“Luke, I am your father” – The Empire Strikes Back
In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, viewers are privy to the Earth-shaking revelation that the villain Darth Vader is actually Luke Skywalker’s father. Because Darth Vader is talking directly to Luke when this reveal comes to pass, everyone thinks the line is “Luke, I am your father,” but it is actually “No, I am your father.” The two lines contain the same number of syllables, so are easy enough to mistake.
“Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore” – The Wizard of Oz
In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s house is swept up in a tornado and lands in the mysterious country of Oz. Upon exiting the house to find a world of technicolour, Dorothy tells her little dog “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” People always get this line wrong, quoting it as “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” This is probably just because the shortened version is much snappier.
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Even those who haven’t seen the original Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs have heard people say “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” The problem is that that is not the line at all. The actual line that the Evil Queen says while looking in the mirror is “Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” It’s pretty close to the line people quote but sounds slightly less catchy.
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat” – Jaws
When the main characters in Jaws discover just how big the shark they’re dealing with is, the audience hears the famous quote: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” However, when people quote this line, they often instead say “we’re gonna need a bigger boat.” This mix-up is understandable, as the character delivering the line is also on the boat fighting for his life.
“Hello, Clarice” – Silence of the Lambs
Anthony Hopkins’ chilling and meticulous portrayal of Hannibal Lecter is what makes The Silence of the Lambs so iconic. The line of his that people are always quoting is “Hello, Clarice,” but even a phrase as simple as this has ended up being quoted incorrectly. The actual line is “Good evening, Clarice” which is far more fitting for the formal and articulate cannibal.
“Greed is good” – Wall Street
The most iconic line from Michael Douglas’ Wall Street, and the one that best demonstrates the amorality of Gordon Gekko, is also completely misremembered by most people. The actual line is: “the point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” Most people, however, remember it simply as “greed is good.” Many people also completely missed the point of the movie, which was to pour scorn on the kinds of people that harbour such sentiments, since the phrase has since been adopted as a kind of motto for those wanting to make vast sums of money in finance.
“Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?” – The Graduate
1967’s The Graduate tells the story of Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin Braddock, a young man with little direction in life, who is seduced by an older woman before falling for her daughter. Most people remember Hoffman delivering the line “Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?”, but the actual quote is the far more self-assured: “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?”
“I love the smell of Napalm in the morning. It smells like victory.” – Apocolypse Now
Apocalypse Now’s Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore is one of the most brilliantly unhinged characters in the history of cinema, and the line “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like victory,” seems to perfectly sum up his character. However, that’s not exactly what he says. The full quote is “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn’t find one of ’em, not one stinkin’ dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like victory.” Whilst it’s definitely less concise, the full rant does an even better job of showcasing how awful Kilgore truly is.
“Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride” – All About Eve
In 1950’s All About Eve, after Bette Davis drains her Martini with a single sip and heads for the stairs, most people remember her turning and saying “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.” Whilst that is the form the saying usually takes, what Davis actually says is “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night,” a slight twist on the phrase that makes way more sense given the context.
“Do you feel lucky, punk?” – Dirty Harry
“Do you feel lucky, punk?” is arguably Clint Eastwood’s most frequently quoted movie line. Unfortunately, it’s also wrong. What Eastwood’s character in Dirty Harry actually says is “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”. It’s a bit more of a mouthful, but far more menacing.
“I’m out of order? You’re out of order! This whole court’s out of order!” - …And Justice For All
One episode of sitcom Friends sees Joey spout several Al Pacino quotes after landing a role in one of his films, including the above. Sadly, it isn’t verbatim. When defence lawyer Arthur Kirkland loses his head in …And Justice For All, he actually says, “You’re out of order! You’re out of order! The whole trial is out of order! They’re out of order!”
“Play it again, Sam” - Casablanca
You think of Humphrey Bogart, you think of him barking this line at Sam, the piano player. Yet no matter how many times people have said “Play it again, Sam,” Bogie never said it himself. What he actually tells Sam in 1942’s Casablanca is, “You played it for her, you can play it for me. If she can stand it, I can. Play it!”
