The Dictionary of Film Quotations: 6,000 Provocative Movie Quotes from 1,000 Movies

I purchased this book a couple of weeks ago, despite reading many of the negative comments from other reviewers. Although some of what has been written about this book is true, I feel that many of the comments are too harsh. It's certainly not a perfect book, but which book on film quotations is better? It contains 6000 quotations, which is an awful lot compared with other books in this area. The index is very good; I haven't found any missing index entries or incorrect page listings in the index. Some reviewers claimed that there wasn't enough "set-up" information in the quotes (surrounding dialog that would place the quote in context). Although that comment is true, the authors do give a brief explanation of the context following the quote, in most cases, enough to understand what the quote is about. Certainly, there is no substitute for watching a film & hearing & seeing a great actor like Humphrey Bogart deliver his lines. Many of the quotations in this book fall flat because they're on paper (or monitor), & not delivered with the intonations we've heard in the films, but that's not the fault of this book's authors ( & it's not the fault of the screenwriters either, afterall, it's an audio-visual medium, that's why we go to the theater). While I can't agree with all of the authors' selections (or omissions), I would still rate this as a fine effort & a very useful addition to any film historian's library.

Lots of fun for movie junkies! And the earlier reivewer who said the book does not credit writers is WRONG! Each movie title that comes before the quotes lists the director AND THE SCREENWRITER.