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Frankly, Rhett has top film quote:
AFI names 100 greatest movies lines

Reel Classics, June 22, 2005

 
The immortal line "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" from 1939's Gone With The Wind has topped the American Film Institute's poll to find the most memorable movie quote ever.

Clark Gable's quote forced Marlon Brando's line from 1972's The Godfather - "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse" - into second place.

Brando also came in third on the list with his "I coulda been a contender" quote from 1954's On The Waterfront.

The AFI distributed a ballot with 400 nominated movie quotes to 1,500 jurors, including film industry professionals, critics and historians.  The jury was also permitted to write in votes for up to five quotes that were not already on the ballot.

They were instructed to base their selections on both legacy (how a quote has helped immortalize the film) and cultural impact.  Only English language films were considered, and song lyrics were not eligible.

Casablanca (1942) has the most quotes in the top 100, with "Here's looking at you kid", uttered by Humphrey Bogart's Rick Blaine, the highest of the six at number five.  The most quotable film's success also made 1942 the most represented year on the list with nine quotes from four films.

Gone With The Wind and The Wizard of Oz both have three quotes on the list (making 1939 the second most represented year), with Dorothy's line "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore" highest for Oz at number four.

The earliest line in the top 100 was "Wait a minute, wait a minute - you ain't heard nothin' yet", from 1927's The Jazz Singer.

The most recent inclusion was "My precious", said by Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in 2002.

Of the actors included, Humphrey Bogart has the most mentions on the list, with five quotes from various films included in the top 100.

Of the actresses included, Bette Davis and Vivien Leigh both delivered three of the top 100 lines.

Screenwriting brothers Phillip and Julius Epstein wrote the most lines included on the list, including six from Casablanca and one from Yankee Doodle Dandy - "My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you." (No. 97) - delivered by James Cagney.

AFI director Jean Picker Firstenberg said of the quotes: "They get into our everyday language. They become a common language that we can all relate to and empathize with."

© 2005 Reel Classics

# Quote

Movie

Year

1

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

GONE WITH THE WIND

1939

2

I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.

THE GODFATHER

1972

3

You don't understand!  I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.

ON THE WATERFRONT

1954

4

Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

THE WIZARD OF OZ

1939

5

Here's looking at you, kid.

CASABLANCA

1942

6

Go ahead, make my day.

SUDDEN IMPACT

1983

7

All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.

SUNSET BLVD.

1950

8

May the Force be with you.

STAR WARS

1977

9

Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night.

ALL ABOUT EVE

1950

10

You talking to me?

TAXI DRIVER

1976

11

What we've got here is failure to communicate.

COOL HAND LUKE

1967

12

I love the smell of napalm in the morning. 

APOCALYPSE NOW

1979

13

Love means never having to say you're sorry.

LOVE STORY

1970

14

The stuff that dreams are made of.

THE MALTESE FALCON

1941

15

E.T. phone home.

E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL

1982

16

They call me Mister Tibbs!

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT

1967

17

Rosebud.

CITIZEN KANE

1941

18

Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

WHITE HEAT

1949

19

I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!

NETWORK

1976

20

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

CASABLANCA

1942

21

A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

1991

22

Bond. James Bond.

DR. NO

1962

23

There's no place like home. 

THE WIZARD OF OZ

1939

24

I am big!  It's the pictures that got small.

SUNSET BLVD.

1950

25

Show me the money!

JERRY MAGUIRE

1996

26

Why don't you come up sometime and see me?

SHE DONE HIM WRONG

1933

27

I'm walking here!  I'm walking here!

MIDNIGHT COWBOY

1969

28

Play it, Sam.  Play 'As Time Goes By.'

CASABLANCA

1942

29

You can't handle the truth!

A FEW GOOD MEN

1992

30

I want to be alone.

GRAND HOTEL

1932

31

After all, tomorrow is another day!

GONE WITH THE WIND

1939

32

Round up the usual suspects.

CASABLANCA

1942

33

I'll have what she's having.

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY

1989

34

You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT

1944

35

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

JAWS

1975

36

Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE

1948

37

I'll be back.

