"Look what I got!"
WARNING: Spoilers are unmarked.- In the opening battle, as an army of Medjai tribesmen charge the platoon Rick and Beni served in, we get a shot of their commanding officer being the first to break rank and make a run for it. Rick and Beni watch him go, with even Beni seeming appalled at how quickly he ran for it.Beni: (to Rick) ...You just got promoted.
- Evy's introduction, in which she makes a mess of her re-shelving.Dr. Bey: [stutters in disbelief, then spots Evy] Oh, look at this! Sons of the pharaohs! Give me frogs, flies, locusts! Anything but you! Compared to you, the other plagues were a joy!
Evelyn: I am so very sorry. It was an accident!
Dr. Bey: My darling girl, when Ramses destroyed Syria, that was an accident. You are a catastrophe!- Soon after, she hears something and goes to investigate, asking if anyone is in there: "Abdul? Mohammed?.....Bob?"
- And her reaction immediately after knocking over every single case in the museum library:Evy: ...oops.
- A drunk Jonathan getting his groin caught on the edge of the tomb he's climbing out of.
- When Evy first meets Rick in prison and asks him about the lost city:Evy: You were actually at Hamunaptra?Rick: Yeah, I was there.Evy: You swear?Rick: Every damn day.
- Just before the above conversation, Rick suddenly recognizes Jonathan as the thief who picked his pocket and decks him. Evy looks at her brother on the ground, then just steps right over him to ask Rick about Hamunaptra.
- Rick's greeting to them:Rick: (to Jonathan, rudely) Who the hell are you? (suddenly sees Evy and switches to a chipper tone) And who's the broad?
- When Rick is about to be hanged for whatever got him thrown in there in the first place:Officer: [tightens the noose around his neck] Any last requests, pig?Rick: Yeah, loosen the knot and let me go.Officer: [Beat, then looks up at the warden and appears to ask in Arabic whether he should do as he asks or not]Warden: [responds with a hand gesture and something in Arabic that clearly says "What are you, crazy?"] Of course don't let him go!Rick: [rolls his eyes as the officer dope slaps him, annoyed and embarrassed]
- Evy bartering with the warden for Rick's life, all the while Rick is being strangled to death by the hanging noose.Warden: You are telling me that this filthy, godless son of a pig knows the way to the City of the Dead?!Evy: Yes!Warden: Truly?!Evy: [frantic] Yes! A-and if you cut him down we will give you— [glances at Rick] —ten percent!Warden: ...Fifty percent!Evy: Twenty!Warden: Forty!Evy: Thirty!Warden: Twenty-five!Evy: Ah! Deal!Warden: [Beat before he realizes his mistake] ARGH! [to officers] CUT HIM DOWN![Rick is cut down from the gallows, and Evy smugly smirks at him in a way that clearly says "You had better keep your end of the deal now"]
- In the same scene, before he actually drops, Evy keeps upping the amount she's willing to pay to save Rick. Once she gets to five hundred pounds, the warden briefly orders his men to stop and asks her what else she's willing to offer, placing his hand on her thigh and claiming to be "a very lonely man." Evy smacks his hand away in disgust, and each and every one of the inmates laugh raucously in approval.
- Evy bartering with the warden for Rick's life, all the while Rick is being strangled to death by the hanging noose.
- Evy's reaction upon seeing Rick shaved, bathed, and properly dressed, moments after calling him a complete scoundrel.Jonathan: [dryly] Yes, you're right. Filthy, rude, complete scoundrel, nothing to like there at all.
- This exchange, setting the tone nicely for the Snark-to-Snark Combat between the two.Rick drops his weapons on the table, making Evy jump.Rick: Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you.Evy: The only thing that scares me, Mr O'Connell, are your manners.Rick: Still annoyed about that kiss, huh?Evy: If you can call that a kiss.
- But sure enough, when she's in her room later, she can't even hang her dress up because she's still thinking about it.
"For heaven's sakes, girl. It wasn't that good of a kiss anyway!" - Beni in general. Especially when he's being threatened by Rick. (Note: the line "Someday I might" was actually ad-libbed by Beni's actor)Beni: Think of my children!
Rick: You don't have any children!
Beni: ...Someday I might.
Rick: Shut up!- Beni catches Rick looking at Evy and remarks "You always had more balls than brains." Rick's response is to share a joking laugh with Beni...before tossing him off the barge.
