Introduction: Some of the most classic film lines or scenes are really only legendary and/or apocryphal, or they are merely movie misquotes , but after many years of repetition and being misquoted in subsequent films, they have become part of the filmgoing public's consciousness. Many of these examples are film quotes that were either commonly attributed wrongly, or in fact were never actually spoken.

Here are some prime examples:

• In The Virginian (1929), one of the earliest Western talkies, Gary Cooper's taunting line was not: "Smile when you call me that!", or "When ya call me that, smile!", but "If you wanna call me that, smile."
  
  Play 1929 clip: (88 KB)
  
  
• The legendary blood-sucking Count Dracula (Hungarian-born actor Bela Lugosi) never said "I want to suck your blood" in the Universal horror classic, Dracula (1931). However, the line was used in a humorous context by Dr. Tom Mason (Ned Bellamy) practicing his Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau) impersonation in director Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994).
  
  
• Often misquoted is Dr. Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) - yes, Frankenstein was the name of the mad scientist - and his shout of "It's alive" with the stirring of life within his non-human Monster (Boris Karloff), in Frankenstein (1931). Frankenstein has often been quoted as saying instead: "He's alive! Alive!" Mel Brooks' irreverent spoof Young Frankenstein (1974) featured grandson Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) resuming his late grandfather's experiments, and his loud exclamation of: "Alive. It's alive! IT'S ALIVE!" to bug-eyed Igor (Marty Feldman) and voluptuous lab assistant Inga (Teri Garr):
  
  Play 1931 clip: (18 KB)
  Play 1974 clip: (54 KB)
  
  
• The mobster refrain, "You dirty rat!" - was never said verbatim by James Cagney, although he did say something similar, "Mmm, that dirty, double-crossin' rat," in Blonde Crazy (1931). [In Home Alone (1990), Macauley Culkin watched a scene from a fictional B/W gangster film videotape titled, "Angels With Filthy Souls" (a take-off on the Cagney film Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)), in which a gangster shoots his girlfriend, while saying, "Take that, you dirty rat!"]
  
  
• Greta Garbo's most famous quote of all, "I want to be alone," was often thought to be non-existent or merely a statement of her reclusive nature in private life. However, it prominently appeared, with her famous accent spoken by the character Grusinskaya in Grand Hotel (1932):
  
  Play 1932 clip: (38 KB)
  
  
• "Me Tarzan, you Jane" - was a catchphrase inaccurately-quoted from Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932)
  

  Jane: (pointing to herself) Jane.
  Tarzan: (he points at her) Jane.
  Jane: And you? (she points at him) You?
  Tarzan: (stabbing himself proudly in the chest) Tarzan, Tarzan.
  Jane: (emphasizing his correct response) Tarzan.
  Tarzan: (poking back and forth each time) Jane. Tarzan. Jane. Tarzan...

  Play 1932 clip (excerpt): (356 KB)

• "You're going out (there) a youngster, but you're coming back a star!", "You're going out (on that stage) a nobody, (kid), but you're coming back a star!", or "You're going out a chorus girl, but you're coming back a star!" - all misquotes of the original line in 42nd Street (1933): "But you keep your feet on the ground and your head on those shoulders of yours and go out, and, Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!"
  
  Play 1933 clip: (91 KB)

• "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?" - was not spoken by Mae West in She Done Him Wrong (1933) - but she did restate the line in her final film Sextette (1978) to co-star George Hamilton. In the 1933 film, the bawdy actress did say, "Why don't you come up sometime 'n see me?," often misquoted as "Why, don't you come up and see me sometime?" or "Come up and see me sometime."
  
  Play 1933 clip: (22 KB)

• In the Laurel and Hardy classic comedy, Sons of the Desert (1933), Oliver Hardy exclaimed to partner Stan Laurel: "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" He did NOT say: "Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten us into."
  
  Play 1933 clip: (9 KB)

• In Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), Douglass Dumbrille did NOT say: "We have ways of making you talk." Instead, he said: "We have ways of making men talk."

• "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" - is actually an incorrect quote. In Disney's animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the wicked Queen asked: "Magic Mirror on the Wall, who is the Fairest one of all?" [The misquote was heard in Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988), 101 Dalmatians (1996), 54 (1998), and other films.]
  
  Play 1937 clip: (66 KB)
  
  
• "Come with me to the Casbah," followed by "we'll make beautiful music together" - was not said by Charles Boyer to co-star Hedy Lamarr in Algiers (1938); it was said by cartoon characters Yosemite Sam and Pepe LePew in subsequent Looney Tunes cartoons, among others; in fact, animator Chuck Jones based the Warner Brothers cartoon character Pepe LePew on Charles Boyer's Pepe Le Moko.
  
  
• "Elementary, my dear Watson!" - was a phrase never spoken by the lead character in the many Sherlock Holmes novels from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This quote was rather found in a film review in the New York Times on October 19, 1929. It became popularized only after its trademark use in The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1929) (the first Holmes film with sound), with Clive Brook and H. Reeves-Smith. It was also stated by Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes character in Twentieth Century Fox's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939). The closest phrases in Doyle's writings were in The Crooked Man ("Excellent!" I cried. "Elementary!", said he), and in The Adventure of the Cardboard Box ("It was very superficial, my dear Watson, I assure you").
  
  
• Rhett Butler's (Clark Gable) scandalous, swear-word farewell to Scarlett (Vivien Leigh) was NOT: "Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn", but: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" in Gone With the Wind (1939). [The misquote was heard in Clue (1985).]
  
  Play 1939 clip: (42 KB)
  
  Contrary to popular opinion, this was not the first use of the word 'damn' in a film. It reportedly was said a few times in Pygmalion (1938, UK), and in Glorifying the American Girl (1929). Also, the phrase "March and sweat the whole damned day" appeared on a dialogue card in the silent epic war film The Big Parade (1925).
  
  
• "Judy...Judy...Judy" - was falsely attributed to Cary Grant. In Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Grant said the name 'Judy' numerous times to costar Rita Hayworth (playing a character named Judith McPherson), but never repeated her name in rapid succession.
  
  
• The most beloved family film, The Wizard of Oz (1939) has had problems with one of its most famous lines spoken by Judy Garland (as Dorothy Gale) to her dog: "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." It's generally misquoted as: "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" or "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto." [The second misquote was heard in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989).]
  
  Play 1939 clip: (73 KB)
  
  
• Quite often, this actual quote has been adapted or abbreviated. The original lengthy line was from Knute Rockne: All-American (1940), spoken by team coach Knute Rockne (Pat O'Brien) as a pep-talk to his losing team during half-time: "And the last thing he said to me, 'Rock,' he said, 'sometime when the team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper." It has often just been stated as "Win one for the Gipper," or "Win this one for the Gipper." Rockne's most famous player, George Gipp (Ronald Reagan), was a real-life football star who died young of pneumonia and provided an inspiring anecdote to his coach.