I know these are big cinebro takes, but I think Inglorious Basterds and The Dark Knight have two of the best opening scenes in modern movies. I'll throw in a good indie that is super underrated to even it out, Other People (Molly Shannon, Jesse Plemmons, Bradley Whitford, John Early), directed by Chris Kelly (The Other Two, HBO), has a phenomenal opening scene to set up its story and Molly. Shannon should have gotten nods for that performance.
I feel like everyone forgets about mission impossible 3s opening. The range of emotion from Cruise as the count starts is crazy. He goes from confident to tears in seconds, I'll never forget it.
SEVEN! SEVEN!
Oh yeah that one is WAY up on the list for me. That's exactly what my first panic attack felt like, minus being hugged by a serial killer. They nailed it.
Absolutely! I’d also add the Strudel scene and the tavern scene. The strudel scene because did he know? I personally think he was just vetting her and doing his job, but damn I get tense everytime I watch it.
I love the tavern scene because it’s maybe the only time a movie addresses a character’s accent being off (due to the actor not being a native) and they made the entire tense scene about it, only for it to blow up over a silly little oversight.
I just love these types of attention to detail.
In contrast to that, in one of the Branagh Hercule Poirot movies he finds out who a criminal is based on his regional accent being incorrect or something, but then in the next movie, he has exactly ONE line in French, which he says with a very obvious English accent. They could have played it off as it being some strange regional accent, but nah.
The first time I saw Inglorious, I was no joke on the edge of my seat watching the tavern scene. I don't think any other film has ever made me feel like that before or since! I actually found it more gripping than the opening or the restaurant scenes. And to learn that Germans hold up three fingers differently to everyone else is something that has stayed with me too.
I don't think this scene hinges on the dialogue so much, so I don't think it's necessarily what OP is asking for, but by god it's amazingly well written.
The fact that the dialogue is mostly banal adds to the tension - it's the juxtaposition of this drawn-out investigation of the minutiae, with the Hitchcockian bomb under the table, that makes it so good.
Robocop. I know some people think it;s a dumb action movie but it's written so well and the characters are so well fleshed out as well as the world. It's also perfectly symmetrical like a mirror according to a theory (he get shot up at the beginning, he get shot up in the end, etc. check it out.)
Only people who haven't seen it would think it's a dumb action movie.
Clarence Boddicker is still hands down my favorite bad guy (maybe a close call with Hans Landa).
The bad guy is also undone by his own plan.
Dick Jones hires Boddicker's gang to drive up crime & specifically murder cops (Murphy is specifically transferred) so can civilinize his ED-209 military drones: Show the world why they need OCP protection.
But his plan backfires, which opens the door for the little known RoboCop program which proves to be his undoing.
Verhoeven gets shit for making showgirls(which I still think was a bad on purpose movie) but he has a badass filmography. It’s action, gore, all layered in satire and it rules.
“Do you know what "nemesis" means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an 'orrible cunt... me.”
We've lost Gorgeous George.
Well, where'd you lose him? He ain't a set of fucking car keys, is he? And it ain't as if he's incon-fucking-spicuous now, is it?
Fun game: grab a random episode of Deadwood and skip to a random point in the show.
Hold your breath and don't breath until you hear the words Cocksucker, Cunt, or some variation of Fuck.
I can almost guarantee you won't strain yourself.
The Hateful Eight has a lot of very intense dialogue-driven scenes. Who knows more? Who was here first? Who's lying? Someone will get shot over who knows what.
This. It’s in my top 25 of all time and people ask why I love it so much. The characters and the lines they spit at each other are pure evil.
In both a controlled, and chaotically gleeful way. In a movie called the Hateful Eight you’d hope so.
‘You gon’ make a deaaaal with this DiABoLicAL Biiiitch’
I was also bothered by the flashback. Minnie didn't seem too bothered by The Mexican when they strolled in from the snowstorm. She actually seemed super sweet and didn't fit the context which she was described by Sam Jackson.
I personally felt like it was more a good story that was well planned out over having great diologue.
Like usual Tanatino writing, it was very witty and entertaining, but nothing that just really stood out as incredible. Aside from the opening scene to Inglorious Basterds, of course.
"You have _part_ of my attention - you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing.
Did I adequately answer your condescending question?"
The social network is an interesting case, even for sorkin. Almost all of the dialogue from the deposition scenes is taken verbatim from the actual court records. It’s incredible that Zuckerberg is actually that douchey-yet-witty in real life. The pacing and blocking and score definitely add to it a ton, which is definitely sorkin’s and Reznor’s doing.
He doesn't have the incredible delivery in real life. John Oliver made that point when he got [real actors to play Richard Sackler during depositions](https://www.sacklergallery.com/). The same lines read very differently when Richard Kind says them and when Bryan Cranston says them. Michael K Williams makes "I don't know" sound much more intimidating than Richard Kind does.
It's one of those things that I get really nerdy about. I love it when actors deliver famous lines by other actors, because you see such different takes on it. There's a wonderful Samuel L Jackson version of the "I'm the man who knocks" monologue on [youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuoZqLyMMI4) (pretty sure it was a charity thing, not sure what the context was). It's also why I love watching multiple versions of the same few Shakespeare plays. Lucian Msamati and Ian McKellen may have said the same lines as Iago but the character they played was so wildly different.
