Show Me The Money!" Is A Famous Line From What Tom Cruise Film?

[Newspaper Column]

What is your guess for the #1 movie quote?

Show me the money! Most people recognize that quote from the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Tom Cruise had a memorable exchange stating that phrase over and over. That same flick also birthed two other catchphrases of our pop culture: "You had me at hello" and "You complete me."

The writer of those words? Cameron Crowe. Writers are often the unsung heroes. Sure, the actors have to deliver the lines with aplomb, but who puts the words in their mouths? The brilliant writers.

No one can predict what will resonate and a writer simply wants the overall piece to hit home. I doubt Cameron Crowe knew when he wrote the screenplay that people would forevermore repeat those lines.

To have three memorable lines from one film is quite a feat. Because of our pop culture, we even have a list of the top 100 Movie Quotes. What is your guess for the #1 spot? I'll make you wait a bit for that reveal.

What is interesting to me is that the list from the American Film Institute includes the famous line, the movie it came from, the character who said it, and the actor or actress who portrayed that character. The writer is not listed.

You know most of these lines. Many have become memes or included in commercials or simply part of our jargon. "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." (Wizard of Oz) "Go ahead, make my day." (Dirty Harry) "May the Force be with you." (Star Wars)

Those three are in the top ten. My guess for the top spot is actually Number 5: "Here's looking at you, kid." (Casablanca)

Another Wizard of Oz line comes in at #23 – "There's no place like home." "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!" makes the list at #99, giving Oz three famous lines to make the Top 100.

Casablanca has the most, with a total of six: "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.' (Often said as "Play it again, Sam.") "Round up the usual suspects." "We'll always have Paris." "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."

We don't have to agree with a line for it to become pop culture. Case in point: "Love means never having to say you're sorry." That Ryan O'Neal line from Love Story is uttered often but most people think love absolutely includes saying sorry.

Who wrote those lines? The screenplay for Casablanca was written by Julius Epstein, Philip Epstein, and Howard Koch, based on a play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. Wizard of Oz is based on the book by L. Frank Baum. The screenplay was written by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allen Wolfe.

Dirty Harry was penned by Harry Julian Fink, R.M. Fink, Dean Riesner, and John Milius. Love Story, the book and the film were both by Erich Segal.Star Wars, George Lucas. I bet you knew that one.

So what do you think is the #1 movie quote?

It's from Gone With The Wind, screenplay by Sidney Howard, based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell. It may be your response to this entire topic. I hope not, but this is a line we all have said, one time or another. Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.