Golden Age of Hollywood Book Club discussion

In this thread, spout off any line of dialogue --from any classic flick --which might happen to be crossing your mind at the moment.

Example:
"Sundance, next time I say let's go someplace like Bolivia ...let's GO SOMEPLACE LIKE BOLIVIA"

Provide the name of the movie too of course, as a courtesy where people might be unfamiliar with it. (Exception: if it's a mega-famous snippet which anyone should know very well, then you may forego that option. But be prepared to satisfy anyone's curiosity, afterwards).

Frankly,my dear,I don't give a damn
Rhett Butler,Gone with the Wind

(or David Doyle jeering at Elliott Gould in 'Capricorn One')

"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son..."
--Animal House

In The Big Sleep, Bogey is told that he "isn't very tall". He replies "I try to be". Love it.

Not that I agree with this line,but Cary Grant's character said it in Operation Petticoat,which I watched recently :
"When a woman is below 21,she is protected by law.When she is over 65,she is protected by nature.Anywhere in between,she is fair game."

"We deal in lead, friend."
--The Magnificent Seven

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.You win a war by making the other bastard die for his country". General Patton,(George C.Scott),from the movie Patton 1970.

“What we've got here is failure to communicate.” Cool Hand Luke, 1967

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
The Wizard of Oz

Oddball sez:

"To a New Yorker like you, a hero is some type of weird sandwich, not some nut who takes on three tigers!"

Joe E. Brown's last line in 'Some Like It Hot': "Well, nobody's perfect."

"Bond, James Bond."
"My name is Bond, James Bond."

"I call that bold talk from a one-eyed fat man!"

"What a dump", spoken by Bette Davis in one of the worst films I have ever seen...Beyond the Forest, made in the late 40s.

I love that line. Borrowed it for one of my own works last year.
And when its spoken, the woman should wave her cigarette holder in circles around in the air; other hand on her hip. Nose in air.

Never was quite sure which of her outings it came from, so ... thanks!

Well, don't watch it unless you want to become nauseous. It is really bad. How Joseph Cotton got talked into co-starring is beyond me.

"Gdmnit, you're supposed to be the die-hard realist and I'm supposed to be the starry-eyed dreamer!!"

Holden accusing Dunaway in 'Network'

"Hot towel! Hot towel!"

"I'll find this leak if it's the last thing I do..!"

"Niagara Falls! Slowly, he turned --step by step .. inch by inch ..."

(My favorite bits from The Three Stooges)

I had forgotten about the Niagara Falls bit. Thanks for giving me a chuckle.

Jill wrote: "In The Big Sleep, Bogey is told that he "isn't very tall". He replies "I try to be". Love it."

That whole sequence is fantastic. Doghouse O'Reilly. And then when he tells the dad she needs to be weaned.

'Niagara Falls' is actually an old, old, vaudeville routine. I looked it up once, fascinating backstory. I'll even quote it when I'm out on a pub crawl and I see an old mate. Typically every guy in a barroom knows this; we all watched the Stooges at some point.

Jill wrote: ""What a dump", spoken by Bette Davis in one of the worst films I have ever seen...Beyond the Forest, made in the late 40s."

Just realized that's the movie that Liz and Richard argue about in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Never seen it though. I kinda want to. I like seeing Bette be nasty. The Letter is fantastic.

I loved The Letter but I thought Herbert Marshall was an odd choice for Bette's husband. I like Marshall but somehow he seemed miscast.....maybe it's just me.

Be warned about watching Beyond The Forest. It could be "so bad, it's good" but I can't even put it in that category....it is just so bad it's bad!

"Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." Blanche DuBois - 'A Streetcar Named Desire'

That is a great line!!

more from '38 and more 'Adventures of Robin Hood' (Robin meets Little John on a narrow footbridge).

Robin Hood: "Give way, little man."
Little John: "Only to a better man than me'self."
Robin Hood: "He stands before you."

And what happens next is lots of fun as is Robin's first meeting with Friar Tuck.

I love that movie. Flynn and Rathbone's sword fight is so exciting even though you know who will win.

one more from the Stooges:

"You are now ...in ...SING-SING"

"Humbug!" Just saw 'A Christmas Carol' for the umpteenth time. Wonder what it is about certain stories that you can watch over and over?

Another great line from the film is the one in which Mrs.Dilber (Scrooge's housekeeper) delivers. Scrooge gives her a guinea coin as a present after he has changed his ways, even trying to stand on his head since he's so happy. She stares at it for a moment and then says, "What's this for?"

Scrooge replies, "I'll give you one guess."

She looks him up and down and says, "To keep me mouth shut?"

"...but--but --that was a priceless Steinway!"
"--not any more!"
Peter Sellers 'Return of the Pink Panther'

Nobody could snap off a witty line like the great Clifton Webb. This has to be one of my favorites from the film Laura

"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified. I have never discovered an other subject quite so worthy of my attention"

"Anyone gets hit, sing out. Slap iron to it. It the fastest way to stop the bleeding." --Josey Wales

"When you want to shoot? Shoot, don't talk."
--Tuco Benedicto Pacífico Juan ía Ramírez

Caz Dolowicz: "Why didn't ya hijack a jet plane like everybody else?"
Mr. Green: "We're afraid to fly, okay?"

--Pelham123

Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the War Room!

I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

"After all, tomorrow is another day "........Vivian Leigh in Gone
With The Wind

And one of the greatest and funniest of Groucho Marx's lines from Duck Soup insulting Margaret Dumont...........
Remember you are fighting for this woman's honor which is probably more than she ever did.'

"I'm going move that toe", John Wayne, Ward Bond in, The Wings of Eagles.

Watched, The Wings of Eagles, in the early sixties at the big screen and never have forgotten that line and song number.

"You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mister Beale --and I won't have it!"

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Rick to Louis

Great closing line!!!

One of the best!

The writers probably could never have had a better ending to that film than Rick and Louis walking away in the fog to join the Free French.

Well, both men had fallen into cynicism; and forgotten about romance. The Lazlos reminded them of their better purpose in life.

from 'Ride the Pink Horse'

Wanda Hendrix: "Joo --joo don' like --my hair??"
Robert Montgomery: "Eh, it's okay for mice to nest in ..."

"You ain't gonna drink that in here ..."
--Ben Johnson, 'Shane'

"Mister Corliss ...what exactly is this ...'Super Bowl' ...?"

--Robert Shaw, John Frankenheimer's "Black Sunday"

"That's a direct question, Ma'am ...and deserves a direct answer"