Brad Pitt, one of the most recognizable and universally beloved movie stars on the A-list, is often described as a character actor in a leading man’s body. He doesn’t play the kind of roles that traditional stars play. He played a man who ages backwards, the Apache leader of a band of Nazi killers, and a cult leader who turns out to be a figment of the narrator’s imagination.
From Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s Cliff Booth, Pitt has played a bunch of eccentric, endlessly quotable characters over the years.
Ben Rickert Doesn’t Think Economic Collapse Is A Cause For Celebration In The Big Short
“Just... Don’t F****** Dance.”
Pitt plays the ing role of retired trader Ben Rickert in Adam McKay’s Oscar-winning satire The Big Short. He consults for a pair of young traders named Jamie and Charlie, who dance to celebrate their prescience when they predict the economic collapse.
A frustrated Rickert tells them, “Do you realize what you just did? You just bet against the American economy.” He explains that 40,000 people die every time unemployment goes up by 1%. Since Jamie and Charlie still insist on celebrating, a defeated Ben tells them, “Just... don’t f***ing dance.”
Metro Man Fights Megamind On An Ideological Level
“Justice Is A Non-Corrosive Metal!”
DreamWorks’ animated gem What If...?. It imagines what would happen if Superman’s arch-nemesis succeeded in defeating him. Pitt plays the Superman stand-in, Metro Man, a spot-on spoof of the Superman mythos.
When Metro Man confronts Megamind in his nefarious trap, he tells him, “You can’t trap justice! It’s an idea – a belief!” Megamind retorts, “Even the most heartfelt belief can get corroded over time!” and Metro Man snaps back, “Justice is a non-corrosive metal!”
Chad Feldheimer Tries To Blackmail An Ex-CIA Agent In Burn After Reading
“I Am Just A Good Samaritan.”
The Coen brothers’ farce No Country for Old Men, but it has one of Pitt’s funniest performances as gym employee Chad Feldheimer.
When Chad finds an ex-CIA agent’s memoirs in the locker room, he tries to blackmail the ex-operative for the sensitive government secrets described within his flowery prose. Naturally, Chad finds himself in way over his head in the blackmail scheme.
Benjamin’s Final Line In The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
“And Some People Dance.”
After the twisty psychological thrillers The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a heartfelt drama about a man who ages backwards.
In his poignant final monologue, Benjamin sums up what he learned throughout his truly unique life: “Some people were born to sit by a river. Some get struck by lightning. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim. Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people dance.”
Mickey O’Neil Names His Price In Snatch
“It’s Not For Me, It’s For Me Ma.”
After his stellar debut Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Guy Ritchie bolstered his unique reinvention of the British crime film with Snatch. Jason Statham stars as Turkish, a failing promoter, and Pitt plays Mickey O’Neil, the bare-knuckle boxer he wants to recruit for an fight.
When Turkish and his partner Tommy first offer the fight to Mickey, he says he’ll do it for a caravan. They wonder why he wants another caravan when he already has a perfectly good one. Mickey clarifies, “It’s not for me, it’s for me ma.”
Lt. Aldo Raine Gets Meta In Inglourious Basterds
“You Know Somethin’, Utivich? I Think This Just Might Be My Masterpiece.”
The first Pitt performance directed by Quentin Tarantino was his turn as Lt. Aldo Raine, the Apache leader of the titular band of Nazi killers in Inglourious Basterds. One of the ways in which Aldo brutally punishes German soldiers is by carving a swastika into their forehead so they can never escape from their past atrocities.
After carving one into Col. Hans Landa’s head in the finale, Aldo tells a nearby private, “You know somethin’, Utivich? I think this just might be my masterpiece.” The film’s self-aware final line seems like Tarantino declaring Inglourious Basterds to be his own masterpiece.
Floyd Has A Unique Shopping List In True Romance
“Get Some Beer And Some Cleaning Products.”
While Inglourious Basterds was the first movie in which Tarantino directed Pitt, the actor first delivered Tarantino’s idiosyncratic dialogue in Tony Scott’s romantic crime thriller drawn from an early Tarantino script.
In the ing role of Clarence’s actor friend Dick’s roommate, Floyd, Pitt spends all his scenes on the couch, getting high. When Dick leaves to arrange a Hollywood cocaine deal for Clarence, Floyd gives him a hilarious two-item shopping list: “Get some beer and some cleaning products.”
Detective Mills Has An Important Question In Se7en
“What’s In The Box!?”
David Fincher’s grisly thriller Se7en transplants the tropes of a “buddy cop” movie into a horror context. Pitt stars alongside Morgan Freeman as, respectively, hotshot young Detective Mills, eager to crack his first case, and veteran cop Detective Somerset, on the brink of retirement. Mills and Somerset team up to track down a serial killer whose gruesome crimes take inspiration from the Bible.
Gwyneth Paltrow plays Mills’ wife, and in the movie’s harrowing finale, John Doe’s plan comes full circle. A package arrives containing what is implied to be her severed head, then Mills’ brutal wrath makes Doe himself his own final victim.
Cliff Booth Picks Up His TV Cowboy Friend In Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
“You’re Rick F****** Dalton, Don’t You Forget It.”
Pitt won the Academy Award for Best ing Actor for his turn as unemployed stuntman Cliff Booth opposite Leonardo DiCaprio’s fading TV cowboy Rick Dalton in Tarantino’s sun-drenched opus Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Rick is the former star of Bounty Law whose career is in a slump with guest spots as the “heavy” on various episodic shows and no more leading-man roles in sight. When Rick starts to lose confidence in himself and worry about his future, his buddy Cliff picks him up with a few well-chosen words: “You’re Rick f***ing Dalton, don’t you forget it.”
Tyler Durden Explains The First (& Second) Rule Of Fight Club
“You Do Not Talk About Fight Club.”
While Cliff Booth offers strong competition, Fight Club’s Tyler Durden is arguably still Pitt’s most iconic role. The actor could fully let loose with the anarchy, because his character doesn’t really exist.
Tyler’s most memorable line is his repetitive recital of the rules of the eponymous men’s club: “The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club.”
