Greatest Film Misquotes
Greatest Film Misquotes
Greatest Movie Misquotes
(Part 1)
Greatest Movie Mis-Quotes: Some of the most classic film lines or scenes             are really  only legendary and/or apocryphal, or they are             merely movie misquotes, but after many years of repetition and being misquoted         in subsequent films, they have become part of the filmgoing public's         consciousness. Many of these examples are film  quotes that were either         commonly attributed wrongly, or in fact were never actually spoken.
The top 10 most misquoted film lines are marked with an icon
In The Virginian               (1929) ,       one of the earliest Western talkies, Gary Cooper (as the Virginian) gave               a famous taunting line to bad guy Trampas (Walter Huston) at the               saloon's bar. At the start of the heated exchange, Trampas                challenged the Virginian:
Trampas (Walter Huston): "When I wanna know anything             from you, I'll tell ya, you long-legged son of a ..."
Virginian: (Gary Cooper): "If           you wanna call me that, smile." (He quick-drew his gun           pressed against Trampas' abdomen)
Trampas: (long pause, then grinning) "With a         gun against my belly I... I always smile."
Play  clip from The Virginian         (1929) :
It was not: "Smile when you call me that!", "Smile           when you say that," or "When ya call me that, smile!" Note       however that Owen Wister's 1902         Western novel The Virginian actually used the         phrase: "When         ya call me that, smile!"
A second version of the novel was filmed         17 years later, also titled The Virginian (1946), starring         Joel McCrea as the title character. In the remake, the Virginian used         the same "smile" line as in the novel when he confronted Trampas         at a card table for lying:
Virginian (Joel McCrea): "When you call me that,               smile!"
Trampas (Brian Donlevy): "With a gun against my belly, I always smile."
Play clip from The Virginian (1946):
In the Marx Brothers comedy film Animal       Crackers (1930) , Groucho Marx (as African jungle explorer       Captain Geoffrey T. Spaulding) delivered the following line:
"One           morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas,           I don't know."
Play  clip from Animal Crackers         (1930) :
It has often been misquoted as: "...How         he got in my pajamas I'll never know."
In the Universal horror classic, Dracula               (1931) , the legendary blood-sucking Count Dracula       (Hungarian-born actor Bela Lugosi) never said:
"I want to suck           your blood."
However, the line was spoken in director Tim Burton's Ed       Wood (1994). It was used in a humorous context by Dr. Tom Mason (Ned       Bellamy) practicing his Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau) impersonation:
"I want to suck           your blood."
Play  clip from Ed Wood (1994):
Often misquoted is Dr. Henry Frankenstein       (Colin Clive) - yes, Frankenstein was the name of the mad scientist -       and his famous shout in Frankenstein (1931) ,       with           the stirring of life within his non-human Monster (Boris Karloff):
"It's alive!"
Play  clip from Frankenstein (1931) :
Frankenstein has often been quoted as saying instead: "He's         alive! Alive!"
Mel Brooks' irreverent spoof Young         Frankenstein (1974) featured grandson Frederick Frankenstein         (Gene Wilder) resuming his late grandfather's experiments, and his loud       exclamation to         bug-eyed Igor (Marty Feldman) and voluptuous lab assistant Inga (Teri       Garr):
"Alive. It's alive! IT'S ALIVE!"
Play clip from Young Frankenstein           (1974) :
The mobster refrain: "You dirty rat!" -       was never said verbatim by James Cagney, although he did say something       similar in two films:
Blonde           Crazy (1931) (aka Larceny Lane):
"Oh, that dirty, double-crossin'           rat. I'd like to get my own hooks on him. I'd tear him to pieces."
Play clip from Blonde Crazy (1931):
Taxi! (1932):
"Come out             and take it, ya dirty, yellow-bellied rat, or I'll give it to ya         through the door!"
Play clip from Taxi! (1932):
It was misquoted in Cole Porter's  Broadway stage         classic Anything Goes (1934). It was also        misquoted in Teenage       Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) when Michelangelo imitated James Cagney:
"You           dirty rat. You killed my brudda. You dirty rat."
Play  clip from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990):
[In Home Alone (1990), Macauley Culkin watched           a scene from a fictional B/W gangster film videotape titled, "Angels           With Filthy Souls" (a         take-off on the Cagney film Angels With Dirty         Faces (1938) ),     in which gangster Johnny shoots a rival gangster named Snakes, while saying, "Keep     the change, ya filthy animal!"]
Greta Garbo's most famous quote of all           prominently appeared, with her famous accent spoken by the character         Grusinskaya, in Grand Hotel (1932) :
"I           want to be alone."
Play  clip from Grand Hotel (1932) :
Garbo also stated a similar line, including her partner-lover           Leon (Melvyn Douglas) in her solitude, in Ninotchka       (1939) :
"We           want to be alone."
Play clip from Ninotchka         (1939) :
It has often thought that statements about Garbo wanting           to be alone were  non-existent or merely a comment on her reclusive     nature in private life.
