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A lumberjack journeyed into a magic forest to cut down a tree. When he got there, he started to swing when the tree suddenly shouted,
“Wait! I’m a talking tree!”
The lumberjack laughed and said,
“And you will dialogue.”
Movies are not just a visual medium. They involve talking too. The art of screenplay writing is having your characters say as much as possible with as few words as possible, except for the times where being excessively verbose is required (looking at you, Quentin).
Following last week’s Greatest movie character names discussion, I hit upon another ‘greatest’ idea. What is the greatest line of dialogue in movie history?
I’m talking about a single sentence that makes you laugh, cry, yell “fuck yeah” or induces goosebumps every time you hear it.
One sentence. Only one full stop allowed (or ‘period,’ if you are American).
This is a very big question. To help break it down. I have come up with ten sub-categories of dialogue, along with an example of each that springs to mind.
I also did some research and discovered this handy summary of what makes a good quote, so I’m repeating it here:
Brevity
Emotional resonance
Pivotal scene placement
Cultural repetition
Universality
Procurement of an enlarged seafaring vessel is strongly recommended
Categories Of Great Dialogue
1. Funny
Example: Dr Rumack (Leslie Nielson) from Airplane:
“I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.”
2. Cheesy
Example: Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) from Dirty Dancing:
“Nobody puts baby in the corner.”
3. Knowingly cheesy:
Example: Colonel Willie Sharpe (William Fichtner) from Armageddon:
“He’s got space dementia.”
4. Genuinely badass
Example: it’s got to be Harry Callaghan (Clint Eastwood) from Sudden Impact:
“Go ahead, make my day”
5. Dramatic
Example: Colonel Nathan R. Jessup (Jack Nicholson) in A Few Good Men:
“You can’t handle the truth!”
6. Chilling
Example: Billy from Predator. This one might seem a little random, but it gives me chills every time.
“We’re all gonna die.”
7. Inspirational
Example: for some reason I struggled with this one, but how about Leonidas refusing to bend the knee in 300?
“This is Sparta!”
8. Emotional
Example: how about this gut punch – Billy from Kramer vs Kramer
“You’re not gonna kiss me good night anymore, are you, Dad?”
9. Random
Example: Billy Madison from…Billy Madison. This line lives rent-free in my head. Also, I’m not sure why so many of these examples are from characters called Billy.
“Stop looking at me, swan.”
10. Iconic
These may no longer elicit any specific emotion, but are so iconic that even normies know them.
Example: Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind:
“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
That’s ten categories. Have I missed any? I’m sure I have. I thought about including a category on speeches/rants but realised it would break my ‘single sentence’ rule that I just arbitrarily imposed. I’ll cover those in a future article.
So over to you. What is your favourite single line of dialogue, and why?
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