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#-D
- 28 Days Later: Major Henry West reveals to Jim why he created a message about what he called "The Answer to Infection":West: I promised them women...
- A Classic Horror Story: "Fabrizio, can you hear me?" coming from Fabrizio's earpiece when Elisa is hugging him.
- Across the Universe (2007): Lucy has seemingly decided between her two suitors, main character Jude and firebrand activist Paco, choosing the latter. One night, however, she happens to open a door in the activist group's headquarters and discovers a dirty secret they're hiding:
- In All About Eve, the audience is initially led to sympathise with Eve and feel sorry for her. Even when she seems to have betrayed Margo's trust, her apology seems sincere. That is, until Karen asks her if there's anything she can do...Eve: There is something you can do. Something most important.
- All the Troubles of the World: After explaining the assassination attempt to Gulliman, Hammond asks Multivac what motivated its Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of destruction. The story ends with Multivac admitting it wants to die, over and over again, by voice and video and print."I want to die."
"I want to die."
"I want to die."
"I want to die." - The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Richard Parker's video contains a secret that Norman Osborn didn't know about the former's enhanced spider experiment, which becomes absolutely crucial in Harry Osborn's subplot to cure himself.Richard: The human DNA that I implanted in the spiders... was my own. Which means that without me, without my bloodline, Oscorp can never replicate or continue my experiments.
- American Graffiti: After the drag race, John tells Toad, "I was losing, man. He had me!"
- Annette: "Daddy...Daddy kills people." Spoken by a small child in front of a huge crowd of her fans.
- Apartment Zero: The Revival House members watch a news report that shakes them:"We're not looking for any particular face here, there is no recognizable look to the killer. He could be anyone. Perhaps someone you know. Someone in your family. Someone you work with. Someone you trust. Even your next door neighbor. "
Thus leading them to suspect that their super, Adrian, is a serial killer. (He's not.)
- Apollo 13:
- "Houston, we are venting something out into space." This is the point where everyone realizes that, yes, the spacecraft is having real problems—it's not just the instrumentation.
- "Houston, we have a problem" is the best-known, but later, near re-entry, Lovell describes the service module damage as such: "One whole side of the spacecraft is missing. Right by the high gain antenna, a whole panel is blown out, right up - right up to our heat shield." Everyone, astronauts and mission control both, are focused on the damage to the jettisoned SM, until Deke Slayton reminds everyone what matters now, repeating for effect:
"The heat shield."- Suddenly everyone worries that all their efforts may have been for nothing.
- Arrival: "Who is this child?" The moment the audience realizes Louise's visions of her dead daughter aren't flashbacks but flashforwards.
- In Austin Powers in Goldmember when Nigel prevents Austin from shooting Dr. Evil.Austin: Dr. Evil's not your son! I am!
Nigel: No. You both are. - Baby Driver: "That's not the cops!" Marks the point where Baby realizes that Buddy is still alive, in a cop car facing down him, Debora and Doc, and is now coming for them.
- Bad Times at the El Royale: Darlene makes a discovery that completely changes how the final fight is going to play out:Darlene: How many people have you killed?
Miles: 123. - In Barbie, the plot kicks off when Stereotypical Barbie asks the following question during a dance scene.Stereotypical Barbie: Do you guys ever think about dying?
- In Tim Burton's Batman (1989): Not apparent to the audience at first, the Joker's favorite Pre-Mortem One-Liner serves as this to Bruce. They were the same words the mugger said to young Bruce after murdering his parents.Joker: Ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?
- Batman Returns: Bruce and Selina blow each other's identity thanks to this exchange they make twice, reversing who says which part the second time in their civilian identities."They say mistletoe is deadly if you eat it."
"But a kiss can be even deadlier if you mean it." - The Batman (2022): There is a major one at the end of the movie which identifies a new 'friend' that the Riddler makes in Arkham Asylum:Arkham inmate: One day you're on top of the world, the next you're a clown.
- Battle: Los Angeles has one for the Marines while they are getting briefed on the "meteor shower." "These objects are not falling at terminal velocity. They are slowing down."
- Berkshire County: When Barbara tells her the police are looking for her...Barbara: But they'll never find you because I've been rerouting all your calls to my radio.
- Big Game: Hazar's "If it makes you feel better, we're on the same side." Said to the man he's hunting down to torture, kill and stuff him.
- Black Christmas (1974): When the police finally figure out where "Billy" has been hiding.Sgt. Nash: He says the calls are coming from 6 Belmont Street.
Lt. Fuller: For Christ's sake, Nash, you got it wrong! That's where the calls are going into!
Nash: That's where they're coming from too, sir. - Boy Meets Girl: Ricky, a transgender woman, is confronted by her old classmate David after he learns she slept with his fiancee. David physically pushes her down and seems about to beat her; Ricky, completely unfazed, reveals the depth of their history together:Ricky: You like being on top of me, David? Because from what I remember, you MUCH preferred being on bottom.
- A Boy Called Po: "Mr. Wilson, we do not have a student named Amelia Carr in this school." Amelia was Po's First Friend, and David is astonished to learn that she isn't a real person.
- Brightburn: We spent the entire film watching the protagonist slowly becoming evil, eventually leading to the murders of his family, and untold millions of people as he finally makes his villainy known to the world. But then, scenes of a bald public figure are interspersed throughout the credits, letting everyone know that this universe may get a little bigger..."The mainstream media, as usual, tries to sell you all on a load of bullshit! Just like that half-man, half-sea creature capsizing fishers in the South China sea! Like what we've come by last week, some kind of witch woman chokes people out with ropes and cords! They are all out there. They are all... waiting. And they are all gonna eat us for breakfast unless we get our shit together and do something!"
- Cabin Fever: Paul enters the room and sits with his depressed friend Marcy.Marcy: We're all gonna get [the disease]. We're all gonna get sick.
Paul: No. Bert's gonna get help. Karen will be fine, I promise.
Marcy: It's like being on a plane when you know it's gonna crash. Everyone around you is yelling and screaming: "We're going down! We're going down!" And all you really want to do is grab the person next to you and fuck the shit out of them, 'cause you know you're gonna be dead soon anyway.
[Coitus ensues.] - Carrie: After Carrie's murderous rampage, killing many of her classmates and her abusive mother, Carrie's friend Sue tries to calm her down. In response, Carrie uses her Mind over Matter abilities to strangle her, and it seems that Carrie will kill the last friend in her life. But then Carrie releases her, because she has detected a baby inside Sue.Carrie: It's a girl.
