< Catch Phrase

Catch Phrase/Film

Cinematic Catch Phrases. By definition, the phrase(s) should to be repeated multiple times throughout the film or the film series in order to qualify.

This page is not a dumping ground for famous film quotes; those go on the Signature Line page.

Likewise, if the quote has become a Catch Phrase for the audience, those belong on the Memetic Mutation page.

Examples of Catch Phrase/Film include:
  • |42nd Street:
    • "Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" - Warner Baxter
  • "...And Justice For All"
    • "You're out of order! You're out of order! The whole trial is out of order! They're out of order!!"
  • Aliens:
    • "Game over man, game over!"
  • Austin Powers series:
    • "Oh behave!"
    • "Yeah, baby, yeah!"
    • His nemesis Dr. Evil also had catch phrases such as "Why am I surrounded by frickin idiots?" and "One miiiillion dollars!"
  • The Back to The Future trilogy
    • Doc Brown's "Great Scott!" and Marty McFly's "This is heavy!". In the first film, Brown takes Marty's catchphrase literally. Subverted in the third movie, where they once exchange lines.
    • In the second and third films Marty also develops the Catch Phrase "Nobody calls me chicken!" (or "yellow" in the Western setting) in response to his personal Berserk Button.
    • "Hey McFly!" - said by Biff/Griff Tannen to Marty and George
  • The Cabin In The Cotton:
    • "Ah'd love t' kiss ya, but ah jes washed ma hayuh" - Bette Davis
  • The Court Jester:
    • "King of jesters, and jester of kings!"
    • "Harm one hair on (her/that majestic) head, and I throw myself from the highest turret!"
    • "If he dies, you die."
    • "Get it?" "Got it." "Good."
  • Duets:
    • Todd Woods: "I'm going out for a pack of cigarettes."
    • Reggie Kane: "I made an error in judgement."
  • Forrest Gump
    • "And that's all I have to say about that." - Tom Hanks
    • "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you gonna get." - Tom Hanks
  • Freaks
    • "One of us! One of us! We accept you! One of us!"
  • From Dusk till Dawn
    • Protagonist Seth Gecko has a Catch Phrase template he adapts to the situation at hand: "Ok [noun], let's [verbed form of same noun]."
    • Prior to making the last dash to the Mexican border and freedom: "Ok ramblers, let's get ramblin'."
    • Having arrived at the rendezvous at which they are to meet their Mexican contact: "Ok hard drinkers, let's start drinking hard."
    • Immediately prior to the last confrontation with the vampires: "Ok vampire killers, let's kill some fucking vampires."
  • Galaxy Quest: "Never give up -- never surrender."
    • "By Grabthar's Hammer, by the sons of Warvan, you shall be avenged!"
      • "Pedal to the metal, commander."
  • GoldenEye
    • "I AM INVINCIBLE!" - Boris Grishenko, who obviously has not read the Evil Overlord List.
  • Highlander
    • Specific to the movies was Connor MacLeod's "It's a kind of magic."
  • The James Bond film series
    • "Bond. James Bond."
    • "Shaken, not stirred."
      • The martini one was subverted in the most recent version of Casino Royale: when asked how he wants his martini, Bond asks "Do I look like I give a damn?" Earlier in the film, though, he gives very specific instructions as to how he wants his martini prepared, which is word-for-word out of the original book. "Shaken, not stirred" is a summary of part of this particular order.

"A dry martini," he said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet."
"Oui, monsieur."
"Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel. Got it?"

  • Kill Bill
    • "You and I have unfinished business." - The Bride
  • The Kung Fu Theater series
    • "I thought you were dead! (crops up in other genres as well)"
    • "I heard your kung fu is really good." (usually meant as a challenge to the hero)
    • "Teacher!"
    • "But still..."
    • "You (or he) killed teacher!"
  • Laurel and Hardy film series
    • "D'ooooooooooh!" - James Finlayson
    • "Why don't you do something to help me?" - Oliver Hardy
    • "There's another nice mess you've gotten me into." - Oliver Hardy (often misquoted as "fine mess")

Box: Fish and plankton! And sea greens and protein from the sea!

  • The Marx Brothers film series
    • "Of course you know, this means war!" - Groucho Marx. He first mentioned it in Duck Soup (1933).
    • "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know." - Groucho Marx in Animal Crackers (1930)
    • "Why a duck?" -Chico Marx in The Cocoanuts (1929)
    • From A Night at the Opera (1935):

Groucho: "It’s alright, that’s in every contract. That’s what they call a sanity clause." Chico: "You can't fool me! There ain't no Sanity Claus."

    • Chico Marx often began conversations with a cheery "Hello, boss!" Groucho would sometimes end them with, "...And I do mean you." (suggestive eyebrow waggle)
  • Network
    • "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" - Peter Finch
  • The Pirates of the Caribbean:
    • "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." - Johnny Depp.
    • And, of course, "Captain Jack Sparrow," when someone omits his title.
      • To the point that when he isn't there, Will and Elizabeth do it for him.
    • Of course, "the rum is always gone". "But we need not forget about that one". Or any of his other multitudes of catchphrases, "savvy?"
    • "This will be the day you will always remember as the day you ALMOST defeated/captured/killed/cannibalized/etc. Captain Jack Sparrow!"
    • Davy Jones: "Do you fear death?"
    • Cutler Beckett: "It's just... good business."
  • The Pride Of The Yankees
    • "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." -Gary Cooper
  • Porco Rosso, the eponymous character (who is half man, half pig) bitterly reiterates "I'm a pig."
  • Psycho
    • "My mother isn't quite herself today." - Anthony Perkins
  • In Rain Man, Raymond has "I'm an excellent driver."
    • "Definitely, definitely."
      • "Uh-oh."
  • The Room
    • "Oh hi, (name)!" - Tommy Wiseau
    • "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!" - Tommy Wiseau
    • "Hi doggie!" - Tommy Wiseau
    • "How's your sex life?" -Tommy Wiseau
    • As well as his distinctive, inappropriate laughter.
  • In Shakespeare in Love, Geoffrey Rush's character answers every question to which he doesn't know the answer with "I don't know. It's a mystery." By the end of the movie, he's got Gwyneth Paltrow using it, too. This is arguably a reference to Rush's portrayal of David Helfgott in the 1996 film Shine, where he frequently said the line, too.
  • Shane
    • "Shane! Shane! Come back!" - Brandon De Wilde
  • Smoke Signals
    • "HEY VICTOR!". - Thomas Builds-A-Fire
    • "Thomas, you're so full of shit...". Victor Joseph
  • Taxi! (1932 film)
    • "You dirty rat! I'm going to get rid of you, just like you gave it to my brother!" - James Cagney
  • The Terminator film series
    • "Hasta la vista, baby!" - Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2
    • "Come with me if you want to live" - Kyle Reese in the first film, also used in later films and twice in the TV series.
    • "I'll be Back" - Arnie's T-800.
      • Lampshaded in Last Action Hero.
      • Parodied in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, where he says "She'll be back" (after fighting off the T-X) and "I'm back".
  • They Live!
    • "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum."
  • The Truman Show
    • "Good morning! And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night!"
  • Tron
    • "I fight for the users"
    • End of line.
  • Wayne'sWorld
    • "Party on, [Character]!"
    • "WE'RE NOT WORTHY! WE'RE NOT WORTHY!"
  • The Wolf Man series
    • "Even a man who is pure at heart/and says his prayers at night/may become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms/and the autumn moon is bright"
    • It's worth noting that the movie Van Helsing has both this and the prior phrase.
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