MovieChat Forums > Elmer Gantry (1960) Discussion > Best Burt Lancaster Line, Ever

Best Burt Lancaster Line, Ever

posted 10 years ago by rogueforte
2 replies | jump to latest

"Don't you know that hurts?"

You're not expecting him to say anything. In any other movie, the main character would just have came charging in and laid the beat-down on Shirley Jones' bitch-slapping pimp without saying a word. But you get Burt grabbing the pimp and a perfectly delivered line, asked almost quietly, with an uncanny blend of incredulous curiosity and underlying, forthcoming menace.

A good runner-up might be when Burt confronts Ernest Borgnine in From Here to Eternity.

Today's heroes with their so-called witty one-liners could learn a thing or two from good ole Burt.

[–] bobn425 9 years ago

I agree with this so much I could have written it myself.
Lancaster was and still is my favorite actor of all time and
nobody could have delivered this line like he did.
I was thirteen when I went with my parents to see this
incredible film.
The delivery of this line goes back to the less is more theory
that used to be a hallmark of movies. No running in and starting
more violence immediately, but a slow dissolve into it.
It is not only Burt Lancaster's best line in ever, but truly
just about the best line ever in any film.

[–] chicago85 9 years ago

I read that when Gary Cooper did "High Noon" he drew a line through a lot of his lines and did this with other movies as well. He believed in less is more also.

I don't know everything. Neither does anyone else