- Cast Away: Chuck has returned to civilization and hopes to reunite with his fiancee, Kelly. Instead, he meets a surprising stranger:Jerry Lovett: I'm Kelly's husband.
- Charade:
- Cary Grant's character pursues one of the villains across the balconies and finds him discussing his plans with his two co-conspirators, who are telling him what he just did was a "dumb move". Grant pushes his way into the room and says:"Yes, it was a dumb move, Herman! What is the matter with you?"
- By the end of the movie, Reggie's convinced that Carson Dyle is dead, her friend Peter is a murderer, and Mr. Bartholomew is the only man she can trust. With this in mind, she's running away from Peter, towards Mr. Bartholomew, when Peter suddenly cries:"Reggie, wait! That man is Carson Dyle!"
- Cary Grant's character pursues one of the villains across the balconies and finds him discussing his plans with his two co-conspirators, who are telling him what he just did was a "dumb move". Grant pushes his way into the room and says:
- Charlie's Angels (2000): Dylan realizes who the Big Bad is:
- Child's Play:
- The first movie didn't really have a Wham Line per se, but the first words to ever come out of Chucky's mouth shocked many audience members the first time.
- The sequel Curse of Chucky has a Wham Line but not by Chucky itself. At one point the innocent child says: "Chucky says life's a bitch, and then you die like a stuck pig".
- Chinatown:
- The plot begins as private eye Jake Gittes is hired by a Mrs. Mulwray to track down her husband, Hollis, and his alleged mistress. After getting photographic evidence, Jake is confronted by another woman:Evelyn Mulwray: That's what I thought. You see, I'm Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray — you know, Mr. Mulwray's wife.
- Hollis Mulwray is later found dead in a fresh water reservoir - and was found with salt water in his lungs. As Jake ponders how that can be so, he overhears the Asian gardener mutter something:"Salt water very bad for glass" explanation.
- Which leads to the Signature Scene where Jake confronts Evelyn about the bifocals and Mulwray's mistress, Katherine ... and gets a lot more than he expected.Evelyn Mulwray: She's my sister AND my daughter! My father and I... do you understand?
- The plot begins as private eye Jake Gittes is hired by a Mrs. Mulwray to track down her husband, Hollis, and his alleged mistress. After getting photographic evidence, Jake is confronted by another woman:
- The Chronicles of Riddick:The Purifier: The Necromonger in me warns you not to go back, but the Furyan in me... hopes you won't listen.
- The Cider House Rules: Homer and Candy discover that Rose Rose the apple-picker is pregnant and is considering an abortion. Candy tries to talk to Rose about it but she refuses to name the father. Her father, Arthur, comes in and Rose's submissive attitude around him lets Candy put two and two together by the next scene:
- Cloud Atlas: Sonmi-451 realizes how the "soap" that she and other fabricants are made.Sonmi-451: "They feed us to ourselves."
- Cloud Nine:
- Kayla hears she's kicked off the team:Sebastian's voicemail: Kayla, it's Sebastian. I heard about your uh, escapade last night. The Swift Snowboarding Team Code of Conduct you signed when you joined the team gives me the responsibility to remove any athlete under my charge for conduct unbecoming team. Therefor, your blatant disregard of the rules forces my hand. I'm afraid as of now, you are no longer affiliated with Swift Snowboarding. You can turn your Swift gear into equipment manager. I'm sorry about this, Kayla, but...you leave me no choice.
- And then Nick reveals he was in on the accident:Nick: Kay, it was either you or us. What was I supposed to do?
- Kayla hears she's kicked off the team:
- Clue:
- At the start of the film, Wadsworth the Butler reveals his employer, Mr. Boddy's, secret.
Wadsworth: "His secret? Oh, haven't you guessed? He's the one who's blackmailing you."- In the third ending, Mr. Green realizes that whoever has the missing revolver shot the Singing Telegram Girl. The culprit instantly reveals himself.
Wadsworth: I shot her. - The Conspirator: The ending has a strong Wham Line even if you know the historical events. Frederick Aiken manages to get a writ of Habeas Corpus for Mary Suratt, the only woman tried for the assassination of President Lincoln, to get her tried in civilian court, thus delaying her execution. On the day the three men sentenced to die with her are executed, Aiken counts the number of nooses and finds one more than he expected:There should only be three
- The Conversation by Francis Ford Coppola has an interesting variant on this: a Wham Line that turns on which word a character stresses in the sentence "He'd kill us if he had the chance."
- From C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America:
- Horace, a slave of Presidential candidate John Ambrose Fauntroy V, drops this bombshell:
Horace: Me and Fauntroy... we kin! - Conspiracy (2001) at the Wannsee Conference when Heydrich proposed the Final Solution:Kritzinger: Purge the Jews, yes. But to annihilate them — that we have undertaken to systematically annihilate all the Jews of Europe — that possibility has been denied to me by the Führer!
Heydrich: And it will continue to be. - Cruella:
- Finally exposed, Cruella reveals who she is to the Baroness...only for the reply to make her realize just how evil the woman is.
Cruella: You killed my mother.Baroness: You'll have to be more specific.Cruella: Wait, what?!- John reveals to Cruella just who the locket belonged to.
John: The Baroness' daughter...you. - The ending of Danger Diva reveals in a single line that Devi's child was Scattering's, not Stanley's. Shortly after, the final line of the movie reveals Stanley's consciousness may still be alive in a test tube.
- The Dark Knight Rises features several:
- When Bane first comes face-to-face with Batman:Bane: Let's not stand on ceremony here... Mister Wayne.
- Soon after:Bane: I will show you where I have made my home, then I will break you. [hits a detonator, causing a Tumbler to fall through the ceiling] Your precious armory! Gratefully accepted! We will need it. [Mercenaries raid Applied Sciences]
- And later in the film,Prisoner: The child of Ra's al Ghul.
- Before the climax:Batman: [about the Pit] You think you're the only one who could learn the strength to escape it? Where's the trigger?
Bane: But I never escaped. - In the climax:Talia: But he's not the child. And though I'm not ordinary, I'm a citizen.
