Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Top 10 Western One-liners

Narrowing down this list to just ten was extremely hard to do. A list of top ten one-liners could be made exclusively from a single movie like Tombstone or The Outlaw Josey Wales. It could be made entirely of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood quotes. Yet I've tried to make it as inclusive as possible, highlighting some of the best of the genre. Here they are, in no particular order.

  • "Get out of Dodge." – Matt Dillon, James Arness, Gunsmoke

     A line that's often overlooked in some of the other lists I've seen online, probably because it's a television series and not a movie. But you can't mention anything in the Western genre without including Gunsmoke.


  • "I'm your huckleberry." – Doc Holliday, Val Kilmer, Tombstone

     There are a myriad of lines from the movie that could have been included on this list, this is just one of them.

  • "Well, you may not know this, but there's things that gnaw at a man worse than dying." – Charlie Waite, Kevin Costner, Open Range

     One of the best Westerns made in recent times.

  •  "I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I require the same from them." – John Bernard Brooks, John Wayne, The Shootist

     A great line from John Wayne's last film. Perhaps one of his best quotes and a good philosophy to live by.

  • "You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig." – Blondie, Clint Eastwood, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

    A quote from the movie that gave a major boost to Eastwood's career and perhaps the best of the Spaghetti Westerns.

  • "A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an ax, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that." – Shane, Alan Ladd, Shane

     A great line from a pivotal Western that influenced everything that came after it.

  • "It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have." – Will Munny, Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven

    One of Eastwood's best films that has influenced me and my writing a great deal.

  • "Dying ain't much of a living, boy." – Josey Wales, Clint Eastwood, The Outlaw Josey Wales

    A ground breaking film for it's time that was one of the first of the Hollywood Westerns to portray Native Americans as more than ignorant savages. 

  • "That'll be the day." – Ethan Edwards, John Wayne, The Searchers

     In my opinion, the best movie ever made, in any genre. Period.

  • "I hate rude behavior in a man. I won't tolerate it." – Woodrow Call, Tommy Lee Jones, Lonesome Dove

     An iconic quote from an epic novel and movie. 




These are just a few of my favorites. What are some of your favorite lines? Are there any left out that should have been included? 

85 comments:

  1. This was fun. Of all of them I can still hear Tommy Lee Jones saying the last one. It really summed up his whole enigmatic character in that film.

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  2. "You're a dandy if you do" Doc in Tombstone

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    1. one of my favorites. use that line all the time with my best kilmer impressing.

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  4. @Terry Keller: The line is: "You're a DAISY if you do!"

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  5. Well are you gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?

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  6. "You gonna do somethin, or just stand there and bleed?" - Wyatt Earp, Tombstone, Kurt Russell

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  7. "Dont piss down my back and tell me it's raining." -Clint Eastwood, Josey Wales

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    1. That was actually said by John Vernon as Fletcher.

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  8. "Were burning Daylight!" John Wayne (Cowboys) 1972. I use that term all the time. Loved that movie!

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  9. Swell party, where's the whiskey?

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  10. I won't, I won't, the hell I won't. John Wayne, McClintock.

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  11. There are "myriad lines" not "a myriad of lines".

    That's like saying there are "a many of lines".

    There are "myriad" lines.

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    1. Myriad functions as both a noun and an adjective.

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    2. I've always heard it as "there are a myriad of"

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  12. Josey Wales: To hell with them fellas. Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms

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  13. I hope memory doesn't fail me....lol

    Robert Redford's character in "The Electric Horseman" talking to Willie Nelson's character......"what are your plans for the evening?" Willie's reply "I'm gonna find me a Keno dealer who can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch and have a ball."...lol

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  14. "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's rainin'"
    Fletcher, Outlaw Josey Wales.

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  15. "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's rainin'"
    Fletcher, Outlaw Josey Wales.

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  16. "Why...... Johnny Ringo....you look as if someone just WALKED over your grave." -Doc Holiday, Val Kilmer Tombstone

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  17. Just found this site-what fun. After all the troubles in Jeremiah Johnson when he meets Bear Tooth again I love his line, “You cook good chicken pilgrim.” And the best every, “smile when you call me that.”

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  18. this aint dodge city and you aint Wyatt Earp Quigley ?

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  19. "Endeavor to persevere" - Outlaw Josey Wales.

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  20. "I'm faster than you'll ever live to be" - High Plains Drifter

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  21. Love all these, Matt. The one my husband loves is from Tombstone when Doc says something about "my...got the better of me." I can't remember it now, but he always loves to quote it. I have a lot of faves and most of them you listed. Also like "Endeavor to persevere..." that Stephen Brayton listed above.

    This was fun!

