, that's why. Because someone wants you...and for an hour...I'm the best actress in the world."
- BREE DANIEL (Jane Fonda) in Klute (1971)

Play clip (excerpt): Klute - 1971

"So we finish 18 and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, 'Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little somethin', you know, for the effort, you know.' And he says, 'Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.' So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."
- CARL SPACKLER (Bill Murray) in Caddyshack (1980)

Play clip (excerpt): Caddyshack - 1980

"Hitler was better-lookin' than Churchill, he was a better dresser than Churchill, he had more hair, he told funnier jokes, and he could dance the pants off of Churchill!"
- FRANZ LIEBKIND (Kenneth Mars) in The Producers (1967)
Play clip (excerpt): The Producers - 1967

"No, I'm all man. I even fought in WWII. Of course, I was wearing women's undergarments under my uniform."
- ED WOOD (Johnny Depp) in Ed Wood (1994)

Play clip (excerpt): Ed Wood - 1994

"...Your mother's in here with us, Karras. Would you like to leave a message? I'll see that she gets it."
- REGAN MacNEIL/SATAN (Linda Blair) in The Exorcist (1973)

Play clip (excerpt): The Exorcist - 1973

"You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'm gonna get Medieval on your ass."
- MARCELLUS WALLACE (Ving Rhames) in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Play clip (excerpt): Pulp Fiction - 1994

"I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."
- FRENCH SOLDIER (John Cleese) in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Play clip (excerpt): Monty Python and the Holy Grail - 1975

"He won't come after me...He won't. I can't explain it. He, he, he would consider that rude."
- CLARICE STARLING (Jodie Foster) in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Play clip (excerpt): The Silence of the Lambs - 1991

"Excuse me while I whip this out."
- BART (Cleavon Little) in Blazing Saddles (1974)

Play clip (excerpt): Blazing Saddles - 1974

"No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!"
- AURIC GOLDFINGER (Gert Frobe) in Goldfinger (1964)

Play clip (excerpt): Goldfinger - 1964

"You know what I am? I'm your worst f---in' nightmare, man. I'm a nigger with a badge. That mean I got permission to kick your f--kin' ass whenever I feel like it."
- REGGIE HAMMOND (Eddie Murphy) in 48 HRS. (1982)

Play clip (excerpt): 48 HRS. - 1982

- "Kid. The next time I say: 'Let's go someplace like Bolivia,' let's go someplace like Bolivia."
- "Next time."
- BUTCH CASSIDY (Paul Newman) in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Play clip (excerpt): Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - 1969

"Wendy?...Darling. Light of my life. I'm not gonna hurt ya. You didn't let me finish my sentence. I said: 'I'm not gonna hurt ya.' I'm just gonna bash your brains in. I'm gonna bash 'em right the f--- in! Ha, ha."
- JACK TORRANCE (Jack Nicholson) in The Shining (1980)

Play clip (excerpt): The Shining - 1980

"Then I just hate you and I hate your ass face."
- CORKY ST. CLAIR (Christopher Guest) in Waiting for Guffman (1996)
Play clip (excerpt): Waiting For Guffman - 1996

"Look, you shoot up a guy's head with his pants down, believe me, Texas is not the place you want to get caught."
- LOUISE (Susan Sarandon) in Thelma & Louise (1991)

Play clip (excerpt): Thelma & Louise - 1991

"And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper."
- MARGE GUNDERSON (Frances McDormand) in Fargo (1996)

Play clip (excerpt): Fargo - 1996

"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."
- VERBAL KINT (Kevin Spacey) in The Usual Suspects (1995)

Play clip (excerpt): The Usual Suspects - 1995

"I do not, for one, think that the problem was that the band was down. The problem may have been that there was a Stonehenge monument on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf."
- DAVID ST. HUBBINS (Michael McKean) in This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Play clip (excerpt): This is Spinal Tap - 1984

"That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age."
- WOODERSON (Matthew McConaughey) in Dazed and Confused (1993)

Play clip (excerpt): Dazed and Confused - 1993

"...I have nipples, Greg. Could you milk me?"
- JACK BYRNES (Robert De Niro) in Meet the Parents (2000)

Play clip (excerpt): Meet the Parents - 2000

"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son."
- DEAN WORMER (John Vernon) in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)

Play clip (excerpt): Animal House - 1978

- "Who told you to step on my sneakers, who told you to walk on my side of the block, who told you to be in my neighborhood?"
- "I own this brownstone."
- "Who told you to buy a brownstone on my block, in my neighborhood, on my side of the street? Yo, what you wanna live in a Black neighborhood for, anyway? Man, motherf--k gentrification."