- Shortly before Batman's Heroic Sacrifice, he gives an in-universe wham line to Gordon, telling him just who the Batman was.Batman: A hero can be anyone, even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat on a young boy's shoulders to let him know that the world hadn't ended.
- The denouement contains a truly awesome one, to Detective John Blake:Clerk: You should use your full name. I like that name: Robin.
- When Bane first comes face-to-face with Batman:
- DC Extended Universe:
- In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, after Batman’s confrontation with Lex Luthor in Arkham Asylum, Lex warns that there is a higher power out there that is coming to consume the Earth.Lex: The bell has already been rung... and they've heard it. Out in the dark... among the stars. He's hungry! He's found us! And HE'S COMING!
- Justice League (2017) saves this for The Stinger as a now freed Lex Luthor meets Deathstroke the Terminator on a yacht to discuss this new band of heroes.
- Aquaman (2018): Mera tries to convince her father, Nereus, that the attack from the surface dwellers on the meeting between him and Orm was a False Flag Operation, before coming to the realization that he wasn’t fooled by it, and that he wants to attack the surface as much as Orm does.Mera: Don’t you think that the timing of all of this is too convenient? ... But you wouldn’t be that gullible, would you? You want this war too, do you?
Nereus: It is past time the surface dwellers learned their place in this world. If this is the way to do it, then so be it. - SHAZAM!:
- "I saw you." Billy learns that his mother, who he's spent his life searching for, intentionally abandoned him at the fair because she felt like she wouldn't be able to take care of him.
- The Stinger, Doctor Sinvana is visited by Mister Mind in his cell:
Mister Mind: I name the gods, doctor. Not the other way around. - Zack Snyder's Justice League: Lex Luthor hires Deathstroke to kill Batman and reveals him something...Luthor: If you want the Batman, here is something that can help you... His name is Bruce Wayne.
- In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, after Batman’s confrontation with Lex Luthor in Arkham Asylum, Lex warns that there is a higher power out there that is coming to consume the Earth.
- Dead Again: "I would never hurt you, Margaret." A bit unusual in that it's not the line so much as who says it.
- Dead Man's Shoes: Anti-Hero Richard spends most of the film trying to get revenge on the men that tormented his brother Anthony, who turns out to be Dead All Along. Richard soon reveals what he thought about his brother all along, completely changing the audience's perception to Richard's motivation for the revenge murders and his relationship with his brother as well.
- Richard: He was a fucking disgrace to me!
- Dear Evan Hansen: Alana is initially portrayed as an upbeat activist who has received many achievements at school. So, when she speaks to the eponymous, socially anxious protagonist, she makes a shocking confession.Alana: What do you take? Okay, I'll go first. I'm on Lexapro, 10 milligrams.
- Derailed: "Laroche, I chose this prison." Made even better in that it comes shortly after a wham moment when the viewer finds out that Charles unluckily got "placed" in the same prison as Laroche.
- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Lawrence and Freddy discover they've been played all along by their mark:"Goodbye boys. I'll miss you. Love, Janet, the Jackal."
- In Do Revenge, private school queen Drea is humiliated when a racy video of her leaks. She thinks it was rival Carissa and runs into Eleanor, who says that years ago, Carissa spread a rumor of Eleanor being gay that wrecked her life. The pair soon concocts a plan to get back at their rivals which ends up sending Carissa to rehab. Drea confronts her there on outing Eleanor, only for Carissa's reply to make Drea realize who's really being targeted.Carissa: That is so weird, first that she told you it was me and second, you didn't call bullshit...You seriously don't remember? Drea, you were the one who started that rumor! Yeah, Eleanor is Nora Cutler from day camp?
- In Dominick and Eugene, Nicky has brain damage and a learning disability from an incident where he fell down the stairs when he was a child. Later, when Eugene confronts him after Nicky kidnapped Joey to protect him from Martin after witnessing the man accidently kill Mikey, Nicky drops this which reveals that he realized the truth behind the cause of his brain damage was actually his father beating him, which his brother had been hiding from him.Nicky: You've been lying to me, Eugene. I never fell in no accident. Our dad hurt me.
- Downfall (2004): "Steiner couldn't raise enough men for the assault. Steiner's attack was not successful." Cue Hitler's infamous rant.
- Dracula Untold: In the epilogue:Blonde Woman: I'm Mina.
- Drag Me to Hell: Christine has returned Mrs. Ganush's cursed button to her grave, possibly averting a Downer Ending. But then her boyfriend, Clay, gives her something.Clay: I've found your button.
E-H
- Eastrail 177 Trilogy
- Unbreakable:
- The opening scene has Mrs. Price give birth to her crying baby, Elijah. The doctor is then forced to explain why the baby didn't stop crying."It appears your baby has suffered some fractures while in your uterus. His arms and his legs are broken."
- Protagonist David Dunn has finally embraced being a superhero, and got his normal life back in order. Plus, he seems to be more accepting of Elijah as a friend, who helped him discover his powers. But when he shakes hands with Elijah, he sees that Elijah orchestrated multiple disasters such as a plane crash, a hotel fire and the train crash that led to David discovering his Super-Strength in the first place. Elijah's last lines solidify why he chose to become a villain, referencing an earlier flashback in his mostly solitary childhood.
- The opening scene has Mrs. Price give birth to her crying baby, Elijah. The doctor is then forced to explain why the baby didn't stop crying.
- Split spends two hours and change being a thriller about a man with split personalities and the three teenage girls he took prisoner. Then the final scene has this exchange, revealing that the film is a Stealth Sequel to Unbreakable and the possible beginning of a Shamyalan cinematic universe:Bar patron: It's just like that man in the wheelchair that they locked up fifteen years ago. They gave him a funny name too. What was it?
David Dunn: Mr. Glass. - Glass (2019): Joseph tells the Beast (One of the aforementioned split personalities in that man) one very crucial fact about Kevin's father, who was mentioned in Split as having left on a train when Kevin was young, and whose disappearance led to the creation of that monstrous persona. This revelation ends up strengthening the connections between Split and Unbreakable, rather than being just two films that told a supervillain and superhero origin story, respectively..
- Unbreakable:
- Edge of Tomorrow: "Come find me when you wake up" reveals that Rita knows exactly what's happening to Cage.
- Edward Scissorhands: When Edward returns to the Boggses' house after being arrested for the attempted burglary of Jim's house — which up to this point it appeared he'd been tricked into — Kim is forced to grapple with just how much he cares about her, despite her reciprocating his kindness only grudgingly, after this exchange with two wham lines:Kim: It must have been awful when they [the police] told you whose house it was.
