Catch Phrase/Film

Cinematic Catch Phrases. By definition, the phrase(s) should to be repeated multiple times throughout the film or the film series in order to qualify.

This page is not a dumping ground for famous film quotes; those go on the Signature Line page.

Likewise, if the quote has become a Catch Phrase for the audience, those belong on the Memetic Mutation page.


 * 42nd Street:
 * "Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" - Warner Baxter


 * Abbott and Costello:
 * "Hey Abbott!" - Lou Costello


 * Ace Ventura series:
 * "All righty then!" - Jim Carrey


 * Airplane!:
 * "I am serious. And don't call me Shirley." - Leslie Nielsen


 * Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
 * "I'm Ron Burgundy.(?)"
 * "You stay classy, San Diego."
 * "Whammy!"


 * "...And Justice For All"
 * "You're out of order! You're out of order! The whole trial is out of order! They're out of order!!"


 * Aliens:
 * "Game over man, game over!"


 * Animal House
 * "Toga! Toga!" - John Belushi


 * Austin Powers series:
 * "Oh behave!"
 * "Yeah, baby, yeah!"
 * His nemesis Dr. Evil also had catch phrases such as "Why am I surrounded by frickin idiots?" and "One miiiillion dollars!"


 * The Back to The Future trilogy
 * Doc Brown's "Great Scott!" and Marty McFly's "This is heavy!". In the first film, Brown takes Marty's catchphrase literally. Subverted in the third movie, where they once exchange lines.
 * In the second and third films Marty also develops the Catch Phrase "Nobody calls me chicken!" (or "yellow" in the Western setting) in response to his personal Berserk Button.
 * "Hey McFly!" - said by Biff/Griff Tannen to Marty and George


 * Beyond The Forest:
 * "What a dump!" - Bette Davis


 * The Big Lebowski:
 * "Man." - Jeff Bridges
 * "It really tied the room together"


 * ''The Blues Brothers":
 * "We're on a mission from God." - Dan Aykroyd


 * Bonnie and Clyde:
 * "We rob banks." - Warren Beatty


 * The Cabin In The Cotton:
 * "Ah'd love t' kiss ya, but ah jes washed ma hayuh" - Bette Davis


 * Cannibal Holocaust
 * "I wonder who the real cannibals are?" -Robert Kerman


 * A Clockwork Orange:
 * "It was time for a little bit of the old ultra-violence." - Malcolm McDowell
 * "Viddy well, brothers, viddy well" - Malcolm McDowell


 * Cool Hand Luke:
 * "What we've got here is failure to communicate."


 * The Court Jester:
 * "King of jesters, and jester of kings!"
 * "Harm one hair on (her/that majestic) head, and I throw myself from the highest turret!"
 * "If he dies, you die."
 * "Get it?" "Got it." "Good."


 * The Dark Knight:
 * "Wanna know how I got these scars?" - Heath Ledger
 * "Why so serious?" - Ibid.


 * The Day the Earth Stood Still:
 * "Klaatu barada nikto."


 * Die Hard:
 * "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker." - Bruce Willis (Creator)


 * Dog Day Afternoon
 * "Attica! Attica!!" - Al Pacino


 * Duets:
 * Todd Woods: "I'm going out for a pack of cigarettes."
 * Reggie Kane: "I made an error in judgement."


 * ET the Extraterrestrial
 * "E.T. phone home."


 * Evil Dead
 * "Groovy" - Bruce Campbell as Ash


 * Field of Dreams
 * "If you'll build it, he will come." - Ray Liotta


 * Forrest Gump
 * "And that's all I have to say about that." - Tom Hanks
 * "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you gonna get." - Tom Hanks


 * Any variation of Frankenstein is guaranteed to have: "It's alive! It's alive!".
 * Except for, of course, the actual book.


 * Freaks
 * "One of us! One of us! We accept you! One of us!"


 * From Dusk till Dawn
 * Protagonist Seth Gecko has a Catch Phrase template he adapts to the situation at hand: "Ok [noun], let's [verbed form of same noun]."
 * Prior to making the last dash to the Mexican border and freedom: "Ok ramblers, let's get ramblin'."
 * Having arrived at the rendezvous at which they are to meet their Mexican contact: "Ok hard drinkers, let's start drinking hard."
 * Immediately prior to the last confrontation with the vampires: "Ok vampire killers, let's kill some fucking vampires."


 * Funny Girl
 * "Hello, gorgeous." - Barbra Streisand


 * Galaxy Quest: "Never give up -- never surrender."
 * "By Grabthar's Hammer, by the sons of Warvan, you shall be avenged!"
 * "Pedal to the metal, commander."


