Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Movie Quotes, The AFI List, and What Were They Thinking?

This is the kind of stuff I love. Movie quotes. I quote movies all the time so watching the AFI List of 100 greatest movie quotes was a fun ride, but I couldn't help but notice that there were more than a few great quotes left off and some questionable quotes included for no apparent reason. Michele of ASV has her own list in mind, and it's not nearly as sanitized as the AFI list (whose site is unavailable because everyone is trying to figure out what the heck they did. In fact, Michele's list is funnier, wittier, and more rounded than anything AFI could put together - and she's only got about 20 quotes so far.

Filmsite offers some of the quotes left off the list and puts some of the issues into context.

I watched the entire program and unless I missed it, how could the AFI put together the list without including a single quote from a Quentin Tarantino movie? Nothing from Pulp Fiction. Nothing from Reservoir Dogs? Kill Bill? Nothing? What are they thinking?

Say what again. Say what again! I dare you. I double dare you. Say what one more goddamned time.

Then, there's the movies whose cheesiness factor shouldn't diminish great lines:
~This is my boomstick! (Evil Dead)
~You want to live forever? (Starship Troopers)

This is the list of 400 quotes from which the top 100 quotes were chosen. They simply didn't consider those movies, which is a shame because sometimes great lines come from bad movies, or good bad movies.

UPDATE:
Here's the Top 100 and I suspected, no Tarantino. Good to see Terminator on the list (Hasta La Vista Baby and I'll Be Back), but no Tarantino is a travesty. He's one of the best writers of dialogue in the game today. Was AFI watching the same movies I was.

"That woman, she deserves her revenge... and we deserve to die" Bud in Kill Bill Vol 2.

By the way, did the AFI folks watch any movies other than Casablanca?

"Toga Toga" Great line, but not as good as others from Animal House that were disregarded. "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son" is one. Or, how about the Blutarsky speech when the house gets kicked out and he rallies everyone into doing something monumentally stupid?

D-Day: War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
Bluto: And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough...
[thinks hard]
Bluto: the tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!
[runs out, alone; then returns]


And to include "la-di-da, la-di-da" from Annie Hall? Whaaaaa? They couldn't find another great line from a Woody Allen movie? The guy knows how to write, right? Sheesh!

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