Edward: I knew it was Jim's house.
Kim: You...you did?
Edward: Yes.
Kim: [horrified] Then why'd you do it?
Edward: Because you asked me to. - Elf:
- One line Buddy overheard from one of the elves discussing about him In-Universe.Elf: If he hasn't figured out that he's a human by now, I don't think he ever will.
- In-Universe. "Buddy, your father... he's on the naughty list." Cue Big "NO!" from Buddy.
- Not a line so much as an inflection, but while Walter generally has an air of repressed frustration, the only time he ever raises his voice in flat-out rage is when he screams at Buddy to get out of his life.Walter: I don't care where you go. I don't care you're an elf. I don't care that you're nuts! I DON"T CARE THAT YOU'RE MY SON! GET OUT OF MY LIFE! NOW!!!
- One line Buddy overheard from one of the elves discussing about him In-Universe.
- Erin Brockovich: A man named Charles Embry approaches Erin with evidence of PG&E's coverups.Charles Embry: Would it be important if, when I worked at the plant, I destroyed documents?
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Both because it completely changes how two characters are presented and because it serves as Foreshadowing for two more:Hollis: Don't be a monster, Howard. Tell the poor girl. You can have him. You did.
- Event Horizon:
- DJ tells Captain Miller that he transcribed more of Event Horizon's last transmission, which clarifies just what they are dealing with.
"I thougt it said Liberate me, 'save me'. But it's not me, it's Liberate tutemet. 'Save yourself'. And it gets worse... I think, that says, ex inferis. 'Save yourselves from Hell'. - Explorers: The main characters have their first encounter with an alien. One of them says I Come in Peace. This is the alien's response:"Ehhhh, what's up, Doc?"
- Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile: On the eve of his execution, after denying his crimes to his ex-girlfrend Liz for decades, Ted Bundy finally answers her demand to know what happened to a victim's head by writing it out on the glass barrier between them: "Hacksaw."
- Fast & Furious 6: The next Big Bad reveals himself:Deckard Shaw: Dominic Toretto? You don't know me. But you're about to.
- A Few Good Men:
- Kaffee sets in motion Jessup's Villainous Breakdown when he exposes a Logic Bomb in the latter's testimony:Kaffee: If you ordered Santiago not to be touched, and your orders are always followed, then why would it be necessary for him to be transferred off the base?
- And then:Kaffee: Did you order the code red?
Jessup: I did the job I—
Kaffee: DID YOU ORDER THE CODE RED?!
Jessup: YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DID!!!
- Kaffee sets in motion Jessup's Villainous Breakdown when he exposes a Logic Bomb in the latter's testimony:
- Fight Club:
- Plays with this with the repeated line, "It's called a changeover. The movie goes on, and nobody in the audience has any idea." While this line appears earlier in the movie in reference to a projectionist inserting subliminal porn into movies, it's repeated by the narrator later in a fourth-wall breaking manner at a critical moment that the protagonist (and we, the audience) are starting to realise that certain things we'd taken for granted have actually all been delusions suffered by our protagonist and that we therefore have to go back and re-interpret the film so-far.
- There are a multitude of lines in the film that hint at The Reveal:
- "Why do you think I blew up your condo?"
- "Is that a pretty accurate description of our relationship, Tyler?"
- "You're Tyler Durden."
- The Fly (1986): As Stathis is in Veronica's apartment, watching her video of Seth/Brundlefly's eating habits in abject horror — realizing at last exactly what she's been dealing with — she arrives in tears without a word of greeting. He follows her to the bathroom and asks what's wrong:Veronica: I'm pregnant.
Stathis: (relieved, sarcastic) Oh, no. (realization dawns) Oh, no.
Veronica: I'm pregnant with Seth's baby. - Get Out (2017): Rose Armitage reveals whose side she's really on when Chris tries to escape the Armitage house.
- Ghostbusters (2016): The Stinger at the very end of the credits:
- Ghostbusters: Afterlife: Phoebe uses her One Phone Call to get ahold of Ray Stantz, though when she brings up her grandfather, Egon Spengler:Ray Stantz: Egon Spengler... can rot in hell.
- Ghostwatch is extremely reliant on implication and dialogue over spectacle, so it naturally has a few of these.
- Dr. Pascoe realizing that the disarmingly normal footage coming out of the Haunted House isn't live footage. "This picture we're seeing now isn't live. This is some earlier footage, from earlier in the evening. This is just a cover, it's a dupe. This isn't happening now."
- Dr. Pascoe's realization a few minutes later that "We've created a séance. A massive séance."
- In the final moments of the film: "Didn't believe the story of Mother Seddons, did you...? Fee, fi, fo, fum..."
- G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: Rex, aka The Doctor, assumes the Big Bad role with a familiar moniker.Rex: The time has come for the Cobra to rise. You will call me... Commander.
- In Girl, Interrupted, Lisa asks Daisy how her father helps her cope with her mental issues.Daisy: My father loves me.
Lisa: I bet. With every inch of his manhood.
(A minute later)
Lisa: And everybody knows that he fucks you. What they don't know is that you like it. You like it. - The Girl With All the Gifts, when the non-human protagonist, who had been experimented on and generally dehumanized the entire movie, is considering whether to make a heroic sacrifice to save all of humanity:Melanie: "Subject's Responses: Exquisite mimicry of observed behaviors, question-mark." Do you still believe that, Doctor Caldwell?
Caldwell: Melanie, I—
Melanie: Do you?
Caldwell: ...No.
Melanie: We're alive?
Caldwell: Yes. You're alive.
Melanie: Then why should it be us who die for you? - The Godfather
- In Part I: During a limo ride with Hagen, Don Corleone reveals that he figured out who orchestrated the hit on Sonny:Don Corleone: Tattaglia's a pimp — he never could have outfought Santino. But I didn't know until this day that it was... Barzini all along.
- In Part II
- Fredo casually and inadvertently reveals himself as The Mole for Johnny Ola when he talks excitedly about a steamy sex club act. This is after he said he never met that guy before.Fredo: Johnny Ola told me about this place!
- Michael immediately realizes Fredo's betrayal and lets him know later on with a Kiss of Death:Michael: I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart.
