No, this isn’t a blog about spending the sabbath in stir. It is, however, a blog about this writer making an admission. I admit it, I am a movie FANATIC. And there’s just nothing I love more than a classic movie line. I quote ’em. I wake up thinking about ’em. Anyone who knows me will verify this (and roll their eyes when my back’s turned to them). I fully believe my adoration of great movies (and movie lines in particular) stems from being a writer. I mean, I love words. And when words are put together just so, whether a sentence, turn of phrase, a witty retort, a declaration of the soul, or a two-minute speech, it’s magical.

When I think back on the paths I perhaps should have taken (as we are all wont to do from time to time) I am most the time convinced I should have gone to film school and become a screenwriter. Dialogue has always been one of my strengths, and what are movie scripts if not 90% dialogue? I have taken a few screenwriting courses—nothing fancy or anywhere noteworthy—just to learn a bit about the craft itself, the format, etc.

Since I climbed up on my soapbox yesterday, I decided today should then be Shawshank Sunday. The Shawshank Redemption is one of my favorite dramas of all time. I grew up an adoring Stephen King fan, and his novella (on which the movie was based)—Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption—was one of the horror master’s best works.

[Standard Spoiler Alert/Disclaimer: From here on in I will be quoting movies and sometimes talking about the context of the scene in which the quote appears. I will try to announce which movie early on, but be forewarned—there will be minor spoilers (I’m not going to tell you whodunnit, if that’s what you’re thinking.) Also, if you click on the pics, many have links to further slake your movie thirst.]

There is one particular quote from Shawshank that is inked forever on the skin of my soul. The year my son died I was watching Shawshank for the hundredth time and when Tim Robbins’ character Andy Dufresne said the following, I broke into tears:

“I was in the path of the tornado… I just didn’t expect the storm would last as long as it has.“

Followed by:

“Get busy livin’, or get busy dyin’.“

For me great movie lines don’t just sound good or look sexy on paper—they convey a key moment or emotion or theme, and they do it with a minimal number of words.

Thomas Jefferson said: “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”

I just didn’t expect the storm would last as long as it has.

Thirteen words. In one sentence Andy Dufresne summed up twenty years of torture in the most abominable prison there was—locked away for two decades for a crime he didn’t commit. At this point in the movie he’s been gang-raped, beaten too many times to count, and has just served two months in solitary confinement, locked in a room with no windows, no light, no bed, and no sound.

Thirteen words.

I just didn’t expect the storm would last as long as it has.

Frank Darabont wrote the screenplay for the movie (and directed it). In some ways I admire screenwriters more than novelists. Of course it’s a little like comparing apples and oranges. To me, novelists tell a story—tens of thousands of words. Each word still precious, but the medium allows for a quite detailed construction of the tale. A screenwriter who adapts a book for the screen must take the essence of the great novel (or in the case of Shawshank, novella) and convey the most important, moving themes and moments in a handful of monumental pieces of dialogue and a few dozen key pictorials.

Some of the best quotes from The Shawshank Redemption, including the one above, were written by Darabont, not King. There is no doubt in my mind that Stephen King was the master storyteller in this instance, but Frank Darabont was the poet who condensed the author’s words into a three hour, heart-wrenching, soul-searching, redemption—a rebirth, through hope.

Ironically, my favorite “quote” from Shawshank isn’t a quote at all, but rather the core theme itself, and it’s printed on the included version of the movie poster:

Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.