- BUGGIN OUT (Giancarlo Esposito) in Do The Right Thing (1989)

Play clip (excerpt): Do the Right Thing - 1989

"There's a lotta things about me you don't know anything about, Dottie. Things you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't understand."
- PEE-WEE HERMAN (Paul Reubens) in Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)

Play clip (excerpt): Pee Wee's Big Adventure - 1985

"Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?"
- CAPTAIN OVEUR (Peter Graves) in Airplane! (1980)

Play clip (excerpt): Airplane! - 1980

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the armies of the North, General of the Felix legions, loyal servant to the true Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."
- MAXIMUS (Russell Crowe) in Gladiator (2000)

Play clip (excerpt): Gladiator - 2000

"Well, bring the dog, I love animals. I'm a great cook. Come on."
- ALEX FORREST (Glenn Close) in Fatal Attraction (1987)
Play clip (excerpt): Fatal Attraction - 1987

"And one day, not long from now, my looks will go. They will discover I can't act, and I will become some sad middle-aged woman who looks a bit like someone who was famous for a while."
- ANNA SCOTT (Julia Roberts) in Notting Hill (1999)
Play clip (excerpt): Notting Hill - 1999

"Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not 'every man for himself.' And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked 'em up."
- WANDA (Jamie Lee Curtis) in A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

Play clip (excerpt): A Fish Called Wanda - 1988

"Empire had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings. All Jedi had was a bunch of Muppets."
- DANTE (Brian O'Halloran) in Clerks (1994)

Play clip (excerpt): Clerks - 1994

"My daughter is in pain...Give my daughter the shot!"
- AURORA GREENWAY (Shirley MacLaine) in Terms of Endearment (1983)

Play clip (excerpt): Terms of Endearment - 1983

"Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring; besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. It's more democratic."
- CRASH DAVIS (Kevin Costner) in Bull Durham (1988)

Play clip (excerpt): Bull Durham - 1988

- "You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! Now evidently, my cycloptic colleague informs me that that can't be done. Uh, can you remind me what I pay you people for? Honestly, throw me a bone here. What do we have?"
- "Sea bass."
- "Right."
- DR. EVIL (Mike Myers) in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

Play clip (excerpt): Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery - 1997

"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."
- JESSICA RABBIT (Kathleen Turner) in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Play clips (excerpt): Who Framed Roger Rabbit - 1988 (short) Who Framed Roger Rabbit - 1988 (extended)

"Do you want me to strap her to the hood? What's the difference? She'll be fine. It's not as if it's gonna rain or something."
- CLARK GRISWOLD (Chevy Chase) in National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)

Play clip (excerpt): National Lampoon's Vacation - 1983

"When you first came into breakfast, when I first saw you, I thought you were handsome. Then, of course, you spoke. So, now that your, uh, soft, little underbelly's all exposed, tell me, why did you bring me here?"
- CAROL CONNELLY (Helen Hunt) in As Good As It Gets (1997)

Play clip (excerpt): As Good As It Gets  - 1997

"When it comes down to makin' out, whenever possible, put on side 1 of Led Zeppelin IV."
- MIKE DAMONE (Robert Romanus) in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

Play clip (excerpt): Fast Times at Ridgemont High - 1982

"I wanted to see exotic Vietnam, the jewel of Southeast Asia. I, uh, I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture, and kill them."
- PRIVATE JOKER (Matthew Modine) in Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Play clip (excerpt): Full Metal Jacket - 1987

"Look at that! Look how she moves! That's just like Jell-O on springs."
- JERRY (Jack Lemmon) in Some Like It Hot (1959)

Play clip (excerpt): Some Like It Hot - 1959

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
- MAXWELL SCOTT (Carleton Young) in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

Play clip (excerpt): The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - 1962

"Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more. It's contrast."
- VIRGINIA WOOLF (Nicole Kidman) in The Hours (2002)
Play clip (excerpt): The Hours - 2002

"Nobody's looking for a puppeteer in today's wintry economic climate."
- CRAIG SCHWARTZ (John Cusack) in Being John Malkovich (1999)

Play clip (excerpt): Being John Malkovich - 1999

"Jerry, d'you know the human head weighs eight pounds?"
- RAY (Jonathan Lipnicki) in Jerry Maguire (1996)
Play clip (excerpt): Jerry Maguire - 1996

"I can't believe I gave my panties to a geek."
- SAMANTHA (Molly Ringwald) in Sixteen Candles (1984)

Play clip (excerpt): Sixteen Candles - 1984



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