100 best opening lines from films

Life


100 best opening lines from films

By Stylist Team

Updated 5 years ago

A film's opening lines are the director's way of introducing the picture to the audience and, just like in real life, first impressions count. Opening gambits can even become catchphrases - in some cases catapulting a movie to iconic status. And the more intelligent, laugh-out-loud funny or high on the shock factor scale, the better.

Stylist has picked some of its favourite famous first lines from films, from comedy greats like Groundhog Day, to big-screen classics like Gone With the Wind.

Just click on an image below to launch the gallery... Do you agree with our choices? Let us know on Twitter or in the comments section, below.

Dirty Dancing

"It was the summer of 1963, when everybody called me Baby and it didn't occur to me to mind. It was before Kennedy got shot, before The Beatles, when I wanted to join the Peace Corps and I didn't think I'd ever find a guy as great as my dad."


Grease

Sandy: "I'm going back to Australia; I might never see you again."

Danny: "Don't… don't talk that way, Sandy."

Sandy: "But it's true! I've just had the best summer of my life, and now I have to go away. It isn't fair."


Stand By Me

"I was 12 going on 13 the first time I saw a dead human being."


Four Weddings and a Funeral

Charles: "Oh, f**k. F**k!

Scarlett: "F**k!"

Charles: "F**k. F**k. Right, we take yours."

Scarlett: "But It only goes 40 miles an hour."

Charles: "What turn-off? Better not be the B359"

Scarlett: "It's the B359."

Charles: "F**k it!"

Scarlett: "F**k."

Charles: "F**k. F**k. F**k. F**k. F**kity F**k. Bugger."


Gone With the Wind

"What do we care if we were expelled from college, Scarlett. The war is gonna start any day now, so it won't affect college anyhow."


The Wizard of Oz

"She isn't coming yet, Toto. Did she hurt you? She tried to, didn't she? Come on. We'll go tell Uncle Henry and Auntie Em."


Casablanca

"With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully or desperately toward the freedom of the Americas. Lisbon became the great embarkation point. But not everybody could get to Lisbon directly..."


Great Expectations

"My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name, Phillip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than 'Pip'. So I called myself Pip and came to be called Pip."


It's a Wonderful Life

"I owe everything to George Bailey. Help him, Dear Father."


Bonnie and Clyde

"Hey boy, what you doin' with my Mama's car? Wait there!"


Annie Hall

"There's an old joke: Two elderly women are at a Catskill Mountain resort. And one of 'em says: 'Boy, the food in this place is really terrible.' The other one says: 'Yeah, I know. And such small portions.' Well, that's essentially how I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly."


Saturday Night Fever

"Will you just watch the hair? You know, I work on my hair a long time and you hit it. He hits my hair."


Superman: The Movie

"In the decade of the 1930s, even the great city of Metropolis was not spared the ravages of the worldwide depression. In the times of fear and confusion, the job of informing the public was the responsibility of the Daily Planet, a great metropolitan newspaper, whose reputation for clarity and truth had become a symbol of hope for the city of Metropolis."


Out of Africa

"He even took the gramophone on safari."


Trainspotting

"Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family, Choose a f--king 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 leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchased in a range of f--king fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the f--k you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sittin' on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing f--king junk food into your mouth. Choose rottin' away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f--ked-up brats that you've spawned to replace yourself. Choose a 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?"


Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

"We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold."


High Fidelity

"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?"


Spider-Man

"Who am I? You sure you wanna know? The story of my life is not for the faint of heart. If somebody said it was a happy little tale, if somebody told you I was just your average guy, not a care in the world, somebody lied. But let me assure you, this, like any story worth telling, is all about a girl. That girl. The girl next door. Mary Jane Watson. The woman I've loved since before I even liked girls..."


American Beauty

“My name is Lester Burnham. This is my neighbourhood; this is my street; this is my life. I am 42 years old; in less than a year I will be dead. Of course I don't know that yet, and in a way, I am dead already.”


True Romance

"In Jailhouse Rock, Elvis was everything rockabilly's about - living fast, dying young, and leaving a good-looking corpse."


