Whether it be Dirty Harry coaxing a robbery suspect with a .44 magnum to "go ahead, make my day" or Rhett Bulter telling Scarlett O'Hara "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" the American Film Institute has identified some of the most repeated lines of dialogue in movie history. These, however, represent only three of the first ten entries.
This batch of highest-ranked movie quotes of all time comes from some of the darkest corners American cinema has dared to go. From the desert of North Africa in World War II to the deep south of Civil-Rights-era America and the jungles of Indonesia, movie fans will find the most famous lines chosen by the AFI that fall just outside the top ten.
Casablanca (1942)
"Louis, I Think This The Beginning Of A Beautiful Friendship."
The closing scene of the classic 1942 film Casablanca finds Rick Blane (Humphrey Bogart) and Louis Renault (Claude Rains) leaving the title oasis following their role in the murder of a Nazi officer to facilitate the escape of Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), the leader of the Czechoslovakian resistance movement during World War II.
Michael Curtiz directed this Best Picture-winning war romance that co-starred among other studio-system era icons, Ingrid Bergman and Peter Lorre. The American Film Institute ranks it the third-best production in motion picture history behind 1941's Citizen Kane and 1972's The Godfather.
Network (1976)
"I'm Mad As Hell, And I'm Not Gonna Take This Anymore!"
Howard Beale (Peter Finch) uses this statement (and a lengthy scene after) to communicate his sentiments on society's arrogance on numerous topics during an on-air news broadcast of which he is the anchor in 1976's Network directed by Sidney Lumet.
The film foreshadowed the corrupt corporate influence that came to across major news media in the decades that followed its release. Beale was known to be a loose cannon and his bosses took advantage of his nature to promote their programming.
White Heat (1949)
"Made It, Ma! Top Of The World!"
James Cagney screams this proclamation to law enforcement who have already wounded him several times at the climax of White Heat. In one final act of defiance, Cody Jarrett (Cagney) fires a bullet into a leaking gas tank and is incinerated by the ensuing blast.
Jarrett's oedipal nature drove him to become a criminal and motivated his every action in the 1949 film. Ultimately, the betrayal by his partner-in-crime who was an undercover police officer rationalized his last stand. Cagney was a regular in the gangster genre throughout the classical Hollywood era with acclaimed roles in Angels With Dirty Faces and The Public Enemy among others.
Citizen Kane (1941)
"Rosebud."
The last word uttered by Charles Foster Kane, dying alone in bed, contemplating the life he led as a media mogul at the turn of the twentieth century that left him broken, bitter, and alone.
To this day, the meaning of the word rosebud and its symbolism in Orson Welles' 1941 masterpiece Citizen Kane continues to be debated among movie buffs. One theory is it refers to a sled Kane played with as a child and is his last memory of personal happiness before his life changed when his mother sent him away.
In The Heat Of The Night (1976)
"They Call Me Mister Tibbs!"
Sidney Poitier remains one of the most influential Black actors of the 20th-century. One of his most powerful performances comes in the 1967 film In the Heat of the Night.
Poitier's character was a visiting detective from Philadelphia investigating a murder in Sparta, Mississippi, a haven for white supremacists that included many in blue uniforms. The film was adapted to television in the 1988-1995 drama series of the same name starring Carroll O'Connor of All in the Family Poitier was the first person of color to win an acting academy award for 1963's Lilies of the Field.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
"E.T. Phone Home."
The first full sentence formed by a visiting intelligent lifeform is a revelation that E.T. The Extraterrestrial was accidentally left behind by his scout ship when it fled Earth's law enforcement.
ET's chance meeting with a young boy named Elliott (Henry Thomas) results in them bonding over the creation of a machine built out of toys and a few loose ends intended to send a distress signal to the alien's people before the US government can intervene. Steven Spielberg directs a young Drew Barrymore as one of Elliott's siblings who conspire with him to help E.T. escape the authorities against the backdrop of John Williams' iconic score.
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
"The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of."
Private eye Sam Spade's evaluation of a priceless statue after John Huston's film-noir The Maltese Falcon.
Throughout the film, Spade (Humphrey Bogart) learns many competitors believe the statue is more than what it seems. In the end, he concludes the pursuit was more trouble than the item's worth. The falcon is a symbol of greed and of its sensationalized wealth that drove several characters in the film to do anything, including murder, to possess it. The quote, itself, indirectly references Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Love Story (1970)
"Love Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry."
Jennifer Barrett (Ali McGraw) stumbles through tears to assure her young husband Oliver (Ryan O'Neal) that he doesn't owe her an explanation for why he won't communicate with his father especially since he and their two families opposed their marriage at a young age while in college.
Oliver's father represents the divide between the couple where Jennifer wants to forgive yet her spouse cannot forget. The greater meaning behind this famous assertion from the 1970s Love Story seems to be Oliver needs not to apologize for his feelings. This is especially true when confronted with Jennifer's untimely death that becomes the catalyst for the reconciliation he did not seek.
Apocalypse Now (1979)
"I Love The Smell Of Napalm In The Morning."
Robert Duvall delivers this chilling declaration during an epic display of warfare in the 1979 Francis Ford Coppola odyssey Apocalypse Now.
Colonel Kilgore (Duvall) is a fearless commander whom the protagonist, Willard (Martin Sheen) encounters during his voyage to find a rogue Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who's gone AWOL somewhere in the Cambodian jungle at the height of the Vietnam War. The film is a loose adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness," where Willard is exploring the darkest corner of his soul with the pursuit of Kurtz being the symbol of the journey.
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
"What We've Got Here Is Failure To Communicate."
The captain of the guards (Strother Martin) assigned to supervise defiant prisoner Luke Jackson (Paul Newman) is irate when the title character of Cool Hand Luke fails to recognize his generosity towards his safety by chaining him at the ankles during an outdoor labor excursion.
Luke, a non-conformist, fires back a sarcastic comment and is immediately beaten to the ground. The 1967 film served as an anti-establishment allegory highlighting the counter-culture movement that was sweeping the United States both in private life and throughout Hollywood at the time.
