Some movie quotes have become so iconic that people use them without ever realizing where they originated, and when that happens, there’s always the risk that the actual quote could change and morph during a years-long game of telephone. There are quite a few movie quotes that people frequently use without realizing that they’re misappropriations.
Misquote: “If you build it, they will come.”
Actual quote: “If you build it, he will come.”
In the 1989 drama Field of Dreams, farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) hears a strange voice in his head: “If you build it, he will come.” Eventually, he interprets this to mean that he should build a baseball diamond on his property, which eventually attracts the late Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) and eventually Ray’s dead father John (Dwier Brown).
For whatever reason, the line is widely remembered as, “If you build it, they will come,” which is a little less specific but no less mysterious.
- Release Date
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April 21, 1989
- Runtime
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105 minutes
- Director
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Phil Alden Robinson
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Amy Madigan
Annie Kinsella
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Kevin Costner
Ray Kinsella
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Gaby Hoffmann
Karin Kinsella
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Ray Liotta
“Shoeless” Joe Jackson
Misquote: “Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who’s the fairest of them all?”
Actual Quote: “Magic mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest one of all?”
In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the evil queen famously asks her magic mirror to name the fairest woman in all the land, and gets furious when it names her own step-daughter Snow White, rather than her.
But a lot of people don’t remember the actual question she poses: “Magic mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest one of all?” It doesn’t have quite the same alliterative lilt as, “Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who’s the fairest of them all?” which could account for why it got replaced in the popular imagination.
- Release Date
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January 14, 1938
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Adriana Caselotti
Snow White (voice) (uncredited)
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Lucille La Verne
Queen / Witch (voice) (uncredited)
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Harry Stockwell
Prince (voice) (uncredited)
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Roy Atwell
Doc (voice) (uncredited)
Misquote: “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”
Actual quote: It depends
John Wayne, the prototypical movie cowboy, is remembered as delivering this tough guy mantra, but he never actually said it. He did say a couple of things that came close, though:
- Stagecoach (1939): “Well, there’s some things a man just can’t run away from.”
- Hondo (1953): “A man ought to do what he thinks is best.”
Those are both pretty different from the quote the way it’s remembered. Accurate or not, the spirit of the quote is alive and well in modern westerns.
- Release Date
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November 26, 1953
- Runtime
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84 Minutes
- Director
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John Farrow
-
-
Geraldine Page
Angie Lowe
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-
Misquote: “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
Actual quote: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
Here’s another small change that makes a big difference, this time from Jaws (1975). When Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) first lays eyes on the gigantic shark they’ve been hunting, he addresses fisherman Quint (Robert Shaw) and says, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat. Sheider improvised the line in the moment.
For whatever reason, the line is often quoted as, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat,” which implies a lesser degree of solidarity. In the movie, the responsibility falls on Quint. But in the public imagination, they’re all in this together.
- Release Date
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June 20, 1975
- Runtime
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124 minutes
- Director
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Steven Spielberg
-
-
-
-
Lorraine Gary
Ellen Brody
Misquote: “Greed is good.”
Actual quote: “The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works.”
This one is a bit of a nit-pick. There’s a scene in the 1987 movie Wall Street where Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) boils down his approach to business, which people sum up as, “Greed is good.” But in his speech, Gekko never actually says that line, although it still pretty much captures the spirit of what he’s trying to say; he’s just more wordy about it.
- Release Date
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December 10, 1987
- Runtime
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125 minutes
- Director
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Oliver Stone
Misquote: “Hello, Clarice.”
Actual quote: Various other greetings
This one surprised me, because I’ve seen The Silence of the Lambs (1991) more than a couple times and I would have sworn that imprisoned serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) greets FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) with a creepy, “Hello, Clarice.” But he doesn’t, although he does greet her in other ways:
- “Good morning.”
- “Good evening, Clarice.”
- “Well, Clarice.”
Whatever, I’m still going to quote it my way.
- Release Date
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February 14, 1991
- Runtime
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119 minutes
- Director
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Jonathan Demme
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Jodie Foster
Clarice Starling
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Anthony Hopkins
Dr. Hannibal Lecter
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Scott Glenn
Jack Crawford
-
Misquote: “Play it again, Sam.”
Actual quote: “You played it for her, you can play it for me! … If she can stand it, I can! Play it!”
In Casablanca (1942), bar owner Rick (Humphrey Bogart) reconnects with his former lover Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). They have a song that reminds them of old times: “As Time Goes By.” Ilsa asks piano player Sam (Arthur Wilson), although clearly it brings back painful memories for Rick. During one low moment, Sam demands to hear Sam play the song, although what he actually says it pretty different from, “Play it again, Sam.”
Director Woody Allen popularized the misquoted version of the line in his 1972 movie, Play it Again, Sam. This one is an open-and-shut case.
- Release Date
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January 15, 1943
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Humphrey Bogart
Rick Blaine
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Paul Henreid
Victor Laszlo
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Claude Rains
Captain Louis Renault
Misquote: “Do you feel lucky, punk?”
Actual quote: “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”
In Dirty Harry (1971), Clint Eastwood plays a homicide investigator who at one point is in a confrontation with a bank robber. Harry has a gun pointed at the robber’s head, who’s considering going for his own shotgun. Here’s the full speech Harry delivers in the moment:
I know what you’re thinking. “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you’ve gotta ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?
People often shorten this to, “Do you feel lucky, punk?” Harry never says that, but it’s close enough.
- Release Date
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December 23, 1971
- Runtime
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102 minutes
- Director
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Don Siegel
Misquote: “We have ways of making you talk.”
Actual quote: “Well, gentlemen? We have ways to make men talk.”
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer is a 1935 film set during the days of the British Raj, about a group of British cavalrymen trying to defend their stronghold from rebellious natives on the north-west frontier of India. At one point, three of the soldiers are captured, and rebel leader Mohammed Khan (Douglass Dumbrille) threatens them with torture. “Well, gentlemen?” he says. “We have ways to make men talk.”
This has been remembered, “We have ways of making you talk,” and has been associated with movie villains ever since.
Misquote: “Luke, I am your father”
Actual quote: “No, I am your father.”
For such a popular movie, a lot people misquote The Empire Strikes Back (1980). In the famous scene, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is fighting the evil Darth Vader (James Earl Jones), who drops a knowledge bomb on him:
- Vader: “Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.
- Luke: “He told me enough! He told me you killed him!
- Vader: “No. I am your father.”
Then Luke has a breakdown and throws himself down an air vent. At no point does Vader say, “Luke, I am your father,” but history remembers him doing as much. It’s one of the most lines from a Star Wars movie and it’s not even accurate.
- Release Date
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May 17, 1980
- Runtime
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124 minutes
- Director
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Irvin Kershner
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Mark Hamill
Luke Skywalker
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Carrie Fisher
Princess Leia
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Billy Dee Williams
Lando Calrissian
Quibbling
There are other mangled movie quotes that are still so close to the original that it almost feels wrong to call them misattributions. For instance, people will say, “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” a reference to Dorothy is The Wizard of Oz. The full quote is, “I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” but that’s still technically a correct quote, even if it doesn’t include the full thing.
And ultimately, once a quote makes its way into the common lexicon, common usage will determine what it’s supposed to sound like, not textual fidelity. So quote and quote alike!