I wandered into one of those countdown shows tonight and stayed to watch for a while. CBS was running AFI's 100 Years ...100 Movie Quotes and I'm a sucker for that kind of programming. I toggled back and forth between that and the Giants game and working/surfing on the laptop and reading a re-issue of sixties science fiction stories by Murray Leinster and couldn't have been happier (well, I could've been if I didn't have this damn cough). One cool thing about the countdown was that the top quotes were not dominated by lines from recent movies. Here's the top five:
1. Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
2. I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.
3. I coulda been a contender.
4. Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.
5. Here's looking at you, kid.
It's funny but I've really only watched one of these movies from beginning to end - Casablanca is one of my favorite movies and I watch it at least once a year. Of the others, I've seen bits and pieces from Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and slept through the second half of On the Waterfront. It's a bit embarassing but I've never watched any of The Godfather movies. So that's probably something I should take care of at some point in time.
Actually, I was surprised at how many movie lines I recognized and knew what movie they came from even though I may not have ever seen that movie in it's entirety. I've probably seen less than half of the movies represented by the list. And I recognized close to 90% of the lines. Gotta love cultural memory.
I'd probably add a few to that list just for me personally. There were a couple of lines that me and my friends wore out after seeing them in movies:
I'll make you famous - Emilio Estevez
I'm your huckleberry - Val Kilmer
Inconceivable - Wallace Shawn
And many more if I gave it some thought.
