Recently Internet Movie Database offered as one of its daily polls the chance to vote on the best movie quote so far of the new millennium. The nominees sadly proved once again that the art of the filmmaking in America is currently at its lowest ebb ever. Not only has this decade witnessed the fewest truly great movies of any decade, but so far it appears not to have produced one single truly popular movie line that will make it to classic status.
The winner of the IMDB poll for the best movie quote of the new millennium is a case in point of the total lack of creativity currently in place in Hollywood. What was the winner? “My precious” from that cure for insomnia The Lord of the Rings. In the first place, I think this should be considered a classic book quote rather than a classic movie quote. Along the same line, so should “Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do,” from The Passion of the Christ, originally found in the Bible, of course, and “With great power comes great responsibility,” from Spiderman, originally from the comic book. “Good night and good luck,” has, of course, been with us since Edward R. Murrow originally signed off with it on his news reports fifty years ago.
As if those quotes weren’t suspect enough as being great movie quotes, consider such other questionable nominees as:
“They’re called boobs, Ed,” from Erin Brokovich.
“Are you not entertained?” from Gladiator.
“I am a golden god!” from Almost Famous.
“Wilson!” from Cast Away.
Not to mention this one: “The son becomes the father and the father the son.” Does anyone even know what movie that is from? Doubtful since Superman Returns returned to obscurity after its first week of release.
Honestly, how many people go around quoting those lines? A great movie quote should be something that saturates everyday discourse. And it should be immediately recognizable by at least a large minority of patrons in a fast food restaurant. For instance, if I were to say, “Be the ball” most people would know what movie that came from. Ditto: “And don’t call me Shirley.” Some great movie quotes are, of course, great precisely because of their obscurity.
“Match me, Sidney” is a terrific movie quote despite not being recognized by substantial number of moviegoers. It is best used when one wants to assert authority over someone else. It’s from the movie The Sweet Smell of Success and Burt Lancaster says it to Tony Curtis to both belittle Curtis’ character, deepen the sense of his own importance among the other characters present, and getting his cigarette lit for him. So, obviously, a great movie quote doesn’t achieve legacy simply by being well-recognized.
It is, of course, very difficult to determine what makes a movie quote so memorable. Often it depends upon the delivery. For instance, “I’m walking here!” gets its power from Dustin Hoffman’s acting ability in Midnight Walker, as well as the circumstance of the scene. Other classic movie quotes achieve status due to the fact that it can used in any number of circumstances. “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse,” springs to mind.
And, of course, some movie quotes make it into the public vernacular due to advertising. I’m back” from the Terminator and “Go ahead, make my day,” from the Dirty Harry movie Sudden Impact were clearly both written with the express intention of creating a catchphrase. And if you doubt that is possible, then consider the lengths the filmmakers Snakes on a Plan have gone to create the catchphrase for a movie that hasn’t even been released yet but is already in the public consciousness.
If you go to the American Film Institute site and you peruse their list of the 100 best movie quotes of all time and then compare them to the nominees in the IMDB poll, it points to how really sad things have gotten. (Of course, some real stinkeroos did make it onto that list and some truly great quotes were left off.) Even leaving aside for the moment that those nominations were basically the work of one person, the fact remains that the reason he chose those lame quotes is because there aren’t that many universally recognized quotes from movies made this decade.
Anyone who has spent time in a high school classroom in the past two years will tell you that if you were to come up with a real list of great movie quotes from this decade, at least half of them would be quotes from Napoleon Dynamite. There can be little argument that Napoleon Dynamite is the most quotable movie since…well, probably since Caddyshack or Airplane. Maybe the problem for the guy that created the poll on IMDB is that he just couldn’t choose which Napoleon Dynamite quote was the best. Or maybe he just didn’t like it. I’ll tell you this, though, just about any quote from Napoleon Dynamite is more memorable than any of the quotes from that poll I’ve already mentioned, as well as these I haven’t:
“Did you drink and dial” from Sideways.
Mo cuishle means ‘My darling, my blood'” from Million Dollar Baby.
“Seven days,” from The Ring.
It is perhaps unfair to judge five and a half years of movie quotes based on the misguided nominations of one person. “Another quote entirely” came in third place in the poll. I how the results might have been different had some of these quotes made it onto the list:
“I’ll tell you what he said – he asked me to forcibly insert the Lifeline exercise card into my anus!” Donnie Darko.
“That suit, it’s…it’s incredible.” Napoleon Dynamite.
“I don’t believe in God, I believe in science.” Nacho Libre.
Silly Caucasian girl likes to play with samurai swords.” Kill Bill, Vol. I.
There are other good quotes, sure. And since I haven’t seen every movie made this decade, there are probably some good quotes I haven’t heard, or when I do hear them I don’t recognize them as movie quotes. But the fact remains that most of the movie quotes from the films released this decade simply don’t hold a candle to the movie quotes from decades past
With the exception of my pick for the best movie quote so far this decade, a quote that should have entered into mainstream use right up there with “You talking to me?” or “Here’s looking at you, kid.” This one is a true standout, in my opinion, and would be near the top in any decade. From Once Upon a Time in Mexico: “The man who wants nothing is invincible.”
Now that’s a great movie quote.