“He’s alive!” - Frankenstein
This is one of those short, snappy quotes we’ve probably all said out of context, usually when a very drunk friend reemerges the next morning hungover. Unfortunately, what Colin Clive’s Victor Frankenstein actually shouts is, “It’s alive!” We haven’t been too far off then. There might also be some confusion because, in sequel The Bride of Frankenstein, Clive does declare, “she’s alive!”
“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do” - Hondo
“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” Fighting talk from no-nonsense John Wayne, Hollywood’s most celebrated man’s man. There’s just one problem: though the line is commonly associated with his 1953 film Hondo, Wayne never actually said the line. However, he did say something vaguely similar: “A man ought’a do what he thinks is best.”
“Run, you fools!” - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
It’s a heartbreaking scene everyone remembers from The Fellowship of the Ring. Ian McKellen’s Gandalf the Grey, on the brink of being snatched into the abyss by the Balrog, demands the hobbits flee the scene. “Run, you fools!” he says. Only he doesn’t. The line is really, “Fly, you fools!”
“Life is like a box of chocolates” - Forrest Gump
We all remember Tom Hanks’ Forrest Gump remarking, “Mama always used to say ‘Life is like a box of chocolates.'” The actual line isn’t too far off. He actually says, “Mama always used to say life was like a box of chocolates…” Was, past tense. He’s paraphrasing her instead of directly quoting her.
“You dirty rat!” - Blonde Crazy
We all remember James Cagney saying “You dirty rat!” in 1931’s Blonde Crazy. In truth, Cagney said a little more than that: “Oh, that dirty, double-crossin’ rat. I’d like to get my own hooks on him. I’d tear him to pieces.” Admittedly, it’s close but no cigar. In 1932’s Taxi! he does call somebody a “dirty, yellow-bellied rat” which may have started the confusion.
“Beam me up, Scotty” - any of the Star Trek movies
Sorry, Star Trek fans and general lovers of the quote, “Beam me up, Scotty” but William Shatner’s Captain Kirk never actually said it to Mr. Scott, in either the TV show or the films. Variations on the line cropped up throughout the series; the closest approximation was in 1986’s Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, in which Kirk says, “Scotty, beam us up.”
“If you build it, they will come” - Field of Dreams
Kevin Costner’s ode to baseball had many people in tears when it was released. The quote, “If you build it, they will come”, has entered pop culture, despite the fact that it’s another paraphrase. “If you build it, he will come” is the official line, the ‘he’ in question being the ghost of baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta).
“At least I tried” - One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Before Jack Murphy (Jack Nicholson) walks out of the room having failed to pull a water fountain out from the ground and smash it through the window so he and his fellow patients can escape, he leaves them with a sober message: “But I tried, didn’t I? Godammit, at least I did that.” Over the years, it’s been often misquoted as “At least I tried.”
“Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!” - Planet of the Apes
1968’s Planet of the Apes sees Charlton Heston’s astronaut Taylor lose the power of speech when he is captured by the mysterious ape-people, so it’s a surprise when his voice returns with the cry, “Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!” At least, it would be if that was what Heston actually said. The verb that really starts the sentence is “take.”
“Houston, we have a problem” - Apollo 13
Technically when the funniest person in your friend group says this out of context, they’re not misquoting the movie Apollo 13. Tom Hanks’ Jim Lovell does indeed say “Houston, we have a problem.” However, this is a misquote of the actual 1970 lunar mission, during which the real Jim Lovell said, “Ah, Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
“Stay away from her, you b***h!” - Aliens
If there’s one moment that everyone remembers in 1986 sci-fi classic Aliens, it’s when Ripley dons the heavy-duty loader suit and steps up to the Alien Queen to defend young Newt, with the immortal warning, “Stay away from her, you b***h!” Alas, if that’s how you remember it, once again it’s close but no cigar: the line is really, “Get away from her, you b***h!”
