ICONIC HOLLYWOOD LINES
There are some movies that just stick with you. Wouldn’t you agree? What film reached down and touched your soul? You can watch it over and over through the years and it still means a lot to you. Maybe it’s because you relate to the theme or a character strongly. You feel like that character walked in your shoes for an hour and a half. Maybe, just maybe, there was that one line that was delivered so well and so perfectly in the moment that you felt it down to your bones and it has been with you ever since you heard it. I love a film like that and a few that fit that bill for me.
I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Shawshank Redemption but that Red delivers a line that probably hits home for many of us. “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” Then the camera pans up to the plank for old man Brooks hung himself after he was paroled. Carved into the wood it read Brooks was here. Just below it the words So was Red as he spoke that line. Brooks got busy dying. Red…Red decided it was time to get busy living.
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” That was a powerful line from The Wizard of Oz. What do you relate that line to in today’s current times?
Of the thousands of movies I’ve no doubt wasted precious time watching, one line that sticks out (like many others) is from one of my all time favorite movies, Dead Poets Society starring Robin Williams. I miss that man’s humor. Especially in times like these when we all need a few more laughs in our lives.
“Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys.” It sounds simple. It is. But how many of us can say we actually live up to that standard. I sometimes look in the mirror and ask myself if I truly seized the day. Did I make the absolute most of it? Did I have a goal and work toward it? Did I leave anything unsaid to people I care about? Am I a better person today than I was yesterday? Often times I fail to live up to that simple task. I suspect most of us do.
What movie line do you carry with you? I’m also a Van Wilder fan. “I learned a long time ago that worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.”
Share your lines in the comments below and may the Force be with you.