Anchorman

"Mmm. I look good. I mean, really good. Hey, everyone! Come and see how good I look!"


Pretty Woman

"No matter what they say, it's all about money."


Bridget Jones's Diary

"It all began on New Year's Day, in my thirty-second year of being single. Once again, I found myself on my own... and going to my mother's annual turkey curry buffet."


Breakfast at Tiffany's

"Hey! Hey baby, what's going on here?"


When Harry Met Sally

"I was sitting with my friend Arthur Cornrom in a restaurant.  It was a cafeteria and this beautiful girl walked in and I turned to Arthur and I said, 'Arthur, you see that girl? I'm going to marry her'. And two weeks later we were married and it's over fifty years later and we are still married."


Forrest Gump

"Hello. My name's Forrest. Forrest Gump. You want a chocolate?

"I could eat about a million and a half of these. My momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."


Million Dollar Baby

"Only ever met one man I wouldn’t wanna fight.”


Moulin Rouge

"There was a boy. A very strange enchanted boy."


Love Actually

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrival's gate at Heathrow airport."


The Beach

"My name is Richard. So what else do you need to know? Stuff about my family, or where I'm from? None of that matters. Not once you cross the ocean and cut yourself loose, looking for something more beautiful, something more exciting and yes, I admit, something more dangerous. So after eighteen hours in the back of an airplane, three dumb movies, two plastic meals, six beers and absolutely no sleep, I finally touch down; in Bangkok."


Jaws

Tom Cassidy: "What's your name again?"

Christine 'Chrissie' Watkins: "Chrissie."

Tom Cassidy: "Where are we going?"

Christine 'Chrissie' Watkins: "Swimming."


Notting Hill

"Of course, I've seen her films and always thought she was, well, fabulous - but, you know, million miles from the world I live in. Which is here, Notting Hill, not a bad place to be…"


Never Been Kissed

"You know in some movies how they have a dream sequence only they don't tell you it's a dream? This is so not a dream."


27 Dresses

Bride one : " I'd like to take a moment to give a special thank you to a girl...who's really gone above and beyond..."

Bride two : "The girl who not only hosted my shower and helped me design the invitation…"

Bride one : "She went with me to the caterer, the florist, the wedding cake bakery…"

Bride two : "And to eight bridal stores...where she helped me cling to my self-esteem…"

Bride one : "As I tried on dress after dress…"

Bride two : "So thanks, Jane!"


How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Jeannie : "Andie, it's brilliant. It's really moving. But it's never going to appear in Composure Magazine."

Andie : "God, I busted my butt in grad school to be Andie Anderson, 'How to' girl, and write articles like, 'How to Use the Best Pick-Up Lines' and 'Do Blondes, Do They, Like, Really Have More Fun?' I want to write about things that matter, Iike politics and the environment, and foreign affairs - things I'm interested in."


What Women Want

"You know the expression, 'A man's man'? A man's man is the leader of the pack. The kind of man other men look up to, admire and emulate. A man's man is the kind of man who just doesn't get what women are about. Nick, my ex-husband, is the ultimate man's man. I probably never should have married him. I don't think he understood a thing about me."


Braveheart

"I will tell you of William Wallace. Historians from England will say I am a liar. But history is written by those who have hung heroes."


Casino

"When you love someone, you've gotta trust them. There's no other way. You've got to give them the key to everything that's yours. Otherwise, what's the point? And, for a while... I believed that's the kind of love I had."


The Cider House Rules

"In other parts of the world, young men of promise leave home to make their fortunes, battle evil, or solve the problems of the world.

"I was myself such a young man, when I came to save the orphanage in St. Cloud's... many years ago."


Dances With Wolves

Surgeon one: "Is this the last one?"

Surgeon two: "God, what a mess… at least there's no gangrene."

Surgeon one: 'There will be if it doesn't come off."

Surgeon two: Well I can't saw if I can't keep my eyes open. Let's coffee up… he can wait a few more minutes."


The Devil Wears Prada

Nate to Andy:"Good luck"

Andy (arrives at Runway reception): "Hi, I have an appt with Emily Charlton?

Emily: "Andrea Sachs?"