- And then, Kay's revelation to Michael that her Convenient Miscarriage was anything but:Kay: It wasn't a miscarriage. It was an abortion.
- Fredo casually and inadvertently reveals himself as The Mole for Johnny Ola when he talks excitedly about a steamy sex club act. This is after he said he never met that guy before.
- In Part I: During a limo ride with Hagen, Don Corleone reveals that he figured out who orchestrated the hit on Sonny:
- In the case of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, it was its tagline: "On December 24, Godzilla Dies."
- After Dr. Miranda Grey in Gothika speculates about the psychological profile of a culprit trying to cover his tracks, this line by Doug's accomplice leaves zero doubt about the culprit's true nature and that Miranda's life is in danger.Sherrif Ryan: Well you're right. I do fit the profile. Long-time friend of Doug's, access to the prison. I never did get a kick out of torturing animals, though.
- The Grand Budapest Hotel: "He [Monsieur Gustave] did not, however, succeed in growing old." 1960s Zero says this of the fate of his old mentor, and we abruptly careen headlong into a Sudden Downer Ending.
- The Green Mile: An elderly Paul spoke to Elaine about his time as a corrections officer for the titular death row site; specifically, in the year 1935. That year was when John Coffey, a Gentle Giant with supernatural healing powers, was sentenced to death. The "wham" part comes at the end, when we discover how far John's magic spread to Paul.Paul: I am 108 years now, Elaine. I was 44 the year that John Coffey walked the Green Mile.
- Says Iben about her infant son Oliver in The Guilty:"He kept crying because he had snakes in his stomach. I just took them out."
- In Hard Rain, Jim is holding Tom hostage while in a gunfight with the local sheriff.Jim: I know you'd like nothing more than to shoot me, but in order to do that, you're gonna have to shoot through young Tom here!
Sheriff Mike Collins: Okay.- Earlier, Tom is stalling for time until the National Guard can respond to his trusted partner Charlie's call.Jim: They're not coming, Tom.
Tom: You intercepted Charlie's call.
Jim: No, son. They were never coming. We didn't "intercept" Charlie's call. He called us.
- Earlier, Tom is stalling for time until the National Guard can respond to his trusted partner Charlie's call.
- Algernon, assistant to the scientist Foot, from The Beatles movie Help!: "It's more than my job's worth to stop him when he's out like this. He's out to rule the world, if he can get a government grant." Following the revelation that the Beatles made a big mistake getting help from Foot, he saw what the ring that Ringo wore could do: "Fantastic! With a ring like that I could—dare I say it—rule the world."
- Hellraiser: Inferno: As Pinhead informs Joseph what has happened, he reveals it in one line:Pinhead: Welcome to Hell.
- Highlander: One that adds an extra layer of gravitas to the final battle between Connor and the Kurgan (admittedly more one for Connor himself, as audiences would have been aware of it):The Kurgan: Ramirez was an effete snob, he died on his knees! I took his head, and raped his woman before his blood was even cold!
- Holes has a rare positive example, revealing that Stanley's father has finally made a breakthrough in finding a cure for foot odor. Made even better by the fact that the speaker of said Wham Line doesn't immediately realize what she's just said.Stanley Yelnats III: Please, smell the shoe.
Mrs. Yelnats: (distractedly) I don't smell anything.
Stanley Yelnats III: You what?
Mrs. Yelnats: (Realization dawns) I don't smell anything! - Hotel Rwanda: A RTLM broadcaster orders his listeners to "Cut the tall trees! Cut the tall trees now!" Also doubles as a Real Life wham line since it also marked the beginning of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the deaths of over one million civilians.
- Colonel Oliver of the UN Peacekeepers when he dejectedly lets Paul know that the West is choosing to simply evacuate the non-Rwandans and refusing to use any force to prevent the genocide:"They're not going to stay, Paul. They're not going to stop the slaughter."
- Rutaganda does this again, when Paul tries to argue that they can't kill all the Tutsi, counters with "Why not? Why not? We are halfway there already!"
- Colonel Oliver of the UN Peacekeepers when he dejectedly lets Paul know that the West is choosing to simply evacuate the non-Rwandans and refusing to use any force to prevent the genocide:
- Hot Fuzz: Nick Angel has finally tracked down the conspirators responsible for the string of mysterious murders plaguing Sandford and is in the process of giving them a thorough dressing down when a sudden Shut Up, Kirk! reveals, to Nick's horror, both the identity of the real mastermind and the fact that the plot reaches much, much higher than he thought.Chief Inspector Butterman: Oh I wouldn't say that. Hello, Nicholas.
- The Hunger Games:
- The last lines of Gale in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, during this exchange:Katniss: Gale? Where's Prim?
Gale: She's alive. So is your mother. I got 'em out in time.
Katniss: Got them out?
Gale: After the Games, they sent in hovercrafts. And they started dropping firebombs.
Katniss: They're not in 12?
Gale: There is no District 12. It's all gone. - In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, President Snow delivers one to Katniss at the end of their video conversation, and by extension, to the audience and everyone else from District 13 watching it. Specifically, it reveals that he knows full well about District 13's rescue operation of the victors, despite initially making it seem like he was still oblivious to it.President Snow: Don't you think I know your friends are in the Tribute Center? [To his crew] Cut them off.
- In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, while some people might have doubts about Coin being evil, the moment she reveals that she intends to perform a Hunger Games with the Capitol children immediately clears any tone that the scene had in question and starts playing a bit of sinister music as Katniss and the others stew and vote right afterwards.Coin: In lieu of these barbaric executions, we hold a symbolic Hunger Games.
- The last lines of Gale in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, during this exchange:
I-M
- In the documentary I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story, Caroll mentions that NASA had asked him, since kids weren't that interested in rocket launches, that if he would go on their next flight as Big Bird. It took him and his wife a good long discussion, but he eventually agreed. However, NASA had to decline at the last second because there wasn't enough room for him. This anecdote becomes a lot more poignant once Caroll mentions when they watched the flight on the set of Sesame Street, revealing just what launch he nearly boarded:Caroll Spinney: They decided to have a teacher go on in my place...
- Indiana Jones
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- When Donovan tries to persuade Indy to help him find the Grail.
Indy: You've got the wrong Jones, Mr. Donovan. Why don't you try my father?
