Heat stroke
Aunt Mildred's Ghost, it's hot out there! 91 degrees at 7:30 at night, and 96 with the humidity. We're headed towards 94 and 101 tomorrow in Des Moines. That would be the hottest day in two years, and probably the reason I've been so cranky this week. It's hot in my apartment, too. Thank heavens Dave Miley stopped by today and installed the air conditioner.In my heat-induced stupor last night, I forgot to watch the AFI list of the 100 greatest lines in movie history. If I had a nickel for every time I advised readers to watch a show and then didn't watch it myself, I could buy a swimming pool filled with Michelob.
Thanks to the golden age of the internet, however, I found the list. Here 'tis, with only the glamour and pageantry of television missing.
Though it got virtually no attention in the news recaps, I'm pleased to announce that our favorite writer/director, Billy Wilder, wrote three of the lines on the list, more than any other author with more than one movie on the list. His lines are at #7, #24, and #48 (with a shout-out here to his collaborators, Charles Brackett and I.A.L. Diamond.)
I'm tickled that "Airplane!'s" Shirley line made the list after I touted it, and "There's no crying in baseball" is a great cinematic legacy for former Cardinals' great, Rogers Hornsby, even if he never really said it. I'm shocked that "I knew it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart." didn't make the list, and I believe "Here's looking at you, kid" should have been number one.
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I have to share this with you. I found this paragraph in Sunday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch in a story about Tony LaRussa passing Bucky Harris for fourth place on the all-time managerial win list. Rather inadvertently, I think, it contains perhaps the most radical use of parentheses in the history of journalism--
Asked about tying Harris, LaRussa laughed and said, "He's up there (heaven), and I'm here. The career win total is not the 2005 priority. We're not talking about anything but the chance to make it in October in 2005, and I'm definitely not going to disappoint them."
Very existential.
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Until this month, the most narcissistic wedding proposal in human history was "Boston Rob" proposing to "Amber" on the 2004 season finale of "Survivor." Now it's that guy who proposed to his girlfriend during the taping of an E-Harmony commercial. Look for the results on a television near you.
posted by CM @ 8:02 PM
1 Comments:
I saw the AFI special (thanks to your suggestion) and thought it was pretty entertaining. Well, actually, I only saw from #53 on. A couple thoughts:
What does that mean- "here's looking at you kid"? It's like a toast...and we're looking at you? Huh? That's a weird expression that doesn't really make any sense. He should have said, "Here's looking up your address." That's a good line. And it would have added some funny to a pretty downer movie.
Speaking of looking up addresses - If they're going to have the "don't call me Shirley" line from Airplane, they should also include the best line from Naked Gun: "Nice beaver".
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