- The barge is on fire, and the warden runs up to Rick (who was previously his inmate, and was nearly hanged because of him):Warden: O'Connell! O'Connell! O'Connell! What are we going to do?! What are we going to do?!
Rick: Wait here! I'll go get help!
Warden: Right!
[Rick jumps in the river and leaves the warden on the fiery barge. The Warden anxiously waits for a second, realizes what happened with a groan, curses in Arabic, and jumps into the river to follow Rick]- Before that, Evy hurries back to her burning room, saying they forgot the map. Rick assures her they don't need it, saying "I'm your map."Evy: Oh, that's comforting.
- Rick's escape plan.Rick: Can you swim?Evy: [indignantly] Of course I can swim, if the occasion calls for it!Rick: Trust me, it calls for it. [throws her off the barge]
- Before that, Evy hurries back to her burning room, saying they forgot the map. Rick assures her they don't need it, saying "I'm your map."
- During the fight on the barge, it cuts to the Americans in a firefight with several Medjai. Meanwhile, the Egyptologist they brought along is cowering behind them, making hilariously exaggerated flails and panicked faces with each gunshot.
- Then it cuts to Jonathan watching the Americans fire their guns while they are yelling and whooping, and summing up what the English think of them.Jonathan: [makes an exasperated sigh while shaking his head] Americans!
- After one of the Americans saves Jonathan from a burning Medjai:Jonathan: I say, bloody good show, chaps! And did I panic? I think not!
[Cue a sudden fire spontaneously igniting dangerously close to him, causing him to scream and jump off the barge]
- Then it cuts to Jonathan watching the Americans fire their guns while they are yelling and whooping, and summing up what the English think of them.
- The aftermath of the attack on the barge, where everybody has had to swim for the shore while attempting to gather everything needed for the journey onward.Beni: HEY! HEY, O'CONNELL! IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE I'VE GOT ALL THE HORSES!
Rick: HEY, BENI, LOOKS TO ME LIKE YOU'RE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE RIVER!
Beni: [Beat as he looks around, then kicks the water and curses in Hungarian]- Makes perfect sense. The Nile has no bridges, and is very wide. Horses simply can't swim that far. Beni now has to pay a boat to take his group and thirty or so horses across.
- When the Americans' party sees the other group confidently digging in a completely different location, Henderson asks if they know something that they don't. The Egyptologist makes a smug comment about how they are led by Evy. "What does a woman know?" Cue Evy giving a detailed explanation on the origins of the statue and historical theory, using an ingenious mirror trick to fill the chambers below with light and finding the location with the treasure before the other group.
- In the same scene, Rick is tying a knot to a pillar and keeps "accidentally" hitting the Warden with the end of the rope. It's hilariously childish.
- The Seinfeldian Conversation in the tunnels of Hamunaptra.Rick: Let Me Get This Straight..., they ripped out your guts and they stuffed them in jars?
Evy: And they take out your heart as well. Oh, and you know how they took out your brains?
Jonathan: Evy, I don't think we need to know this...
Evy: They take a sharp, red-hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about a bit, and then rip it all out through your nostrils!
Rick: Ooh, that's got to hurt.
Evy: It's called mummification; you'll be dead when they do this.
Rick: For the record, if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification.
Jonathan: Likewise! [swats stone into ceiling, causing Imhotep's sarcophagus to fall out of it] - During the Medjai attack on the camp, Beni runs over to steal a swig of whiskey from Jonathan, only to then freeze with the bottle to his mouth with a hilarious Oh, Crap! expression on his face as a screaming, sword-wielding Ardeth Bey comes charging towards them on horseback. Cue a Spit Take from Beni, and him and Jonathan running for the hills.
- Evy managing to knock herself on her ass with the recoil from a shotgun as she inadvertently blasts a Medjai warrior charging up at her. Even more funny is the fact she remains on the ground until the fight's over and Rick picks her up off the floor.
- The entire scene where Evy gets drunk and chats with Rick, complete with her slurring out "You're wondering, what is a place like me doing in a girl like this?" and their Almost Kiss.
- This exchange after Rick, Evy and Jonathan open Imhotep’s sarcophagus, and are promptly jump scared by his corpse.Evy: Oh God, I hate it when these things do that!
Rick: Is he supposed to look like that?
Evy: No. I’ve never seen a mummy look like this before. He-He’s still… still…
Rick and Jonathan: Juicy.