Walter Donovan: We already have. Your father is the man who has disappeared.- Later on, Indy rescues his father from a Nazi controlled castle only to find his companion, Dr. Else Schnieder has been captured by the Nazi commander. Henry tries to tell Indy that Elsa is a Nazi herself while the situation seems to get increasingly dire for her. Finally, he surrenders and she's released.
Elsa: Indy, I'm sorry. (Takes Henry's diary out of his pocket and goes back to the commander) But you should have listened to your father.- Another one comes up a minute later when Elsa and the Nazi commander lead the Joneses to the third member of their command, the man who sent Indy and his father on the quest for the grail.
Henry: I didn't trust her! Why did you?
Walter Donovan: Because he didn't take my advice. Didn't I tell you not to trust anyone? - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: As Indy and Marion are sinking in quicksand, they have this conversation about Mutt, a kid who recently joined Indy's quest. And then Marion drops this bombshell.Marion: He's your son.
- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: Helena asks Indy, hypothetically, what he'd do with the Antikythera mechanism if it worked, clearly thinking along the lines of Time Travel for Fun and Profit. Indy replies with a line that confirms the fate of Mutt, who has suspiciously been absent from the film so far.Indy: I'd stop my son from enlisting.
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Lampshaded by Matthew in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). He's called a high-level office to report the pod people's invasion, but doesn't yet identify himself:Woman on phone: Hold on, Mr. Bonnell.Matthew: How do you know my name? How do you know my name?
- As a result we and he realize just how far the pod people's invasion has gotten and that he and the other survivors are on their own.
- James Bond:
- From Goldfinger, Bond has just done a big talk on how Goldfinger can never hope to remove all the gold from Fort Knox before the authorities are on top of him.Goldfinger: Whoever mentioned anything about removing it?
- During the confrontation between the Soviet general Orlov and Bond in Octopussy, Bond states that there will be a retaliatory nuclear attack for detonating a warhead on an American base in West Germany. Orlov's response?
- GoldenEye has this in-universe, although not so much out of it. The Cold Open had established Alec Trevelyan as Bond's double-O comrade, who died in a mission they did together. But when the head of the sinister Janus syndicate is revealed later on, we hear, "Hello, James." and Bond just about goes into shock as Alec steps out of the shadows.
- Die Another Day's Cold Open seems to be going as planned, with Bond using a pseudonym to infiltrate a North Korean military base and intercept a weapons trade. However, after Colonel Moon's assistant, Zao, receives a mysterious text message, Colonel Moon suddenly blows up the helicopter that Bond was supposed to leave in. He then asks, "How do you propose to kill me now, Mr. Bond?". At this point, Bond's cover has been blown by an insider.
- Bond has succeeded in his mission to bankrupt Le Chiffre in the Casino Royale poker tournament, and his new girlfriend, Vesper Lynd, has offered to deposit the money. He then receives a call from his superior M, who drops this bombshell that makes Bond question Vesper's loyalties:M: Right now, I have a lovely gentleman from the Treasury wondering if you're ever going to deposit the winnings.
- In the Cold Open for Skyfall, an in-universe one occurs for M, listening in on Bond and Eve's new mission. It tragically ends with Eve accidentally sniping Bond on a train from far away, casing him to fall a high distance into the waters below. M asks what just happened, and after a Beat, Eve can only shakily respond with "Agent down". Although, Bond's fall was revealed to be a Disney Death not long after.
- During the Cold-Blooded Torture scene in Spectre.Franz Oberhauser: Franz Oberhauser died twenty years ago, James, in an avalanche alongside his father. The man you're talking to now, the man inside your head, is Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
James Bond: Catchy name.
- From Goldfinger, Bond has just done a big talk on how Goldfinger can never hope to remove all the gold from Fort Knox before the authorities are on top of him.
- Joker (2019):
- Arthur finds a letter from his mother to Thomas Wayne. One sentence stands out:"Your son and I need your help."
- When Sophie sees Arthur sitting on her couch, what she says reveals that she was never really dating him.Sophie: Your name's Arthur, right?
- More one for the movie as a whole and In-Universe than any individual plot twist:Joker: What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner, with a SOCIETY, that ABANDONS him, AND TREATS HIM LIKE TRASH?!
Murray: Call the police, Gene, call the police.
Joker: I'LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU GET! You get what you FUCKIN' DESERVE!
[Joker whips out his gun and shoots Murray in the head.] - And just before that, an Internal Reveal variety when he confesses to killing the Wall Street Three on live TV; the host thinks it's just one of his Black Comedy jokes and asks for the punchline, to which Joker responds, completely seriously, "There is no punchline. It's not a joke."
- Arthur finds a letter from his mother to Thomas Wayne. One sentence stands out:
- At the end of the final fight in John Wick: Chapter 4, where the Marquis is about to win his duel by shooting down a wounded John Wick:Winston: You arrogant asshole. He didn't shoot.
- Apparently invoked in the trailer for The Jungle Book (2016). We hear a female voice narrating ominously and don't find out who she is until half way through. But even if you can't see her, any Jungle Book fan will know who she is based on what she's saying alone, making The Reveal all the more shocking.Kaa: Trussssst...in me.
- Jurassic World has several of these:
- Early in the film, after Zach and Gray leave for the titular park, we have this line implying that their happy family isn't so happy after all...Scott: So much for our last family breakfast.
- When Owen is searching for the I. rex, Vivian manages to locate her...Vivian: It's in the cage! It's in there with you!
- When Owen and his trained raptors finally track down the I. rex, we get this line...Owen: I know why they wouldn't tell us what it's made of...that thing's part-raptor.
(cue the entire raptor squad giving their former leader a Death Glare) - Finally, at the climax, when everything's going insane, Claire has these instructions for Lowery...Claire: I need you to open paddock 9!
- Early in the film, after Zach and Gray leave for the titular park, we have this line implying that their happy family isn't so happy after all...
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: This line, which confirms that Maisie is actually a genetic clone of Lockwood's deceased daughter.Mills: Lockwood never had a grandchild. He just wanted his daughter back.
- Kaiji: Final Game:
- "The Last Judgement" reaches its final deadline for donations in each challenger's balance scale, with Kurosaki gloating to Kaiji that he has won the game by having more money than him. But Kaiji shuts that down with one observation.
