Think you know your favorite movie quotes by heart? Think again! Join us as we explore some of the most commonly misquoted lines from classic films. From sci-fi revelations to thriller encounters, these iconic movie moments aren't exactly how you remember them. Get ready to question everything you thought you knew about cinema's most memorable lines!
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00:00My mama always said, life was like a box of chocolates.
00:07You never know what you're gonna get."
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most
00:13well-known and frequently misquoted movie lines.
00:17"'Fly, you fools!"
00:2010. You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat
00:23Jaws. This iconic ad-lib by Roy Scheider lets everyone know that the danger in the
00:27water is no joke, and that not just any boat is equipped for it.
00:30"'You're gonna need a bigger boat.'"
00:32The line became a catchphrase among the crew when they encountered obstacles during production,
00:36and after making the final cut of the film, it has become a mainstay pop culture reference.
00:41There's a subtle difference, though. People often misquote it as,
00:44"'We're gonna need a bigger boat.'"
00:46"'Salsa shark.'"
00:48"'We're gonna need a bigger boat.'"
00:49This makes sense, as it implies that the speaker is also involved in whatever problem is at play.
00:54However, in the movie, Scheider's character Brody actually says,
00:57"'You're gonna need a bigger boat.'"
00:59"'We're gonna need a bigger boat.'"
01:009. Fasten Your Seatbelts, It's Gonna Be a Bumpy Night
01:04All About Eve. When someone foresees a difficult time ahead,
01:07you could say that they should fasten their seatbelt because it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
01:11"'All right, fasten your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.'"
01:15What a lot of people may not realize is that a variation of this familiar idiomatic expression
01:19appears in the 1950 classic film All About Eve. Margot Channing, played by legendary actress
01:24Betty Davis, doesn't actually say the word ride, though. She says night, as in,
01:29"'Fasten your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy night.'"
01:31"'Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night.'"
01:36Yet if you say the movie quote verbatim, someone might give you a puzzled look.
01:40"'It's going to be a bumpy ride.'"
01:448. Mrs. Robinson, You're Trying to Seduce Me, Aren't You?
01:47The Graduate. When he feels like Mrs. Robinson might be coming on to him,
01:50Benjamin Braddock utters a quote from The Graduate that lives on.
01:54Many people remember it and refer to it as,
01:56"'Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?' But that's not the exact quote from the film."
02:01"'Mr. Finch, are you trying to seduce me?'
02:05Benjamin actually utters a statement, followed by a pause,
02:08and finally a request for clarification.
02:10"'Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me.'
02:16"'Aren't you?'
02:17In other words, Benjamin tells Mrs. Robinson that she is trying to seduce him,
02:21before taking a few breaths and ultimately asking her to clarify whether his suspicion is correct.
02:26"'Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me.'"
02:287. Good Evening, Clarice, The Silence of the Lambs.
02:32There are multiple chilling lines and moments featuring Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the
02:36Lambs. It's no wonder the American Film Institute ranked him as the number one film villain of all
02:41time.
02:42"'A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.'"
02:53Contrary to popular belief, however, Lecter never says,
02:56"'Hello, Clarice.'" The closest he ever comes to such a line is when he says,
03:00"'Good evening, Clarice.'"
03:03"'Good evening, Clarice.'"
03:04Perhaps the character's dark and twisted nature, combined with his memorable interactions with
03:09Clarice and his distinctive, unsettling tone, led people to falsely remember him
03:13greeting her with a creepy hello.
03:15"'Silence of the Lambs. Hello, Clarice.'"
03:216. Play It, Sam, Casablanca.
03:24Just because Sam has played it before doesn't mean that Ilsa or Rick says,
03:28"'Play it again, Sam.'" Which is what many people misremember from the all-time classic Casablanca.
03:33Ingrid Bergman's character actually says,
03:35"'Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake.'"
03:37"'Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake.'"
03:40And after Sam's reply, she says,
03:42"'Play it, Sam. Play as time goes by.'"
03:45"'Play it, Sam. Play as time goes by.'"
03:49Based on the musician's reaction, he had played that tune before. In a later scene,
03:54Humphrey Bogart's Rick insists that Sam play it again.
03:57But like Ilsa, Rick doesn't actually use the word again.