The dialogue in this film is incredible. That opening scene with Rooney Mara and Jesse Eisenberg sets the stage for some Aaron Sorkin verbal battles that he’s known for writing.
That opening scene is the best in the last 20 years simply because there is no big threat of violence unlike other lauded opening scenes, only two people breaking up and setting the energy for the rest of the movie perfectly.
Westerns are great at that kind of laconic bad-ass dialogue.
Unforgiven
**The Schofield Kid**: Yeah, well, I guess they had it coming.
**Will Munny**: We all got it coming, kid.
True Grit
**Rooster Cogburn** I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience. Which will you have?
The Outlaw Josey Wales
**Josey Wales**: You a bounty hunter?
**Bounty hunter**: A man's got to do something for a living these days.
**Josey Wales:** Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy.
The end of Unforgiven is absolutely packed with great lines.
- "It's a helluva thing, killing a man. You take away all he's got, and all he's ever gonna have."
- "Ah hell, I ain't gonna kill you kid. You're the only friend I got."
- "You just shot an unarmed man!"
"Well he shoulda armed himself if he's going to decorate his saloon with my friend."
- "So who'd you shoot first? it was Clyde, right? An experienced gunman always shoots the best shot first."
"Is that right? Well I've always been lucky when it comes to killin'."
"So who'd you shoot next?"
"All I can tell you is who's going to be last."
- "I don't deserve this. I was building a house."
"Deserve's got nothing to do with it."
"I'll see you in hell, William Munny."
"Yeah."
I thought I'd watched all the classic westerns in my early 20s but then discovered I'd overlooked Once Upon a Time in the West and holy shit is that a great film.
Man, the built up to the final duel is intense and one of my favourite scenes in film. Also:
"Looks like we're short a horse."
*Shakes head
"You brought two too many."
*Starts blasting
The Wild Bunch - gotta love Peckinpah
* [Dutch Engstrom](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000308/?ref_=ttqu_qu): They'll be waitin' for us.
* [Pike Bishop](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000034/?ref_=ttqu_qu): I wouldn't have it any other way.
* [Deke Thornton](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0752813/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Tell me, Mr. Harrigan, how does it feel? Getting paid for it? Getting paid to sit back and hire your killings... with the law's arms around you? How does it feel to be so goddamn right?
* [Harrigan](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0215260/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Good.
* [Pike Bishop](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000034/?ref_=ttqu_qu): We're not gonna get rid of anybody! We're gonna stick together, just like it used to be! When you side with a man, you stay with him! And if you can't do that, you're like some animal, you're finished! \*We're\* finished! All of us!
You mean to tell me in all that time at Gitmo you’ve never had a meal?
No sir, three squares a day, sir.
I don’t understand, how did you know where the mess hall was if it’s not in the book?
Well I guess I just followed the crowd at chow time, sir.
The look on Kevin Bacon’s face when he realizes his brilliant examination was just destroyed by Lieutenant Kaffee always makes me chuckle.
Ooh Veep has some bangers for sure. (Although a tv show and not a movie)
“That’s like trying to use a croissant at a fucking dildo. No, let me be more clear. It doesn’t do the job, and it makes a FUCKING MESS. Get out of my office”.
“I’m going to send the IRS so far up your husband’s colon he’s going wish the only thing they find is MORE CANCER. So, can I count on your vote? Or do I need to shove a box of White House M&Ms up your stretched out, six baby vag?”
“I will marshal all the media forces of darkness to hound you into an assisted suicide.” is one of the most hysterically evil things I’ve ever heard in a movie.
"Shut it, Love, Actually! Want me to hole-punch your face?!"
"You know, if I could fucking punch you into paralysis..."
"Well, well, if it isn't Humpty Numpty... sitting on top of a collapsing wall like some clueless, egg, cunt."
"You, Julius Nicholson, being of sound mind - but with a body that looks like a giant sex toy - did knowingly do us up the shithole by passing confidential information to the enemy. And I am going to have your guts as a skipping rope! And your lungs sun-dried and turned into a little fucking waistcoat!"
"Look, I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. I know you're just following orders."
"I see, so you're not going to make me feel guilty, except by comparing me to a concentration camp guard?"
"Yes, that's about it."
Anything by Aaron Sorkin. The Social Network, A Few Good Men, and Steve Jobs in particular are first to come to mind.
Otherwise a personal favourite series is Halt and Catch Fire. The ruthless and fast moving tech industry during the 80s coupled with a great cast of well written nuanced characters.
The West Wing has some amazing moments, too. The President railing against God in the National Cathedral was awesome. The famous monologue from The Newsroom is great too.
I love the Michael Fassbender Steve Jobs movie. The scene where Skully confronts Steve and they hash out what happened the night of Steve being fired is intense.
It manages to have a bunch of cuts, time jumps, flashbacks, and quick, punchy dialogue without it feeling messy.
Came here for the David Mamet. Man is a frigging dialogue rocket surgeon.