“I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille” - Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard has another iconic quote which we almost get right, but tend to get the words in the wrong order. In the final moments, Gloria Swanson’s deranged starlet Norma Desmond approaches a camera in her house, mistaking it for a movie camera and says, “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up” – not “I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.”
“What we have here is a failure to communicate” - Cool Hand Luke
Luke Jackson, of Cool Hand Luke fame, may be a part of a chain gang, but it’s gonna take more than shackles to strip away his sarcastic tongue and rebellious heart. Captain realises this, and promptly assaults Luke, saying “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” Again, the real line is very close: Captain really says, “what we’ve got here…”
“You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!” - A Few Good Men
How many of us thought Jack Nicholson says, “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!” in A Few Good Men? Not quite. The actual conversation has Nicholson’s Col. Nathan Jessep ask, “You want answers?” to which Tom Cruise’s Lt. Daniel Kaffee roars, “I want the truth!” Jessep the shouts back, “You can’t handle the truth!”
“We have ways of making you talk” - Lives of a Bengal Lancer
1935’s Lives of a Bengal Lancer may not be the most widely-remembered film today, but it is the source of the oft-repeated quote, “We have ways of making you talk.” Yet as regularly as that line has been repeated in torture-based scenarios, it isn’t quite right: the film’s villain actually remarks, ”We have ways of making men talk.”
“May the force be with you” - A New Hope
“May the Force be with you” is perhaps the best-remembered quote from the original 1977 Star Wars, but we often think Alec Guinness’ Obi-Wan Kenobi is the first to say it. Wrong! It’s first said by Alex McCrindle’s General Jan Dodonna. Kenobi, meanwhile, tells Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker, “Remember, the Force will be with you always.”
“I want to suck your blood” - Dracula
Everyone knows vampires drink blood, so it’s not hard to imagine Bela Lugosi’s Count Dracula murmuring “I want to suck your blood” in his iconic Hungarian accent. However, Lugosi never said this in the 1931 movie. Quite how the apocryphal line became so closely associated with the original Dracula actor is unclear.
“Top of the world, Ma” - White Heat
This misquote is just sloppy, if we’re being honest, and one of the few on this list that dwarfs the actual film. In 1949’s classic gangster movie White Heat, a crazed James Cagney actually says, “Made it Ma. Top of the world.” This is a rare case of an actual quote being better than a misquote.
“I’ve got an idea” - The Italian Job
Anyone who’s ever seen 1969 heist comedy The Italian Job remembers its literal cliffhanger ending, in which the bus loaded with stolen gold is left dangling precariously. What is sometimes misremembered, however, is what Michael Caine’s Charlie Croker says in those final moments. The full line is not “I’ve got an idea,” but “hang on a minute lads, I’ve got a great idea.”
“Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!” - The Treasure of Sierra Madre
This quote is a lot of fun, as you can twist it to reference more or less anything. However, the actual line in 1948’s The Treasure of Sierra Madre is, “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges!” The confusion surrounding this misquote can be attributed to parodies like Blazing Saddles.
“Well, that escalated quickly” - Anchorman
This is probably one of the first movie misquotes that was directly caused by a meme. A favourite among the comment section boomer, this picture of Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy sheepishly drinking a beer with the caption, “Well, that escalated quickly.” However, the actual line in 2004 comedy classic Anchorman (uttered in the wake of a mass news team brawl) is “Boy, that escalated quickly.”
