The Film: Stand By Me (1986)
The Line: “I was 12 going on 13 the first time I saw a dead human being.”
The Film: The Seventh Seal (1956)
The Line: “Who are you?”
“I am Death.”
The Film: Trainspotting (1996)
The Line: "Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f***ing big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance.
“Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of f***ing fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the f**k you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing f***ing junk food into your mouth.
“Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f***ed up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life.
“But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?"
Next: Sunset Boulevard, The Third Man & Love Story
Comments
Desperation
Oct 8th 2009, 9:09
I can't remember if it's the actual opening line or not, but it must be as near as makes no difference. "3 billion human lives ended on August 29th, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare: the war against the machines."
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theGlimmerTwin
Oct 8th 2009, 10:41
Most definitely one of my favourite opening lines is that from High Fidelity (2000): "What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"
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Munkybren
Oct 8th 2009, 19:13
pretty sure the first line of American Beauty belongs to Thora Birch
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AlonseR
Oct 9th 2009, 18:06
Dead Man's Shoes gave me an idea for another feature you could do. The Best Sweary(sic) Moments. I would include Paddy Considine's quite disturbing "I'm looking at you, ya c**t" Mickey Rourke in the Wrestler "Get your own f***ing cheese" to name a few. Would be quite fuuny to see what you come up with.
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seanankerr
Oct 10th 2009, 2:45
Come on no Godfather? "I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom but I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a "boy friend," not an Italian. She went to the movies with him. She stayed out late. I didn't protest. Two months ago he took her for a drive, with another boy friend. They made her drink whiskey and then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they beat her. Like an animal. When I went to the hospital her nose was broken. Her jaw was shattered, held together by wire. She couldn't even weep because of the pain. But I wept. Why did I weep? She was the light of my life. A beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again." also the Wild Bunch with the double whammy of the imagery of the ants and scorpions being burnt (if ever there was a brilliant metephor for the sadism of the artist towards his charracters...) and the brilliant line "If they move kill 'em!"
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lolcaa
Oct 10th 2009, 11:07
I always chuckled at the opening lines for "The Way of The Gun" Also no guy ritchie?
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Bennythemule
Oct 10th 2009, 11:28
I like the line said by Michael Cain in that familiar cockney accent in the Italian Job... "you're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off"
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Bennythemule
Oct 10th 2009, 11:35
Al Pacino in the Godfather Part 3.. "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in" and Andy Garcia "I say we make him dead, you give me the word and I will take care of it myself"
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irish
Oct 11th 2009, 22:55
the opening line of Rebecca
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Joseph
Oct 12th 2009, 7:39
"God, I feel horny!" -the opening line from Doctrs' Wives(1971)said by Dyan Cannon
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thegreatiaino
Oct 17th 2009, 19:18
How are "Rosebud" and "People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden…" great opening lines? They only seem great in the context of the rest of the film. Taken on their own (which presumably is the point of this article) they're completely meaningless.
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