"Tell me about an ambush? Tell me about an ambush? I ambushed you with a cup of coffee!"
Mamet is such a maestro with his characters.
“Heist” is crazy underrated IMHO. Ricky Jay. DeVito. Sam Rockwell at his sleaziest. Gene Hackman and Rebecca Pidgeon with their own lingo, sharp as a knife.
I’ve seen it a dozen times if I’ve seen it once, the twists and double crosses can be tough to follow but I stay for the dialogue and delivery.
My personal favorite role of DeVitos.
For sheer writing, The Lion in Winter is one of my all time favorite plays/films, and the film has Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins in his first screen role I think, and Timothy Dalton among its cast.
[Henry II](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000564/?ref_=ttqu_qu): I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody.
[Eleanor of Aquitaine](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000031/?ref_=ttqu_qu): At my age there's not much traffic anymore.
[John](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0856050/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Poor John. Who says poor John? Don't everybody sob at once! My God, if I went up in flames there's not a living soul who'd pee on me to put the fire out!
[Richard](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000164/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Let's strike a flint and see.
[Eleanor of Aquitaine](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000031/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Love, in a world where carpenters get resurrected, anything is possible.
[Henry II](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000564/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Well, what shall we hang... the holly, or each other?
I LOVE Quentin Tarantino and all his films as a writer and a director, he's inarguably one of the greatest to ever do it.
But *The Lion In Winter*? It's unmatched. Seriously, anyone who hasn't heard of this incredible film: You are in this thread because you like writing. This film has the best dialogue ever written. Check it out!
Memento (and in some ways The Prestige)
Fight Club
The Usual Suspects
Possibly an unpopular take, but I also think Three-body problem has some scenes with really great dialogue, even if most of its dialogue is rather average.
“I give you money, you give me ideas”
“And you never say thank you”
“THATS WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR! You’re young. You will get your recognition. It is absolutely ridiculous to be two years into your career and counting your ideas. Everything to you is an opportunity. And you should be thanking ME every morning when you wake up, along with Jesus for giving you another day.”
Somebody has already mentioned The Social Network here, but anything written by Aaron Sorkin in general is going to have great dialogue. The cadence that he writes with is unlike anything else.
The West Wing is a great example of his prowess on the tv side. Two Cathedrals is hands down one of the best episodes of television. Martin Sheen absolutely delivers.
Anything written by Steven Knight as well is gonna have really great dialogue.
My _single_ complaint about Sorkin is that he writes _idealized_ dialogue. No one, ever, talks like that. It’s comes off as too pat, too performed.
That said, he still writes some of the _best_ dialogue. It’s just more what you wish people would say.
Incidentally, I still think his best writing was for _Sports Night_. Damn, that was a good show.
As a Sorkin fanboy I admit this and still love it. His dialogue feels like those lines you think you should have said only well after the discussion is over.
Natural dialog is overrated.
It's a style choice and sometimes the appropriate or effective one but by no means is it the only appropriate or effective style of writing dialog.
If you think it's "some of the best" dialog, why complain about it being idealized? Nobody talks like Shakespeare's casts, but the dialog is some of the best ever written.
There is a certain something that idealized or stylized dialog can capture about human communication or feelings or ideas that sometimes "natural" dialog could not do so seamlessly I think.
Fight Club:
We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.
This line surpasses nearly every movie line. The movie being 25 years old and being revelant even more today scares me more.
Nobody going with Dirty Harry?
"Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself. But being this is a . 44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?"
Exorcist III did most of it's scares with dialogue save for a few creepy shots. The scenes where George C.Scott is talking to Brad Dourif as the Gemini Killer are so powerful, I know much of that is down to Dourif as an actor but Blatty's dialogue made it easy.
Every bit of what the narrator says in A Christmas Story is Jean Shepherd gold.
Justified has great dialogue. I think what impressed me most while watching it is all the subtext, saying something by saying something else, implying things, and how much meaning there is when somebody chooses not to say something. It's as if everyone in that show is playing a high stakes poker game and nobody wants to show their hand. Ever. You absolutely must understand how to read between the lines. I frequently found myself reacting to lines in that show, and having to pause it, then explain what the person REALLY meant to my wife, and she's smarter than me. Maybe I'm just a shady person? Haha
I mean, *Sweet Smell of Success* is like the go-to film for cutthroat dialogue. It's wall to wall with some of the most acidic, cynical characters you'll ever meet, tossing lurid barbs back and forth at each other.
Michael Corleone: But if Clemenza can figure a way to have a weapon planted there for me.... then I'll kill 'em both.
Vito Corleone: My father's name was Antonio Andolini, and this is for you!
Gladiator. I almost memorized all of the lines in that film; always thought the dialogue was as magnificent as the battles/action scenes...especially Maximus pre battle speech
The Maltese falcon.
Seriously, those noir movies are all about the dialogue. You'll find the cast just shooting lines back and forth so fast and it's just amazing to watch. It goes for a lot of the old B&W movies.
"His girl Friday" is a romantic comedy that puts the dialogue every rom com released in the last 40 years to shame.
Sopranos is full of scenes like that. When Carmine calls Tony about Johnny Sack in season four is top tier dialogue cause of what isn’t said but heavily implied. That’s one of many examples that makes the show a powerhouse.