Andy: Yes."

Emily: "Great. Human resources certainly has an odd sense of humour."


The Duchess

Georgina: "You'd better not let me down, Charles Grey. I've got twenty guineas riding on you.

Charles: "Only twenty? I'd double that if I were you."


Elizabeth: The Golden Age

"I hear. I obey. My Lord and my God.

"God has made his will known to me. The time for our great enterprise has come."


Eyes Wide Shut

Alice: "How do I look?"

Bill: "You look great."

Alice: "My hair okay?"

Bill: "Perfect."

Alice: "You're not even looking at it."


Field of Dreams

“I’m 36 years old, I love my family, I love baseball, and I’m about to become a farmer. But until I heard the voice, I’d never done a crazy thing in my whole life."


Good Will Hunting

Chuckie: "Oh my God, I got the most f**ked up thing I been meaning to tell you."

Friends: 'Oh Jesus. Here we go."


The Green Mile

"You love your sister? You make any noise, know what happens?"


Groundhog Day

Hawley: "Christ, what a pit. Phil…?"

Phil: "What?"

Hawley: "It's February first, Phil. You know what tomorrow is?"

Phil: "Oh no! Not again."


Jerry Maguire

"All right, so this is the world and there are five billion people on it. When I was a kid there were three. It's hard to keep up."


Kill Bill

"Do you find me sadistic?"

"I bet I could fry an egg on your head about now, if I wanted to.

"No kiddo, I'd like to believe, even now, you're aware enough to know there isn't a trace of sadism in my actions... Okay - maybe towards these other jokers - but not you.

'No kiddo at this moment, this is me at my most masochistic."


Love Story

“What can you say about a 25-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant? That she loved Mozart and Bach, the Beatles, and me?”


Lethal Weapon

Riggs: "Happy holidays. Mind if I join you?"

Punk one: "Yes."

Punk two: "F**k off."


Sunset Boulevard

"Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. It's about five o'clock in the morning - that's the homicide squad, complete with detectives and newspaper men. A murder has been reported from one of those great big houses in the 10,000 block. You'll read about it in the late editions, I'm sure."


LA Confidential

“Come to Los Angeles! The sun shines bright, the beaches are wide and inviting, and the orange groves stretch as far as the eye can see. There are jobs aplenty, and land is cheap.



“Every working man can have his own house, and inside every house, a happy, all-American family. You can have all this, and who knows... you could even be discovered, become a movie star... or at least see one.



“Life is good in Los Angeles... it's paradise on Earth. Ha ha ha ha. That's what they tell you, anyway."


West Side Story

"Watch this shot now. Shoot man. Go."


To Kill a Mockingbird

"Maycomb was a tired old town, even in 1932 when I first knew it.Somehow, it was hotter then. Men's stiff collars wilted by 9 in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon after their three o'clock naps. And by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frosting from sweating and sweet talcum. The day was 24 hours long but it seemed longer."


Oliver

"Please, sir, can I have some more?"


Goodfellas

"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster. To me, being a gangster was better than being President of the United States."


Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

"Slave in the magic mirror. Come from the farthest space. Through wind and darkness I summon thee. Speak! Let me see thy face."


Black Swan

"I had the craziest dream last night. I was dancing the white swan."


The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

"The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air."


Sin City

"She shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dying tree."


The Godfather

"I believe in America. America has made my fortune."


Shrek

"Once upon a time, there was a lovely princess. But she had an enchantment upon her of a fearful sort, which could only be broken by love's first kiss. She was locked away in a castle, guarded by a terrible fire-breathing dragon."


Little Miss Sunshine

"There's two kinds of people in the world - winners… and losers."


Memphis Belle

"Virge Hoogesteger. What kind of name is that? Nicknamed 'The Virgin.' Well, look at him. Poor kid probably tries to get a girl into bed and she wants to make him brush his teeth and wash behind his ears."


My Best Friend's Wedding

"A variation on our squid ink risotto. Trace of Moselle, to sweeten the stock.Don't kill us on this one, it's a long shot."