“I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse” - The Godfather
Men love quoting gangster films, especially as part of their social media brand. Nothing sounds more macho than Marlon Brando’s Don Vito Corleone issuing his immortal threat in 1972’s The Godfather – even if we tend to misremember it. Corleone isn’t directly threatening someone in the scene, but hinting at a future threat to someone else: “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
“Nobody puts Baby in the corner” - Dirty Dancing
While it’s a bit cheesy, Dirty Dancing’s “Nobody puts Baby in the corner” is a nice quote about standing up for what is right and fair. Plenty of viewers over the years have daydreamed about Patrick Swayze’s Johnny coming to their aid in such a way. Technically though, the quote is, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”
“This one goes to eleven” - This Is Spinal Tap
This Is Spinal Tap, the mockumentary that forever smashed the pretentious veneer of rock and roll, has several golden moments across its short and snappy running time. The most famous is arguably when Christopher Guest boasts that their band’s amplifiers go up to eleven, rather than the customary ten. The official line, though, is “These go to eleven.”
“Why don’t you come up and see me sometime?” - She Done Him Wrong
It’s a saucy quote alright, but a misquote all the same. The actual line was, “Why don’t you come up sometime and see me? I’m home every evening.” It wasn’t until I’m No Angel that Mae West embraced the confusion and used the misquote we know and love.
“Me, Tarzan. You, Jane” - Tarzan, the Ape Man
We all know the scene: the newly introduced Tarzan and Jane are trying really hard to communicate with each other but it’s proving tough. They decide to go back and forth, explaining their names. Tarzan eventually repeats, “Jane. Tarzan. Jane. Tarzan. Jane.” Hate to break it to you, but in this 1932 classic at least, he never says: “Me, Tarzan. You, Jane.”
“What if I told you…” - The Matrix
The Matrix is another movie which is widely paraphrased due to meme culture. It’s a simple set-up: we have a picture of Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus and the line, “What if I told you…” with a disparaging follow-up (something along the lines of “…you could eat a meal without posting it to Instagram?”) Alas, in the 1999 film itself, Fishburne uttered no such line.
“Vodka Martini, shaken not stirred” – Goldfinger
Everybody remembers Sean Connery’s James Bond ordering a drink: “vodka martini, shaken not stirred.” However, while others served him the drink and described it thusly, the closest Connery ever got to saying those words was in Goldfinger, when he requests, “a martini, shaken not stirred.” Subsequent Bonds George Lazenby and Roger Moore never said it either, although Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig did.
“The dingo ate my baby!” - A Cry in the Dark
A Cry in the Dark isn’t the best film ever, but it gave us a beloved misquote. When distressed mother Lindy Chamberlain (Meryl Streep) rushes to her campground tent to check on her 9-week-old baby, only to discover she’s been snatched away by a local dingo, she says, “The dingo took my baby!” Not, “The dingo ate my baby!”
“No more wire hangers, ever!” - Mommie Dearest
In 1981’s Mommie Dearest, Faye Dunaway portrays the erratic and emotionally abusive actress Joan Crawford, who spends her miserable days manipulating her daughter Christina. In one scene, Joan scolds Christina for having wire hangers in her closet, saying “No wire hangers. What are wire hangers doing in this closet when I told you? No wire hangers ever!” Not “no more wire hangers!”
“I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!” - Network
Paddy Chayefsky’s script for Network, a riotous send-up of television journalism, won him a third Oscar and rightly so. His “mad prophet of the airwaves” Howard Beale is chock full of one-liners, including his rallying point, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore!” Officially though, it’s “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!”
“I’ve been expecting you, Mr. Bond” - every James Bond film
“I’ve been expecting you, Mr Bond.” It’s a line you’ve heard a thousand times, across a thousand James Bond films. Except you haven’t. Nobody actually says this line verbatim. You get a lot of “expecting” and “you” but it’s always “we’ve” and not “I’ve.” Hate to break it to you.
“You sure do got a pretty mouth” - Deliverance
When city boys Ed and Bobby take a break on the banks of the Cahulawassee River, they find themselves accosted by an unruly pair of locals, and things… escalate. One of the locals, Cowboy, remarks to the other, “He got a real pretty mouth ain’t he?” concerning Bobby. This has been often confused as “You sure do got a pretty mouth.”
