30 Iconic Movie Lines That Are Always Misquoted

24. King Kong (1933)

5.KongThe Misquote: "Twas€™ Beauty killed the beast." The Real Quote: "Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast." Why It Was Misquoted: Alright, this may be a slight one, but it certainly has an effect on the film. The original King Kong was a big, simple creature feature, not falling into the dogmatic meta humour of Peter Jackson€™s remake, summing its smarts in its final line, drolly delivered by Robert Armstrong€™s Carl Denham. His delivery, however, drags out the €˜It was€™, making it sound like €˜Twas€™. Given the film€™s esteemed stature in cinema history and how the €˜Twas€™ makes it more old-timey, it€™s clear to see why it stuck.

23. Sunset Boulevard (1950)

SunsetThe Misquote: "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille." The Real Quote: "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." Why It Was Misquoted: At a first glance, this makes quite a bit of sense; the cutting down of the line to make easier to remember and thus the misquote increased quotability. However, it severely cuts down the emotion of the scene, putting Gloria Swanson€™s Norma Desmond seemingly in a postion of control and sidelining that the whole stage set up is a lie in favour of faux-seductiveness.

22. Forrest Gump (1994)

GumpThe Misquote: "My mama always said, 'Life is like a box of chocolates.'" The Real Quote: "My mama always said, 'Life was like a box of chocolates.'" Why It Was Misquoted: Life is a constant, ongoing thing, so why one earth would you talk about it in the past tense? Well aside from the fact that it shows Forrest€™s verbal ticks from the off, it simply comes from the fact that his mother is dead. He uses the past tense because that€™s how he regards both her and the quote. It€™s clear to see why the less depressing, more rounded comment has become the popular one.
In this post: 
Star Wars
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.