The American Film Institute released its top 100 movie lines of all time. Rhett Butler's "frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" (from Gone with the Wind), was number one.

Here's the rest of the top 10 and the entire list:

2	I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.	THE GODFATHER	1972
3	You don't understand!  I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.	ON THE WATERFRONT	1954
4	Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.	THE WIZARD OF OZ	1939
5	Here's looking at you, kid.	CASABLANCA	1942
6	Go ahead, make my day.	SUDDEN IMPACT	1983
7	All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up.	SUNSET BLVD.	1950
8	May the Force be with you.	STAR WARS	1977
9	Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night.	ALL ABOUT EVE	1950
10	You talking to me?	TAXI DRIVER	1976

Now, if I had to choose a better line from Taxi Driver, I'd go with the more chilling "Some day a real rain is going to come along and wash all the scum off the streets."

But the scene with Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro, back in the days when he was an actor) practicing both his quickdraw and that 'you talkin' to me?' line with his madman's grin is a searing one in an unforgettable film.

Actually, some of the picks are pretty damned puzzling.

Take this one from Animal House: "Toga! Toga!" (#82)

Wouldn't you rather go with:

A) "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son." (Dean Wormer to Flounder),

B) "My advice to you is to start drinking heavily." (Bluto Blutarski to Flounder, after Flounder's brother's car was ruined on a road trip), or

C) "Seven years of college down the drain!" (Bluto again after Dean Wormer kills the fraternity and expels all the Deltas)?

This never made it onto the list, but I thought it was a terrific piece of dialogue from Carlito's Way: "You a gangster now. You on the other side. Whole new ball game. But you can't learn about it in school -- and you can't get a late start."

Or this withering putdown of up-and-coming dope dealer Benny Blanco: "Who the fuck are you, I should remember you? What, you think you like me? You ain't like me, motherfucker. You a punk. I been with made people, connected people. Who you been with? Chain-snatchin', jive-assin', maricon motherfuckers. Why don't you get out of here. Go snatch a purse."

Actually, here's another Pacino-delivered classic from Donnie Brasco: "In our thing, if you get sent for, you go in alive and you come out dead. And it's your best friend that does it."

Staying in the Pacino-gangster vein, here's an offering from Scarface: "Say 'hello' to my little friend!" (#61).

I'd rather go with this from his Tony Montana character: "Whattaya lookin' at? You're all a bunch of fucking assholes. You know why? 'Cause you don't have the guts to be what you wanna be. You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your fucking fingers, and say 'that's the bad guy.'

"So, what dat make you? Good? You're not good; you just know how to hide. Howda lie. Me, I don't have that problem. Me, I always tell the truth -- even when I lie. So say goodnight to the bad guy."

Or possibly the truest line in the movie: "In this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, you get the woman."

And my all-time favourite movie line never made the list. From the sublime Heathers: "They're my best friends -- and I don't even like them!"

Got some favourite movie lines of your own? Lemme hear them!

Updates:

From the Blues Brothers: "We're on a mission from God." (Elwood Blues)

Ibid: "We got both kinds'a music: We got country and western!"

From Jules in Pulp Fiction:

"Ezekiel 25:17: The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.

"Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.

"And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to POISON and DESTROY my brothers!

"And you will KNOW my name is the LORD when I lay my vengeance upon thee!"

Jules later in the film:

"I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherfucker before you popped a cap in his ass.

"But I saw some shit this mornin' made me think twice. Now I'm thinkin': it could mean you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could be you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that.

"But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd."

Here's a YouTube clip (the passage above starts at 6:58):