Of course not all great movie quotes are one-liners, or even short; some roll on long enough to fall into the category called monologues. There are two particular movie monologues that top all others for me. This first is my favorite:

Good Will Hunting (1997):

 

Will [after having just been asked why he wouldn’t want to come work for the NSA]: Why shouldn’t I work for the N.S.A.? That’s a tough one, but I’ll take a shot. Say I’m working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I’m real happy with myself, ’cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never met, never had no problem with, get killed. Now the politicians are sayin’, “Oh, send in the Marines to secure the area” ’cause they don’t give a shit. It won’t be their kid over there, gettin’ shot. Just like it wasn’t them when their number got called, ’cause they were pullin’ a tour in the National Guard. It’ll be some kid from Southie takin’ shrapnel in the ass. And he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, ’cause he’ll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile, he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And, of course, the oil companies used the skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain’t helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. And they’re takin’ their sweet time bringin’ the oil back, of course, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and fuckin’ play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain’t too long ’til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy’s out of work and he can’t afford to drive, so he’s got to walk to the fuckin’ job interviews, which sucks ’cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin’ him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he’s starvin’, ’cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat, the only blue plate special they’re servin’ is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I’m holdin’ out for somethin’ better. I figure fuck it, while I’m at it why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.

And who doesn’t get chills when they remember this next one?

A Few Good Men (1992):

 

Col. Jessep: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

Kaffee: Did you order the Code Red?

Col. Jessep: I did the job I…

Kaffee: Did you order the Code Red?

Col. Jessep: You’re Goddamn right I did!

Tombstone (1993):

Wyatt Earp: You gonna do somethin’ or just stand there and bleed?

~~~~~~~~~

Wyatt Earp: What makes a man like Ringo, Doc? What makes him do the things he does?

Doc Holliday: A man like Ringo has got a great big hole, right in the middle of him. He can never kill enough, or steal enough, or inflict enough pain to ever fill it.

Wyatt Earp: What does he need?

Doc Holliday: Revenge.

Wyatt Earp: For what?

Doc Holliday: Bein’ born.

 

Believe it or not, a large number of my favorite quotes are from comedies, and I quote no other movies as much as those from the canon of the late John Hughes. As far as I’m concerned, The Breakfast Club is perhaps the greatest comedy of all time (and I am always tempted, by the way, to declare a John Hughes film a “dramedy” because Hughes did best what any great writer knows to do and that is to add heart to each and every film he made, regardless of genre).

I literally could have spent the whole blog on nothing but Hughes’ movies. Maybe one day I will do a blog tribute to the master. He deserves one. The only JH movies I included are the next one, easily my favorite of his many epic films.

The Breakfast Club (1985):

Richard Vernon: My office is right across that hall. Any monkey business is ill-advised. Any questions?

John Bender: Yeah, I have a question. Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardobe?

Richard Vernon: You’ll get the answer to that question, Mr. Bender, next Saturday. Don’t mess with a bull, young man…you’ll get the horns.

~~~~~~~~~

Richard Vernon: You’re not fooling anyone, Bender. The next screw that falls out will be you.

John Bender: Eat my shorts.

Richard Vernon: What was that?

John Bender: Eat… My… Shorts.

Richard Vernon: You just bought yourself another Saturday.

John Bender: Ooh, I’m crushed.

Richard Vernon: You just bought one more.

John Bender: Well I’m free the Saturday after that. Beyond that, I’m going to have to check my calendar.

Richard Vernon: Good, cause it’s going to be filled. We’ll keep going. You want another one? Just say the word say it. Instead of going to prison you’ll come here. Are you through?

John Bender: No.

Richard Vernon: I’m doing society a favor.

John Bender: So?

Richard Vernon: That’s another one right now! I’ve got you for the rest of your natural born life if you don’t watch your step. You want another one?

John Bender: Yes.

Richard Vernon: You got it! You got another one right there! That’s another one pal!

Claire Standish: Cut it out!

Richard Vernon: You through?

John Bender: Not even close bud!

Richard Vernon: Good! You got one more right there!

John Bender: You really think I give a shit?

Richard Vernon: Another! You through?

John Bender: How many is that?

Brian Johnson: That’s seven including when we first came in and you asked Mr. Vernon whether Barry Manilow knew that he raided his closet.

Richard Vernon: Now it’s eight. You stay out of this.

Brian Johnson: Excuse me sir, it’s seven.