 * Goldeneye
 * "I AM INVINCIBLE!" - Boris Grishenko, who obviously has not read the Evil Overlord List.


 * Good Morning Vietnam
 * "GOOOOOOOOOD MOOOOOOOOO'NIN']] VIETNAAAAAM!" - Robin Williams


 * The Graduate
 * "Plastics". - Walter Brooke


 * Highlander
 * Specific to the movies was Connor Mac Leod's "It's a kind of magic."


 * The Indiana Jones film series
 * "I hate snakes!" - Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
 * Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
 * "Don't call me "Junior"!" - Harrison Ford
 * "This is intolerable!" - Sean Connery

""A dry martini," he said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet."
 * The James Bond film series
 * "Bond. James Bond."
 * "Shaken, not stirred."
 * The martini one was subverted in the most recent version of Casino Royale: when asked how he wants his martini, Bond asks "Do I look like I give a damn?" Earlier in the film, though, he gives very specific instructions as to how he wants his martini prepared, which is word-for-word out of the original book. "Shaken, not stirred" is a summary of part of this particular order.

"Oui, monsieur."

"Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel. Got it?""


 * Judge Dredd
 * "I knew you'd say that."
 * "I am the law!"


 * Kill Bill
 * "You and I have unfinished business." - The Bride


 * The Kung Fu Theater series
 * "I thought you were dead! (crops up in other genres as well)"
 * "I heard your kung fu is really good." (usually meant as a challenge to the hero)
 * "Teacher!"
 * "But still..."
 * "You (or he) killed teacher!"


 * Laurel and Hardy film series
 * "D'ooooooooooh!" - James Finlayson
 * "Why don't you do something to help me?" - Oliver Hardy
 * "There's another nice mess you've gotten me into." - Oliver Hardy (often misquoted as "fine mess")


 * The Little Shop of Horrors: Seymour's "I didn't mean it", Gravis Mushnick's "excellent", and Audrey Jr.'s "Feed Me".


 * Lives Of A Bengal Lancer: "We have ways of making men talk" - Douglas Drimbille (which later became a stock phrase as: We Have Ways of Making You Talk)

"Box: Fish and plankton! And sea greens and protein from the sea!"
 * Logan's Run


 * Marathon Man
 * "Is it safe?" - Laurence Olivier

Groucho: "It’s alright, that’s in every contract. That’s what they call a sanity clause." Chico: "You can't fool me! There ain't no Sanity Claus."
 * The Marx Brothers film series
 * "Of course you know, this means war!" - Groucho Marx. He first mentioned it in Duck Soup (1933).
 * "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know." - Groucho Marx in Animal Crackers (1930)
 * "Why a duck?" -Chico Marx in The Cocoanuts (1929)
 * From A Night at the Opera (1935):
 * Chico Marx often began conversations with a cheery "Hello, boss!" Groucho would sometimes end them with, "...And I do mean you." (suggestive eyebrow waggle)


 * Midnight Cowboy
 * "I'm walking here! I'm walking here!" - Dustin Hoffman


 * Monty Python and The Holy Grail.
 * "Bring out your dead!" - Eric Idle. (This phrase inspired Martin Scorsese's movie "Bringing Out The Dead" (1999)).
 * "Ni!" - Michael Palin as the Head Knight Who Says "Ni"


 * Monty Python's Life of Brian.
 * "Always look on the bright side of life." - Eric Idle
 * "What have the Romans ever done for us?" - John Cleese
 * "What's so funnny about the name "Biggus Dickus"? - Michael Palin


 * Mystery Team
 * "We're the Mystery Team"


 * Network
 * "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" - Peter Finch


 * The Pirates of the Caribbean:
 * "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." - Johnny Depp.
 * And, of course, "Captain Jack Sparrow," when someone omits his title.
 * To the point that when he isn't there, Will and Elizabeth do it for him.
 * Of course, "the rum is always gone". "But we need not forget about that one". Or any of his other multitudes of catchphrases, "savvy?"
 * "This will be the day you will always remember as the day you ALMOST defeated/captured/killed/cannibalized/etc. Captain Jack Sparrow!"
 * Davy Jones: "Do you fear death?"
 * Cutler Beckett: "It's just... good business."