Evy: Yes. - When Evy comes running up with something she's found, Rick turns to Beni and remarks "You're in her seat". Beni gives a snort and a sarcastic "Yeah"...at which point Rick adds "Now!" and Beni wisely chooses to scurry off.
- When Rick lampshades the constant eerie wind.Evy: No harm ever came of reading a book. [unlocks the book][Cue brief, dramatic wind]Rick: ...That happens a lot around here.
- The Egyptologist holding the Book of the Dead and saying "What have we done?" as one of the Ten Plagues of Egypt descends probably shouldn't be funny, but considering that he is covered head to toe in locusts (a.k.a. grasshoppers), he looks utterly ridiculous.
- Horrific, but kind of funny: What saved Evy from being attacked by Imhotep? He stole Burns's eyes, gaining Burns's shortsightedness, and mistook her for Anck-su-namun.
- When Rick first encounters Imhotep (who has only just arisen and is pure decomposing mummy), their conversation goes like this:Rick: [having just found Evy] There you are! You've been playing hide and seek? Now come on, let's get out of here! [sees Imhotep] WHOA!Imhotep: [opens his mouth unnaturally wide] ROOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!Rick: [Beat] RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! [shoots him in the face] Move!
- The subtitles make this even funnier. Imhotep is labeled as "Supernatural Roar" and Rick is then "Macho Roar."
- Beni attempts to save himself from Imhotep with a cross and a prayer to Jesus. When it doesn't work, he lets out a "No?"—not a Big "NO!" of despair, either just a sort of "Oh, that didn't work? Okay..."—then pulls out a necklace hung with about twenty different religious emblems and goes through them one by one, trying to find a god who will save his life.
- What makes it funnier is that Imhotep actually raises an eyebrow at the sight, as if to say "What is this?!" Apart from Judaism, none of these religions would have been around, or at least anywhere near Egypt, when he was alive.
- The final punchline being that as absurd as the transparent attempt at self-preservation is, it works when Beni gets to a Star of David and starts praying in Hebrew, a language that Imhotep recognizes, leading him to presume Beni is a Jewish slave.
- Winston's Establishing Character Moment has him complaining to O'Connell and Jonathan about how all his friends in the Royal Flying Corps died during World War I and left him to, in his words, "slowly rot of boredom and booze." During this, Rick and Jon are each pouring themselves a drink, but Winston takes Jonathan's shot glass for himself just as he's about to down it. Jonathan gets this exasperated look on his face and resignedly pours himself another in a different glass.
- A bit of Black Comedy, when the Americans are making plans to get the hell out of dodge, since they know Imhotep's after them, Rick asks after the unfortunate Burns:Rick: So, uh...how's your friend?Daniels: ...he had his eyes and his tongue ripped out. How'd you be?
- A bug crawls from the neck of an almost-but-not-quite fully regenerated Imhotep? Nausea Fuel. He chomps down on it with an entirely stone face? Hysterical.
- When they decide that they need to find the Egyptologist and bring him back to the fort before Imhotep can get to him, Rick immediately orders Evy to stay put and commands Daniels, Henderson, and Jonathan to follow him. Cue a cacophony of protests from all four, and Rick casting his eyes upwards in exasperation.
- And then, as Evy is midway into complaining that they can't leave her behind, Rick calmly picks her up, slings her over his shoulder, and carries her into her room, where he locks her inside (all the while with Evy yelling at Jonathan to stop him, and the latter weakly replying that "sorry, you see... O'Connell, he's a bit... tall..."). And then Rick grabs Daniels by the front of his shirt and all but threatens him to protect her and not let her out, or anyone in. Both he and Henderson instantly agree.
- And the reasons they're protesting. Evie's complaining because Rick's told her to stay behind and that she can't come with him. The others are complaining because Rick's told them to come with him and they can't stay behind.
- To finish off the funny, Jonathan has one last stab at weaseling out:Rick: Let's go, Jonathan.
Jonathan: Oh, well, ah, I thought I'd just stay at the fort and reconnoiter—
Rick: NOW.
Jonathan: [scrambling up] Yeah, right, [to the others, rolling his eyes] we're just gonna rescue the Egyptologist...