Richard Vernon: Shut up, Peewee.

~~~~~~~~~

Brian Johnson: Saturday, March 24,1984. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois, 60062. Dear Mr. Vernon, We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did was wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. What do you care? You see us as you want to see us – in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. You see us as a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Correct? That’s the way we saw each other at 7:00 this morning. We were brainwashed.

Brian Johnson: But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain…

Andrew Clark: …and an athlete…

Allison Reynolds: …and a basket case…

Claire Standish: …a princess…

John Bender: …and a criminal…

Brian Johnson: Does that answer your question?… Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (1987):

[waking up after sharing the same bed on the motel]

Neal: Del… Why did you kiss my ear?

Del: Why are you holding my hand?

Neal: [frowns] Where’s your other hand?

Del: Between two pillows…

Neal: Those aren’t pillows!

~~~~~~~~~

Del: I’ve never seen a guy get picked up by his testicles before. Lucky for you that cop passed by when he did, or you’d be lifting your schnutz to tie your shoes.

~~~~~~~~~

[another driver is trying to alert them that they’re driving on the wrong side of the interstate]

Neal: He says we’re going the wrong way…

Del: Oh, he’s drunk. How would he know where we’re going?

Braveheart (1995):

Veteran: Fight? Against that? No! We will run. And we will live.

William Wallace: Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you’ll live… at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin’ to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take… OUR FREEDOM!

Gladiator (2000):

Maximus: My name is Gladiator.
[turns away from Commodus]

Commodus: How dare you show your back to me! Slave, you will remove your helmet and tell me your name.

Maximus: [removes helmet and turns around to face Commodus] My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

~~~~~~~~~ 

Maximus: Brothers, what we do in life… echoes in eternity.

The Blues Brothers (1980):

Elwood: It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses.

Jake: Hit it.

~~~~~~~~~

Jake: Oh, please, don’t kill us! Please, please don’t kill us! You know I love you baby. I wouldn’t leave ya. It wasn’t my fault!

Mystery Woman: You miserable slug! You think you can talk your way out of this? You betrayed me.

Jake: No, I didn’t. Honest… I ran out of gas. I… I had a flat tire. I didn’t have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts! IT WASN’T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!

~~~~~~~~~

[to man in restaurant]
Jake: [fakes accent] How much for the little girl? How much for the women?

Father: What?

Jake: Your women. I want to buy your women. The little girl, your daughters… sell them to me. Sell me your children!

~~~~~~~~~

Elwood: We’re on a mission from God.

I could, of course, go on. Some movies I knew I would never stop quoting (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Stripes, The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Money Pit, Pulp Fiction—the list goes on and on). If you’ve stayed with me this far you’re a true movie quote fanatic and I salute you. I seriously hope some of these quotes have brought good memories back to you, a chill to your skin, an ache in your soul, or an honest belly laugh for your heart. Please do share some of yours. I can honestly never hear enough.

[Before closing I MUST acknowledge the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) for their excellence in providing every detail of every movie, television show, and just about any other entertainment-related event. I love movie quotes, but the photographic part of my memory works about as well those crappy old plastic cameras they used to give away as trinkets at the county fair. IMDb allows me to get the information right, every time. If you love movies or ever even just had a question like “how tall is Tom Cruise?” or “is Adam Baldwin another Baldwin brother?”, and you’ve never used IMDb, you’re living in the third century (technocolorishly speaking).]

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The blank page is dead…long live the blank page.

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Author known to use spontaneous satire, sarcasm, and unannounced injections of pith or witticisms which may not be suitable for humorless or otherwise jest-challenged individuals. (Witticisms not guaranteed to be witty, funny, comical, hilarious, clever, scintillating, whimsical, wise, endearing, keen, savvy, sagacious, penetrating, fanciful, or otherwise enjoyable. The Surgeon General has determined through laboratory testing that sarcasm can be dangerous, even in small amounts, and should not be ingested by those who are serious, somber, pensive, weighty, funereal, unsmiling, poker-faced, sober, or pregnant.)