THE TERMINATOR

1984

38

Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES

1942

39

If you build it, he will come.

FIELD OF DREAMS

1989

40

Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

FORREST GUMP

1994

41

We rob banks.

BONNIE AND CLYDE

1967

42

Plastics.

THE GRADUATE

1967

43

We'll always have Paris.

CASABLANCA

1942

44

I see dead people.

THE SIXTH SENSE

1999

45

Stella!  Hey, Stella!

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

1951

46

Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.

NOW, VOYAGER

1942

47

Shane.  Shane.  Come back!

SHANE

1953

48

Well, nobody's perfect.

SOME LIKE IT HOT

1959

49

It's alive!  It's alive!

FRANKENSTEIN

1931

50

Houston, we have a problem.

APOLLO 13

1995

51

You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?

DIRTY HARRY

1971

52

You had me at "hello."

JERRY MAGUIRE

1996

53

One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.

ANIMAL CRACKERS

1930

54

There's no crying in baseball!

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

1992

55

La-dee-da, la-dee-da.

ANNIE HALL

1977

56

A boy's best friend is his mother.

PSYCHO

1960

57

Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.

WALL STREET

1987

58

Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.

THE GODFATHER II

1974

59

As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again.

GONE WITH THE WIND

1939

60

Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!

SONS OF THE DESERT

1933

61

Say "hello" to my little friend!

SCARFACE

1983

62

What a dump.

BEYOND THE FOREST

1949

63

Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me.  Aren't you?

THE GRADUATE

1967

64

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

DR. STRANGELOVE

1964

65

Elementary, my dear Watson.

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

1929

66

Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape.

PLANET OF THE APES

1968

67

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.

CASABLANCA

1942

68

Here's Johnny!

THE SHINING

1980

69

They're here!

POLTERGEIST

1982

70

Is it safe?

MARATHON MAN

1976

71

Wait a minute, wait a minute.  You ain't heard nothin' yet!

THE JAZZ SINGER

1927

72

No wire hangers, ever!

MOMMIE DEAREST

1981

73

Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?

LITTLE CAESAR

1930

74

Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown.

CHINATOWN

1974

75

I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

1951

76

Hasta la vista, baby.

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY

1991

77

Soylent Green is people!

SOYLENT GREEN

1973

78

Open the pod bay doors, HAL.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY

1968

79

Striker: Surely you can't be serious. 

Rumack: I am serious…and don't call me Shirley.

AIRPLANE!

1980

80

Yo, Adrian!

ROCKY

1976

81

Hello, gorgeous.

FUNNY GIRL

1968

82

Toga!  Toga!

NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE

1978

83

Listen to them.  Children of the night.  What music they make.

DRACULA

1931

84

Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.

KING KONG

1933

85

My precious.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: TWO TOWERS

2002

86

Attica! Attica!

DOG DAY AFTERNOON

1975

87

Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!

42ND STREET

1933

88

Listen to me, mister. You're my knight in shining armor.  Don't you forget it.  You're going to get back on that horse, and I'm going to be right behind you, holding on tight, and away we're gonna go, go, go!

ON GOLDEN POND

1981

89

Tell 'em to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper.

KNUTE ROCKNE ALL AMERICAN

1940

90

A martini.  Shaken, not stirred.

GOLDFINGER

1964

91

Who's on first.

THE NAUGHTY NINETIES

1945

92

Cinderella story.  Outta nowhere.  A former greenskeeper, now, about to  become the Masters champion.  It looks like a mirac...It's in the hole!  It's in the hole!  It's in the hole!

CADDYSHACK

1980

93

Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!

AUNTIE MAME

1958

94

I feel the need - the need for speed!

TOP GUN

1986

95

Carpe diem.  Seize the day, boys.  Make your lives extraordinary.

DEAD POETS SOCIETY

1989

96

Snap out of it!

MOONSTRUCK

1987

97

My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you.

YANKEE DOODLE DANDY

1942

98

Nobody puts Baby in a corner.

DIRTY DANCING

1987

99

I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!

THE WIZARD OF OZ

1939

100

I'm king of the world!

TITANIC

1997

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