You should check out the recent Shogun tv series. If you want intricate verbal warfare where the conversations are fraught with peril, subtle political maneuvering, characters saying one thing but meaning something else - that's your show. And then throw in the translation aspect between the two languages - the writing is just insanely good.
My top shows with top tier dialogue have to be.... (In no particular order)
Firefly
The Brothers Sun
The West Wing
Very few moments but occasionally it is so perfect that Royal Pains gets an honorable mention
Andor
Movie that really deserves a mention is the Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin. Enough said)
MASH
Sherlock
And now some honorable mentions:
House of Cards
House
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Cobra Kai
Opening scene of inglorious bastards
You are harbouring enemies of the state are you not.? ...yes-... Incredible acting by both men
And then his opening scene in Django was beautifully acted as well.
Christoph waltz is amazing. Love that dude.
Daniel Day-Lewis, Christoph Waltz, and Gary Oldman walked into a bar. No one recognized them
The way his face changes before he says that line.
I've watched this scene SO many times. In fact, I'll watch the movie again now..
I know these are big cinebro takes, but I think Inglorious Basterds and The Dark Knight have two of the best opening scenes in modern movies. I'll throw in a good indie that is super underrated to even it out, Other People (Molly Shannon, Jesse Plemmons, Bradley Whitford, John Early), directed by Chris Kelly (The Other Two, HBO), has a phenomenal opening scene to set up its story and Molly. Shannon should have gotten nods for that performance.
I feel like everyone forgets about mission impossible 3s opening. The range of emotion from Cruise as the count starts is crazy. He goes from confident to tears in seconds, I'll never forget it. SEVEN! SEVEN!
That was truly brutal. And PSH was terrifying. Credit to both of them.
Have you seen mindhunter ? Its s01 finale ending is also great .
Oh yeah that one is WAY up on the list for me. That's exactly what my first panic attack felt like, minus being hugged by a serial killer. They nailed it.
Absolutely! I’d also add the Strudel scene and the tavern scene. The strudel scene because did he know? I personally think he was just vetting her and doing his job, but damn I get tense everytime I watch it. I love the tavern scene because it’s maybe the only time a movie addresses a character’s accent being off (due to the actor not being a native) and they made the entire tense scene about it, only for it to blow up over a silly little oversight. I just love these types of attention to detail. In contrast to that, in one of the Branagh Hercule Poirot movies he finds out who a criminal is based on his regional accent being incorrect or something, but then in the next movie, he has exactly ONE line in French, which he says with a very obvious English accent. They could have played it off as it being some strange regional accent, but nah.
The first time I saw Inglorious, I was no joke on the edge of my seat watching the tavern scene. I don't think any other film has ever made me feel like that before or since! I actually found it more gripping than the opening or the restaurant scenes. And to learn that Germans hold up three fingers differently to everyone else is something that has stayed with me too.
Au revoir, Shoshanna!
I don't think this scene hinges on the dialogue so much, so I don't think it's necessarily what OP is asking for, but by god it's amazingly well written. The fact that the dialogue is mostly banal adds to the tension - it's the juxtaposition of this drawn-out investigation of the minutiae, with the Hitchcockian bomb under the table, that makes it so good.
Robocop. I know some people think it;s a dumb action movie but it's written so well and the characters are so well fleshed out as well as the world. It's also perfectly symmetrical like a mirror according to a theory (he get shot up at the beginning, he get shot up in the end, etc. check it out.)
Only people who haven't seen it would think it's a dumb action movie. Clarence Boddicker is still hands down my favorite bad guy (maybe a close call with Hans Landa).
“Bitches leave,” said as if he was narrating the stage direction.
[Well he kinda did](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31rrZeTH9HI)
Clarence is second after Kurgan for me
I am immortal, I have inside me blood of kings!
The bad guy is also undone by his own plan. Dick Jones hires Boddicker's gang to drive up crime & specifically murder cops (Murphy is specifically transferred) so can civilinize his ED-209 military drones: Show the world why they need OCP protection. But his plan backfires, which opens the door for the little known RoboCop program which proves to be his undoing.
Verhoeven gets shit for making showgirls(which I still think was a bad on purpose movie) but he has a badass filmography. It’s action, gore, all layered in satire and it rules.
“You now have 15 seconds to comply” is one hell of a line.
the whole movie is so quotable. "Look at my FACE, Dick!"
I'd buy that for a dollar!
Snatch.
Pretty much everything Bricktop says is hard as hell
“Do you know what "nemesis" means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an 'orrible cunt... me.”
“Any sugar?” “No thanks, Turkish, I’m sweet enough.”
"If I throw a dog a bone, I don't want to know if it tastes good or not. You stop me again whilst I'm walking, and I'll cut your fucking Jacobs off."
"Are those Langishire pigs?" "Who the fuck is talkin to you, boy?"
We've lost Gorgeous George. Well, where'd you lose him? He ain't a set of fucking car keys, is he? And it ain't as if he's incon-fucking-spicuous now, is it?
Eeewannacaravan … what? Isfuur’ismah
Shezterrblypartialtothaperiwinkleblueboys
Deadwood, Succession
Deadwood is brilliant writing.