My Girl

Vada (to camera): "I was born jaundiced. Once I sat on a toilet seat at a truck stop and caught hemorrhoids. And I've learned to live with this chicken bone that's been lodged in my throat for the past three years, so I knew Dad would be devastated when he learned of my latest affliction.

Vada(to Harry): "Dad, I don't wanna upset you, but my left breast is developing at a significantly faster rate than my right. It can only mean one thing. Cancer. I'm dying."

Harry: "OK. Sweetie, hand me the mayonnaise out of the fridge."


Mulholland Drive

"What are you doing? You don't stop here… "


No Country for Old Men

"The crime you see now, it's hard to even take its measure."


The Other Boleyn Girl

Sir Thomas: "I received a formal request for marriage today for Anne. From the Carey family."

Lady Elizabeth: "But that’s wonderful."

Sir Thomas: "I turned it down."

Lady Elizabeth: "What?"

Sir Thomas: "And offered them Mary instead."


Pearl Harbour

Rafe: "Bandits at two o'clock"

Danny: "Power dive!"

Rafe: "It's Germans."

Danny: "Kill the bastards!"


The Piano

"The voice you hear is not my speaking voice, but my mind's voice. I have not spoken since I was six years old. No one knows why, not even me. My father says it is a dark talent and the day I take it into my head to stop breathing will be my last.

"Today he married me to a man I've not yet met. Soon my daughter and I shall join him in his own country. My husband said my muteness does not bother him. He writes and hark this: God loves dumb creatures, so why not he!

"Were good he had God's patience for silence affects everyone in the end. The strange thing is I don't think myself silent, that is, because of my piano. I shall miss it on the journey."


Pirates of the Caribbean

"Yo, ho, yo, ho, a pirate's life for me. Yo, ho, yo, ho, it's a pirate's life for me …"


Pulp Fiction

Pumpkin: "Forget it. It's too risky. I'm through doing that shit."

Honey Bunny: "You always say that. The same thing every time, 'I'm through, never again, too dangerous'."

Pumpkin: "I know that's what I always say. I'm always right, too."

Honey Bunny: "But you forget about it in a day or two."

Pumpkin: "Yeah, well the days of me forgetting are over, and the days of me remembering have just begun."


Seven

Detective Taylor: "Neighbours heard them screaming at each other, like for two hours, it was nothing new. Then they heard the gun go off, both barrels. Crime of passion.

William Somerset: "Yeah, just look at all the passion on that wall."


The Social Network

"Did you know that there are more people with genius IQ's living in China than there are people of any kind living in the United States?"


Bridesmaids

Annie (while having sex): "So… so glad you called."

Ted: "I'm so glad you were free."

Annie: "God, I love your eyes. Okay, now what?"

Ted: "Cup my balls."

Annie: "Okay. Uh...yes. All right, I can do that."

Ted: "Oh, there it is!"

Annie: "There we go."


The Hangover

(Doug's telephone answering message]: "Hey, you've reached Doug. Sorry I missed your call. Please leave a name and number and I'll get back to you."

(Stu's telephone answering message): "Hi, you've reached Dr. Stuart Price with Divine Dentistry. Please leave a message after…"

(Phil's telephone answering message): "Hey, this is Phil. Leave me a message, or don't, but do me a favour, don't text me, it's gay."


Jane Eyre

Diana Rivers: "St John?"

St John Rivers: "I found her at the door."

Mary Rivers: "She's white as death!"


Saving Private Ryan

Ryan's son (running to comfort his father at the war): Dad?

(flashback to D-Day)

LCVP Pilot: "Clear the ramp! Thirty seconds. God be with you!"


True Grit

"People do not give it credence that a young girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood, but it did happen."


The Usual Suspects

Keyser Soze: "How you doing Keaton?"

Keaton: "I can't feel my legs…Keyser."

Keyser Soze: "Ready?"

Keaton: "What time is it?"

Keyser Soze: "Twelve thirty."

(Keyser points his gun at Keaton and shoots him)


Lawrence of Arabia

Colonel Brighton: "He was the most extraordinary man I ever knew."

Vicar at St. Paul's: "Well nil nisi bonum. But did he really deserve...all this?"

