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AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes
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Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes is a list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. The American Film Institute revealed the list in 2005 in a three-hour television program on CBS. The program was hosted by actor Pierce Brosnan and had commentary from many Hollywood actors and filmmakers.
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A jury consisting of 1,500 film artists, critics, and historians selected "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn," spoken by Clark Gable in the Civil War epic Gone with the Wind as the most memorable American movie quotation of all time.
Casablanca has the most quotes of any movie on the list, with six. Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz are next, with three each. Fourteen different actors, ten men and four women, each have two or more quotations attributed to them. Leading this select ensemble is Humphrey Bogart, who has five, four of them from Casablanca. Bette Davis and Vivien Leigh are tied for the most quotations by an actress, with three. Marlon Brando, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino also have three apiece. James Cagney, Sean Connery, Clint Eastwood, Charlton Heston, Judy Garland, Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gloria Swanson each have two.
Three actors have quotes playing the same character in different movies: Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan in Sudden Impact (#6) and Dirty Harry (#51); Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr. No (#22) and Goldfinger (#90); and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator in The Terminator (#37) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (#76)
Three of the quotations on the list consist of one word; "Rosebud," from Citizen Kane, "Attica!" from Dog Day Afternoon and "Plastics," from The Graduate. The longest is Katharine Hepburn's quote from On Golden Pond ("Listen to me, mister. You're my knight in shining armor...") at 40 words, listed in its entirety at #88, below.
Jurors were asked to consider the following criteria in making their selections:
- Movie Quotation: A statement, phrase or brief exchange of dialogue spoken in an American film.[1] Lyrics from songs are not eligible.
- Cultural Impact: Movie Quotations that viewers use in their own lives and situations; circulating through popular culture, they become part of the national lexicon.
- Legacy: Movie Quotations that viewers use to evoke the memory of a treasured film, thus ensuring and enlivening its historical legacy.
- ^ AFI defines an American film as an English language motion picture with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States. Additionally, only Movie Quotations from feature-length American films released before January 1, 2004, were considered. AFI defines a feature-length film as a motion picture of narrative format that is typically over 60 minutes in length.