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  22. This was a fun read. If I could remember any good lines I'd throw one out. I'll check back if something occurs to me.

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  23. I said I never had much use for one. Never said I didn't know how to use it. QUIGLEY

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  24. This ain't Dodge City. And you ain't Bill Hickok QUIGLEY

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  25. "If God didn't want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep."... Calverra, Magnificent 7

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  26. Going way back with this one...

    "Mister, when you say that, smile."
    The Virginian

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  27. "I don't wanna kill you, and you don't wanna be dead." ~ Danny Glover in Silverado
    "My hypocrisy knows no bounds." ~Val Kilmer in Tombstone

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  28. " I've got two guns, one for the both of you"--- Val Kilmer , Doc Holiday

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  29. "Watch your top knot." -Chris Lapp
    "Watch yourn." -Jeremiah
    Jeremiah Johnson 1972

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  30. "There are some things a man can't ride around." Randolph Scott - The Tall T

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  31. Just one more-
    "....anything happen to that boy, you're fault, my fault, nobody's fault, and I'm going to blow your head off" Big Jake

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  32. It is not "Huckleberry" folks! It is "Huckle bearer"!

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    1. What the hell is a huckle bearer

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    2. The handles on a casket are called huckles. He's saying I'll carry you to the grave.

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    3. Huckleberry is the right term.

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  33. By God Woodrow, It aint dyin I'm talkin bout.....Its livin!

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  34. I call that bold talk for a one eyed fat man!

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  35. Biscuit, I'm tired of this cowology, I'm tired of these mountains, an' if you won't take it the wrong way, I'd just as soon talk to somebody who can talk back ever now an then. Hell, you aint said nothin in two years. Come on, we're goin home. Tommy Lee Jones as Huey Calloway in The Good Old Boys

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  36. You fool elk don't know how many legs horses have.

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  37. Mr. You just cost this town my business.

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  38. "Deserves got nothing to do with it."
    William Munny-Unforgiven

    Most cold-blooded line ever in a western, in my opinion.

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  39. "Go ahead punk! Make my day!" I don't know who it's from but it sounds westernish. 😃

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    1. This quote is from the movie Sudden Impact. It was used at the first and the end of the film by Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood). The only thing western about this movie is that Harry is a Homicide Inspector with the San Francisco Police Department, therefore the story takes place on the West Coast. The timeframe is in the early 1980's and Harry upgraded from his 44 Magnum revolver to a 44 AutoMag.

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    2. You are right, I went up to that cross one day were Dirty Harry was beat up.

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  40. "Coulda killed ya Dick, coulda killed ya, but I don't wanna kill ya, I wanna eat.

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  41. Jacob 'Big Jake' McCandles: Well, son; since you don't have any respect for your elders, it's time somebody taught you some respect for your betters!

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  42. "We're burnin' daylight". : John Wayne "The Cowboys"

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  43. "You tell 'em I'm comin', and Hell's comin with me...HELL'S COMIN' WITH ME!!!" : Kurt Russell "Tombstone"

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  44. Gus McCrae: A man who wouldn't cheat for a poke don't want one bad enough.

    Woodrow Call: Better to have it and not need it than it is to need it and not have it.

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  45. You can't have no idea how little I care- tom Selleck as monte walsh

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  46. Maybe pokers not your game Ike..........I know lets have a spelling contest.

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  47. “It ain’t dying I’m talking about, it’s living. I doubt it matters where you die, but it matters where you live.”

    ~spoken by Augustus McCrae” Lonesome Dove

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  48. "Anybody got a dime? Somebody's gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes."

    ~Taggart - "Blazing Saddles." :-)

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  49. Geronimo... Why Do The White Man Want All The Land

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  50. I Killed Most Everything that's walked or crawled.. I'm here to kill u Lil Bill

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  51. I'm not suppose to die like this.. I was building a house

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  52. I saw three of these dusters a short time ago. They were waiting for a train. Inside the dusters there were three men.Inside the men there were three bullets.

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    1. Chas Branson as the man with the Harmonica in Once upon a time in the West

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  53. Clint Eastwood as Josey Wales, responding to the kid's concern that they're not burying some men Josey just killed: "To hell with them fellas - bird's gotta eat, same as the worm."

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  54. 'Liberty Valance is the toughest son of a gun this side of the Picketwire....' ceptin me of course! ' John Wayne, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

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  55. Did I overlook it? I was looking for the character and circumstances of, "There are a lot worse things than dying."

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  56. "When I came down to Texas, I was looking for something?" and "Have you ever been to Nacogdoches?, "Strange"
    An oldie but goodie, John Wayne. Flaca Speech and Big Jake.

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