Best Picture Movie Quote Quiz

Question: “A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”

Answer: In contrast, in the Thomas Harris novel The Silence of the Lambs, the debonair cannibal Hannibal Lecter paired the liver with an Amarone wine, not a Chianti.

Question: “My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

Answer: During production of the movie, Gump’s box of chocolates contained something really surprising: sand. The extra weight ensured the box would sit on actor Tom Hanks’s lap properly. After the movie became a hit, the prop sold at auction for $25,000.

Question: “I’m the king of the world!”

Answer: This line was not in the original script for Titanic. Director James Cameron was feeding actor Leonardo DiCaprio a series of different lines for the scene, but none seemed to be working. Eventually, Cameron came up with “I’m the king of the world!” on the spot.

Question: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

Answer: In the event that the word damn was deemed too vulgar, movie producer David O. Selznick and his story editor Val Lewton worked on alternate lines, such as “Frankly, my dear, I am completely indifferent.”

Question: “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

Answer: Casablanca’s classic closing line was a last-minute addition, chosen over the less eloquent “Louis, I might have known you’d mix your patriotism with a little larceny.”

Question: “I feel pretty, / Oh, so pretty, / I feel pretty and witty and gay.”

Answer: In the original stage version of West Side Story, Maria sings “I Feel Pretty” at night with the lyric “I feel pretty and witty and bright, / And I pity / Any girl who isn’t me tonight.” In the 1961 movie the scene takes place during the day, necessitating a change to “I feel pretty and witty and gay, / And I pity / Any girl who isn’t me today.”

Question: “My father taught me many things here…in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

Answer: This line is often mistakenly attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu.

Question: “Every man dies. Not every man really lives.”

Answer: Braveheart was inspired by a nearly 12,000-line epic poem about Scottish hero William Wallace.

Question: “I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.”

Answer: This line comes from the opening scene of Patton, where actor George C. Scott delivers a speech given several times by the real-life World War II general (some of the more profane elements of the speech were removed to make it suitable for the big screen).

Question: “Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.”

Answer: This line is borrowed from the Talmud, a Jewish religious text. The film recounts how German industrialist Oskar Schindler sheltered approximately 1,100 Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust.

Question: “You guys do nothing but complain about how you can't stand it in this place here, and then you haven’t got the guts just to walk out? What do you think you are, for Christ’s sake, crazy or somethin'?”

Answer: As a transfer from a prison work farm to a state mental hospital, R.P. McMurphy (played by Jack Nicholson) is surprised to learn his fellow patients are there voluntarily.

Question: “You're gonna eat lightnin', and you're gonna crap thunder!”

Answer: Rocky’s trainer Mickey uses colorful language while training him for the championship match. Sylvester Stallone wrote Rocky over the course of three days, inspired by a fight between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner.

Question: “Are you not entertained?!”

Answer: The ancient Roman general-turned-gladiator Maximus shouts this line to a stunned audience after dispatching several foes. At the beginning of production, the Gladiator script was only a couple dozen pages long. Actor Russell Crowe helped the director and screenwriter come up with lines as they filmed.

Question: “You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been someone, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it. It was you, Charlie.”

Answer: Both director Elia Kazan and writer Budd Schulberg named colleagues as communists before the House Un-American Activities Committee, getting those people blacklisted. On the Waterfront is often seen as their attempt at rationalizing their decision to testify.

Question: “Your eyes are full of hate, forty-one. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive. It gives him strength.”

Answer: When Judah Ben-Hur is put to work as a galley slave rowing aboard a Roman ship, his name is taken away and he is addressed only as “forty-one.” In Lew Wallace’s original novel, he is number sixty.