We've Got Company
It's long been claimed that the most said line in cinema history is "Let's get out of here." Not until the IMDb compiles a master database of the transcripts of every film and only after the appropriate algorithms are written will we ever know this for sure, but this is what the scholars have agreed upon.
For quite some time I have mantained that the second-most said line in cinema history is "We've got company." Of course, I know I probably won't ever be proved correct on this -- it's probably something else completely (though we can certainly rule out "Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?" and "We're gonna need a bigger boat") -- but this seems as likely a candidate as one might think up.
Over the years I have wondered in what films did the first utterances of these lines take place and now and then I see an early example on TV and think to write it down (but never do). But then yesterday, while re-watching The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1947), I came across a new frontrunner for earliest known use of "We've got company." On their way back off the mountain, while sitting around the campfire, some [Mexican] Indians approach the campsite prompting Walter Huston to deliver the line. (note: he technically says "It looks like we've got company," but I think the judges would rule that this more than qualifies as a match)
[temporary image; will replace with screen grab w/subtitle track from 00:00:00, Warner Bros. 2-disc special edition]
So, there you go. If you have an example of the line being used earlier, please send it in. Similarly send in early examples of "Let's get out of here."
It's long been claimed that the most said line in cinema history is "Let's get out of here." Not until the IMDb compiles a master database of the transcripts of every film and only after the appropriate algorithms are written will we ever know this for sure, but this is what the scholars have agreed upon.
For quite some time I have mantained that the second-most said line in cinema history is "We've got company." Of course, I know I probably won't ever be proved correct on this -- it's probably something else completely (though we can certainly rule out "Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?" and "We're gonna need a bigger boat") -- but this seems as likely a candidate as one might think up.
Over the years I have wondered in what films did the first utterances of these lines take place and now and then I see an early example on TV and think to write it down (but never do). But then yesterday, while re-watching The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1947), I came across a new frontrunner for earliest known use of "We've got company." On their way back off the mountain, while sitting around the campfire, some [Mexican] Indians approach the campsite prompting Walter Huston to deliver the line. (note: he technically says "It looks like we've got company," but I think the judges would rule that this more than qualifies as a match)
[temporary image; will replace with screen grab w/subtitle track from 00:00:00, Warner Bros. 2-disc special edition]
So, there you go. If you have an example of the line being used earlier, please send it in. Similarly send in early examples of "Let's get out of here."
Labels: movie lines, screen shots, Walter Huston
posted by robert at 2:55 PM
4 comments
