Lines that seem to be cribbed from other films

[AlkyBastard]

In The Shawshank Redemption, when Warden Norton 'welcomes' the new inmates, he says "Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me." It immediately reminded me of Gunnery Sgt Hartman's line in Full Metal Jacket: "You can give your heart to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the Corps."

Most likely a coincidence, I thought. But later, one of the Shawshank prison captains asks an inmate "what's your malfunction?" which also corresponds to a similar Hartman line. It's a very odd word to use in a human context, and therefore seems a little too specific to be a coincidence. That said, Hartman lines show up in lots of subsequent films, as many of them may have been well-worn insults in the first place.

While going on IMDb to check the exact wording for this post, I found out the following:

Gunnery Sgt. Hartman's line during his introduction to the platoon: "Only steers and queers come from Texas, Private Cowboy! You don't look like a steer, so that narrows it down!" mimics that used five years earlier by Louis Gossett Jr. as Gunnery Sgt. Emil Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982): "Only two things come out of Oklahoma. Steers and queers. Which one are you, boy? I don't see no horns. You must be a queer."

So everyone's as bad as each other.

[Serge]

[Tarantino thread][/Tarantino thread]

But talking of Quentin...Mr. Pink's "I got two words for you...learn to fuckin' type!" is surely cribbed from Jack Walsh's "Two words for you...shut the fuck up!" in 'Midnight Run'. Also, I seem to remember somebody saying years ago that there were lines of dialogue from 'The Thing' inserted into 'Reservoir Dogs', but I've never spotted them - does anybody know about that?

[AlkyBastard]

Can't help, sorry. In the meantime, another Ermey one. 

Teddy: I'm gonna rip your head off and shit down your neck!

Hartman: You had best unfuck yourself or I will unscrew your head and shit down your neck!

They were made too close together for it to be a steal either way, but it's odd that they would both have such a similar turn of phrase. Did everyone in the mid-to-late eighties go round threatening to shit down people's necks?

[Glebe]

Mel Brooks seems to half half-inched the "This is the future!" gag from Aiplane 2 for Spaceballs.

[Cohaagen]

The dialogue in Neil Marshall's films seems to be constructed almost entirely of either half-remembered or slightly-altered lines from other movies. In much the same way that his characters, plotlines and action scenes are reconstituted from other, better films.

He is the living, working embodiment of a hack. He even stole bits of Bravo Two Zero for Dog Soldiers. I mean, Jesus...

[dredd]

Did everyone in the mid-to-late eighties go round threatening to shit down people's necks?

Pretty much, it also pops up in Heartbreak Ridge (1986).

[SetToStun]

Gunnery Sgt. Hartman's line during his introduction to the platoon: "Only steers and queers come from Texas, Private Cowboy! You don't look like a steer, so that narrows it down!" mimics that used five years earlier by Louis Gossett Jr. as Gunnery Sgt. Emil Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982): "Only two things come out of Oklahoma. Steers and queers. Which one are you, boy? I don't see no horns. You must be a queer."

That one's hardly surpising, though - having been a real-life Gunny, R. Lee Ermey was the "technical adviser" on both films; he taught Gossett Jr. to be a Gunny and abuse his troops. He got the gig for Full Metal Jacket when Kubrick saw his "instruction" tape on how to be a Gunny - in fact Kubrick was so impressed he not only asked him to play the part instead of just advise on it, he also allowed him to write his own lines and even go in for improvisation. If Ermey was ripping anyone off it was himself.