Marlon Brando
When I learned that Marlon Brando had died, the first memories that came to mind were all the wonderful roles that Brando had played. He really had a way of making each role believable, memorable, and lasting.
Brando’s influence on actors of his generation and those beyond is immeasurable. And while Brando has left an indelible mark on the movie world, his most lasting impression may be his contribution to popular culture. His rebel role of Johnny Strabler in The Wild One has a direct link to James Dean, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles, to name just a few.
Several of Brando’s movie quotes continue to be catch phrases. I think it’s safe to say that almost every young American male has made an attempt at some point in their life to impersonate Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather. Many other lines that Brando delivered still hold as much power today as when he first said them. The following are some of those movie lines, along with the movie title and character name:
Apocalypse Now
(Col. Walter E. Kurtz): We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won’t allow them to write “fuck” on their airplanes because it’s obscene!
The Godfather
(Don Vito Corleone): What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? If you’d come to me in friendship, then this scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you.
On the Waterfront
(Terry Malloy): It wasn’t him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, “Kid, this ain’t your night. We’re going for the price on Wilson.” You remember that? “This ain’t your night”! My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn’t have to take them dives for the short-end money. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it. It was you, Charley.
A Streetcar Named Desire
(Stanley Kowalski): I never met a dame yet that didn’t know if she was good-lookin’ or not without being told. And there’s some of them that give themselves credit for more than they’ve got. I once went out with a dame who told me, “I’m the glamorous type.” She says, “I am the glamorous type.” I said, “So what?”
The Wild One
Girl: What’re you rebelling against, Johnny?
(Johnny Strabler): Whaddya got?
Apocalypse Now
(Col. Walter E. Kurtz): Are you an assassin?
(Martin Sheen as Capt. Willard): I’m a soldier.
(Col. Kurtz): You’re neither. You’re an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill.
The Godfather
(Don Vito Corleone): I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.
Apocalypse Now
(Col. Walter E. Kurtz): It’s impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face, and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared.
A Streetcar Named Desire
(Stanley Kowalski): Hey, Stella!
The Godfather
(Don Vito Corleone): I want you to use all your powers and all your skills. I don’t want his mother to see him this way. Look how they massacred my boy.
Apocalypse Now
(Col. Walter E. Kurtz): The horror. The horror.
Last Tango In Paris
(Paul): You know in fifteen years, you’re going to be playing soccer with your tits. What do you think of that?
Apocalypse Now
(Col. Walter E. Kurtz): We went into a camp to inoculate some children. We’d left the camp after we had inoculated the children for polio, and this old man came running after us and he was crying, he couldn’t see. We went back there and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. There they were in a pile, a pile of little arms. These were not monsters, these were men, trained cadres, these men who fought with their hearts, who have families, who have children, who were filled with love. But they had the strength, the strength to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men, then our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling, without passion, without judgment–without judgment–because it’s judgment that defeats us.
Sayonara
(Major Lloyd Gruver): Tell ‘em we said, “Sayonara”.