IN 68 years, it's been said in homes, offices, bars, schools and just about any social gathering you care to imagine many millions of times around the world.
Now the phrase "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" has been officially declared the greatest cinema quote in history in a poll of 600 members of the influential American Film Institute.
The unforgettable words from 1939's Gone with the Wind, uttered, of course, by Clark Gable's Rhett Butler to Vivien Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara, top a list of 100 famous and infamous sayings which will feature in a new TV series on Hollywood.
In a fascinating survey of those terse one-liners which have remained in our minds and on the tips of our tongues long after some of the movies themselves have been largely forgotten, two sentences from the late Marlon Brando's many dialogues figure in second and third places.
Runner-up, according to the secret ballot of AFI members, is the immortal line from his Godfather character Don Vito Corleone spoken, seemingly, through a cotton-wool filled mouth: "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."
Marlon Brando in The Godfather
Eighteen years before The Godfather, in 1958, Brando, introduced the world to the method school of acting through his stunning portrayal of lifelong loser Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront. It's a safe bet that far fewer people remember the name of his character than have memorised the line: "You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am."
Long before kids were reciting Monty Python dialogue, parrot fashion, as it were, or even catchphrases from current hits like Borat, a generation latched onto Judy Garland's line as Dorothy in the original 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz: "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."
That, according to the experts, is the fourth most memorable quote of all time. And, three years on, everyone, but everyone, was mimicking Humphrey Bogart's line as Rick Blaine in Casablanca: "Here's looking at you kid." Legions still are, which, says the AFI justifies its fifth place.
"Bond. James Bond," may have set millions of schoolkids off on imaginary spying missions the moment the words left Sean Connery's lips for 1962's Dr. No. But the smooth British secret agent's memorable delivery ranks only number 22 on the list.
Equally perplexing for fans of Clint Eastwood's hard-as-nails cop Dirty Harry is the number 51 ranking for the oft-copied quote from the movie of the same name in 1971, delivered with a snarl: "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" Consolation for aficionados of the genre is offered with the 1983
offering from the 1983 sequel Sudden Impact at No 6: "Go ahead, make my day."
But a spokesman for the AFI, whose three-hour TV special is due to air in America later this month and Britain later this year, declared: "Every generation thinks their 'quotes of the moment' are the most memorable.
"But it's absolutely surprising how many have stood a remarkable test of time and are repeated over and over today.
"We're sure this list will stir controversy - which is no bad thing as it may well also regenerate interest in some classic movies."
The TV special will be hosted by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has proved more adept at memorable one-liners as an actor than he has as a politician, as evidenced by two entries in the top 100 from one of his characters.
His phrase: "I'll be back" from 1984's The Terminator is Number 37, while he may opt to wrap the TV show with his line from 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, in seventy sixth place: "Hasta la vista, baby."
Here's the list that will get everyone talking in full........
1 Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
The Wizard of Oz
GONE WITH THE WIND 1939
2 I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. THE GODFATHER 1972
3You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am. ON THE WATERFRONT 1954
4 Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. THE WIZARD OF OZ 1939
5 Here's looking at you, kid. CASABLANCA 1942
6 Go ahead, make my day. SUDDEN IMPACT 1983
7 All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up. SUNSET BLVD. 1950
8 May the Force be with you. STAR WARS 1977
9 Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night. ALL ABOUT EVE 1950
10 You talking to me? TAXI DRIVER 1976
11 What we've got here is failure to communicate. COOL HAND LUKE 1967
12 I love the smell of napalm in the morning. APOCALYPSE NOW 1979
13 Love means never having to say you're sorry. LOVE STORY 1970
14 The stuff that dreams are made of. THE MALTESE FALCON 1941
15 E.T. phone home. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL 1982
16 They call me Mister Tibbs! IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT 1967
17 Rosebud. CITIZEN KANE 1941
18 Made it, Ma! Top of the world! WHITE HEAT 1949
19 I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore! NETWORK 1976
20 Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. CASABLANCA 1942
21 A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS 1991
22 Bond. James Bond. DR. NO 1962
23 There's no place like home. THE WIZARD OF OZ 1939
24 I am big! It's the pictures that got small. SUNSET BLVD. 1950
25 Show me the money! JERRY MAGUIRE 1996
26 Why don't you come up sometime and see me? SHE DONE HIM WRONG 1933
75 I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE 1951
76 Hasta la vista, baby. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY 1991
77 Soylent Green is people! SOYLENT GREEN 1973
78 Open the pod bay doors, HAL. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY 1968
79 Striker: Surely you can't be serious. Rumack: I am serious...and don't call me Shirley. AIRPLANE! 1980
80 Yo, Adrian! ROCKY 1976
81 Hello, gorgeous. FUNNY GIRL 1968
82 Toga! Toga! NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE 1978
83 Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make. DRACULA 1931
84 Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast. KING KONG 1933
85 My precious. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: TWO TOWERS 2002
86 Attica! Attica! DOG DAY AFTERNOON 1975
87 Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star! 42ND STREET 1933
88 Listen to me, mister. You're my knight in shining armor. Don't you forget it. You're going to get back on that horse, and I'm going to be right behind you, holding on tight, and away we're gonna go, go, go! ON GOLDEN POND 1981
89 Tell 'em to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper. KNUTE ROCKNE ALL AMERICAN 1940
90 A martini. Shaken, not stirred. GOLDFINGER 1964
91 Who's on first. THE NAUGHTY NINETIES 1945
92 Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greens keeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac...It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole! CADDYSHACK 1980
93 Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death! AUNTIE MAME 1958
94 I feel the need - the need for speed! TOP GUN 1986
95 Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary. DEAD POETS SOCIETY 1989
96 Snap out of it! MOONSTRUCK 1987
97 My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY 1942
98 Nobody puts Baby in a corner. DIRTY DANCING 1987
99 I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too! WIZARD OF OZ, THE 1939