Colonel Brighton: "He was a remarkable chap. By any counts, remarkable."

Vicar at St. Paul's: "Did you know him well?"

Colonel Brighton: "I knew him."


The Help

Aibileen Clark: "I was born nineteen eleven, Chickasaw county, Piedmont Plantation."

Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan: "And did you know as a girl growing up, that one day you'd be a maid?"

Aibileen Clark: "Yes, ma'am. I did."

Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan: "And you knew that, because?"

Aibileen Clark: "My mama was a maid. My grandmama was a house slave."


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Daisy: "What are you looking at, Caroline?"

Caroline: "The wind, mom. They say the hurricane is coming."


Avatar

"When I was lying there in the V.A. hospital, with a big hole blown through the middle of my life, I started having these dreams of flying. I was free. Sooner or later though, you always have to wake up."


Slumdog Millionaire

Prem Kumar: "So Jamal, tell me something about yourself."

Jamal Malik: "I work in a call centre in Juhu."

Prem Kumar: "Phone basher! And what type of call centre would that be?"

Jamal Malik: "XL5 mobile phones."

Prem Kumar: "Ohh… so you're the one who calls me up every single day of my life with special offers?"

Jamal Malik: "Actually I'm an assistant."

Prem Kumar: "An assistant phone basher? And what does an assistant phone basher do exactly?"

Jamal Malik: "I get tea for people and…"

Prem Kumar: "Chaiwalah! Well ladies and gentlemen, Jamal Malik, garma garam chai dene walah from Mumbai, lets play Who Wants To Be A Millionaire!"


Titanic

Brock Lovett: "Thirteen meters; you should see it."

Brock Lovett (seeing the shipwreck come into view for the first time): "OK; take her up and over the bow rail."


Toy Story

Andy (playing with his toys and mimicing the voices of his toys and holding Mr. Potato Head): All right, everyone! This... is a stick-up. Don't anybody move! Now empty that safe!"


King Kong

"Oh, no! It wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast."


The Sound of Music

"The hills are alive with the sound of music."


Almost Famous

Elaine Miller: "I can't believe you wanna be Atticus Finch. Oh, that makes me feel so good."

Young William: "I like him."


Chinatown

“All right, Curly, enough's enough. You can't eat the venetian blinds. I just had 'em installed on Wednesday."


Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves

"Show them the courage of Allah!"


Some Like it Hot

Mulligan: "All right, Charlie; that the joint?"

Toothpick Charlie: "Yes, sir."

Mulligan: "Who runs it?"

Toothpick Charlie: "I already told you."

Mulligan: "Refresh my memory."

Toothpick Charlie: "Spats Columbo."

Mulligan: "That's very refreshing; what's the password?"

Toothpick Charlie: "I've come to Grandma's funeral." Here's your admission card."


Erin Brockovich

"F**k. Shit. God DAMN it."


Twilight

"I'd never given much thought to how I would die. But dying in the place of someone I love seems like a good way to go. So I can't bring myself to regret the decision to leave home. I would miss Phoenix. I'd miss the heat. I would miss my loving, erratic, harebrained mother. And her new husband...But they want to go on the road, so I'm gonna spend some time with my dad, and this will be a good thing. I think. In the state of Washington, under a near constant cover of clouds and rain, there's a small town named Forks. Population, 3,120 people. This is where I'm moving. My dad's Charlie. He's the chief of police…."


He's Just Not That Into You

Gigi: "I have a theory about how this all started"

(A six-year-old boy approaches. He watches a little girl for a moment and then pushes her over.)

Little girl: "Why did you do that?"

Little boy: "Because you smell like dog poo.You're so stupid just like dog poo! You're made of poo!"

Little girl to mum: "Made. (SOB) Of. (SOB) Dog. (SOB) Poo."

Mum: "Honey, do you know why that little boy did those things? And said those things?"

( The little girl shakes her head no.)

Mum: "Because he LIKES YOU."


The Big Lebowski

“Way out west there was this fella I wanna tell ya about. Goes by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least that was the handle his loving parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. See, this Lebowski, he called himself 'The Dude'.”


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