- After the final "Human Scale" weighing, Kaiji and his team head off to enact Togo's plan. They will bribe politicians and stop the countrywide deposit blockade, which will be accepted through a "Ceremony of Fate" planned for tomorrow. They run into the main villain, Takakura, who not only compliments their performance, but also discloses why their plan won't work.
- Kill Bill:
- The film focuses on the Bride, an ex-assassin whose family, including her unborn daughter was killed on her wedding day, seeking revenge for her lost loved ones. At the end of the first half, Bill asks Sophie this question about the Bride.Bill: Is she aware that her daughter is still alive?
- The Whole Bloody Affair cut removes this entire scene between Bill and Sophie, so the viewer only finds out this secret when the Bride does, when she finally reaches Bill and...
B.B: "Freeze, Mommy!" - Midway through the Bride's confrontation with Elle Driver, the fourth target on her list, she learns something surprising about their mentor Pai Mei.The Bride: I was wondering, just between us girls, what did you say to Pai Mei for him to snatch out your eye?
Elle Driver: I called him a miserable old fool.
The Bride: Ooh, bad idea.
Elle Driver: You know what I did? I killed that miserable old fool.
(The Bride gasps)
- The film focuses on the Bride, an ex-assassin whose family, including her unborn daughter was killed on her wedding day, seeking revenge for her lost loved ones. At the end of the first half, Bill asks Sophie this question about the Bride.
- Last Christmas: When Kate enters Tom's apartment to reconcile with him, she is instead greeted by an estate agent, who tells her the apartment's been empty for months. During their ensuing conversation, she realizes that Tom had actually been killed in an accident last Christmas Eve, and that she can see his ghost because she received his heart during an emergency transplant that same night.Agent: Excuse my language. It's typical, that is. It's all that probate stuff that stops us from getting on with our jobs. That's the pro—
Kate: Probate?
Agent: Yeah, you know, when someone dies. It's a pain in the fundament.
Kate: (confused) Who's died?
Agent: Oh, previous owner.
Kate: ...Who?
Agent: Uh, some "Webster", I think. A youngish bloke. Sad, really. It was last Christmas, by all accounts. - A League of Their Own:
- Dot, overwhelmed by the sibling rivalry between her and Kit, goes up to Ira Lowenstein, and asks to quit. Lowenstein instead offers Dot a trade, which she agrees, assuming they'll trade her to another team. But when Kit shows up that night:Kit: Bitch! I've been traded to Racine!
- The Peaches prepare for a game in good spirits when a Western Union man comes with news that none of them were waiting for.:Western Union Man: Excuse me! Excuse me! I have a telegram for one of you ladies from the War Department.
(The Peaches' good spirits plummet.)
Western Union Man: Let's see here... boy, I hate these, these are the worst! The least the Army could do is send someone personally, to tell you your husband is dead. - Due to the Western Union Man's incompetence, he didn't get the recipient's name, forcing Jimmy to step in and deliver it himself. Dottie is practically hyperventilating at the thought of her husband's death.Jimmy: I'm sorry, Betty.
- Dot, overwhelmed by the sibling rivalry between her and Kit, goes up to Ira Lowenstein, and asks to quit. Lowenstein instead offers Dot a trade, which she agrees, assuming they'll trade her to another team. But when Kit shows up that night:
- In Legally Blonde, Chutney claims that she couldn't have committed the murder because she was in the shower. After some questioning from Elle, Chutney claims she had gotten a perm earlier that day. Elle says a seemingly unrelated story on how a girl in her sorority was hosed down after getting a perm, getting the perm ruined. Elle asks Chutney why the perm was ruined, and Chutney says it's because they get wet. Elle quickly reveals that Chutney knowing this completely destroys her alibi.
- Liar Liar's protagonist manages the rare feat of delivering one to himself, courtesy of the truth curse:Fletcher: [angry] Now you listen to me - I'm a bad father! I... I mean... [horrified] I'm a bad father...
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Olive's grandfather, Edwin, is the one who helped Olive with her dance routine for the beauty pageant she's to compete in and supports her the entire time. While the family is staying at a hotel, Olive finds her parents on the morning of the pageant.
- Olive's brother, Dwayne, has taken a vow of silence until he can become an Air Force pilot, communicating with his family by writing on a notepad. Shortly after Edwin's death, Olive is helping him with vision tests, but when they check for colorblindness, he can't see the letter hidden in a circle.Frank: Oh, man...
Dwayne: (Writes "What?" on his notepad)
Frank: (sighs) Dwayne, I think you might be colorblind.
Dwayne: (Holds the notepad up, asking "What?" again)
Frank: ...You can't fly jets if you're colorblind.
- Manborg has one at the very end, while Manborg is dying from his wounds. He sees a vision of his brother, which turns out pretty formulaic at first:Manborg's Brother: Hey, bro, it's me, your brother. Remember? I died at the beginning. I just wanted to let you know that I think you did great out there.
Manborg: [smiling]
Manborg's Brother: There is no heaven.
Manborg: [smile fades] No...heaven...?! - The Manchurian Candidate, revealing the true Big Bad:
- Maria Full of Grace: Lucy and Maria have swallowed each dozens of drug-filled pellets to smuggle them into the US. While they are in the plane, a sickly-looking Lucy tells Maria, "I don't feel well." They both know it means one of the pellets ruptured inside of her, and it is a death sentence.
- Masquerade (2021):Daniel: Goodbye, Casey-Rose.
- Matilda:
- After Miss Honey tells Matilda the story of the young girl who grew up and got away from her wicked aunt (Trunchbull), Matilda puts two and two together when they arrive at Miss Honey’s house.Matilda: This is the cottage from your story.
Miss Honey: Yes.
Matilda: The young woman is you! But then… no…
Miss Honey: Yes… Aunt Trunchbull. - Two right in a row at the film's climax, the second being an Internal Reveal.The Trunchbull: I broke your arm once before, I can do it again, Jenny!
Miss Honey: I am not seven years old anymore, Aunt Trunchbull!
- After Miss Honey tells Matilda the story of the young girl who grew up and got away from her wicked aunt (Trunchbull), Matilda puts two and two together when they arrive at Miss Honey’s house.
- The Matrix:
- From the first film: Neo is taken in by the police, set in a room with several men in suits, offering him his freedom in return for helping to catch a known terrorist. Neo instead decides on the choice where he gives them the finger and they give him his phone call. It's not entirely apparent what kind of film this is until this moment:Agent: Mr. Anderson... (puts his sunglasses back on) You disappoint me.
