The Guardian has a fun piece on how you think you remember a famous movie line, but in fact, when you go back and watch the film, the syntax or phrasing is just a little bit different.
The phrase, “Luke, I am your father”, has topped a list of memorable movie misquotes compiled by the website lovefilm.com following a poll of 1,500 filmgoers. In fact, the words uttered by Vader are the rather less impactful: “No, I am your father.”
Fans of vintage Disney may also be somewhat surprised to learn that the evil queen in 1937′s Snow White never actually says, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall – who is the fairest of them all?” The immortal line actually begins with the words, “Magic mirror …”
Also in the top five is the menacing challenge issued by Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry in 1971. Commonly misremembered as, “Do you feel lucky, punk?”, the correct phrase is the rather less pithy: “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya punk?”
Then there’s possibly the best-known movie misquote – “Play it again, Sam” from 1942′s Casablanca. Ingrid Bergman actually cajoles pianist Dooley Wilson with, “Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By”, while the closest Humphrey Bogart ever gets to these words is: “You played it for her, you can play it for me. If she can stand it, I can. Play it!”
Among other movie lines we think we know:
John Wayne never said, “Howdy, Pilgrim.” In fact, he said, “Great jolly Moses, what are you doing in my clogs?”
Marlon Brando never said, “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.” The line, literally, is: “Unpleasantness. Let me tell you about unpleasantness. But first, a song.”
And Paulie Shore never said, “Judge Ito! Have some of my burrito.” Well, actually, turns out he did.








Lars Walker
May 12, 2009 at 11:08 AM
Sadly, so many lines are better in context than in extract. So we dress ‘em up when we quote ‘em, to give some sense of the situation.