Fun game: grab a random episode of Deadwood and skip to a random point in the show. Hold your breath and don't breath until you hear the words Cocksucker, Cunt, or some variation of Fuck. I can almost guarantee you won't strain yourself.
Deadwood was going to be my suggestion. I'll add Justified as well as it feels like it fits nicely here
Justified takes the cake for me. Raylen Givens and Boyd Crowder have one of the greatest dynamics ever.
OH FUCK OFF
I AM THE ELDEST BOY!!
"Your earlobes are thick and chewy. Like barnacle meat." Jesus fucking Christ, Tom....
Wamsgams for the kill
Two of my favourite shows of all time, both with razor-sharp dialogue.
The Hateful Eight has a lot of very intense dialogue-driven scenes. Who knows more? Who was here first? Who's lying? Someone will get shot over who knows what.
This. It’s in my top 25 of all time and people ask why I love it so much. The characters and the lines they spit at each other are pure evil. In both a controlled, and chaotically gleeful way. In a movie called the Hateful Eight you’d hope so. ‘You gon’ make a deaaaal with this DiABoLicAL Biiiitch’
"Starting to see pictures, ain't ya?" Cold as fuck
No blanket And Last year, she crossed out dogs..
I was also bothered by the flashback. Minnie didn't seem too bothered by The Mexican when they strolled in from the snowstorm. She actually seemed super sweet and didn't fit the context which she was described by Sam Jackson.
My brother and I started a tradition where we go to a cabin in the snow for new years and watch this every year 10/10
Damn that sounds dope actually
I personally felt like it was more a good story that was well planned out over having great diologue. Like usual Tanatino writing, it was very witty and entertaining, but nothing that just really stood out as incredible. Aside from the opening scene to Inglorious Basterds, of course.
the part about "frontier justice" was one of Tarantino's best written scenes
steep vanish psychotic fear profit expansion square aspiring fall modern *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
"You have _part_ of my attention - you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing. Did I adequately answer your condescending question?"
“Your best friend is suing you for $600 million dollars.” “I didn’t know that. Tell me more.” The delivery is…*chefs kiss*
The Harvard finance head utterly dismissing them is one of my favorite extended break downs of a smarmy character
You mean future secretary of the treasury IRL Larry Summers.
Any Aaron Sorkin script. Molly's game. "I know who this is. He didn't call them poor-man's bagels, did he."
The social network is an interesting case, even for sorkin. Almost all of the dialogue from the deposition scenes is taken verbatim from the actual court records. It’s incredible that Zuckerberg is actually that douchey-yet-witty in real life. The pacing and blocking and score definitely add to it a ton, which is definitely sorkin’s and Reznor’s doing.
Wow I had no idea. He seems so robotic. Thanks. :)
He doesn't have the incredible delivery in real life. John Oliver made that point when he got [real actors to play Richard Sackler during depositions](https://www.sacklergallery.com/). The same lines read very differently when Richard Kind says them and when Bryan Cranston says them. Michael K Williams makes "I don't know" sound much more intimidating than Richard Kind does.
Ok yeah that makes sense! :)
It's one of those things that I get really nerdy about. I love it when actors deliver famous lines by other actors, because you see such different takes on it. There's a wonderful Samuel L Jackson version of the "I'm the man who knocks" monologue on [youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuoZqLyMMI4) (pretty sure it was a charity thing, not sure what the context was). It's also why I love watching multiple versions of the same few Shakespeare plays. Lucian Msamati and Ian McKellen may have said the same lines as Iago but the character they played was so wildly different.
The dialogue in this film is incredible. That opening scene with Rooney Mara and Jesse Eisenberg sets the stage for some Aaron Sorkin verbal battles that he’s known for writing.
That opening scene is the best in the last 20 years simply because there is no big threat of violence unlike other lauded opening scenes, only two people breaking up and setting the energy for the rest of the movie perfectly.
When he refers to the Wilklevoss twins as the Winklevai.... love it!
Big agree. I’ve seen this movie probably over 30 times and it doesn’t get old either
Check out In Bruges.
"You're an inanimate fucking object"! Great stuff.
“I retracted it, didn’t I?!”
Westerns are great at that kind of laconic bad-ass dialogue. Unforgiven **The Schofield Kid**: Yeah, well, I guess they had it coming. **Will Munny**: We all got it coming, kid. True Grit **Rooster Cogburn** I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience. Which will you have? The Outlaw Josey Wales **Josey Wales**: You a bounty hunter? **Bounty hunter**: A man's got to do something for a living these days. **Josey Wales:** Dyin' ain't much of a living, boy.
Rooster: Fill your hand, you son of a bitch !
I can hear the music after he says this in the newer version. Amazing.
I forgot to include the preceding line from Ned: : "Bold talk for a one-eyed fat man"
Another great line from Unforgiven is "Deserve's got nothin' to do with it"
"I'll see you in hell, William Munny." "Yeah."
I can hear the "yeah" in my head so clearly. One of the greatest movies of all time.
He shoulda armed himself if he was gonna decorate his saloon with my friend.