“E.T. phone home.” - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
We know a fair bit about E.T. just from memory alone. He’s friendly, likes Reeses, and has a finger that glows up. When it does, he says: “E.T. phone home.” Doesn’t he? Nope! It’s actually, “E.T. home phone.” It’s the kids he’s taken in by that actually say, “E.T. phone home.” Do you need a sit down after learning that? We understand.
“It’s a hard knock life for us” - Annie
It’s a hard knock life for us! It’s a hard knock life for us! Instead of treated, we get tricked. Instead of kisses, we get kicked. It’s a hard knock life! Most of that is right except for one word, or rather one letter. The actual line is, “It’s the hard knock life…” A minor detail you may have never known.
“Simba, one day this will all be yours” - The Lion King
Mufasa explains to Simba that one day all of the land will be his, but never as explicitly as people seem to remember. He actually says, “A king’s time as ruler rises and falls like the sun. One day, Simba, the sun will set on my time here, and will rise with you as the new king.”
“You come to me on the day of my daughter’s wedding” - The Godfather
One of The Godfather’s many memorable quotes, and one that people are always getting wrong. Don Corleone doesn’t say, “You come to me on the day of my daughter’s wedding” like all of his subsequent parodies in film and TV, but rather, “Instead you come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married and ask me to murder for money.”
“Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” Romeo and Juliet
Technically, this isn’t a misquote. It’s more of a misreading if anything. You see, people usually say “Wherefore art thou Romeo?” as if Juliet is wondering where Romeo is. But wherefore means why. Juliet is actually wondering why Romeo is a Montague and therefore an enemy of her family.
“Not a lot of people know that” - Alfie
Michael Caine’s signature line “not a lot of people know that” is often thought to have originated in his breakout film Alfie. However, Caine never said the line in that film or any other. It was actually birthed on an episode of Parkinson in a Michael Caine impression performed by Peter Sellers. Not many people know that.
“Well, here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into” - Oliver Hardy
This legendary Laurel and Hardy catchphrase was first said in their film The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case. It went on to appear in almost all of their films, including arguably their best, Sons of the Desert. The actual line was, “Well, here’s another NICE mess you’ve gotten me into.” Not “fine”. The confusion probably started with their 1930 short film Another Fine Mess.
“Frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a damn” - Gone With the Wind
At the end of the 1939 classic Gone With the Wind, Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) tearfully asks the soon-to-be-absent Rhett Butler (Clark Gable): “Where shall I go?” For decades, people have assumed Butler replied, “Frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a damn.” Actually, he says, “Frankly, my dear…”
“Become one with the force” - Star Wars Franchise
“Become one with the force,” is another one of those Star Wars quotes everyone assumed was said at various points across the canon. But it wasn’t. Just another joke that classic prankster George Lucas played on us all. It wasn’t until Rogue One that anybody came close to it, when Chirrut Imwe says, “I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me.”
“Twas beauty killed the beast” - King Kong
This is very finicky, if not outright pathetic, but it’s still a misquote. After King Kong has been bested and all is right with the world again, remarking on what befell this giant, Robert Armstrong says, “Oh, no, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.” He did not say “Twas,” even if that might sound more era-appropriate.
“Win one for the Gipper.” - Knute Rockne All American
“Win one for the Gipper” became such a well-loved line that actor-turned-politician Ronald Reagan was later nicknamed the Gipper. Alas, the line has been misremembered. Reagan’s character George Gipp really says, “Sometime when a team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper.”
“Take my strong hand!” - Scary Movie 2
Can you believe this? Can you actually believe it? The famous line every school kid said at one time or another in the 2000s, is complete hokum. Well, somewhat. He does say, “Take my hand!” but only suggests that it’s his strong hand by criticising his other, weaker hand.
“Do you want to play a game?” - Saw
Everyone thinks this famous quote was first uttered in horror smash Saw back in 2004. However, Jigsaw actually says the more forthright, “I want to play a game.” Think about it, why would someone who enjoys chaining strangers up and making them participate in a game of death ask them if they wanted to play? It’s not like they have a choice in the matter.
