Movie quotes, anyone?

The American Film Institute — but we can call them AFI, 'cause we're friends — is putting together another of their "100 Years, 100..." television specials. Previously, they've covered such topics as 100 great movies, movie stars, comedies, thrillers, love stories, heroes and villains, and movie songs. Sometimes AFI's choices fly in from left field (Fargo is a comedy? Yes, there are a number of hilarious moments in it, but I wouldn't call it a comedy), but the lists of "100 Whatevers" always result in excellent conversation fodder for film aficionados. That's us, isn't it?

The upcoming special, which airs on CBS on Tuesday, June 21, is "100 Years, 100 Movie Quotes." You can download a list of the the 400 nominated quotes here. They're listed in alphabetical order by film title.

Go see what you like, and second-guess what's missing. You'll be glad you did!

My initial thoughts, based on a quick scan of selected portions of the list (it's 103 pages, so that was the best I could do for starters):

• Several films deserving of multiple nominations (i.e., Blazing Saddles, The Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap) got stuck with only one in order to spread the wealth.
  
• A few popular flicks seem overrepresented. I mean, I'm glad Airplane warranted three possibilities — there are dozens in that film from which to choose — but did we really need five quotes from Gone With the Wind?
  
• For several films (The Maltese Falcon being one example, Pulp Fiction another), I would have chosen different quotes from the ones nominated.
  
• A few quotes, such as Al Pacino's "Hoo-ah!" from Scent of a Woman, barely qualify as quotes, in my estimation. Yes, everyone remembers Pacino making that noise a hundred times in that film, but it's a noise, not a line.
  
• The bits of schtick from Wayne's World originated on Saturday Night Live, and thus shouldn't be considered "movie" quotes. Call it a quibble, but I'm a quibbler.

At any rate, it'll be fun to see which classic quotes make the final cut.