 |
 Greatest
Opening Film Lines and Quotes  1990s |
(chronological, by film title) 1920s-1940s | 1950s-1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s Return to Entire Quotes Index |
1990s |
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- "This is the last one?" |
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(voice-over) "Today is a good day to die." |
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(voice-over) "As far back as I can remember,
I always wanted to be a gangster...To me, being a gangster was better
than being President of the United States." |
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(voice-over) - "Okay, let's see who we got here.
Virge Hoogesteger. What kind of name is that? Youngest of six. Worked
in the family diner before joining up. Writes home every week. Nicknamed
'The Virgin.' Who's this goon? Jack Bocci from the south side of
Chicago. Graduate of several reform schools. Better keep him in the
background. This is the religious one. There's always a religious
one: Eugene McVey from Cleveland. There's always one from Cleveland.
Nineteen, high-strung, always coming down with something. How'd he
get in this bunch? Richard 'Rascal' Moore.
Eighteen, 5 foot 4, 120 pounds. Has a real reputation as a ladies'
man. At least that's what he says. Clay Busby, a farmer's son. And
look at this, when his father lost their farm in a poker game, Clay
started playing piano in a New Orleans cathouse. The papers'll love
that. This kid couldn't be more Irish if he tried, Danny Daly. A student,
editor of the school paper, valedictorian. He volunteered the day after
he graduated from college. That's not bad. I think we got something
to work with here." |
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- "Broke in right on the two of them." |
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| (voice-over): "This was my body. On December 27, 1979, I lay in bed all day. Whether I was asleep or in a coma later became a subject of dispute. When my breathing became obstructed, my husband, Claus von Bulow, finally did as my maid had been urging all day: he summoned a physician. I stopped breathing. My heart stopped beating. By this time, I was certainly in a deep coma from which I awoke several hours later. By the next morning, I was myself again....This first coma aroused suspicion and fear in the minds of my personal maid Maria, my son Alex, and my elder daughter Ala. From this time on, though they never voiced their suspicions to me, they kept a vigilant eye on Claus. A year later, just before Christmas, their darkest fears seemed justified....My husband did not want our daughter Cosima to see what he had found, so he motioned to his stepson Alex. Second coma. My pulse was 38, my temperature 81.6 degrees...All this activity was pointless. I never woke from this coma, and I never will. I am what doctors call 'persistent vegetative', a vegetable. According to medical experts, I could stay like this for a very long time, brain-dead, body better than ever." | |
(voice-over) "My reminiscence. I always thought
that for such a lovely river, the name is mystifying: Cape Fear. When
the only thing to fear on those enchanted summer nights was that the
magic would end and real life would come crashing in." |
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(voice-over) "In deep Dixieland, the month
of October is almost summery. I had come South to visit my father.
Mother had died a few years before, and Daddy was livin' all alone.
He wouldn't have it otherwise. Lookin' at that old house, a painful
nostalgia gripped me for the South itself, the old South I had known,
and the people in it. When I was thirteen years old, a girl came
to this house. I overheard my father decide in a conference with
my mother to hire this girl, a good natured and highly unfortunate
girl who was workin' for a farm family down near Gadsden, Alabama.
Thus she was hired, sight unseen, by a long distance call. She was
the first person I ever loved outside members of my own family. But,
as my father said, she caused one hell of a damnable commotion." |
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(title card) "800 years ago, Richard "The Lionheart",
King of England, led the third Great Crusade to reclaim the Holy Land
from the Turks. Most of the young English noblemen who flocked to his
banner never returned home." Jerusalem 1194 A.D. |
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(voice-over) "Three billion human lives ended
on August 29th, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the
war Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare, a war
against the machines...The computer which controlled the machines,
Skynet, sent two Terminators back through time. Their mission: to
destroy the leader of the human resistance, John Connor, my son.
The first Terminator was programmed to strike at me in the year 1984,
before John was born. It failed. The second was set to strike at
John himself when he was still a child. As before, the resistance
was able to send a lone warrior, a protector for John. It was just
a question of which one of them would reach him first." |
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- "In the name of Allah the beneficent, the
merciful, all praises due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. The one
God to whom praise is due forever. The one who came to us in the
person of Master Fard Muhammad and raised up the Honorable Elijah
Muhammad. Amen. Asalaam-alaikum!" |
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- "Let me tell ya what 'Like a Virgin'
is about. It's all about a girl who digs a guy with a big dick. The
entire song. It's a metaphor for big dicks." |
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| (voice-over) "Long ago, when I was a young man, my father said to me, 'Norman, you like to write stories.' And I said, 'Yes, I do.' Then he said, 'Someday, when you're ready you might tell our family story. Only then will you understand what happened and why'." | |
- "Somebody asked me today: 'Phil, if you could
be anywhere in the world, where would you like to be?' And I said
to him: 'Probably right here - Elko, Nevada.' Our nation's high at
79 today. Out in California, they're gonna have some warm weather
tomorrow, gang wars, and some very overpriced real estate.
Up in the Pacific Northwest, as you can see, they're gonna have some
very, very tall trees. It'll be cIear across the Rockies and the
Great PIains mostly. But Iook out, here comes troubIe. Oh, oh, boy!
Front comin' our way! Look out! What's that gonna mean to us here
in the Three Rivers area? One of these big bIue things! This coId,
frigid arctic air, this big mass comin' out of the north. It's gonna
meet up with aII of this moisture comin' up out of the GuIf. It's
gonna mix together at high aItitudes and cause some snow. Goin' out
on a limb, now. Not gonna hit us here in Pittsburgh, but'll
push off and hit AItoona. Phew! CIose caII, folks! Let's take a Iook
at the five-day. As you can see, nothin' to be too scared about.
BundIe up warm, of course, but I think you can Ieave your gaIoshes
at home. I'm not gonna be here for the 10:00 o'clock. Tomorrow is
Groundhog Day, and I'm going out to Punxsutawney for our country's
oIdest Groundhog FestivaI. So, as you know, and according to the
Iegend, tomorrow, February 2nd, if the groundhog wakes and sees his
shadow, we've got six more weeks of winter to look forward to, so
keep your fingers crossed, huh." |
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- "Everybody, heads up. Heads up. Keep it clear.
Keep it clear. Stand back." |
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(voice-over) "The voice ya hear is not my
speaking voice, but my mind's voice. I have not spoken since I was
six years old. Lord knows why, not even me. My father says it is
a dark talent, and the day I take it into my head to stop breathing
will be my last. Today, he married me to a man I have not yet met.
Soon my daughter and I shall join him in his own country. My husband
said my muteness does not bother him. He writes - and hark this!
'God loves dumb creatures, so why not he?' Were good he had God's
patience, for silence affects everyone in the end. The strange thing
is, I don't think myself silent, that is, because of my piano. I
shall miss it on the journey." |
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[Lyrics to "Graceland" by Charlie Sexton] |
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| - "Hello. My name's Forrest.
Forrest Gump. Do you want a chocolate? I could eat about a million
and a half of these. My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're gonna get. Those must be comfortable
shoes. I bet you could walk all day in shoes like that and not feel
a thing. I wish I had shoes like that." |
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(after opening credits) |
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- "Life's not fair, is it? You see I -- well,
I shall never be King. Heh. And you shall never see the light of
another day. (chuckles) Adieu..." |
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- "Forget it. It's too risky. I'm through doin'
that s--t." |
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(title) Scotland 1280 A.D. |
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(voice-over) "When you love someone, you've
gotta trust them. There's no other way. You've got to give them the
key to everything that's yours. Otherwise, what's the point? And,
for a while, I believed that's the kind of love I had...Before I ever ran
a casino, or got myself blown up, Ace Rothstein was a hell of a handicapper,
I can tell ya that. I was so good that whenever I bet, I could change
the odds for every bookmaker in the country. I'm serious, I had it down
so cold that I was given Paradise on earth. I was given one of the biggest
casinos in Las Vegas to run, the Tangiers, by the only kind of guys that
can actually get ya that kind of money. $62,700,000 dollars.
I don't know all the details..." |
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"Look out the window. And doesn't this remind you of
when you were in the boat, and then later than night, you were lying,
looking up at the ceiling, and the water in your head was not dissimilar
from the landscape, and you think to yourself, 'Why is it that
the landscape is moving, but the boat is still?'" |
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"Beg your pardon, forgot to knock." |
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(voice-over) "One
time, my cousin Walter got this cat stuck in his ass. True story.
He bought it at our local mall, so the whole fiasco wound up on
the news. It was embarrasing for my relatives and all, but the next
week, he did it again. Different cat, same results, complete with
another trip to the emergency room. So, I run into him a week later
in the mall and he's buying another cat. And I says to him: 'Jesus,
Walt! What are you doing? You know you're just gonna get this cat
stuck in your ass, too. Why don't you knock it off?' And he said
to me: 'Brodie, how the hell else am I supposed to get the gerbil
out?' My cousin was a weird guy." |
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- "Neighbors heard them screamin' at each other, like,
for two hours. It was nothin' new. Then they heard the gun go off.
Both barrels. A crime of passion." |
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- "All right, everyone! This is a stick-up. Don't
anybody move! Now empty that safe! Ooh, hoo hoo! Money, money, money!
Stop it! Stop it, you mean old potato! Quiet, Bo Peep! Or your sheep
get run over! Help! Baaa! Help us! Oh no! Not my sheep! Somebody
do something!" |
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(title card) "San Pedro, California - last night" |
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(voice-over) "So this is the world, and there are
almost six billion people on it. When I was a kid, there were three.
It's hard to keep up. There. That's better. That's America. See, America
still sets the tone for the world. In Indiana, Clark Hodd, 13, the
best point guard in the country. Last week he scored a hundred points
in a single game. Erica Sorgi. You'll see her in the next Olympics.
In Seattle, Dallas Malloy, 16. Her lawsuit helped pave the way for
women boxers everywhere. She's picturing her ex-boyfriend right now.
In Indio, California, Art Stallings. Check out what pure joy looks
like. In Odessa, Texas, the great Frank Cushman. This April, 26 teams
will be falling all over themselves to sign him in the next NFL draft.
He's my client, my most important client...
Believe me, there's genius everywhere, but until they turn pro, it's
like popcorn in the pan. Some pop... Some don't... I'm
the guy you don't usually see. I'm the one behind the scenes. I'm the
sports agent." |
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(voice-over) "When you die, your life flashes,
and you disintegrate, radiating energy. When a thing turns into its
opposite, when love becomes hate, there are always sparks. But when
life turns into death, it's explosive. There are streaks of light,
magical, and electrifying. Everyone senses something, some energy,
some spirit, some sort of illumination. But I see it. I've seen bodies
shining like stars. Some say there's no soul, no afterlife, that life
and death is the straightest line on the compass, and nothing more.
I say believe what you want, because no matter what you do, cut everything
up, burn it all down, you're in the path of something beyond your control." |
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- "Hello?" |
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(voice-over) "This is a true story about friendship
that runs deeper than blood. This is my story and that of the only
three friends in my life that truly mattered. Two of them were killers
who never made it past the age of 30. The other's a non-practicing
attorney living with the pain of his past - too afraid to let it
go, never confronting its horror. I'm the only one who could speak
for them, and the children we were. (music during title credits) ... My
three friends and I were inseparable, happy and content to live in
the closed world of Hell's Kitchen. The West Side streets of Manhattan
were our private playground - a cement kingdom where we felt ourselves
to be nothing less than absolute rulers. Hell's Kitchen was
populated by an uneasy blend of Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican, and
Eastern European laborers. Hard men living hard lives. We lived in
railroad apartments inside red brick tenements. Few mothers worked
and all had trouble with the men they married...Domestic violence
was a cottage industry in Hell's Kitchen. Yet, there was no divorce
and few separations. The will of the Church was forceful. For a marriage
to end, someone usually had to die. Yet, despite the harshness of
life, Hell's Kitchen offered the kids on its streets a safety net,
enjoyed by few other neighborhoods. Crimes against people of the
neighborhood were not permitted. When they did occur, the punishment
doled out was severe and, in some cases, final..." |
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(narrated, voice-over) "Choose life. Choose
a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f--kin' big television.
Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical
tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance.
Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose
your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three
piece suite on hire purchased in a range of f--kin' fabrics. Choose
DIY and wondering who the f--k you are on a Sunday morning. Choose
sittin' on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows,
stuffing f--kin' junk food into your mouth. Choose rottin' away at
the end of it all, pissin' your last in a miserable home, nothing more
than an embarassment to the selfish, f--ked-up brats that you've spawned
to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life...But why would
I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose
somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons
when you've got heroin?" |
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"Mod f(x) squared dx. So please finish Percival
for next time. I know many of you had this as undergraduates, but
it won't hurt to brush up. Thank you, Steven. I also put an advanced
Fourier system on the main hallway chalkboard. I'm hoping that one
of you might prove it by the end of the semester. Now the person
to do so will not only be in my good graces, but also go on to fame
and fortune by having their accomplishment recorded and their name
printed in the auspicious M.I.T. Tech.
Former winners include Nobel laureates, Field's medal winners, renowned
astrophysicists and lowly M.I.T. professors. Well, that's all. If you
have any questions, I'm sure that Tom has the answers." |
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(voice-over) "'Come to Los Angeles!
The sun shines bright, the beaches are wide and inviting, and the
orange groves stretch as far as the eye can see. There are jobs aplenty,
and land is cheap. Every working man can have his own house, and
inside every house, a happy, all-American family. You can have all
this, and who knows, you could even be discovered, become a movie
star, or at least see one. Life is good in Los Angeles. It's
paradise on Earth.' Ha ha ha ha. That's what they tell ya, anyway.
Because they're selling an image. They're selling it through movies,
radio and television. ln the hit show, Badge of Honor, the
L.A. cops walk on water as they keep the city clean of crooks. You'd
think this place was the Garden of Eden. But there's trouble in paradise
and his name is Meyer Harris Cohen, Mickey C, to his fans. Local
LA color to the Nth degree. And his number one bodyguard, Johnny
Stompanato. Mickey C's the head of organized crime in these parts.
He runs dope, rackets and prostitution. He kills a dozen people a
year. And the dapper little gent does it in style. And every time
his picture's plastered on the front page, it's a black eye for the
image of Los Angeles. Because how can organized crime exist in the
city with the best police force in the world? Somethin' has to be
done. But nothin' too original, because, hey, this is Hollywood.
What worked for Al Capone would work for the Mickster." |
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(voice-over) "She was 'Lo' - plain 'Lo' in
the morning, standing 4 feet 10 in one sock. She was 'Lola' in slacks.
She was 'Dolly' at school. She was 'Dolores' on the dotted line.
But in my arms, she was always 'Lolita'. Light of my life, fire of
my loins, my sin, my soul. (whispered) Lolita." |
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[Song: Wishin' And Hopin'] |
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(sonar pings, whirrings) |
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(voice-over) "A way out west, there was this
fella that I wanna tell ya about. Fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski.
At least that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he
never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself
'The Dude.' Now, 'Dude' - that's a name no one would self-apply where
I come from. But then there was a lot about the 'Dude' that didn't
make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived,
likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place so dern
interestin'. |
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(voice-over) "I wanna tell you about the time I almost
died..." |
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(title card) "He who makes a beast of himself gets
rid of the pain of being a man." DR. JOHNSON. |
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(voice-over) "Listen, here's the thing. If
you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then
you are the
sucker. Guys around here'll tell ya, you play for a living.
It's like any other job. You don't gamble. You grind it out. Your goal is
to win one big bet an hour, that's it. Get your money in when you have the
best of it, and protect it when you don't. Don't give anything away. That's
how I've paid my way through half of law school. A true grinder. See, I learned
how to win a little at a time. But finally, I've learned this. If you're
too careful, your whole life can become a f--kin' grind. This is Teddy KGB's
place...You won't find it in the Yellow Pages... He
doesn't look like much, but KGB is connected all the way to the top of the
Russian mob. He's the one guy in the game you don't want to f--k with. But
if you're lookin' for high stakes, this is the only place in town. They all
know me as a small-timer, but that's about to change. Joey Knish is a New
York legend. He's been a rounder, earning his living at cards since
he was nineteen years old...He's as close to a friend as there is in this
place. But tonight, I don't want to see him." |
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- "Dad..." |
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- "We've become bored with watching actors
give us phony emotions. We're tired of pyrotechnics and special effects.
While the world he inhabits is, in some respects, counterfeit, there's
nothing fake about Truman himself. No scripts, no cue cards. It isn't
always Shakespeare, but it's genuine. It's a life." |
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(voice-over) "When I was young, I met this
beautiful girl by a lake." |
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- "I need a father who's a role
model, not some horny geek boy who's gonna spray his shorts whenever
I bring a girlfriend home from school. What a lame-o. Someone really
should just put him out of his misery." |
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(voice-over narration) "In other parts of the world
young men leave home and travel far and wide in search of a promising
future. Their journeys are often fueled by dreams of triumphing over
evil, finding a great love, or the hope of fortunes easily made. Here
in St. Cloud's not even the decision to get off the train is easily
made, for it requires an earlier, more difficult decision. Add a child
to your life, or leave one behind. The only reason people journey here
is for the orphanage...I came as a physician to the abandoned children
and unhappily pregnant women. I had hoped to become a hero. But in
St. Cloud's there was no such position. In the lonely, sordid world
of lost children, there were no heroes to be found. And so I became
the caretaker of many, father of none. Well, in a way, there was one...His
name was Homer Wells." |
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- "Honey, have you seen my wallet?" |
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(voice-over) "People are always asking me if
I know Tyler Durden." |
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- "Katie! Cora!" |
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(narrating) "In the New York Herald,
November 26, Year 1911, there is an account of the hanging of three
men. They died for the murder of Sir Edmund William Godfrey; Husband,
Father, Pharmacist and all around gentleman resident of Greenberry
Hill, London. He was murdered by three vagrants whose motive was
simple robbery. They were identified as: Joseph Green, Stanley Berry,
and Daniel Hill. Green, Berry, Hill. And I Would Like To Think This
was Only A Matter Of Chance. As reported in the Reno
Gazette, June of 1983, there is the story of a fire, the water that
it took to contain the fire, and a scuba diver named Delmer Darion. Employee
of the Nugget Hotel and Casino, Reno, Nevada. Engaged as a blackjack
dealer. Well liked and well regarded as a physical, recreational and
sporting sort, Delmer's true passion was for the lake. As reported by
the coroner, Delmer died of a heart attack somewhere between the lake
and the tree. A most curious side note is the suicide the next day of
Craig Hansen. Volunteer firefighter, estranged father of four and a poor
tendency to drink. Mr. Hansen was the pilot of the plane that quite accidentally
lifted Delmer Darion out of the water. Added to this, Mr. Hansen's tortured
life met before with Delmer Darion just two nights previous. The weight
of the guilt and the measure of coincidence so large, Craig Hansen took
his life. And I Am Trying To Think This Was All Only A Matter Of Chance..." |
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(phone rings) |
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("Catch a Falling Star") |
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(interviewer voice-over) "So stay with us because
later this afternoon, we're lucky enough to be talking to Anna Scott,
Hollywood's biggest star by far. Miss Scott's latest film is once again
topping the charts." |
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["Lullaby For Cain" by Sinead O'Connor] |
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