"Me Tarzan, you Jane" - was           a catch-phrase inaccurately-quoted from Tarzan,           the Ape Man (1932) . In a 1932 interview, Johnny Weissmuller           (as Tarzan) actually claimed: "I didn't have to act in Tarzan,           the Ape Man, just said: 'Me Tarzan, You Jane."
Jane: "Thank you. Thank you for protecting me."
Tarzan: "Me?"
Jane: (repeating herself, and pointing to herself to teach him his           mistake) "I             said: 'Thank you for protecting me.'"
Tarzan: (poking at Jane) "Me?"
Jane: "No." (she points to herself) "I'm only             'Me' for me."
Tarzan: (wrongly again poking at Jane) "Me."
Jane: (correcting him and pointing at him) "No.             To you, I'm 'You'."
Tarzan: (wrongly pointing at himself) "You."
Jane: "No. I'm Jane Parker.             Understand? Jane. Jane."
Tarzan: (pointing at her) "Jane...Jane. Jane."
Jane: "Yes, Jane. (she points at           him) And you? (she           points at herself and gives her own name) Jane."
Tarzan: (he points at her) "Jane."
Jane: "And you? (she points at him) You?"
Tarzan: (stabbing himself proudly in the chest) "Tarzan, Tarzan."
Jane: (emphasizing his correct response) "Tarzan!"
Tarzan: (pointing excitedly toward her and back to himself) "Jane.         Tarzan." (then more rapidly, poking at her each time he repeats           her name, going faster and faster) "Jane.             Tarzan. Jane. Tarzan. Jane. Tarzan. Jane. Tarzan. Jane. Tarzan. Jane..."
Jane: (exasperated) "Oh, please stop!         Let me go! I can't bear this!..."
In the short two-reel W.C. Fields comedy The             Fatal Glass of Beer (1933), the comedian often stated the following             line (with the famous gag of  a handful of fake snow being thrown             in his face from an opened cabin door).
"And it ain't a fit night out for man or beast."
Play clip from The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933):
Later, W.C. Fields would         reprise the gag during the "play-within-the-play" in The           Old-Fashioned Way (1934).
"It ain't a fit night out for man or beast."
Play clip from The Old Fashioned Way (1934):
The phrase became popularized  as an easy way to describe            awful weather.
It has often been misquoted as: "And it       ain't a fit night out for man nor beast."
"You're going out (there) a youngster,           but you're coming back a star!", "You're going out (on that           stage) a nobody, (kid), but you're coming back a star!", or "You're           going out a chorus girl, but you're coming back a star!" - all misquotes of           the original line in 42nd Street (1933) :
"But           you keep your feet on the ground and your head on those shoulders of           yours and go out, and, Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to           come back a star!"
Play  clip from 42nd Street (1933) :
The following line, a classic double entendre,           was not spoken       by Mae West in She Done Him Wrong (1933) :
"Is that a gun [or pistol] in your pocket, or are           you just glad to see me?"
She did restate the line in her final film, an outrageous             comedy titled Sextette               (1978). As aging movie-star Marlo Manners, she was speaking               to Vance Morton (co-star George Hamilton).
Reportedly, she also spoke the line to an escorting           LA police officer who met her at the LA railway station in February,           1936.
Note: The line was parodied in at least three other films:
In Mel         Brooks' Blazing           Saddles (1974), Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Schtupp quipped:
"Is           that a ten gallon hat, or are you just enjoying the show?"
Play           clip from Blazing Saddles (1974) :
In Who               Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) ,         Dolores (Joanna Cassidy) asked Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) - with Roger         Rabbit concealed in his pants pocket:
"Is that a rabbit in your pocket           or are you just happy to see me?"
Play clip from Who Framed Roger Rabbit           (1988) :
And in the romantic comedy America's Sweethearts (2001),           in a revenge fantasy sequence, the line was parodied in a scene between           two movie stars who were at odds with each other after a break-up:
Gwen Harrison (Catherine Zeta-Jones): "Oh, Eddie,             I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I know you'll never forgive me, but please, please take me back. Oh... you've got a gun in your pocket             or just happy to see me?"
Eddie Thomas (John Cusack): "Actually, it's a gun." (Bang, bang, bang...)
Play clip from America's Sweethearts (2001):
Bawdy actress Mae West has often been misquoted,           especially with this mis-stated line:
"Why, don't you come up and see me sometime, (big           boy)?" or "Come up and see me sometime."
In fact, the line was stated differently in the 1933           film She         Done Him Wrong (1933) .  Mae West (as         Lady Lou)           propositioned her co-star Cary Grant (as Captain Cummings) thusly:
Lady Lou: "I always did like a man in a uniform. That             one fits you grand. Why don't you come up sometime 'n see           me? I'm home       every evenin'."
Captain: "Yeah, but I'm busy every evening."
Lou: "Busy? So, what are you tryin' to do, insult me?"
Captain: "Why no, no, not at all. I'm just busy, that's all..."
