THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948) directed by John Huston, screenplay by Huston based on the novel by B. Traven [HOWARD laughs about the gold dust being scattered by the wind] HOWARD: Oh laugh, Curtin, old boy. It's a great joke played on us by the Lord, or fate, or nature, whatever you prefer. But whoever or whatever played it certainly had a sense of humor! Ha! The gold has gone back to where we found it!... This is worth ten months of suffering and labor - this joke is! Dialogue takeaway: Howard is quite a philosopher, but his teachings are always couched in pithy dialogue and wry humor. He's actually giving Curtin a fairly important life lesson here, and it's much more effective than if he'd said something like "Son, you have to realize that the joke is always on you." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYbjrlrqKOI

THE TOWN (2010) Directed by Ben Affleck and written by Peter Craig Ben Affleck [after seeing Coughlin die, Doug - still wearing his BPD uniform - hops into one BPD cruiser parked nearby with its engine running. He closes the door and drives off. He parks in front of Fergie's shop, and enters, caught by a surveillance camera] Doug MacRay: Rusty, something went wrong. Come here. [Doug puts a gun to Rusty's head and pulls the trigger, killing him instantly. The bullet passes right through Rusty's head] Doug MacRay: Fergie! [Fergie comes out from behind a curtain] Fergus 'Fergie' Colm: Prick! [They start shooting at one another. We see most of the action through a surveillance tape that only shows Fergie, but not Doug. One shot from Doug's Glock 17 causes Fergie to collapse to the ground. Doug walks over to him and puts his gun in the florist's crotch] Doug MacRay: Fergie, remember who clipped your nuts for you. [Scene cuts to black with the sound of a gunshot] Dialogue takeaway: This scene is great because it uses a callback to an earlier point in the film where Fergie mentions he clipped Doug's father's nuts. Revenge! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJb3iQHxYrE

The Sting (1973), written by David S. Ward. http://movieclips.com/ch8j-the-sting-movie-its-close/ POLK: He's gone. Hooker opens his eyes and slowly drags himself up off the floor, spitting out a little rubber bladder, filled with blood, that he's had in his mouth. Gondorff does likewise. Niles, Twist, Singleton and the rest of the boost begin to laugh and shake hands, as do the Federal Agents. GONDORFF (to Polk): Nice con, Hickey. I thought you were Feds myself, when you first came in. HICKEY: No problem, Henry. Snyder went for it all the way. (laughing) You shoulda seen the rag he lit under Lonnegan. Gondorff turns to the others. GONDORFF: Okay, let's take this place apart and get outa here. You can get your splits from Eddie at Boudreau's tonight. Gondorff walks over to Hooker, who's wiping the blood off his face and hands. GONDORFF: You beat him, kid. HOOKER (softly): You were right, Henry. It's not enough... But it's close. GONDORFF: You wanta wait for your share? HOOKER: Naw, I'd just blow it.

CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND (2002) Directed by George Clooney and written by Charlie Kaufman CHUCK: There’s something I gotta confess, something I gotta tell ya. Listen to me, Penny… You’ve known me for a long time. PENNY: As the host of the Dating Game, the- CHUCK: Yeah yeah yeah PENNY: Gong Show, Rah-Rah Show... CHUCK: Yeah yeah yeah, listen listen listen… I worked for the CIA. You understand? And I killed people. I killed a lot of people. You understand? I killed a lot of people. [Penny BURSTS into laughter. Chuck does as well.] CHUCK (V.O.): I came up with a new game show idea recently. It’s called the old game… You get three old guys with loaded guns onstage. They look back at their lives. See who they were; what they accomplished, how close they came to realizing their dreams… The winner is the one who doesn’t blow his brains out. He gets a refrigerator. Dialogue Takeaway: Not only does the whispery voiceover serve the noirish feel of the film, but it also clues us into the humanity undergirding Chuck’s persona of sex-crazed compulsive liar. For a slew of reasons hinted at in the film, Chuck wanted to do more with his life than host a mean-spirited game show full of bad acts. Having failed to do so, he just made up a second life as a CIA assassin – wrote a whole book about it, in fact, which was the basis of Kaufman’s screenplay. Penny’s disbelieving laugh at Chuck’s delusion of grandeur casts a tragic light on Barris as he “looks back at his life” and “sees who he was, what he accomplished.” Also, such a terrific last line – dark but punchliney, like Barris himself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6HCOGj1lNI

AMADEUS (1984) Directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer [The aide wheels Salieri towards the door. Salieri gestures to Father Vogel.] SALIERI: I will speak for you, father. I speak for ALL mediocrities in the world. I am their champion. I am their patron saint. [He CHUCKLES, EXITS, PROCEEDS through a hallway of psychiatric hospital patients.] SALIERI: Mediocrities everywhere, I absolve you! I absolve you! I absolve you! I absolve you all! [Mozart’s signature GUFFAW plays as credits roll.] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCQjrW0ofRE

Jaws (1975), screenplay by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb, novel by Peter Benchley. "Smile, you son of a bitch!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpxOLhuNXfM