MovieChat Forums > The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Discussion > Greatest Last Lines in Movie History

Greatest Last Lines in Movie History


I nominate this one. Can anyone else think of any others?


"Madness. Madness..."

reply

[deleted]

Stalag 17:
"Maybe he just wanted to steal our wire cutters. Did you ever think of that?"


The Professionals: (an exchange)
"You Bastard!"
"Yes, sir. In my case, an accident of birth; But you, sir, you're a self-made man."

reply

I also go with this one:

The Professionals: (an exchange)
"You Bastard!"
"Yes, sir. In my case, an accident of birth; But you, sir, you're a self-made man."

reply

The Professionals: (an exchange)
"You Bastard!"
"Yes, sir. In my case, an accident of birth; But you, sir, you're a self-made man."


One of my favorites!

reply

Strother Martin's line in Cool Hand Luck "What we got heah is failure to communicate."

You see this movie one time and you will always remember that line.

reply

[deleted]

Only one of those lines (number 4) is actually the last line of the movie mentioned.

reply

[deleted]

How about this exchange from Jack Lemmon in drag to Joe E Brown in Some Like it Hot?
"I'm a man
"Nobody's perfect."
V

reply

I think you totally forgot about Casablanca...

reply

"...This could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

reply

my favorite last line is by raymond massey in the film the 49th parallel."i'm not asking for those pants back,i'm taking 'em

reply

That's not the last line. Scarlett sits down after he leaves and says she has to get him back but then says "Tomorrow is another day."

reply

"Only one of those lines (number 4) is actually the last line of the movie mentioned."

Nope, not even that one. The last line of GWTW is "Tomorrow is another day."

reply

[deleted]

[deleted]

No it's not.

Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyle

reply

[deleted]

^ Heh, that's the last line of the first half before the entr'acte kicks in, not the last line of the movie.

reply

It's not even that. The last line of Gwtw is ... after all, tomorrow is another day!

"Well, I think if people loved eachother more, they'd shoot eachother less!"

reply

Actually the last line in GWTW is "Tomorrow is another day."

reply

"Oh no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast."
King Kong

"I was cured alright."
A Clockwork Orange

"The horror. The horror."
Apocalypse Now

"It hurts when I smile."
"I can help you with that."
Ghost Town

"That'll do pig."
Babe

"I steal!"
I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang

"Why was I not made of stone like thee?"
The Hunchback of Notre Dame

"Never give a sucker an even break."
Poppy

"My God, it's full of stars!"
2001: A Space Odessy (I think it's the last line.)

"It's a far, far better thing I do then I have ever done. It's a far far better rest I go to then I have ever known."
A Tale of Two Cities

"For over a thousand years, Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of a triumph - a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeters and musicians and strange animals from the conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conqueror rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children, robed in white, stood with him in the chariot, or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror, holding a golden crown, and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting."
Patton

"Life is a state of mind."
Being There

reply

"My God, it's full of stars!"
2001: A Space Odessy (I think it's the last line.)


Nope. Even though the line is recited incessantly in 2010, and is featured as part of a sentence in the book 2001.

According to IMDB the last line is,

Good day, gentlemen. This is a prerecorded briefing made prior to your departure and which for security reasons of the highest importance has been known on board during the mission only by your H-A-L 9000 computer. Now that you are in Jupiter's space and the entire crew is revived it can be told to you. Eighteen months ago the first evidence of intelligent life off the Earth was discovered. It was buried 40 feet below the lunar surface near the crater Tycho. Except for a single very powerful radio emission aimed at Jupiter the four-million year old black monolith has remained completely inert. Its origin and purpose are still a total mystery.



Damion Crowley
"The Captain doesn't move too far; just far enough until he finds a fish"

reply

It's a fair cop. I said I wasn't sure. I did the list from memory in most cases.

reply

Not trying to bust on you. Just thought you'd like to know.

