No one-liners, these are my favorite verbal exchanges in action movies. And no, they’re not from memory – I definitely solicited some help from the internet:
Quigley, Down Under
They’re stranded in the Australian desert, and she’s “half a pebble off plumb”, or not quite right in the head, hence her name:
Crazy Cora: You know, if we're lost, you can tell me.
Matthew Quigley: We're lost.
Crazy Cora: I can take bad news. Just tell me straight.
Matthew Quigley: I don't know where the hell we are.
Crazy Cora: No sense takin' time to make it sound better than it is.
Matthew Quigley: I reckon we're goin' in circles.
Crazy Cora: Wire things up and I'll see right through. So, just tell me honestly. Are we lost?
Matthew Quigley: Nope. I know exactly where we are.
Crazy Cora: That's good, 'cause, frankly, I was gettin' a little worried.
Matthew Quigley: Don’t know where we’re going, but no sense bein’ late…
The Last Boy Scout
Grizzled private investigator Joe Hallenbeck meets Jimmy Dix, former NFL quarterback:
Joe Hallenbeck: Leather pants.
Jimmy Dix: Yeah.
Joe Hallenbeck: What's something like that run?
Jimmy Dix: Six-fifty.
Joe Hallenbeck: Six hundred and fifty dollars?
Jimmy Dix: Yeah.
Joe Hallenbeck: They're pants.
Jimmy Dix: Yeah.
Joe Hallenbeck: You wear them?
Jimmy Dix: YES.
Joe Hallenbeck: They don't, like, have a TV in them or something?
Jimmy Dix: Nope.
Joe Hallenbeck: I am very old.
Tango & Cash
The movie’s title is the last names of two cops, played by Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone. In this scene they’re talking to a witness that was just interrogated by Cash (Russell):
Witness: Detective Cash assaulted me. He put a chair on my chest and sat on it.
Gabriel Cash: [Tango looks at Cash accusingly, Cash shrugs] I couldn't find a piano.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
With Sean Connery as Indiana’s dad – a perfect casting decision:
Professor Henry Jones: They're trying to kill us.
Indiana Jones: I know, Dad.
Professor Henry Jones: This is a new experience for me.
Indiana Jones: It happens to me all the time.
Speed
Two police officers discuss interesting tactical scenarios:
Harry Temple: All right, pop quiz. Airport. Gunman with one hostage. He's using her for cover; he's almost to a plane. You're a hundred feet away. Jack?
Jack: Shoot the hostage.
Harry Temple: What?
Jack: Take her out of the equation. Go for the good wound, he can’t get to the plane with her. Clear shot.
Harry Temple: You’re deeply nuts. You know that?
Lethal Weapon
From a time when Mel Gibson was much less controversial:
Martin Riggs: I do it real good, you know.
Roger Murtaugh: Do what?
Martin Riggs: When I was 19, I did a guy in Laos with a rifle shot at a thousand yards in high wind. Maybe eight or even ten guys in the world could have made that shot. It's the only thing I was ever good at... Well, see you tomorrow.
Roger Murtaugh: Yeah. See you then.
The Matrix
Great movie, with admittedly disappointing sequels:
Neo: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?
Morpheus: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.
So how about it, action buffs? What are your favorites?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Good ones, Red.
One of my favorites:
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue." Steve McCroskey, Airplane
I love the look on his face (and his hair) after he takes the hit!
Rocky: I can't do it.
Adrian: What?
Rocky: I can't beat him.
Adrian: Apollo?
Rocky: Yeah. I been out there walkin' around, thinkin'. I mean, who am I kiddin'? I ain't even in the guy's league.
Adrian: What are we gonna do?
Rocky: I don't know.
Adrian: You worked so hard.
Rocky: Yeah, that don't matter. 'Cause I was nobody before.
Adrian: Don't say that.
Rocky: Ah come on, Adrian, it's true. I was nobody. But that don't matter either, you know? 'Cause I was thinkin', it really don't matter if I lose this fight. It really don't matter if this guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood.
Great one!
Post a Comment