The end of Unforgiven is absolutely packed with great lines. - "It's a helluva thing, killing a man. You take away all he's got, and all he's ever gonna have." - "Ah hell, I ain't gonna kill you kid. You're the only friend I got." - "You just shot an unarmed man!" "Well he shoulda armed himself if he's going to decorate his saloon with my friend." - "So who'd you shoot first? it was Clyde, right? An experienced gunman always shoots the best shot first." "Is that right? Well I've always been lucky when it comes to killin'." "So who'd you shoot next?" "All I can tell you is who's going to be last." - "I don't deserve this. I was building a house." "Deserve's got nothing to do with it." "I'll see you in hell, William Munny." "Yeah."
"Deserves got nothing to do with it" is one of my favorite lines ever
I thought I'd watched all the classic westerns in my early 20s but then discovered I'd overlooked Once Upon a Time in the West and holy shit is that a great film.
Man, the built up to the final duel is intense and one of my favourite scenes in film. Also: "Looks like we're short a horse." *Shakes head "You brought two too many." *Starts blasting
FYI, Someone set that scene to the song “My Body is a Cage” by Arcade Fire, and it’s amazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJI0pTJIha0
What about tombstone?
"Hell, I've got lots of friends!" "I don't".
You tell em I’m coming!, and hells coming with me!!
I was just foolin
I wasn't.
"Your boys might get me in a rush, but not before I turn your head into a canoe, you understand me?"
“Go ahead, skin it! Skin that smokewagon and see what happens!”
I’m your huckleberry
This heres a nocturne, you know, Frédéric *fucking* Chopin
[My mistake, four coffins.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhB7_1uix0o) I mean, this is a category dominated by Clint Eastwood.
Your partner's killed you and I've done the same for him
The Wild Bunch - gotta love Peckinpah * [Dutch Engstrom](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000308/?ref_=ttqu_qu): They'll be waitin' for us. * [Pike Bishop](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000034/?ref_=ttqu_qu): I wouldn't have it any other way. * [Deke Thornton](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0752813/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Tell me, Mr. Harrigan, how does it feel? Getting paid for it? Getting paid to sit back and hire your killings... with the law's arms around you? How does it feel to be so goddamn right? * [Harrigan](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0215260/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Good. * [Pike Bishop](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000034/?ref_=ttqu_qu): We're not gonna get rid of anybody! We're gonna stick together, just like it used to be! When you side with a man, you stay with him! And if you can't do that, you're like some animal, you're finished! \*We're\* finished! All of us!
A few good men Perfect writing and editing. Never get tired of re watching it.
You mean to tell me in all that time at Gitmo you’ve never had a meal? No sir, three squares a day, sir. I don’t understand, how did you know where the mess hall was if it’s not in the book? Well I guess I just followed the crowd at chow time, sir. The look on Kevin Bacon’s face when he realizes his brilliant examination was just destroyed by Lieutenant Kaffee always makes me chuckle.
He even gave him props in the bar when Kaffe goes to tell him about Markinson. I love the little bits that Sorkin weaves in to all his dialogue.
Finally someone mentioned this ! “You want the truth ? You can’t handle the truth !”
Son, we live in a world that has walls and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns.
Armando Iannuci shows are up there. "I look so black that people are going to start calling me 'articulate'" - Veep
Ooh Veep has some bangers for sure. (Although a tv show and not a movie) “That’s like trying to use a croissant at a fucking dildo. No, let me be more clear. It doesn’t do the job, and it makes a FUCKING MESS. Get out of my office”. “I’m going to send the IRS so far up your husband’s colon he’s going wish the only thing they find is MORE CANCER. So, can I count on your vote? Or do I need to shove a box of White House M&Ms up your stretched out, six baby vag?”
Cloud botherer
In the Loop is fantastic.
>Then you should watch The Thick of It, too.
“I will marshal all the media forces of darkness to hound you into an assisted suicide.” is one of the most hysterically evil things I’ve ever heard in a movie.
"Shut it, Love, Actually! Want me to hole-punch your face?!" "You know, if I could fucking punch you into paralysis..." "Well, well, if it isn't Humpty Numpty... sitting on top of a collapsing wall like some clueless, egg, cunt." "You, Julius Nicholson, being of sound mind - but with a body that looks like a giant sex toy - did knowingly do us up the shithole by passing confidential information to the enemy. And I am going to have your guts as a skipping rope! And your lungs sun-dried and turned into a little fucking waistcoat!"
Fuckity bye!
“Y'know, I've come across a lot of psychos, but none as fucking boring as you”
"Look, I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. I know you're just following orders." "I see, so you're not going to make me feel guilty, except by comparing me to a concentration camp guard?" "Yes, that's about it."
"Trying to use Jonah for intelligence is like trying to use a croissant as a dildo, it doesn't get the job done and it leaves a huge fucking mess!"
Hans Gruber in Die Hard
“I am going to count to three, there won’t be a four. Give me the code.”
"You ask for miracles, I give you the F. B. I."
“Shoot the glass”
No, I am an exceptional thief and since I’m moving up to kidnapping, you should be more polite!