Lou: "I heard ya, but you ain't kiddin' me any. You know, I met your kind before. Why don't you come up sometime, huh?"
Captain: "Well, I..."
Later in the film, she again offered her services            to Captain Cummings, with a modified invitation:
Lou: "Come up again, anytime."
Captain: "Thanks, I will."
Play clip from She         Done Him Wrong (1933) :
(variation)
Much earlier in the film, she had already invited suave       Serge Stanieff (Gilbert Roland) with the same words:
Lou: "Come up again, anytime."
Serge: "I shall. And I hope you will be                 alone."
Lou: "So do I. (He graciously kissed her extended                 hand) Warm, dark, and handsome."
Play clip from She         Done Him Wrong (1933) :
(variation)
Toward the end of another Mae West film in the same year, I'm               No Angel (1933) , the actress (as lion tamer Tira) also               thanked (on the telephone) Juror # 4 for her acquittal and some "beautiful flowers," with her own, self-referential oft-misquoted               line:
"And don't forget. Come up and see me sometime."
In the Laurel and Hardy classic comedy, Sons               of the Desert (1933) , Oliver Hardy exclaimed to partner               Stan Laurel:
"Well, here's another nice mess you've           gotten me into!"
Play clip from Sons of the Desert (1933) :
He did NOT say: "Well, here's         another fine mess you've gotten us into" or "Here's         another fine mess you've gotten me into."
At the conclusion of the classic adventure       film King Kong (1933) , Robert Armstrong       (as Carl Denham) uttered the famous closing line:
"Oh, no,           it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast."
Play clip from King Kong (1933) :
Some         have heard it to say: "...'Twas Beauty killed the Beast," although       there's little doubt.
In The Lives of               a Bengal Lancer (1935) , Douglass Dumbrille (as treacherous       and sinister Mohammed Khan) said as a taunting threat to Bengal Lancers.               In his delivery, he paused after "Well, gentlemen" to give a smile               and then a scowl:
"Well, gentlemen. We have ways to make men           talk."
Play clip from The Lives of a Bengal Lancer     (1935) :
He did NOT say: "We have ways of making you talk," "We           have ways of making men talk," or "We         have ways to make you (men) talk." The movie was reportedly Adolph         Hitler's favorite. The torture method to get them to talk involved sharp         slivers of bamboo  inserted under  fingernails that were set on fire.
At the end of  the film Poppy (1936),           conniving patent-medicine salesman Prof. Eustace P. McGargle (W.C.           Fields) bid farewell to heiress Poppy (Rochelle Hudson), who always           thought he was her father. He told her:
"That's marvelous. And if we should ever separate,           my little plum, I want to give you one little bit of fatherly advice."
- "Yes, Pop."
- "Never give a sucker an even break."
The proverb meant that one should not give a fair chance         to a fool (or one easily deceived). It became the title of Fields' later           film: Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941) .
It has been misquoted, often written as: "And remember,           Dearie, never give a sucker an even break."
In           Disney's animated film Snow White and the Seven           Dwarfs (1937) , the wicked Queen asked her Magic Mirror:
"Magic           Mirror on the Wall, who is the Fairest one of all?"
The       misquote (such as: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest       of them all?") has been heard in a number of films, including:
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)
"Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's the most           drop-dead gorgeous one of all?"
Play clip from Elvira: Mistress of the               Dark (1988):
101           Dalmatians (1996)
Play clip from Shrek         (2001) :
"Come with me to the Casbah," followed       by "we'll make beautiful music together" - was never said       by Charles Boyer to co-star Hedy Lamarr in Algiers (1938). Boyer       claimed it was invented by his press agent.
It was voiced by cartoon character Pepe LePew in subsequent Looney Tunes cartoons, among           others. In fact, animator Chuck Jones based the Warner Brothers cartoon       character Pepe LePew, a French skunk, on Charles Boyer's Pepe Le Moko.
"You do not have to come with me to the Casbah."
Play clip from cartoon "For Scent-imental Reasons" (1949):
"Elementary, my dear Watson!" -       was a phrase never spoken by the lead character in the many Sherlock       Holmes novels from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This mis-quote       was  found in a film review in the New York Times on October       19, 1929.
The closest phrases in Doyle's       writings were in:
The Crooked Man ("'Excellent!' I cried.         'Elementary!', said he.")
The Adventure of the Cardboard           Box ("It was very superficial, my dear Watson, I assure you").
The misquoted catchphrase became popularized         only after its trademark use in two films:
(1) This was the dialogue in The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1929) (the          first Holmes film with sound), with Clive Brook (as Holmes) and H. Reeves-Smith         (as Dr. Watson).
Watson: "Amazing, Holmes."
Holmes: "Elementary, my dear Watson. Elementary."
(2) It was also stated twice by Basil Rathbone's Sherlock         Holmes character in Twentieth Century Fox's The Adventures of Sherlock         Holmes (1939).
Watson: "Amazing."