Damion Crowley
"The Captain doesn't move too far; just far enough until he finds a fish"

reply

No, no. I didn't take it the wrong way. Thanks for the correct information!

reply

No it isn't. It's Gable's last line but Vivien Leigh has a line to close the movie.

reply

actually Clark's line is not the last one in the movie.
Scarlett says something like "after all tomorrows another day"
i think.......check it out.

reply

No it's not.

reply

Hi! re: #4, doesn't the movie end similarly to the book, on a more positive note of hope, where the book and Scarlett's last lines are "I'll think about it tomorrow, at Tara; I can stand it then. Tomorrow I'll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day." They are spoken after Rhett slams the door on her, strides off into the fog, and she cries, and sinks onto the staircase in paroxyms of grief, then finally slowly looks up, with s slight little smile, and speaks the above lines, as it occurs to her to go back to Tara, where everything good has always come to her. These are the lines from the book, and I think the movie lines were close, although the "damn" line, of course, attracted the most attention, being the first time, I believe, it was allowed into a movie by the censors at the time.

reply


Actually, NONE of these are the last lines in a movie. The last line in Gone with the Wind is "After all, tomorrow is another day!"

I would say almost ALL the last lines in Billy Wilder movies are the greatest last lines in movie history.

"Nobody's Perfect" (Some Like it Hot)

"Shut up and deal" (The Apartment)

"Mr. Demille, I'm ready for my close-up" (Sunset Boulevard).

Other best last lines?

"There's no place like home" Wizard of Oz

"Louis, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" (Casablanca)

reply

"I thought i was having trouble with my adding. It's alright now" - For a Few Dollars More.

reply

Greatest Last Lines in Movie History

From "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow"

"Lens Cap."

reply

Number 9 is also 'You're going to need a bigger boat'

reply

The Long Hot Summer: I like life Minnie, I like it so much I might just live forever.

reply

Actually, the last line always has me cringing. It would have been much better, in my opinion, just to have the MO silently regarding the scene, or even just to stick with the one "Madness!"

reply

I guess it depends on where you come at it from. For me, I was so glad he didn't turn to the camera and give a speech.

reply

"The Dude abides."

reply

Donny, shut the fuc... oh good, when do we bowl?

reply

Actually, the last line always has me cringing. It would have been much better, in my opinion, just to have the MO silently regarding the scene, or even just to stick with the one "Madness!"

I agree, because it was so unnecessary. I would've had the camera pan over the wreckage and end on the plaque floating on the river.
Also agree that the last lines of Some Like It Hot are the best.

reply

[deleted]

Easy. Planet Of the Apes (1968)-"Damn you! Damn you! Goddamn you all to hell!"

reply

I always liked "Nothing's too good for the man who shot Liberty Valance" from (duh) "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"

reply

The Usual Suspects:
And like that......he's gone.

A Clockwork Orange:
I was cured all right

Full Metal Jacket:
I'm in a world of *beep* yes. But I'm alive, and I'm not afraid

Psycho:
She wouldn't hurt a fly.

Memento:
Now, where was I?

Goodfellas:
I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.

reply

"Nothing's too good for the man who shot Liberty Valence"



The Man in Black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed.

reply

Maltese Falcon

"That's the stuff dreams are made of."

reply

I've noticed that most of these lines aren't "famous last lines" but famous lines from within the show. Aren't last lines supposed to be 'last lines'?

"Shane, come back Shane". That's a "great famous last line".

reply

Thank you, deacon don.

reply

Chinatown
"Forget it Jake. It's Chinatown."


I believe you mean "Get back on the sidewalk!"

Watch the movie again and you'll see that your quote is actually NOT the last line of Chinatown.

reply

Chinatown
"Forget it Jake. It's Chinatown."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I believe you mean "Get back on the sidewalk!"

Watch the movie again and you'll see that your quote is actually NOT the last line of Chinatown.
______________________________________

Ah c'mon man. Let's not split hairs over a throw away line.


If you're flammible and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. -Mitch Hedberg

reply

Since we've got all this nit-picking going on, I was wondering if it's ok to disregard "throw that junk in" from Citizen Kane in favor of:

"Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn't have explained anything... I don't think any word can explain a man's life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a... piece in a jigsaw puzzle... a missing piece."

reply

The original and recent King Kong both end with: "No, it wasn't the planes. Beauty killed the Beast."

reply

Ah c'mon man. Let's not split hairs over a throw away line.


I'm not splitting hairs, I'm stating a fact: Forget it Jake, It's Chinatown is not the last line of the movie. It never was and never will be. It's simply wrong to say that it is.

reply

The Silence Of The Lambs

"I'm having an old friend for dinner."

"The last step of insanity is when you're in denial of your own existence."

reply

"I'm having an old friend for dinner."


It's the last line spoken by Dr. Lector, but not the last line in the movie.

reply

That's just what I came to post! Great line by Hopkins!

reply