In fact, I’d unhesitatingly vote Joe E Brown’s “Well, nobody’s perfect!” as the Number One of my ‘Top Ten Last Lines from the Movies’.Of course, you really have to see the film to understand the context and I’m not into ‘spoilers’!
My other nine candidates, for what they’re worth, are:
“You finally really did it. You maniacs! You blew it up! God damn you! God damn you all to hell!”
“Oh, no! It wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.”
“Oh, Jerry, don’t let’s ask for the moon. We have the stars.”
“Oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home.”
“I'll go home, and I'll think of some way to get him back! After all, tomorrow is another day!”
“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
“All right, Mr De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up.”
“Hello, everybody. This is Mrs Norman Maine.”
“Goodbye, Mary Poppins. Don't stay away too long.”
Oh, yes…
And in ‘First Reserve’ position:
"Emily, I have a little confession to make. I really am a horse doctor, but marry me and I'll never look at any other horse."
[Images: Joe E Brown/Jack Lemmon, GoneMovies; Marx Brothers posters available from barewalls]
4 comments:
My friend Nick of Poetic Hours e-mailed to say: "Don't know whether you have ever read 'The Book of Lists' but your 10 favourite movie endings contain at least seven of their choices... Spooky!"
Or simply that they are some of the best -- or, alternatively, the most quoted!
Anyway, I shall instantly be investing in a copy of 'The Book of Lists: The original Compendium of Curious Information' by (Amzaon.com tells me) David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace. Sounds like a MUST for any serious blogger with a tendency to suffer from 'blogger's block'!
For those who didn’t know or couldn’t remember, here are the sources for those quotes.
(And for those who DIDN’T CARE, why the heck are you bothering reading this comment?!)
Anyway, here they are:
“Well, nobody’s perfect!”
Osgood Fielding III (Joe E Brown) in response to the revelation by Jerry/Daphne (Jack Lemon) “Oh, you don’t understand, Osgood! I’m a man,” in ‘Some Like it Hot’ (1959)
***
“You finally really did it. You maniacs! You blew it up! God damn you! God damn you all to hell!”
George Taylor (Charlton Heston) on discovering the ruined Statue of Liberty on ‘Planet of the Apes’ (1968)
***
“Oh, no! It wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.”
Carl Denham (Bruce Armstrong) of the eponymous ‘King Kong’ (1933)
***
“Oh, Jerry, don’t let’s ask for the moon. We have the stars.”
Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) to Jerry Durrance (Paul Henreid) just after he has dextrously managed to light two cigarettes at the same time in ‘Now Voyager’ (1942)
***
“Oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home.”
Dorothy (Judy Garland) having escaped Technicolor Oz for monochrome Kansas in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939)
***
“I'll go home, and I'll think of some way to get him back! After all, tomorrow is another day!”
Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) in ‘Gone With the Wind’ (1939)
***
“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) to Capt Renault (Claude Raines) on the fog-bound airport runway in ‘Casablanca’ (1942)
***
“All right, Mr De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up.”
Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in ‘Sunset Boulevard’ (1950)
***
“Hello, everybody. This is Mrs Norman Maine.”
Vicki Lester (Judy Garland, again) back on stage, after the death of husband, Norman Maine, in ‘A Star is Born’ (1954)
***
“Goodbye, Mary Poppins. Don't stay away too long.”
Bert (Dick Van Dyke) whilst everyone else flies kites in ‘Mary Poppins’ (1964)
***
"Emily, I have a little confession to make. I really am a horse doctor, but marry me and I'll never look at any other horse."
Dr Hugo Z Hackenbush (Groucho Marx) to Emily Upjohn (Margaret Dumont) in ‘A Day at the Races’ (1937)
What fun!
But oh no. I'm ashamed and horrified to say that I recognised only two of those lines (“Oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home.” “Goodbye, Mary Poppins. Don't stay away too long.” and they really kind of tell you the film, don't they?). I'm a product of the MTV generation I suppose. You know, "Lines? Wha? Give me explosions, man!"
That settles it, I'm going out to hire A Day at the Races right now.
I was quite pleased I recognised five of your last lines; but seeing the answers I could kick myself on a couple more.
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