While watching last month’s 89th Academy Awards, I was on the verge of concluding that it was one of the most uneventful shows of all time. Well, until IT happened. The big IT; the biggest snafu in the history of the Oscars. Announcing the wrong winner of the best picture category – the top dog of all award categories – seals the deal for “Moonlight” never being forgotten in movie folklore.
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Whoops, my bad. Do-over please. Click To Tweet
You may not remember what won the Oscar for best picture in 2016 (it was “Spotlight”), but it’s a sure bet that this time next year you’ll still remember that “Moonlight” took home the gold statue in 2017.
When thinking about what makes a particular movie memorable, for me it’s always the dialogue. Movies with great one-liners, that are often quoted in our daily lives, are the films that have staying power. What I truly love is the one-line movie character: one or two lines of dialogue is all the actor has, but somehow their brief onscreen scene seeps into our collective memory. For example, who can forget this great line delivered after Meg Ryan’s character in “When Harry Met Sally” fakes an orgasm in a crowded restaurant:
“I’ll have what she’s having.”
That was it. A single line of flawless dialogue spoken at the perfect moment. One additional little bit of trivia you might not know: the actress who delivered that line was Estelle Reiner, director Rob Reiner’s mother. Meg Ryan’s co-star Billy Crystal discussed that scene here: Billy Crystal discusses “I’ll have what she’s having.”
I live to seek out the great one-line characters. I don’t dream of being a leading actress in a film, but I would love the role of a one-line character, to deliver just one line of perfectly timed dialogue.
I don’t dream of being a leading actress but would love to be a one-line character. Click To TweetLet’s have a little fun. What follows are a few examples of one-line character quotes. Can you identify the movie in which they were spoken? Let us know how many you get right in the comments section at the end of this post. And please don’t use Google – that’s kinda cheating.
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How do you feel about Cleveland? Movie? Click To Tweet
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Please challenge me back – offer up in the comments section any one-line character quotes that are your faves. Remember, quotes need to be from one-line characters, not the leading actor or actress.
Cheers,
Kimba
My Betty Davis favorite – “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”
Kimba you have me here I don’t recognise any of those lines and as for remembering lines from movies he is a couple for you ” You Complete me” and I am also a boy standing in front of a boy asking hime to love her” and I’ll have what she’s having xx
Here I am a movie lover and I couldn’t actually guess any of the movies in your post, Kimberly! One other quick bit of trivia. I believe that the one-liner from Rob Reiner’s mother in “When Harry Met Sally” wasn’t in the original script, but because Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan were ‘improvising’ the scene, the story goes that Crystal came up with the line for Estelle Reiner to say. 🙂 Thanks for the fun post. Sadly, I don’t have an one-liners from one-liner characters to contribute, but will now head to Google to find out the ones you shared! And yes, what a way to end the Academy Awards! I haven’t seen Moonlight yet, but kudos to everyone who handled the drams with some grace. It did seem like a movie moment you couldn’t write if you tried too!
Yes, that was quite a moment and I have to admit that when it was still making headlines a week later I was yelling “Enough already!” at my computer screen.
Anywhoo … I’m lousy at games like this because I see so few movies – well at least I have in the past decade or so. Here’s an easy one, but it’s one of my favorite movies and one of the few I have on DVD. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Maybe I like it because it works with so many situations in life. 🙂
“Do ya feel lucky punk?”
Bueller? Bueller?