- The vast majority of the scene when Rick and Jonathan walk in on Beni searching the Egyptologist's room.[Rick and Jonathan walk in, while Beni is frantically tipping out a drawer]Rick: Well, well, well. Let me guess, spring cleaning?Beni: [shrieks and starts fleeing like the coward he is]Rick: [casually picks up a heavy wooden chair with one hand and hurls it across the room, nailing Beni in the legs with it]Jonathan: Nice shot....Rick: Aw, Beni, did you fall down, let me help you up. [picks Beni up and slams him against a cabinet with a false smile] You came back from the desert with a new friend, didn't you, Beni?Rick: [throws him across the room]...Beni: Piszkos állat.noteRick: What did you say?!Beni: I don't want to tell you; you'll just hurt me some more....Rick: What are you looking for? And try not to lie to me. [hoists him up by his shirt towards a metal ceiling fan]Beni: ARGH!! The book!! The black book they found at Hamunaptra! He wants it back, he said to me that it would be worth its weight in gold!Jonathan: What does he want the book for?Beni: [weakly, as Rick lowers him] Oh, come on, I don't know... [is promptly hoisted back up] Aaaarg! Something about bringing his dead girlfriend back to life! But that's all, he just wants the book, I swear, just the book, I swear... [is lowered once more, glances at Jonathan] And your sister.Rick: [look of pure hatred]Beni: [seemingly realizes he's said entirely the wrong thing] B-but other than that!
- The moment Rick and Jonathan are distracted by a scream from outside, Beni kicks Rick in the groin, gets free, and jumps out the window.
- After the terrifying experience of meeting Imhotep and shortly before being killed by him, Henderson is asked if he'd like a drink.Henderson: Yeah, get me a glass of bourbon... [looking more shaken] ...and a shot of bourbon!Daniels: Yeah, okay, okay—Henderson: And a bourbon chaser!Daniels: Yeah, yeah, I'll get your damn bourbon!
- The not-fully-regenerated Imhotep's fear of cats.[Rick and co. burst into Evy's room to see Imhotep trying to kiss her with his half-decayed mummy mouth]Rick: HEY! Get your ugly face off of her!Imhotep: [untranslated Egyptian]Rick: Look what I got! [brandishes Evy's cat]Imhotep: [terrified gasp]Cat: [hisses]Imhotep: [another gasp, followed by a roar that basically translates into "Oh, Crap!" just before he dissolves into a howling tornado of sand that subsequently flees out the window, shutting it for good measure]
- Immediately after this:Rick: [to Evy] You alright?
Jonathan: Well, I'm not sure...
- Immediately after this:
- Evy and Terence Bay are desperately translating an ancient inscription to find the location of the Book of Amun-Ra, all while Imhotep's brainwashed minions are breaking into the museum the group's currently hiding in:Jonathan: Come on, Evy, hurry!
Evy: [sing-song annoyed] Patience is a virtuuuue...
Rick: [watching the minions swarm into the museum's main hall right below them] Not right now it isn't! - Oh, no! Jonathan is about to be attacked by a mob of Imhotep's zombified followers! What does he do? He opens his eyes real big, staggers around, and starts chanting "Im-ho-tep" in a vacant tone.
And it actually works!- The best part is that the mob, which was running towards him, all start slowing down and chanting, just like Jonathan is doing! It's like they all simultaneously thought, "Hey, this guy knows what he's doing!"
- Additionally, the first guy in the crowd has a sickle raised over his head and is about to chop Jonathan, but as soon as Jonathan starts chanting, he calmly lowers it.
- After Beni sends the mob after Rick and co., Rick's threat to Beni, and Beni's response, which comes off hilariously reminiscent of an outraged kid getting busted by the class snitch.Rick: [indignant] You're gonna get yours, Beni, you hear me!? You're gonna get yours!Beni: [snide] Oh, like I've never heard that before!
- Evy correcting Beni's Ancient Egyptian translation. When they're being confronted by Imhotep and the hordes of the cursed and possessed.
- Evy warns Beni that nasty little people like him "always get their comeuppance in the end." Beni scoffs at this for a moment, before getting a worried look on his face and asks, "They do?" Evy then confirms it with "Always."
- This little exchange:Winston: So, what's your little problem got to do with His Majesty's Royal Air Corps?
Rick: Not a damn thing.
Winston: [hopefully] Is it dangerous?
Rick: Well, you probably won't live through it.
Winston: [eager] By Jove, do you really think so?
Jonathan: Well, everybody else we've bumped into has died. Why not you? - Jonathan and Ardeth strapped to the wings of Winston's biplane. Ardeth is clearly having the time of his life, and Jonathan is definitely not. Their respective responses to Rick asking if they are alright:Jonathan: DO I BLOODY LOOK ALRIGHT?!...Ardeth: [grinning like a maniac]
- After the biplane crash-lands, Ardeth pulls off his flying cap, and his hair is hilariously all over the place.
