Film Quotes Returns!

Paul Newman in The Verdict

Last Spring I revived the film quotes feature on this blog after seven years of dormancy. Since then I've compiled lists of quotes from foreign films, movies from the 1970s, Marx Brothers movies, Preston Sturges films and  my all-time favorites. In days of yore I had a list strictly from Woody Allen movies, and one with quotes strictly from female characters. Today I present another generic list with quotes from all genre of American films from the 1930s through last year. Enjoy!

Damn right I'm done. I'm going to ask for a mistrial. I'm going to request that you disqualify yourself from sitting on this case. I'm going to take a transcript to the State and ask that they impeach your ass! — Paul Newman as Frank Galvin in The Verdict (1983) Lumet.

I'm a connoisseur of roads. I've been tasting roads my whole life. This road will never end. It probably goes all around the world. — River Phoenix as Mike in My Own Private Idaho (1991) Van Sant.

It's no use, Schulz, you might as well come clean. Why don't you just tell them it's me, because I'm really the illegitimate son of Hitler, and after the Germans win the war, you're going to make me the Gauleiter of Zinzinnati! — William Holden as Sefton in Stalag 17 (1953) Wilder.

I didn't want to be born. You didn't want me to be born. It's been a calamity on both sides. — Bette Davis as Charlotte Vale in Now Voyager (1942) Rapper.

Here, taste my tuna casserole and tell if I put in too much hot fudge. — Woody Allen as Larry Lipton in Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) Allen.

Frances McDormand in Nomadland

We be the bitches of the badlands. — Frances McDormand as Fern in Nomadland (2020) Zhao.

Carriages waited at the curb for the entire performance. It was widely known in New York, but never acknowledged, that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it. — Joanne Woodward as the narrator in The Age of Innocence (1993) Scorsese.

I feel sorry for you. What it must feel like to want to pull the switch! Ever since you walked into this room, you've been acting like a self-appointed public avenger. You want to see this boy die because you personally want it, not because of the facts! You're a sadist! — Henry Fonda as Juror #8 in 12 Angry Men (1957) Lumet.

This country is run on epidemics, where you been? Price fixing, crooked TV shows, inflated expense accounts. How many honest men you know? Why you separate the saints from the sinners, you're lucky to wind up with Abraham Lincoln. Now I want out of this spread what I put into it, and I say let us dip our bread into some of that gravy while it is still hot. — Paul Newman as Hud Bannon in Hud (1963) Ritt.

Now you listen to me. If we lose this place, then you're goin' back to beggin' for every single meal. Mr. Will, They're gonna put you in a state home. And I'm gonna lose what's left of my family. I'm not gonna let that happen. I don't care what it takes. I don't care if it kills me. I don't care if it kills you. I'm not gonna give up. And if the two of you do, you can go straight to Hell! — Sally Field as Edna Spalding in Places in the Heart (1984) Benton.

Micro changes in air density, my ass. -- Sigourney Weaver as Ripley in Alien (1979) Scott.

Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums

I'm very sorry for your loss. Your mother was a terribly attractive woman. -- Gene Hackman as Royal Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) W. Anderson.

Ever since you moved in here you've been causin' me grief. Nobody wants to hang around you. You don't drink, you don't smoke. You don't do anything you're supposed to do! -- Shelly Duval as Millie in Three Women (1977) Altman.

It's for sure a white man's world in America. Look here: I raised that boy since he was the size of a piss-ant. And I'll say right now, he never learned to read and write. No, sir. Had no brains at all. Was stuffed with rice pudding between th' ears. Shortchanged by the Lord, and dumb as a jackass. Look at him now! Yes, sir, all you've gotta be is white in America, to get whatever you want. Gobbledy-gook! — Ruth Attaway as Louise in Being There (1979) Ashby.

Aww, what's the matter? You afraid I'll tell Jim Morrison you were dancing to Paul Revere & The Raiders? Are they not cool enough for you? — Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) Tarantino.

My life is like a maze that I continually think I've gotten out of only to find another corner right in front of me. — Emma Stone as Abigail in The Favorite (2018) Lanthimos.

Oh, and you're ten times worse than he is. At least he had some excuse for kicking me around. He was in love with another woman. But you double-crossed me for the sake of a newspaper. Well, marry the paper and be the proud father of a lot of headlines. — Jean Harlow as Gladys in Libeled Lady (1936) Conway.

Cut it out! Cut it out! Cut it out! The hell's the matter with you? Stupid! We're all very different people. We're not Watusi. We're not Spartans. We're Americans, with a capital 'A', huh? You know what that means? Do ya? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We're the underdog. — Bill Murray as John Winger in Stripes (1981) I. Reitman.

Zero Mostel in The Producers

How could this happen? I was so careful. I picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast. Where did I go right? -- Zero Mostel as Max Bialystok in The Producers (1967) Brooks.

I've heard a lot about you, too, Doc. You left your mark around in Deadwood, Denver and places. In fact, a man could almost follow your trail goin' from graveyard to graveyard. — Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp in My Darling Clementine (1946) Ford.

You go back and tell that fake Svengali I wouldn't wipe my feet on him if he were starving, and I hope he is.— Carole Lombard as Lily Garland in Twentieth Century (1934) Hawks.

You're my father again now, are you? And what were you when you encouraged me to throw my life away? Silly schoolgirls are always getting seduced by glamorous older men. — Carey Mulligan as Jenny in An Education (2009) Scherfig.

Yes, I'm an author of a young adult series. It's disturbingly popular. I like your decor. Is it, shabby chic? —Charlize Theron as Mavis Gray in Young Adult (2011) J. Reitman.

Now listen to me you benighted muckers. We're going to teach you soldiering. The world's noblest profession. When we're done with you, you'll be able to slaughter your enemies like civilized men. — Michael Caine as Daniel Dravot in The Man Who Would Be King (1975) Huston.

Then why did God plague us with the capacity to think? Mr. Brady, why do you deny the one faculty of man that raises him above the other creatures of the earth, the power of his brain to reason? What other merit have we? The elephant is larger, the horse is swifter and stronger, the butterfly is far more beautiful, the mosquito is more prolific. Even the simple sponge is more durable. But does a sponge think? — Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind (1960) Kramer.

Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not Mr. Lebowski. You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing. — Jeff Bridges as The Dude in The Big Lebowski (1998) Coens.