Writer's moments

I Love Doing Movie Lines…

…we do it all the time here. Husband, Son, DIL, and I constantly quote favorite lines from movies to one another. We’ve been known to have entire conversations using someone else’s words. And it doesn’t matter if the lines come from different movies—we can make it happen and the results are always pretty damn funny. So imagine my delight when I checked out author Jenny Cruisie’s website today www.arghink.com and found that her June 19 post was about “Useful Quotes.” The comments have been pouring in with tons of great quotes, including lots and lots of movie lines.

It got me thinking about how much movies and TV affect my life daily. Actually, I don’t really watch much TV. I’m not a television snob, I’m an addictive personality, so I avoid most TV shows because I’m the person who’d get so hooked, she’d miss a date with the president to see NCIS or even The Simpsons.  At one time, I was completely addicted to daytime dramas. But I realized after probably six years of never missing an episode of Ryan’s Hope, All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital that I could be using my time a bit more constructively.

I went cold turkey (it was harder than it might seem) and pretty much stopped watching TV after that. My older sister, PJ, asks, quite reasonably, why I don’t just DVR the shows I enjoy and watch them when I have the time. The answer to that is I’d then be addicted to the DVR-ed shows, so it’s best if I just don’t get started.  But I love movies! Nothing’s better than a cozy evening on the sofa with a glass of wine and a DVD or On Demand. That’s our entertainment at least one night a week.

We love well-crafted comedies, old or new, like What’s Up Doc?, The Philadelphia Story, Quick Change, High Society, Waking Ned Devine, The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona, and Blazing Saddles. The day after Thanksgiving each year is devoted to watching Holiday Inn (“Oh, Linda Mason…”) and A Christmas Story (“Fra-geel-eh–It’s Italian!” and “You’ll shoot your eye out!”). What’s Up, Doc? is a must-see when Son is home (“Use your charm. Can’t I just kill her?” or “There’s nothing much to see, really. We’re inside a Chinese dragon.” or “I’d like to send them all to an island somewhere, wrapped in heavy chains. Those are just the spectators, Judge.” or “Tell them to bring straight jackets…in assorted sizes!”).

So much of our current vernacular comes from the movies, “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”  Or from commercials, “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” “Pardon me, sir. Do you have any Grey Poupon?” Or from TV shows, “Goodnight, John Boy.”  “Eat my shorts.” As a writer, I’m fascinated to see what strikes people as quotable, what words are so memorable they become a part of our culture, so almost everyone knows exactly what you mean if you say, “Go ahead, make my day.”

2 Comments

  • Diva

    Ah. That is too fun. We do a lot of “I don’t think that means what you think it means” (Princess Bride), “I’ve never been alone with a man even with my dress on…with my dress off it is MOST unusual” (Roman Holiday), and “dry humping is some serious shit” (going the distance) around my house.

    Occasionally entire conversations from books or movies are incorporated. People look at us like we’re crazy. We like that.