Potent Quotables: Say Again?

Probably the most misquoted line in movie history comes from one of the greatest movies of all time, Casablanca. Humphrey Bogart did not ask Dooley Wilson to "Play it again, Sam", but rather the more wordy "You played it for her, you can play it for me. If she can stand it, I can. Play it!" The "she" in question was Ingrid Bergman, of course, who did come a little closer to what is commonly quoted, with "Play it, Sam. Play "As Time Goes By".

In the days before DVD, before VHS, even before television, most people were lucky enough to see a movie once, maybe twice, and it was gone. Therefore, it is no wonder that so many quotes from the classics were often misheard and, more often then not, misquoted:

• Tarzan the Ape Man: The "Me Tarzan, you Jane" bit was fewer words then that, just Johnny Weissmuller beating on his and Maureen O'Sullivan's chests while repeating "Tarzan", "Jane".
• She Done Him Wrong: Mae West's signature line, "Why don't you come up and see me something?" was actually, "Why don’t you come up sometime and see me?"
• Sons of the Desert: Hardy says to Laurel, "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into", not a "fine mess". Confusing the matter further was their earlier film titled Another Fine Mess.
• Lives of a Bengal Lancer: In "We have ways of making you talk", replace "you" with "men", and you got it right.
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: That whole "Mirror, mirror" stuff? Not in the movie. The quote is actually "Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?"
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: Another Bogey film misquote, often as "Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!" (as it was heard in Blazing Saddles). Real quote: "Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!"
• Sunset Boulevard: Gloria Swanson's final line is "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up", not "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille".

And then there are the lines, often used in impersonations of famous stars, that were never actually spoken by them on film:

• James Cagney never said, "You dirty rat", but he did come close with "Mmm, that dirty, double-crossin’ rat" in Blonde Crazy.
• "I want to suck your blood" was never uttered by Bela Lugosi as Dracula, even as "I vant to suck your blood".
• Who knows where it came from, but Cary Grant never said "Judy, Judy, Judy."
• Often attributed to the movie Algiers, Charles Boyer never asked Hedy Lamarr to "Come with me to the Casbah".

More recent movies suffer from misquotes almost as often as the classics, even in this day of fast forward and rewind:

• The Graduate: Dustin Hoffman says, "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?" not "Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs. Robinson?"
• Dirty Harry: Clint Eastwood's title character doesn't say, "Do you feel lucky, punk?" but "You've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?"
• The Empire Strikes Back: The famous "Luke, I am your father" was never said. Darth Vader actually says, "No, I am your father".
• Wall Street: Michael Douglas' "Greed is good" was actually "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good".
• And to wrap things up, the infamous line from our namesake, Mommie Dearest, is not "No more wire hangers!" but "No wire hangers, ever!"

Quotes underlined above were included in "AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movie Quotes" list, available on AFI.com.