A Man for All Seasons

"In addition to prayer, there is effort."

Orson Welles as Cardinal Wolsey

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Centennial

"The earth isn't something you take from without ever thinking about giving back.  The earth is something you protect every day of the year, a river is something you defend every inch of its course."

David Janssen as Paul Garrett

Centennial (TV Miniseries, 1978)

Revolutionary Road

"And you know what's so good about the truth?  Everyone knows what it is, however long they've lived without it.  No one forgets the truth…they just get better at lying."

Kate Winslet as April Wheeler

Revolutionary Road (2008)

The Mission

"Little in this world unfolds as we predict."

Ray McAnally as Altamirano

The Mission (1986)

The Poseidon Adventure

"Always negative.  Always destructive.  Well now’s your chance to do something positive for a change.  Are you quitting?"

Red Buttons as Martin

The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

G.I. Jane

"Pain is your friend.  Your ally.  It will tell you when you are seriously injured.  It will keep you awake, and angry, and remind you to finish the job and get the hell home.  But you know the best thing about pain?  It lets you know you're not dead yet."

Viggo Mortensen as Master Chief John James Urgayle

G.I. Jane (1997)

Who Killed the Electric Car?

"We're using our military to ensure the flow of oil, we're using tax dollars to support the car companies in different ways, and we're not using our tax money to do the things that we really need to do to prepare for the future."

Wally E. Rippel

Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006)

Snow Cake

"The past is only a memory, the future a fantasy. It’s only in the present that we truly live."

Alan Rickman as Alex

Snow Cake (2006)

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

"Nothing grinds my gears worse than some chowderhead who doesn't know when to keep his big trap shut."

John Candy as Del Griffith

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

Rising Sun

"Fix a problem, not the blame.  Find out what's f-----d up and fix it.  Nobody gets blamed."

Sean Connery as John Connor

Rising Sun (1993)

Stardust Memories

"You want to do mankind a real service?  Tell funnier jokes."

Actor unknown

Stardust Memories (1980)

Doubt

"There are people who go after your humanity…, that tell you that the light in your heart is a weakness. Don't believe it. It's an old tactic of cruel people to kill kindness in the name of virtue. There's nothing wrong with love."

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Father Brendan Flynn

Doubt (2008)

Wall Street

"Money is one giant pain in the ass, you ask me."

Martin Sheen as Carl Fox

Wall Street (1987)

Almost Famous

"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool."

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lester Bangs

Almost Famous (2000)

Network

"This is no longer a nation of independent individuals.  It's a nation of some two-hundred-odd million transistorized, deodorized, whiter-than-white, steel-belted bodies totally unnecessary as human beings, and as replaceable as piston rods."

Peter Finch as Howard Beale

Network (1976)

Starting Out in the Evening

"One has to be willing to surrender, occasionally, one's beliefs for the greater good."

Frank Langella as Leonard Schiller

Starting Out in the Evening (2007)

Zero Effect

"Behavior is always more revealing than language."

Bill Pullman as Daryl Zero

Zero Effect (1998)

The Model Shop

"Love is a good cause."

Gary Lockwood as George Matthews

Model Shop (1969)

Kinsey

"The problem is, most people want to be the same.  They find it easier to simply ignore this fundamental aspect of the human condition.  They're so eager to be part of the group, that they'll betray their own nature to get there."

Liam Neeson as Alfred Kinsey

Kinsey (2004)

A Somewhat Gentle Man

"The world is crawling with people waiting to jump on the weak."

Bjørn Floberg as Rune Jensen

A Somewhat Gentle Man (2010)

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song

"You can't just say you have rights.  You have to use them to prove that you have them."

Natalie Maines

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (2007)

The Great Debaters

"Education is the only way out.  The way out of ignorance.  The way out of darkness, into the glorious light."

Forest Whitaker as Dr. James Farmer, Sr.

The Great Debaters (2007)

The Bourne Ultimatum

"Don't second-guess an operation from an armchair."

