The AFI's Top 100 Movie Lines

A line from "The Maltese Falcon" came in at 14th: "The stuff that dreams are made of." That's a movie full of great lines and, while that line is sharp enough in context, about a dozen others leapt to mind first. My suggestions to go ahead of their choice:

• "When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it," Spade tells a pouting Cairo. If I ever have to slap anyone, you can bet I'll be using it.
  
• Spade gives Brigid the kiss off, "I hope they don't hang you, precious, by that sweet neck. Yes, angel, I'm gonna send you over. The chances are you'll get off with life. That means if you're a good girl, you'll be out in 20 years. I'll be waiting for you. If they hang you, I'll always remember you."
  
• "A crippled newsie took 'em away from him. I made him give 'em back," Spade tells Gutman as he hands over Wilmer's guns.
  
• Joel Cairo has a ton of great lines, "Our private conversations have not been such that I am anxious to continue them. Forgive me for speaking so bluntly, but it is the truth." I tell people that all the time.
  
• Cairo again, after Spade has knocked him out for attempting to search his office at gunpoint and given him his little pistol back, "Please place your hands behind your head. I intend to search your offices." Spade's chuckling reply, "Go ahead, I won't stop you," is equally priceless.
  
• Gutman too has great patter for a heavy, "I distrust a man who says 'when.' If he's got to be careful not to drink too much, it's because he's not to be trusted when he does." I never get to use that line, but I always bear it in mind when I'm offered a drink.
  
• Spade to Wilmer, "The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter, eh?"