04:00"'Play it. Yes, boss.'"
04:03Even so, as time goes by, the common misquote persists.
04:07Woody Allen's 1969 play and 1972 film titled Play It Again, Sam,
04:12may have something to do with that.
04:165. If You Build It, He Will Come, Field of Dreams.
04:19As Kevin Costner's Ray Kinsella walks through his family cornfield,
04:22a mysterious voice repeats a memorable phrase.
04:26"'If you build it, he will come.'"
04:30Yet despite the repetition, many viewers misquote this iconic line from the sports
04:34fantasy drama Field of Dreams. Rather than,
04:36"'If you build it, they will come,' the actual line is, "'He will come.'"
04:39"'If you build it, he will come.'"
04:43Ray does end up taking the voice's advice by building a baseball field within the cornfield.
04:47And as a result, ghosts of baseball legends appear. So yes, they do come.
04:52But there's one man in particular that the voice must have been talking about.
04:56"'If you build it, he will come.'"
05:024. Do I Feel Lucky? Well, Do Ya, Punk? Dirty Harry.
05:07"'Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punks?'
05:17The length and complexity of this memorable line may have something to do with it being
05:21so widely misquoted. But of course, it's the sheer awesomeness of it that makes people
05:25remember it from Dirty Harry, albeit incorrectly. The title character, played by Clint Eastwood,
05:30tells a robber,
05:30"'You've gotta ask yourself one question.'"
05:32Since this sets up Harry to word the question from the robber's perspective, he asks,
05:37"'Do I feel lucky?' before saying, "'Well, do ya, punk?'
05:40"'Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?'
05:44The simplified, punchy misquote that you're much more likely to hear is,
05:48"'Do ya feel lucky, punk?'
05:49"'Well, do ya, punk?''
05:513. I Have a Feeling We're Not in Kansas Anymore.
05:55The Wizard of Oz
05:56This iconic quote from an all-time classic film remains a staple in pop culture and
06:00everyday conversation. While it's often paraphrased as,
06:03"'I don't think we're in Kansas anymore,' or simply,
06:06"'We're not in Kansas anymore,' Dorothy's actual words to Toto are slightly different.
06:11"'Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.'"
06:15Of course, Dorothy's feeling, as she says, turns out to be spot on.
06:19They definitely aren't in Kansas anymore. We have a feeling that even people who have never
06:23seen The Wizard of Oz may have used this phrase in some way before.
06:27"'You are not in Kansas anymore. You are on Pandora.'"
06:34And it's definitely a fun one to pull out in the appropriate situation.
06:39"'We're not in Kansas anymore.'"
06:43"'Really?'
06:442. Magic Mirror on the Wall
06:46Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
06:48Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's the fairest one of all?
06:51We attribute this timeless saying to Disney's first feature-length animated film,
06:55Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But the Wicked Queen doesn't actually say,
06:58"'Mirror, mirror.'" She says, "'Magic mirror.'"
07:02"'Magic mirror on the wall. Who is the fairest one of all?'
07:07With that said, "'Mirror, mirror' is the phrase used in the original 1812 Brothers Grimm fairy
07:12tale, on which the film was based. Disney changed the line for their adaptation.
07:17"'Magic mirror on the wall. Who now is the fairest one of all?'
07:23Still, we bet that a lot of people who didn't read the original tale but saw the 1937 film
07:28misremember the Queen saying, "'Mirror, mirror.'"
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07:531. No, I Am Your Father
07:56Star Wars Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
08:00Wait a sec. Surely it's Luke, I Am Your Father, right? Well, not quite, actually.
08:04The plot twist in The Empire Strikes Back, in which Darth Vader drops that bombshell on Luke,
08:09doesn't go down exactly as most people remember.
08:11Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.
08:16He told me enough!
08:17Just as the reveal itself comes as a shock, finding out that this is a misquote may come
08:22as a shock as well. And understandably so. In the movie, James Earl Jones' Vader actually
08:27responds to Mark Hamill's character by saying, "'No, I am your father.'"
08:31No, I am your father.
08:35Why did we think he says Luke? Who knows? The Mandela Effect really is something.
08:40It's not true. That's impossible!
08:45Is there a certain movie reference that you often make? Let us know in the comments.
08:48You're gonna need a bigger boat, right?
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