 * The Pride Of The Yankees
 * "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." -Gary Cooper


 * Prince of Space
 * "Your weapons are useless against me!" - Tatsuo Umemiya


 * The Princess Bride:
 * Vizzini shouts, "Inconceivable!" whenever something goes happens that he didn't expect. His partner, Inigo Montoya, eventually says, "You Keep Using That Word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
 * Inigo's own catch phrase: "Hello. My Name Is Inigo Montoya. You Killed My Father. Prepare to Die."
 * Westley's own "As You Wish," which he even uses to identify himself.


 * Porco Rosso, the eponymous character (who is half man, half pig) bitterly reiterates "I'm a pig."


 * Psycho
 * "My mother isn't quite herself today." - Anthony Perkins


 * In Rain Man, Raymond has "I'm an excellent driver."
 * "Definitely, definitely."
 * "Uh-oh."


 * The Rocky series
 * "Yo Adrian!" - Sylvester Stallone in "Rocky I" (1976)
 * "I pity the fool." - Mr. T. in "Rocky III".
 * "I must break you." - Dolph Lundgren in "Rocky IV"


 * The Room
 * "Oh hi, (name)!" - Tommy Wiseau
 * "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!" - Tommy Wiseau
 * "Hi doggie!" - Tommy Wiseau
 * "How's your sex life?" -Tommy Wiseau
 * As well as his distinctive, inappropriate laughter.


 * Scarface (the 1983 version)
 * "Say hello to my little friend!" - Al Pacino


 * The Searchers
 * "That'll be the day." - John Wayne.
 * This was also the inspiration for the Buddy Holly song.


 * In Shakespeare in Love, Geoffrey Rush's character answers every question to which he doesn't know the answer with "I don't know. It's a mystery." By the end of the movie, he's got Gwyneth Paltrow using it, too. This is arguably a reference to Rush's portrayal of David Helfgott in the 1996 film Shine, where he frequently said the line, too.


 * Shane
 * "Shane! Shane! Come back!" - Brandon De Wilde


 * The Shining
 * "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
 * "Heeeeeere's Johnny!" - Jack Nicholson
 * "Red Rum!"


 * The Silence of the Lambs
 * "Hello, Clarice". - Anthony Hopkins


 * Silent Night Deadly Night
 * "Punish!" - Billy Caldwell


 * Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2
 * "Naughty." - Eric Freeman


 * Smoke Signals
 * "HEY VICTOR!". - Thomas Builds-A-Fire
 * "Thomas, you're so full of shit...". Victor Joseph


 * Star Wars features a number of repeated lines, though none are character specific:
 * "I have a bad feeling about this," which is apparently a favorite of Lucas and even uttered in the Star Tours Disney ride and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
 * "Nooooooooo!"
 * "May the Force be with you."
 * "You Have Failed Me for the last time!" - James Earl Jones as Darth Vader
 * "It's a trap!" -Admiral Ackbar in "The Return of the Jedi"


 * A Streetcar Named Desire
 * "STELLA! HEY STELLA!" - Marlon Brando
 * "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." - Vivien Leigh


 * Street Fighter (the 1994 movie)
 * "OF COURSE!" - Raul Julia as Mr. Bison


 * Taxi! (1932 film)
 * "You dirty rat! I'm going to get rid of you, just like you gave it to my brother!" - James Cagney


 * The Terminator film series
 * "Hasta la vista, baby!" - Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2
 * "Come with me if you want to live" - Kyle Reese in the first film, also used in later films and twice in the TV series.
 * "Get Out!" also appears Once Per Episode.
 * "I'll be Back" - Arnie's T-800.
 * Lampshaded in Last Action Hero.
 * Parodied in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, where he says "She'll be back" (after fighting off the T-X) and "I'm back".


 * They Live
 * "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum."


 * This Is Spinal Tap
 * "These go up to eleven." - Christopher Guest


 * The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
 * "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!" - Alfonso Bedaya
 * This quote was also spoofed in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles (1974).


 * The Truman Show
 * "Good morning! And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night!"


 * Tron
 * "I fight for the users"
 * End of line.


 * Wayne'sWorld
 * "Party on, [Character]!"
 * "WE'RE NOT WORTHY! WE'RE NOT WORTHY!"


 * White Heat
 * "Made it ma, top of the world!" - James Cagney


 * The Wild One
 * - "What are you rebelling against, Johnny?"
 * Marlon Brando: "-What do you got to offer?"


 * The Wizard of Oz
 * "There's no place like home." -Judy Garland


 * Woody Allen film series
 * "La dee da. La dee da." - Diane Keaton in Annie Hall


 * The Wolf Man series
 * "Even a man who is pure at heart/and says his prayers at night/may become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms/and the autumn moon is bright"
 * It's worth noting that the movie Van Helsing has both this and the prior phrase.