Guessing Game

Somewhat belatedly, meme from karabair:

1. Pick one dozen movies that are ones that you have special feelings about. (I modified this to "movies currently on my mind" in some cases)
2. Pick a few lines of dialogue that mean something to you.
3. As people guess the film, strike out that entry.
4. If possible, after the film is guessed, explain why that movie made the list.


Movie Lines

1. "What a dump." spikewriter broke the curse: solution #1 is THE PETRIFIED FOREST (uttered by Bette Davis), and solution #2 is WHO IS AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF where Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) quotes it and then can't remember which movie it's from. "Who is afraid of Virginia Woolf" presenting the joys of verbal eviscaration of eveyone by everyone, and of intense love/hate and messed-upness, I love it. As various people have pointed out, it's also spoken in STAR WARS, slightly modified, which begs the question whether Lucas was quoting Albee or the original?)

2. "Have you ever retired a human by mistake?" BLADE RUNNER. My all time favourite sci-fi movie, and I barely resisted quoting Roy's death speech, because someone else had already done that. Incidentally, in the director's cut versus theatrical release debate, I'm siding with the director's cut, though it's gorgeous in any version.

3. "A toast then, Jedediah, to love on my own terms. Because these are the only terms anyone ever knows. His own." CITIZEN KANE, Charles Foster Kane talking when he has it out with his old pal Jed Leland. Actually, there are movies by and with Orson Welles I love even better, but KANE deserves its iconic status, and never fails to stun me, no matter how often I rewatch.

4. "You mean, all this time we could have been friends?" WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE, Jane to her sister. If you haven't seen the film yet, I won't spoil the reason why this is the punchline for you, because it hinges on a crucial revelation. Anyway - Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and no scenery left unchewed. Also a great entry in the "Hollywood on Hollywood" genre.

5. "I'll think about it tomorrow." GONE WITH THE WIND. Scarlett's mantra, which gets her through the major crisis of the day. Margaret Mitchell's original title for the novel was actually "Tomorrow is Another Day". For why "Gone with the Wind", see lengthy entry last week.

6. "It is known that you have a funny sense of fun.". LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Uttered by Dryden, Claude Rains' character, when Lawrence tells him the desert is going to be fun. LoA being my all-time favourite historical movie as well as my all-time favourite movie altogether, I just had to get one line in, and not one of the more famous ones.

7. "The way of the future." . THE AVIATOR, the very last line, uttered again and again by the protagonist, which incapsulates in a tragic and deeply ironic way his fate. Did I mention I'm so rooting for this film to get the Oscars?

8. "Hush, dear, mother is fighting." THE LION IN WINTER, Eleanor of Aquitaine to her youngest son John. For exubarant praise of this film and this particular character, see entry a few days ago about Katharine Hepburn.

9. "I have a fondness for almost all things Greek." "As an almost all Greek thing myself..." . CLEOPATRA (the Elizabeth Taylor version). Should have known who'd guess it - my long-lost twin. This movie was actually a flop that got blamed for bankrupting a studio, but I have always loved it -a witty and occasionally touching script by Joe Manciewicz, and good performances, too. Historical liberties, of course, but also some nice nods to popularly ignored facts, like the one referred to in this quote. (Cleopatra, due to her Macedon family, WAS an almost-all Greek thing.)

10. "Now watch this drive!" FAHRENHEIT 9/11. Really the only scene Moore would have needed (but as usual, he couldn't resist going over the top), because Bush switching from denouncing terrorists to this very sentence with hardly a breath says it all.

11. "It's not a comeback. It's a return." SUNSET BOULEVARD. Norma Desmond, magnficently played by real life silent movie star Gloria Swanson, corrects failed script writer Joe Gilles about her intentions. I like the "Hollywood on Hollywood" genre per se, but SB is its unrivaled, no competion, acid and perfect masterpiece.

12. "You don't know what it has done to him - what it is still doing to him." LOTR, THE TWO TOWERS, Frodo talking to Sam about Gollum.

And because I'm in the quoting mood, let's switch to another medium:


12 TV show lines

1. "There is nothing which occurs to you which did not occur to me first. That is the burden with which I live." I, CLAUDIUS. Livia's reply to Tiberius' "did it ever occur to you, Mother, that it might be you they hate, not me?" question. Forget all the Jane Austen stuff, "I, Claudius" remains to me the finest tv series ever made based on a novel. Terrific dialogue, and the cream of British acting in the cast. I can't praise it enough.

2. "Somebody is at the door." AMERICAN GOTHIC. Merlyn says it first, and most significantly, and it's a red thread through that brilliant show. (Cancelled after one season. Reminds you of anything?)

3. "Is it true - have you murdered your way to a wall and finally lost your nerve?" "It's an old wall, and it waits." Yep, BLAKE'S SEVEN, Avon and Servalan talking. I love that particular episode, "Rumours of Death", for many reasons, but one of them is this scene, this dialogue, and Servalan's reaction in a (for her) unusual situation in general.

4. "There are two things I want to know, not just as an FBI agent but as a human being. What went on between Marilyn Monroe and the Kennedys, and who pulled the trigger on JFK?" TWIN PEAKS, Dale Cooper talking. Yes, there was an FBI agent before Mulder. Twin Peaks had its ups and downs, but it seduced me before any other non-Star Trek show did. Ah, David Lynch, you do disturbing in everyday ever so well.

5. "The more things change, the more they stay the same." STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE. altariel1, I'm really dissappointed you didn't recognise that one.*g* (But kalypso_v did. It's the very last line of the show, delivered by My Darling Quark.

6. "God doesn't want you - but I still do." ANGEL THE SERIES, Darla talking to Angel, in "Dear Boy". I know this one was easy, but I couldn't resist. One of her best and most memorable lines, and it sums up their relationship in its twisted glory.

7. "Everybody is cute." BABYLON 5, Londo Mollari talking (to everyone else, and happily drunk). If you don't know I adore the man, you're knew to this journal. Anyway. It's a hilarious scene early in the first season, and in retrospect one can't watch it without a bittersweet feeling, for arc-related reasons.

8. "Am I a lion?" FIREFLY, Jubal Early talking to Simon in reply to the question "are you Alliance?", in probably my favourite episode of the show, "Objects in Space".

9. "Sometimes I think the only reason I come here is to listen to those wonderful speeches of yours." STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Spoken by Q to Picard, in the season 6 episode "True Q". Their scenes together were usually gold. (Snark! Chemistry!) While DS9 is my favourite ST incarnation, I have a nostalgic fondness for TNG as well; it was the first show I grew really fannish about, and to this day Picard is my favourite Captain.

10. "Liar." BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, Buffy's last line in the episode "Lie to me". Which was a turning point for the show, in retrospect, foreshadowing quite a lot for both that particular season and the rest of the series.

11. "Mi case es su casa." HIGHLANDER, Methos in the episode "Methos". Can he make an entrance (err, a memorable first sprawling appearance) or what?

12. "All this makes me so sad." "They would have destroyed themselves sooner or later." BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (the new version), Six talking to fellow Cylon Berol on Caprica.