David Strathairn as Noah Vosen

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Before Sunrise

"I always think, if I could just accept the fact that my life is supposed to be difficult.  You know, that's what's to be expected, then I might not get so pissed off about it, and I could just be glad when something nice happens."

Ethan Hawke as Jesse

Before Sunrise (1995)

I Need That Record!

"In any market where power is concentrated in the hands of a few, competition and the quality and diversity of output suffers."

Brendan Toller

I Need That Record! (2008)

Music Within

"Go live a life.  Fill yourself up.  Find out what’s important, earn a point of view.  Earn a point of view.  Then come back when you’ve got something to say."

Hector Elizondo as Dr. Padrow

Music Within (2007)

Manhattan

"Where would we be without rational thought?"

Diane Keaton as Mary

Manhattan (1979)

Fierce People

"People claim to be all sorts of things they're not these days, don't they?"

Elizabeth Perkins as Mrs. Langley

Fierce People (2005)

World's Greatest Dad

"I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone.  It's not.  The worst thing in life is ending up with people who make you feel all alone."

Robin Williams as Lance

World's Greatest Dad (2009)

El Bulto

"Nothing will change until we learn that the destruction of a tree in the Amazon jungle affects London, New York or any other part of the globe."

Francisco de la O as Armando

El Bulto (1992)

Groundhog Day

"What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same and nothing that you did mattered?"

Bill Murray as Phil

Groundhog Day (1993)

Key Largo

"Maybe it is a rotten world.  But a cause isn't lost

as long as someone's willing to go on fighting."

Lauren Bacall as Nora Temple

Key Largo (1948)

Frost/Nixon

"Sometimes being out of your comfort zone is a good thing, I'm told."

Michael Sheen as David Frost

Frost/Nixon (2008)

The Nature of Existence

"Nobody can really be happy.  You can have moments of happiness, moments of joy.  But life is very difficult.  Unless you're a total idiot, THEN you can be happy."

Irvin Kershner

The Nature of Existence (2010)

Disclosure

"It's always somebody's version.  I mean, that's the legacy of the modern age.  We have information, but no truth.  Little flashes of electrons and a grain of sand."

Donald Sutherland as Bob Garvin

Disclosure (1994)

Cat On a Hot Tin Roof

"Not looking at a fire doesn't put it out."

Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie Pollitt

Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Yonkers Joe

"I just don't think it's a good idea to hurt anyone, no matter what."

Christine Lahti as Janice

Yonkers Joe (2008)

Lone Star

"There's enough ignorance in the world without us encouraging it in the classroom."

Eleese Lester as Molly

Lone Star (1996)

Twelve Monkeys

"Never cry wolf.  Then people won't believe you

if something really happens."

Bruce Willis as James Cole

Twelve Monkeys (1995)

Wonder Boys

"Sometimes we have to improvise."

Robert Downey, Jr., as Terry Crabtree

Wonder Boys (2000)

Even the Rain

"Are these not men?  Do they not have rational souls?  Are you not obliged to love them as yourselves?"

Luis Tosar as Costa

Even the Rain (2010)

Fathers and Sons

"A man's life is his own fault."

Joseph Bologna as Noah

Fathers and Sons (2004)

MQP Recommends: The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies

"You look like a gangster!"

If you enjoy gangster movies - and one thing I've learned from the Movie Quotes Project is that gangsters are surprisingly philosophical - then you will want to read The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies by George Anastasia and Glenn Macnow.  The book was published in 2011 so it includes newer films like The Departed (2006) while paying tribute to classics like Key Largo (1948).

The Authors:  George Anastasia has a very respectable history reporting on crime for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and on TV, radio, and the Internet.  Glen Macnow has been a reporter at the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Detroit Free Press and co-wrote The Ultimate Book of Sports Movies.

Pleasant Surprise:  The authors include Bound (1996) in their top 100, one of my favorite gangster films and not a well-known one.

