Funny / Arthur (1981)

• The entire movie is hilarious, but some lines stand out, most of them spoken by Arthur when he's particularly drunk.
  • "I think I'll have another [scotch]; would you like another fish?"
  • "Oh, you're a hedge."
  • (Notices someone with a nice hat) "What a lovely... (continues walking, gets about five rows further) hat."
• When Arthur and Gloria arrive at the Plaza Hotel, he falls out of the car as soon as the door is opened for him. The fall is funny enough, but the fact that he thinks it's funny makes it even funnier. "Bitterman! I fell out of the car!"
• The morning after Arthur's date with Gloria, they're asleep in bed together...and suddenly Arthur starts hysterically laughing. In his sleep. (And taking this to a meta level, critic Pauline Kael theorized in her review that this is because "he's telling jokes in his dreams.")
• This exchange between Linda and her father.
  Ralph: I take it this bum will be calling you?
  Linda: Dad! He's a millionaire.
  Ralph: You have my permission to marry him.
• Any and all of Hobson's snarks, such as his advice to Linda for her and Arthur's first date: "Steal something casual." Also:
  • Hobson: (to Linda) Thank you for a memorable afternoon, usually one must go to a bowling alley to meet a woman of your stature.
  • Hobson: (wearing a ten gallon hat in bed) If I begin to die, please take this off my head. This is not the way I wish to be remembered.
  • Hobson: Here, read this magazine. There are many pictures.
  • Arthur: Hobson, do you know the worst part, the worst part of being me?
    Hobson: I should imagine your breath.
  • Arthur: A hot bath is wonderful... Girls are wonderful!
    Hobson: Yes, imagine how wonderful a girl who bathes would be.
  • Hobson: Thrilling to meet you, Gloria.
    Hooker: Hi.
    Hobson: Yes... You obviously have a wonderful economy with words, Gloria. I look forward to your next syllable with great eagerness.
• All the comments about the stuffed-and-mounted moose head on the wall at Burt's mansion (the director went on record as saying there were a dozen different takes of this scene, with Dudley Moore playing off the moose a different way each time).

  Arthur: You must have hated this moose.

• Susan: "A real woman could stop you from drinking." Arthur: "It'd have to be a real big woman."
• A great throwaway sight gag: the engagement party is so upper crust that a preteen boy not only sneaks a drink but follows it up with a spritz of the aerosol breath freshener he has in his pocket before he joins the dancing crowd.
• Susan's dad grabs a knife from the cheese in an attempt to kill Arthur and Linda.
  Arthur: (deliriously) He's taking the knife out of the cheese...do you think he wants some cheese?
• All of Arthur's speech announcing that the wedding has been called off.

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