Sunday, June 18, 2006

Movie Quotes

My buddies from high school and I can carry on entire conversations without speaking an original word or uttering an original thought; not because we are incapable but because we love to quote movies. One of them, Slink, will call out of the blue, every so often and just say something like...."You ask for miracles Theo...I give you the F....B...I...." and I am obliged to reply something like "Yippee kaiyee Mother-'F'er" or another line from...come on now...Die Hard. Slink's wife, who is a very nice woman doesn't speak movie qoute. He needs to share with someone who will appreciate him on that level. That's why I'm here.

I had been married for roughly 2-3 years when my wife and I finally watched the movie Caddyshack together. It was the first time she had ever seen the movie. About half way through the movie she looked at me with this I caught you red-handed kinda grin.

"You're a jerk," she said
"Huh? What did I do?" I replied
"All this time I thought you were a funny guy when in reality all you have been doing is quoting this stupid movie."
I laughed sheepishly..."Yeah...what's your point?" I shot back rather pleased with myself.

You see there is a subtlety to correctly using a movie quote. Slipping a line into converstation, where if someone were paying enough attention and familiar enough with the line, they would reply with the next line of the movie. If the person on the other end of the conversation missed the reference, there might a be a brief pause, as if to ask with their eyes, "I'm sorry what was that?" If the line was subtle enough and appropriate enough the question never really gets asked.

Then there are those quotes that just get shouted out of nowhere for fun. Our friend Cynthia, lived with us for a couple of months, several years back. She and my wife our best friends. The two of them spent a lot of time watching A Few Good Men while she was here. There was an awful lot of:

"You want answers?"
" I want the truth."
"You can't handle the truth"

I have a new line to add to the databanks of favorites, from The Chronicles of the Narnia (as my four year old calls it) or the Chronic-what-cles of Narnia as my friends Chris Parnell and Andy Sandberg would call it.











Mr. Tumnus: (of Aslan) "He's not a tame lion."
Lucy Pevensie: "No... but he's good."


Do you speak Movie Quote?

15 comments:

Len said...

I do speak Movie Quote. That was my favorite game to play in the van during youth trips.

trace said...

"...and I swear, on the souls of my grandchildren..."

yes, I do speak movie quote, but not as much since synthia moved. her and I had this Wayne's World thing between the 2 of us...boy, I sure do miss that.

Anonymous said...

Trace: "...that I will not be the one to break the peace we've made here today."
I have so many favorite movie quotes, I can't pick. umm...
"Do you love him, Loretta?"
"No."
"Good. If you love em they'll drive you crazy cuz they know they can."(Moonstruck)
and...
"They called him Freddy Two-Times cuz he said everything twice.
Freddy: "I gotta go get the papers, get the papers." (Goodfellas)

Anonymous said...

While my fluency of Movie Quote is not as widespread as yours, I do speak a certain dialect. What's especially appalling to me is not being caught by someone else (usually my wife) but watching a film I haven't seen in a long time and realizing that certain phrases have become part of my everyday conversations, yet I'd forgotten the origins. (Usually from Uncle Buck, Animal House, Meatballs, etc.)

TK said...

ah yes uncle ward the classics...

Trace and Stacey...women quoting the Godfather...I love it.

If either one of you can quote from Scarface I'll be really impressed.

Cyn said...

I can handle the bullets, the bombs, and the blood. I don't want money and I don't want medals. What I do want is for you to stand there in your f--gity white uniform and....

my love of movie-speak is the reason for my own blog title...recognize which movie?

Anonymous said...

Say hello to my little friend! (machine gun)
In all honesty, I have never seen the movie. I just know that.
and...
"Brave Clarice. You will let me know when the lambs stop screaming, won't you?" (The Silence of the Lambs. Everybody says the one about the fava beans.)

TK said...

stace-nice job on the scarface quote.

cp-I embarassed to admit it but I can't come up with the movie the name of your blog is from...give me hint

Cyn said...

ok, t - here's a couple hints...

"don't drive angry"

"i like to drink to world peace"

-cyn

TK said...

I guessed ground hog's day but Gail immediately shot that down like I had uttered some kind of blasphemy.

aahhhh what does she know....

Anonymous said...

"He likes to butt things with his head."

"Where does he get this obsessive behavior?"

"It was Abby something...Abby Normal"

"As your lying on your deathbed, would you trade all your days, from this day until that, for just one chance, one chance for freedom!"

"I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the very blanket of protection I provide!"

"I was at woodstock! I peed in a field!"

"Jerk that smokewagon and throw down!"

"An educated man. Now I know I hate him."

"I want my two dollars."

"I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen."

"And Emmett, they took the boy."

"HELLO CLEVLAND!"

"And we pruned the hedges!"

"Are gringos falling from the sky?"

"Red like a rose, or red like a tomato?"

"We lost alot of good men out there." "You lost alot of men on the Yankees?"

"The painting was a gift Todd, and I am taking it with me."

"Looks like I caught this guy right after Thanksgiving dinner."

I think my addiction for movie quoting has been reactivated!!

Gaily

Anonymous said...

On my trip to New Orleans we passed the superdome like 85 times. On pass 84, I yelled out "Look kids big ben and parliment!" No one in my minivan got my movie quote and I wanted to crawl under the seat.

Gail

Erin said...

I must have been raised by wolves in the deep, deep wilds... because I can only quote ONE line from a movie. I'm 38 years old, and all I've got is...

Bueller
Bueller
Bueller
Bueller
Bueller

Cyn said...

awesome gaily! i think i need to move back in with you guys so i can catch up my frame of reference...i had to look up the wedding crashers quotes! never saw it, but will now!
others that came to mind after reading yours:
"happy, put that down!" "yeah, I know!"

"he has an ear inf--tion, but -its ok!!"
-cyn

tonymyles said...

I am fluent in "movie quote" lingo but unfortunately one of my friends is stuck in it. It's a bit annoying when we're actually trying to have a conversation about something serious...

aw well...

"I'll most likely kill (him) in the morning."