- In order to stop Imhotep from causing the biplane to crash, Evy overcomes her visible disgust and kisses him full on the mouth. What makes it better is that there's a beat where Imhotep is so caught up in his magic, he doesn't even realize what's going on at first, and comes out of his trance to stare at Evy snogging him in wide-eyed shock.
- After Imhotep makes the biplane crash:Beni: I loved the sand wall trick, it was beautiful.Evy: [shoots him a Death Glare]Beni: ...bastard.
- Imhotep awakens several mummy soldiers, who burst out of the wall, thoroughly startling Evy and Beni.Evy: The Bembridge Scholars never wrote about this.
- Ardeth and Rick run into another group of awakening mummies.Rick: Who are these guys?
Ardeth: Priests... Imhotep's priests!
Rick: ...Alright then. [starts firing] - During the battle with the mummies, Rick needs to light a stick of dynamite to blow up a passage the mummies are chasing them down. Despite Jonathan having a torch, he promptly strikes a match on Ardeth's bearded cheek, cuing a "WTF?" look from Ardeth. Later, Rick has to do the same thing using his own Perma-Stubble.
- Rick's reaction to the mummy soldiers. After facing up to them head-on with a golden sword, he seems to realize that sometimes you have to pick your battles carefully.Rick: [fearless battle roar]Mummy Soldiers: [collective supernatural roar]Rick: ...Nuh-uh. [bolts]
- Rick turns a corner off-camera, then a loud supernatural roar is heard, THEN Rick comes running back out of the passageway, being pursued by three mummy soldiers.
- Jonathan needs one more symbol to translate the inscription on the gold book to control Imhotep's soldiers, and Evy has to translate for him while Anuck-su-namun is trying to kill her. She calls it out while being strangled and fending off an attempted stabbing. Jonathan giddily says "oh yes, I see", forgetting that his sister kind of needs his help at that moment.
- Evy is desperately trying to find the spell to make Imhotep mortal again. She tells O'Connell to keep Imhotep busy so she can work. Cue a shot of O'Connell flying through the air and screaming before hitting a statue plinth, clearly getting his ass kicked, and then deadpanning.O'Connell: No problem...
- Imhotep has been defeated. The Lost City of Hamunaptra is collapsing into the desert sands. Our heroes are desperately fleeing to the exit to avoid being trapped for all eternity. In his haste, Jonathan accidentally stumbles and drops the Golden Book of Amun Ra into a pool. Evy immediately runs back, stares aghast into the pool, starts spluttering about how Jonathan's dropped it, and has to be dragged away.
- Moments later, as they're running through the treasure room, Jonathan stops to ask if they can take a bit of it with them and now he's the one who has to be dragged away.
- Jonathan's reaction to Rick and Evy's Big Damn Kiss:Jonathan: [rolls his eyes] Oh, please!
[Walks over to his camel and grabs its reins]
Jonathan: How about you, darling? Would you like a little kissy-wissy?
[The camel bellows in his face]
Jonathan: [waves off the smell of the camel's breath] Whoo! - Realizing that Beni's overwhelming greed is probably what paid for the Big Fancy House Rick and Evelyn own in the sequel, since he loaded the camel Rick and Evy take with priceless Egyptian gold.
- From one of the deleted scenes, the group is still traveling through the desert when they come upon a group of skeletons.Rick: [casually gestures towards one of the skeletons as he realizes something] I knew that guy.
Behind the Scenes
- The audio commentary with Arnold Vosloo (Imhotep), Oded Fehr (Ardeth Bay), and Kevin J. O'Conner (Beni) has several funny moments.
- Vosloo commenting that, in one shot of his back, you could see "the crack of dawn".
- Fehr's near-perfect impression of Beni saying, "Oh, yeah? Like I never heard that before!"
- The recurring story of O'Conner not liking his camel.
- According to the audio commentary with Stephen Sommers and his editor Bob Duscay, Sommers has a hard time with extras.
- Brendan Fraser did the hanging scene for real and passed out during filming. According to him, Sommers' only direction was, "Look good, don't die! (shove!) ACTION!"
- In all three commentaries on the Blu-ray, they all talk about the time when Omid Djalili was filming the scene where the scarab kills him by tunneling through his flesh... and eating his brain, where he ripped his shirt off, and they couldn't use several takes because his private areas were exposed.
