Film: Top Gun

Since the creation of film people have been impacted by images on screen, be it ‘The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station’, straight razors in ‘Un Chien Andalou’ or the force in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, all of these films have left an impact on popular culture. Film as a medium continues to shape how people understand and respond to the world – and has even equipped viewers with sayings and language made popular through continual use, suggesting that ‘if you write it, they will come’. The 1980’s plays host to some of the most iconic and enduring sayings that have become a part of everyday life.

Many 80’s classics like Star Wars acted as a catalyst for countless figures of speech, ‘Luke I am your father’ is one saying that has been quoted in everything from comic books and wrestling to contemporary films. It is difficult to say what caused so many films to produce memorable sayings; however it could be the development of extremely diverse films coming out of that decade. ‘Platoon’ captured the horrors of Vietnam, ‘Back to the Future’ allowed audiences to experience time travel in a Delorean, while ‘Karate Kid’ taught viewers the value of car wax and ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ finally allowed cartoons to live alongside humans. The eclectic nature of films being created certainly help produce a unique vernacular that is still being reiterated today.

Film: Karate Kid

The idea of memorability is something that film enthusiasts know all too well, quoting films throughout their daily life, dishing them out to accentuate any significant, awkward or funny moment. The enduring quality of film sayings is not just a question for filmmakers and audiences; it is now the focus of a recent study.

Members of Cornell University’s Department of Computer Science, created a framework which included around 1000 memorable film quotes—with the speaker and setting of each quote being controlled. Volunteers were then given pairs of quotes from movies they hadn’t seen, and were asked to identify which one of the two phrases is most memorable. The outcome was that they found that audiences picked the memorable quote 78 percent of the time. For filmmakers who want to discover how to create memorable phrases that will endure for the next thirty years or those who want more critical information about the study, they can find all the details here.

Film: Raging Bull

Without getting too technical about the study, researchers looked at everything from word choice and tense, to sentence structure as these elements influenced the memorability of movie quotes. It turns out, that quotes that audiences remembered the most were delivered under compelling circumstances or fit an existing cultural, political, or social narrative. With the diversity of 80’s filmmaking including war, time travel, extraterrestrials and high school dramas, it is clear that the breadth of subject matter helped to produce memorable sayings that become a part of how people expressed themselves for the past thirty years.

Film enthusiast can test out this study’s claims by checking out the Movie Memorability Quiz and learn more about why ‘Nobody puts baby in a corner’. If you are a filmmaker or just a cinephile, understanding why you have to ‘phone home’ or who your father really is, provides a unique appreciation for the greatness of 80’s cinema. Finally, for those 80’s fans who want to enhance their film knowledge, then check out the list of quotes below.

Film: The Goonies

“Oh stewardess, I speak jive.” – Airplane!
“I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” – Apocalypse Now
“_1.21 gigawatts!_” — Back to the Future
“Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads.” — Back to the Future
“Where does he get such wonderful toys?” — Batman
“I want my two dollars!” – Better Off Dead
“It’s all in the reflexes.” – Big Trouble in Little China
“Bogus, Heinous, Most Non-triumphant.” – Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
“It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, a half pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.” – The Blues Brothers
“Mess with the bull boy, you’ll get the horns!” – The Breakfast Club
“You’ll get nothing and like it.” – Caddyshack
“Nobody puts baby in a corner!” – Dirty Dancing
“Phone home.” – E.T.
“Luke, I am your father.” – The Empire Strikes Back
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
“If you build it he will come.” – Field of Dreams
“What is your major malfunction?” – Full Metal Jacket
“Heeeeeey yoooooou guuuuuuys!” – The Goonies
“There can only be one.” – Highlander
“Short Round, step on it.” – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
“Wax on, wax off.” – Karate Kid
“Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep.” – Nightmare on Elm Street
“I’m a loner, Dottie, a rebel.” – Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
“They’re heeeeeere.” – Poltergeist
“If it bleeds, we can kill it.” – Predator
“My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” – The Princess Bride
“I coulda been a contender” – Raging Bull
“I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen.” – Say Anything
“Say hello to my little friend.” – Scarface
“Heeeeeeere’s Johnny!” – The Shining
“I’ll be back.” – The Terminator
“This goes up to 11.” – This is Spinal Tap
“I feel the need, the need for speed.” – Top Gun
“On the other side of the screen, it all looks so easy.” – Tron
“I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.” – Who Framed Roger Rabbit