Weak Point:  The authors include some movies in their top 100 that even they admit aren't very good.  For example, they write "...we have trouble even getting a fix on the central figures..." about Michael Cimino's 1985 Year of the Dragon.  Better to rank solid efforts like The Limey (1999), which only gets a brief mention in a "If you liked this, you'll like" section.

Bottom Line:  The obvious choices are here - The Godfather, Carlito's Way, etc.  But the authors include a nice sample of foreign films and they provide interesting trivia that adds to the pleasure of watching these films (for example, if you think the car/train chase in The French Connection is memorable, you should read how that sequence was filmed.)  This book is flexible - you can read it cover to cover, or skim the pages for quick recommendations.  You will want to peruse this book if you're a movie fan, even if you're only lukewarm on gangster movies.

Casino Royale

"I do hate it when religion comes between us."

Daniel Craig as James Bond

Casino Royale (2006)

Husbands and Wives

"Everybody screws up, you know.  Nobody's perfect.  The question is, do you learn from it?  What do you do then?"

Sydney Pollack as Jack

Husbands and Wives (1992)

Into the Wild

"You know what I don't understand?  I don't understand why people, why every…person, is so bad to each other, so…often.  It doesn't make sense to me - judgment, control, all that, the whole spectrum…"

Emile Hirsch as Chris McCandless

Into the Wild (2007)

Carlito's Way

"You got to dream, baby."

Al Pacino as Carlito Brigante

Carlito's Way (1993)

Metropolis

"The mediator between head and hands must be the heart!"

Screen Titles

Metropolis (1927)

Beyond the Sea

"You can never go wrong with the truth."

Brenda Blethyn as Polly Cassotto

Beyond the Sea (2004)

Quiz Show

"The truth has its price."

Ralph Fiennes as Charles Van Doren

Quiz Show (1992)

Mad City

"The public's fickle."

John Travolta as Sam

Mad City (1997)

Unbreakable

"Do you know what the scariest thing is?  To not know your true place in this world, to not know why you're here.  That's…that's just an awful feeling."

Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price

Unbreakable (2000)

Siddhartha

"This river is everywhere, everywhere at the same time.  It is at its source and at the mouth.  It is everywhere.  The river only lives in the present.  We, too, must learn to live in the present."

Amrik Singh as Siddhartha's Father

Siddhartha (1972)

Gorky Park

"Patience has its own rewards."

William Hurt as Arkady Renko

Gorky Park (1983)

Visual Acoustics

"Architecture affects everybody.  From the hospital where you're born, to the schools and the grocery stores and markets, libraries, theaters.  Every part of a person's life is based on an architect's presence."

Julius Shulman

Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman (2008)

Blade Runner

"The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long."

Joe Turkel as Dr. Eldon Tyrell

Blade Runner: Theatrical Cut (1982)

Cradle Will Rock

"I have no problem with money…  I need it like everybody else.  The question is, what will you do for the money?  Where do you draw the line?"

Hank Azaria as Marc Blitzstein

Cradle Will Rock (1999)

The Purple Rose of Cairo

"The most human of all attributes is your ability to choose."

Van Johnson as Larry

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

Sneakers

"Money's most powerful ability is to allow bad people to continue doing bad things at the expense of those who don't have it."

Ben Kingsley as Cosmo

Sneakers (1992)

Chariots of Fire

"I have no formula for winning the race.  Everyone runs in their own way."

Ian Holm as Sam Mussabini

Chariots of Fire (1981)

Absence of Malice

"Don't expect the truth unless you're willing to tell it."

Sally Field as Megan

Absence of Malice (1981)

Southland Tales

"There'd be a lot less violence in the world if everyone just got a little more cardio."

Cheri Oteri as Zora Carmichaels

Southland Tales (2006)

Bugsy

"Everybody needs a fresh start once in a while."

Warren Beatty as Bugsy Siegel

Bugsy (1991)