Since I'm a story-oriented critic, sometimes it's difficult to discuss issues without defining them. At the same time, I try not to give away anything that hasn't been given away in first half, in TV commercials, or that isn't obvious from the set-up...
[first lines] Newsreader: Day 1,000 of the Siege of Seattle. Newsreader: The Muslim community demands an end to the Army's occupation of mosques. Newsreader: The Homeland Security bill is ratified. After eight years, British borders will remain close...
[last lines] Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Next to me in the blackness lay my oiled blue steel beauty. The greatest Christmas gift I had ever received, or would ever receive. Gradually, I drifted off to sleep, pranging ducks on the wing and getting o...
Ralphie: Heh, I was just kidding, even though Schwartz is getting one. I guess I'd just like some Tinker Toys. Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] I couldn't believe my own ears. Tinker Toys? She'd never buy it.
Ralphie: Scut Farkus! Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Scut Farkus! What a rotten name! We were trapped. There he stood, between us and the alley. Scut Farkus staring out at us with his yellow eyes. He had yellow eyes! So, help me, God! Yellow eyes!
Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Over the years I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap. My personal preference was for Lux, but I found Palmolive had a nice, piquant after-dinner flavor - heady, but with just a touch of mellow smoothness. Life Buoy, on...
Mother: Is this another one of your silly puzzles? Mr. Parker: Yeah, another one of my silly puzzles. This one could be worth FIFTY THOUSAND BUCKS. Mother: What is it this time? Mr. Parker: Name the great characters in American literature. Mother: Vi...
Donnie: [to Pommeroy, about the Graham Greene story] Well, they say it right when they flood the house, and they tear it to shreds that, like, uh, destruction is a form of creation. So the fact that they burn the money is ironic. They just want to se...
[first lines] Title Cards: Note, any resemblance between Hynkle the Dictator and the Jewish Barber is purely co-incidental. Title Cards: This is a story of a period between two World Wars - an interim in which Insanity cut loose. Liberty took a nose ...
Sam: You're in it right now, aren't you? Andrew Largeman: What? Sam: My mom always says that, when she can see I'm like working something out in my head, she's like, 'you're in it right now' and I'm looking at you're telling this story, and you're de...
Walter Burns: You've got the brain of a pancake. This isn't just a story you're covering - it's a revolution. This is the greatest yarn in journalism since Livingstone discovered Stanley. Hildy Johnson: It's the other way around. Walter Burns: Oh, we...
Louis: Thirty years had passed, yet her body remained that of an eternal child. Her eyes alone told the story of her age, staring out from under her doll-like curls, with a questioning that will one day need an answer.
Chief Inspector Uhl: As a boy, I'm told, he had a chance encounter with a travelling magician. One version of the story was that the man himself vanished... along with the tree. People began to think he had some sort of special power... or at least t...
Brigadier General Norman Cota: I don't have to tell you the story. You all know it. Only two kinds of people are gonna stay on this beach: those that are already dead and those that are gonna die. Now get off your butts. You guys are the Fighting 29t...
Satine: Harold, the poor Duke is being treated appallingly. These silly writers let their imaginations run away with them. [to the Duke] Satine: Now why don't you and I have a little supper. And then afterwards, we can let Monsieur Zidler know how we...
C. K. Dexter Haven: [looking for the "hair of the dog"] Do you s'pose, sir, speaking of eye-openers...? Uncle Willie: Oh, that's the first sane remark I've heard today. C'malong, Dexter, I know a formula that's said to pop the pennies off the eyelids...
Macaulay Connor: [calling outside his house] C.K. Dexter Haven! Oh, C.K. Dexter Haven! C. K. Dexter Haven: [coming to the door in his pajamas] What's up? Macaulay Connor: You are. C. K. Dexter Haven: I only hope it's worth it. Come in.
Ray Charles: I love the stories. You know, about fallin' in love, and having love knock you around, and then the pressures of the world on you so tough it makes you feel small. You just want to give your soul to God. You might as well, your ass belon...
[Don's about to start shooting a new movie] Cosmo Brown: What's this one about? Don Lockwood: It's a French revolution story... Cosmo Brown: Don't tell me. You're a French aristocrat, she's a simple girl of the people, and she won't even give you a t...
Alvin: I'd give each one of 'em a stick and, one for each one of 'em, then I'd say, 'You break that.' Course they could real easy. Then I'd say, 'Tie them sticks in a bundle and try to break that.' Course they couldn't. Then I'd say, "That bundle... ...
Danny Riordan, Clermont Resident: Well, you know, Alvin, there's a lot of hills bigger than Clairmont's between here and Zion. Even if you get that mower running again, it might still break down. Alvin Straight: Well, you're a kind man talking to a s...
