John KampfeHome, Jersey and the AFI 100, New Jersey Lists, New Jersey Movies

The American Film Institute has all sorts of Top 100 list of all-time concerning the film industry. I thought it would be interesting to cherry pick from the AFI’S 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time nine of the top quotes uttered on the silver screen by those with New Jersey ties. Here is our list in reverse order with the quote’s actual place on the AFI list in parenthesis.

9. (94) “I feel the need — the need for speed” — Tom Cruise (Glen Ridge), Top Gun (1986). Actually, Cruise spoke the first part ”I feel the need — ” with co-star Anthony Edwards (aka “Goose”) finishing the second part, “the need for speed.”

8. (91) “Who’s on first” — Bud Abbott (Asbury Park) and Lou Costello (Paterson), The Naughty Nineties (1945). Both members of one of the best comedy teams of all time delivered these words at various times during one of the most famous routines in comedy history.

7. (78) “Open the pod bay doors, please, HAL” — Keir Dullea (Rutgers University), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Although Dullea wasn’t from New Jersey, he began his college career at Rutgers before finishing up his degree at San Francisco State University.

6. (68) “Here’s Johnny” — Jack Nicholson (Neptune), The Shining (1980). Nicholson added a bit of comic relief to an intense scene in the screen adaptation of the Stephen King novel.

5. (57) “Greed, for the lack of a better word, is good” — Michael Douglas (New Brunswick), Wall Street (1987). Douglas was born in the Middlesex County seat but only spent a few weeks in the Garden State. Douglas’ delivery of that line as “Gordon Gecko” during the “Teldar Paper Company’s” stockholders meeting was among the reasons he won a Best Actor Oscar.

4. (39) “If they build it, he will come” — Ed Harris (Tenafly) and Ray Liotta (Newark/Union), Field of Dreams (1989). Harris was “The Voice” whose whispers to Kevin Costner’s “Ray Kinsella” coaxed Kinsella to build a baseball field in an Iowa cornfield. “Shoeless Joe Jackson” (Liotta) repeated the phrase to Kinsella on the completed baseball diamond.

3. (39) “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” — Roy Scheider (Orange), Jaws (1975). The Columbia High School (Maplewood) grad’s reaction as “Chief Brody” to the grand entrance by the film’s title character wasn’t even in the script. It was ad-libbed by Scheider based on an ongoing, on-set joke.

2. (29) “You can’t handle the truth” — Jack Nicholson (Neptune), A Few Good Men (1992). That was the retort by Col. Nathan Jessup (Nicholson) to Lt. Daniel Kaffee’s (Cruise) demand “I want the truth!” in the penultimate courtroom/court martial scene of this blockbuster. Nicholson earned one of his dozen Oscar nominations for his performance.

1. (25) “Show me the money” — Tom Cruise (Glen Ridge), Jerry Maguire (1996). Yes, Cuba Gooding, Jr. was the first to shout the phrase in his Oscar-winning performance but he urged Cruise to join in so Cruise gets credit here, too. Cruise earned an Academy Award nomination, as well.

For the record, the AFI’s top movie quote of all time is “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Of course, it was delivered by Clark Gable’s “Rhett Butler” in the 1939 classic Gone with the Wind.