“You can’t handle the truth!” The scene: Kaffee played by Tom Cruise, is questioning Jessup, played by Jack Nicholson, in a courtroom about the orders given to the Marine defendants. Shortly after Tom Cruise got his claim to fame in “Top Gun,” he starred in the drama-thriller “A Few Good Men,” alongside Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore.
The movie was released in 1992, but it was Nicholson who was responsible for this brilliant one-liner. This statement is constantly repeated in everyday arguments all the time. Can you believe that this was completely unscripted? Jack Nicholson made this line up on the spot, and ultimately created one of the most popular one-liners in history.
The Third Man
“In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed. They produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy, and peace. And what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
The scene: The main character Harry Lime is trying to convince an old friend of his to join his life of crime. Orson Welles, who plays Harry Lime, is an acting legend. He is able to come up with full monologues off the top of his head, and this is his most famous line throughout his acting career. It is a quote that many people still talk about today.
Apocalypse Now
The character: Colonel Kurtz, who was played by the late Marlon Brando, only appears within the last 20 minutes of the film. Marlon Brando and Francis Ford Coppola collaborated to make this an epic war film. And they managed to do so swimmingly as the movie gained not one but two mighty Oscars.
Some critics have even dubbed it the greatest movie to rise out of the Vietnam War experience. Coppola turned his script into a paper hat instead of actually reading the lines. So, Brando was forced to come up with a new dialogue. Luckily it all worked out swell in the end.
Animal House
"I'm a zit. Get it?"
The scene: John Blutarsky, who is played by John Belushi, sits down at a table in the cafeteria. As a joke, he fills his mouth with whipped cream and punches his cheeks, making the whipped cream appear to be a zit spraying everywhere. You cannot have a movie about a Frat house if you don’t include young guys doing stupid stuff.
Luckily, John Belushi was able to pull off an unscripted action of something a frat dude would definitely do. His work paid off, given this became a famous cult film. The movie didn’t get a lot of raging recognition, but according to the site Rotten Tomatoes, the movie got a stellar 91% rating from audiences.
When Harry Met Sally
"I would be proud to partake of your pecan pie."
The scene: Harry and Sally are on a seemingly platonic date when Harry throws flirtatious comments her way. There’s no denying that “When Harry Met Sally” is one of the best rom-coms out generation has ever seen.
Rob Reiner instructed Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan to make up their own lines in hopes of more authentic and real dialogue. Billy Crystal tells Meg Ryan that they will be speaking in goofy voices for the rest of the day, so he starts speaking nonsense. This exchange resulted in the iconic line that made Meg Ryan laugh so hard she almost broke character.