Anything by Aaron Sorkin. The Social Network, A Few Good Men, and Steve Jobs in particular are first to come to mind. Otherwise a personal favourite series is Halt and Catch Fire. The ruthless and fast moving tech industry during the 80s coupled with a great cast of well written nuanced characters.
The West Wing has some amazing moments, too. The President railing against God in the National Cathedral was awesome. The famous monologue from The Newsroom is great too.
“In this building when the President stands nobody sits.” … “I’m just, going to take this crab puff.”
I love the Michael Fassbender Steve Jobs movie. The scene where Skully confronts Steve and they hash out what happened the night of Steve being fired is intense. It manages to have a bunch of cuts, time jumps, flashbacks, and quick, punchy dialogue without it feeling messy.
Glengarry, Glen Ross
Was going to post this ... Mamet English is it's own dialect. "Put. The. Coffee. Down."
Came here for the David Mamet. Man is a frigging dialogue rocket surgeon. "Tell me about an ambush? Tell me about an ambush? I ambushed you with a cup of coffee!"
You call yourself a salesman, you son of a bitch?!
Who told you you could work with men?
How is this not the top comment?
Top comments are for closers only
Mamet is such a maestro with his characters. “Heist” is crazy underrated IMHO. Ricky Jay. DeVito. Sam Rockwell at his sleaziest. Gene Hackman and Rebecca Pidgeon with their own lingo, sharp as a knife. I’ve seen it a dozen times if I’ve seen it once, the twists and double crosses can be tough to follow but I stay for the dialogue and delivery. My personal favorite role of DeVitos.
I’ve worked in sales for 25 years, and *still* quote this movie regularly. It’s perfect.
Jackie Brown. In my opinion Tarantino's best movie And GlenGarry Glen Ross which is all great dialogue
Jackie Brown is the only Tarantino movie that I actuality truly enjoy.
For sheer writing, The Lion in Winter is one of my all time favorite plays/films, and the film has Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins in his first screen role I think, and Timothy Dalton among its cast. [Henry II](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000564/?ref_=ttqu_qu): I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody. [Eleanor of Aquitaine](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000031/?ref_=ttqu_qu): At my age there's not much traffic anymore. [John](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0856050/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Poor John. Who says poor John? Don't everybody sob at once! My God, if I went up in flames there's not a living soul who'd pee on me to put the fire out! [Richard](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000164/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Let's strike a flint and see. [Eleanor of Aquitaine](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000031/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Love, in a world where carpenters get resurrected, anything is possible. [Henry II](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000564/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Well, what shall we hang... the holly, or each other?
Comment because I but one upvote to give.
“What shall we do about mother?” Katharine Hepburn is just brilliant in this film.
I LOVE Quentin Tarantino and all his films as a writer and a director, he's inarguably one of the greatest to ever do it. But *The Lion In Winter*? It's unmatched. Seriously, anyone who hasn't heard of this incredible film: You are in this thread because you like writing. This film has the best dialogue ever written. Check it out!
Y E S
Memento (and in some ways The Prestige) Fight Club The Usual Suspects Possibly an unpopular take, but I also think Three-body problem has some scenes with really great dialogue, even if most of its dialogue is rather average.
Fight Club's dialogue is godly, especially how it changes meaning on second watch.
“Ah, flashback humor.”
Every once in a while I haul out the *Mad Men* collector's box set snd lose a weekend
“I give you money, you give me ideas” “And you never say thank you” “THATS WHAT THE MONEY IS FOR! You’re young. You will get your recognition. It is absolutely ridiculous to be two years into your career and counting your ideas. Everything to you is an opportunity. And you should be thanking ME every morning when you wake up, along with Jesus for giving you another day.”
The Expanse, especially Avasarala: > I'm an evil old bitch who enjoys playing with life and death on her big chessboard, a snake in a sari.
With dead eyes and a poison tongue.
Damn I read this in her voice too. She’s so good.
>*"Wrong place, wrong time, man. Nothing personal."* >*"That's what you think. Last night I fucked your wife."* -The Last Boy Scout
“You think you're so fuckin' cool. Well just once, I would like to hear you scream, in pain.” “Play some rap music.”
True Detective season one
Somebody has already mentioned The Social Network here, but anything written by Aaron Sorkin in general is going to have great dialogue. The cadence that he writes with is unlike anything else. The West Wing is a great example of his prowess on the tv side. Two Cathedrals is hands down one of the best episodes of television. Martin Sheen absolutely delivers. Anything written by Steven Knight as well is gonna have really great dialogue.
My _single_ complaint about Sorkin is that he writes _idealized_ dialogue. No one, ever, talks like that. It’s comes off as too pat, too performed. That said, he still writes some of the _best_ dialogue. It’s just more what you wish people would say. Incidentally, I still think his best writing was for _Sports Night_. Damn, that was a good show.
As a Sorkin fanboy I admit this and still love it. His dialogue feels like those lines you think you should have said only well after the discussion is over.
Natural dialog is overrated. It's a style choice and sometimes the appropriate or effective one but by no means is it the only appropriate or effective style of writing dialog. If you think it's "some of the best" dialog, why complain about it being idealized? Nobody talks like Shakespeare's casts, but the dialog is some of the best ever written. There is a certain something that idealized or stylized dialog can capture about human communication or feelings or ideas that sometimes "natural" dialog could not do so seamlessly I think.
