Movie Lines: What’s your favorite?

Going to the movies this weekend?

So many films are being released for the summer season, and there may well be lines we’ll be quoting for years to come.

We’ve all been going to see films – and eating lots of popcorn – since we were little kids.

Can you remember the first film or feature-length cartoon you saw with your parents? What was the first film you went to with your friends – no parents?

All of us have our favorite cinema lines. They range from “I’ll be baaack!” (The Terminator) to “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” (Gone With the Wind). Perhaps you prefer “There’s no place like home” (The Wizard of Oz), or “May the Force be with you,” a Star Wars favorite.

It must be fate that encouraged us to publish this post on the 35th anniversary of that space epic’s opening!

A personal favorite is from Airplane! where a character says “Surely you can’t be serious,” while the other replies, “I am serious…and don’t call me Shirley.”

For a list of 100 memorable movie quotes see the American Film Institute (AFI) list.

Movie lines are such serious business that Cornell University’s computer scientists analyzed 1,000 movie scripts and a database of memorable quotes from those movies (Internet Movie Database) to learn the secret of what makes a line memorable.

The most memorable lines use a familiar sentence structure but use distinctive words or phrases and they make general statements that could apply elsewhere.

While the study was focused on movie scripts, the scientists said the analysis could have applications on marketing, politics, entertainment and social media, and that the same rules apply to advertising slogans.

Read the Cornell University press release. You can also take the memorability test.

Share with us your favorite movie quote – and your favorite film – in the comments below.

See you at the movies!