They are the five words which turned the world of young Jedi-in-training Luke Skywalker upside down in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back. But they were never actually uttered by Darth Vader.
The phrase, “Luke, I am your father”, has topped a list of memorable movie misquotes compiled by the website lovefilm.com following a poll of 1,500 filmgoers. In fact, the words uttered by Vader are the rather less impactful: “No, I am your father.”
Fans of vintage Disney may also be somewhat surprised to learn that the evil queen in 1937’s Snow White never actually says, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall – who is the fairest of them all?” The immortal line actually begins with the words, “Magic mirror …”
Also in the top five is the menacing challenge issued by Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry in 1971. Commonly misremembered as, “Do you feel lucky, punk?”, the correct phrase is the rather less pithy: “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya punk?”
Then there’s possibly the best-known movie misquote – “Play it again, Sam” from 1942’s Casablanca. Ingrid Bergman actually cajoles pianist Dooley Wilson with, “Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By”, while the closest Humphrey Bogart ever gets to these words is: “You played it for her, you can play it for me. If she can stand it, I can. Play it!”
Further down the chart is Hannibal Lecter’s misquoted ,”Hello, Clarice”, in 1991’s Silence of the Lambs (the line that Anthony Hopkins imbues with goose-pimply sinister intent is, “Good evening, Clarice”) and “Beam me up, Scotty” – never uttered by William Shatner’s James T Kirk in any of the Star Trek films; rather, it’s “Scotty, beam us up”.
Lovefilm’s Darren Bignell said: “Iconic film lines are part of everyone’s vocabulary these days, but it’s interesting how years of quoting have had a Chinese whisper effect on accuracy.”
HERE are the top 10 movie misquotes.