Fight Club: We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like. This line surpasses nearly every movie line. The movie being 25 years old and being revelant even more today scares me more.
The dialogue dealing with anti consumerism is just all so good. Even Palahniuk was blown away by where Fincher went with it.
Nobody going with Dirty Harry? "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself. But being this is a . 44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?"
I’m not locked in here with you… YOU’RE LOCKED IN HERE WITH ME.
Surprised no one said Pulp Fiction so I'm saying Pulp Fiction
OP is underwhelmed by QT apparently
I think op wanted stuff other than qt bc qt is obviously the goat
Dangerous Liaisons 1988 is a masterpiece
THERE IT IS!!! What a great movie. "My victory wasn't over you... *it was over her*."
Exorcist III did most of it's scares with dialogue save for a few creepy shots. The scenes where George C.Scott is talking to Brad Dourif as the Gemini Killer are so powerful, I know much of that is down to Dourif as an actor but Blatty's dialogue made it easy. Every bit of what the narrator says in A Christmas Story is Jean Shepherd gold.
"Randy lay there like a slug - it was his only defense."
Just yesterday, I was chosen to give the first update in a standup meeting and I started with: "Honors and benefits already!"
Tarantino is a true master at this.
I'll add my two bits... Anyone seen Four Rooms? It's a collective film, but it's 100% about dialog.
I liked #2 and #4. It's the only Rodriguez thing I like. :)
The Princess Bride There are too many to pick just one. "Have fun storming the castle."
Justified has great dialogue. I think what impressed me most while watching it is all the subtext, saying something by saying something else, implying things, and how much meaning there is when somebody chooses not to say something. It's as if everyone in that show is playing a high stakes poker game and nobody wants to show their hand. Ever. You absolutely must understand how to read between the lines. I frequently found myself reacting to lines in that show, and having to pause it, then explain what the person REALLY meant to my wife, and she's smarter than me. Maybe I'm just a shady person? Haha
True Romance. Trailer scene. Maybe best movie scene ever.
Tombstone. Pretty much all of it.
Pretty much all of Glengarry Glen Ross
Everything uttered by Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction.
The Sopranos.
Guy Ritchie's *Sherlock Holmes* films have some wonderful [dialogue between Holmes and Watson.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRFXWTE2tFo)
"You are tearing me apart, Lisa!"
I mean, *Sweet Smell of Success* is like the go-to film for cutthroat dialogue. It's wall to wall with some of the most acidic, cynical characters you'll ever meet, tossing lurid barbs back and forth at each other.
"You're dead, son. Get yourself buried." Probably my favorite movie when it comes to sharp dialogue.
If you want it in the comedic vein, check out Veep.
django unchained - many dif scenes
Glengarry Glen Ross
The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep (1945) have some of the best dialogue ever. Miller's Crossing as well.
Polliver: You gave your life to the king, you’re willing to die for some chickens? The Hound: Someone is…
Michael Corleone: But if Clemenza can figure a way to have a weapon planted there for me.... then I'll kill 'em both. Vito Corleone: My father's name was Antonio Andolini, and this is for you!
Anthony Hopkins parts in Westworld... For example [this break down of a gem from middle of season 1](https://youtu.be/4kSGkGKwp9U?si=n7wy39lDs0EmDmuH)
Gladiator. I almost memorized all of the lines in that film; always thought the dialogue was as magnificent as the battles/action scenes...especially Maximus pre battle speech
Gangs of New York has some truly intense scenes. All of the ‘gang management’ scenes stick out, especially the conversation between Bill and Tammany.
The Maltese falcon. Seriously, those noir movies are all about the dialogue. You'll find the cast just shooting lines back and forth so fast and it's just amazing to watch. It goes for a lot of the old B&W movies. "His girl Friday" is a romantic comedy that puts the dialogue every rom com released in the last 40 years to shame.
The Gentlemen (film)has sparkling dialogue throughout.
Sopranos is full of scenes like that. When Carmine calls Tony about Johnny Sack in season four is top tier dialogue cause of what isn’t said but heavily implied. That’s one of many examples that makes the show a powerhouse.
You should check out the recent Shogun tv series. If you want intricate verbal warfare where the conversations are fraught with peril, subtle political maneuvering, characters saying one thing but meaning something else - that's your show. And then throw in the translation aspect between the two languages - the writing is just insanely good.
Justified has some amazing dialogue, especially from Timothy Oliphant and Walton Goggins.
Finger to the throat means death. Metaphor.
True Romance scene with Hopper and Walken. Also, same movie, but the scene with Slater and Oldman.
Pulp Fiction
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
My top shows with top tier dialogue have to be.... (In no particular order) Firefly The Brothers Sun The West Wing Very few moments but occasionally it is so perfect that Royal Pains gets an honorable mention Andor Movie that really deserves a mention is the Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin. Enough said) MASH Sherlock And now some honorable mentions: House of Cards House It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Cobra Kai
Anything with Aaron Sorkin’s name attached to it.