Five iconic improvised lines that became cinematic history
What turns a great movie into cinematic history? Without a doubt, the cinematography, the score, and the art direction, amongst other things, all give a film its legendary status. But one thing that arguably just about sets some films above others is dialogue.
When a talented actor delivers an excellent piece of dialogue, it is imprinted on our minds. In some instances, the conversation of a film is what blows us away, say in 12 Angry Men or Good Will Hunting. On other occasions, a well-delivered line can turn a somewhat bad movie into at least a memorable one. For example, when Arnold Schwarzenegger says, “you son of a bitch” in Predator, the film sticks with us; it becomes iconic.
Whilst many iconic lines of dialogue are to be credited to the excellent writing of scripts and their deliverance to film directors, some can be attributed to the creative spontaneity of those delivering them. There have been many instances in which actors have come up with iconic lines of dialogue on the spot, as early as Casablanca in 1942 and as recent as Avengers: Infinity War in 2018.
Let’s take a look at some other great examples…
Five iconic improvised movie lines:
“Heeeeere’s Johnny” – The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
In Kubrick’s terrifying adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name, one particular stand-out moment comes when Jack Nicholson‘s Jack Torrance busts his head through a door in hunt of his wife and screams, “Heeeeeere’s Johnny”.
Kubrick had insisted on filming scenes many times over so he could get the perfect take, and in one take, Nicholson used the line that American TV host Johnny Carson would introduce himself each night. It made the final cut.
“You’re gonna need a bigger boat” – Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
When Jaws hit the screens in 1975, audiences went wild for the fear-inducing shark-attack film. When a seaside town’s sheriff heads out to investigate the mysterious killer shark, he spots the monster and says, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”.
However, the film’s iconic line was actually improvised, and rumours have it that it was an in-joke amongst the film’s cast and crew. The budget had been stretched, and many felt that the tugboat used in the movie was too small. Crew members had been trying to squeeze the line in whenever they could.
“Slurp” – The Silence of The Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)
The frightening films with improvised lines just keep on coming with Anthony Hopkins‘ portrayal of Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of The Lambs. Many great scenes occur between Jodie Foster’s character and Lecter while he is in his cell, but one stands out the most.
One particularly chilling moment comes when Lecter makes an odd slurping noise when talking about eating one of his victims. However, Hopkins had been making the noise as a joke in between takes and decided to throw it in a take at the final hour.
“I know” – Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (George Lucas, 1980)
Probably about time by now to talk of a line of dialogue that warms the heart rather than scares the life out of it. Audiences melted and swooned when Han Solo and Princess Leia got together in Star Wars in the 1980s.
However, in the pivotal scene in The Empire Strikes Back, when Leia confesses her love for Solo, all Harrison Ford had to do was say, “I love you too”. But the actor employed his intuition and delivered the belter of a line, “I know”, instead.
“Like tears in rain” – Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
Sci-fi fans were blown away by one of the genre’s best efforts in Ridley Scott‘s Blade Runner – an adaptation of the Philip K. Dick novel, Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep? At the film’s climax, protagonist Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) and villain Roy Batty confront each other on a rainy rooftop.
Batty soon realises that his time is up and that he cannot win, so he delivers one of the most memorable speeches in cinema history: “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die”.
However, Rutger Hauer, who played Batty, amazingly wrote the speech just a few hours before shooting the scene and chucked in the “tears in the rain” part for good measure on the fly.