Neo: You can't scare me with this gestapo crap. I know my rights. I want my phone call.
Agent: Tell me, Mr. Anderson... What good is a phone call if you are unable to speak?
(Neo quickly finds himself unable to speak - his mouth melting into the rest of his face - and immediately freaks out) - The Matrix Reloaded: The Architect of the Matrix reveals to Neo that the war between humans and machines has lasted for much longer and is much more complicated than humans think. Cue these two lines from the Architect, which paints a bleak future for the human race.The Architect: You are here because Zion is about to be destroyed, its every living inhabitant terminated, its entire existence eradicated.
Neo: Bullshit.
The Architect: Denial is the most predictable of all human responses. But, rest assured, this will be the sixth time we have destroyed it, and we have become exceedingly efficient at it.
- From the first film: Neo is taken in by the police, set in a room with several men in suits, offering him his freedom in return for helping to catch a known terrorist. Neo instead decides on the choice where he gives them the finger and they give him his phone call. It's not entirely apparent what kind of film this is until this moment:
- Maverick: In the final scene; reveals who the real chessmasters are:Maverick: My old pappy always used to say, "there is no more deeply satisfying religious experience... than cheatin' on a cheater."
Sheriff Cooper: I never said that once! You've been misquoting me all your life! - Memento:
- "Sammy didn't have a wife."
- This one at the film's end:Leonard: When it's done, I'll know! It'll be different!
Teddy: I thought so too! I was sure you'd remember. But you didn't!
- Memoirs of a Murderer:
- The final interview has so many of these.
- For the first half of the movie, Masato Sonezaki came forward and claimed that he was the murderer of 5 kills he did 22 years ago. But his credibility is repeatedly challenged by reporter Toshio Sendo. In the aformentioned interview, Toshio demands that a restrained Masato tell the truth about himself. This leads to two revelations from Masato and detective Wataru Makimura; namely, that they were working together.Masato: I'm not the killer. I didn't write the book.
Toshio: Who wrote it, then?
Wataru: I did. - Masato's true colors continue to be peeled back by Wataru, who drops a bombshell on his real identity. It was someone who was believed to have committed suicide earlier in the movie."And he... he was Rika's boyfriend. Takumi Onodera."
- This segues into a series of flashbacks that show how Takumi and Masato are one and the same person. In the hospital, a severely injured Takumi tells Wataru what he wants to do next after many failed suicide attempts.
- So, with their motivations revealed, Wataru and Masato demand that a man claiming to be the real Tokyo Strangler tell them where Rika is. But he responds with this:"Real" Tokyo Strangler: I'm not the killer! I'm not him! I did this for money.
- For the first half of the movie, Masato Sonezaki came forward and claimed that he was the murderer of 5 kills he did 22 years ago. But his credibility is repeatedly challenged by reporter Toshio Sendo. In the aformentioned interview, Toshio demands that a restrained Masato tell the truth about himself. This leads to two revelations from Masato and detective Wataru Makimura; namely, that they were working together.
- However, nothing can compare to the final shocking reveal of who the real killer is. Toshio finds out that someone broke into his house, going down into a private room. Masato is sitting there, and says this:"Come to think of it, you were the first to react to the memoir. I described the case as if it was my artwork and that irritated you. Were you angered that I took credit for your murders?"
- The final interview has so many of these.
- Towards the end of Men in Black:Kay: I haven't been looking for a partner. I've been looking for a replacement.
- Midnight Run: Bounty Hunter Jack Walsh calls his employer, bondsman Eddie Moscone, to tell him he's apprehended his bounty, Charlie Mardukas. Eddie is thrilled until Jack delivers this:
- "Now say goodbye, you lyin' little piece of shit, because I'm letting him go!"
- And what is The Miracle of Morgan's Creek that's got the whole state in such a tizzy? "Six! All boys!"
- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation:
- Within the first few minutes of the movie, during Ethan's typical IMF briefing in the record shop:Recorded Voice: Good evening, Mr. Hunt. The weapons you recovered in Belarus were confirmed to be VX nerve gas, capable of devastating a major city. The bodies of the air crew were found less than 24 hours after they landed in Damascus. They were identified as low level Chechen separatist, with neither the access nor the ability to acquire the weapons they were transporting. This would support your suspicion that a shadow organization is committed to inciting revolution by enabling acts of terror in nations friendly to Western interests. IMF suspects this to be the same shadow organization you have been tracking for the last year also known as the Syndicate. IMF would be right. Normally, you and your team would be tasked with infiltrating and disrupting this terrorist network, but we have taken steps to ensure that this will not happen. Because we are the Syndicate, Mr. Hunt, and now we know who you are. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to face your fate. Pursue us, you'll be caught. Resist us, you'll be killed. And your precious Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck, Mr. Hunt. This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.
- The PM also drops one in London, to MI6 handler Chief Atlee:Prime Minister: He couldn't possibly be talking about that Syndicate, could he, Atlee? Because you assured me that, that Syndicate was merely an exercise.
- Within the first few minutes of the movie, during Ethan's typical IMF briefing in the record shop:
- Mission: Impossible – Fallout:
- In-Universe. After Julia helps Luther get the bomb ready for defusing, she hears him tell Benji and Ilsa that it's up to them to find the other bomb. This is an unpleasant surprise for her, to say the least.
- Out-of-universe, when "Solomon Lane" quotes a manifesto written by hidden villain John Lark, August Walker's line to "Lane" ends up revealing to the audience who he really is.
- This is how the true Big Bad of the Bollywood film Mohra is revealed:Vishal Agnihotri: [after tossing a paperweight at Mr. Jindal, who simply catches it barehanded] A blind man cannot defend himself so fast, Mr. Jindal.
- Motherless Brooklyn has two.
- Up until this point, Lionel Essrog has been investigating the nightclub Formosa, a word he overheard during Frank Mitta’s meeting before he was killed. Then, while talking to Paul, he overhears Paul saying the same word.Lionel: You said they’re working Formosa, what does that mean?
Paul: I said they’re working for Moses, you know, Moses Randolph. - Later, he is questioning Laura on a photo of Paul, who she claims to be her uncle, and her father Billy, and when she repeatedly says “No!” in response, he presses her harder under the belief she is hiding something from him. She then replies:Laura: No, that’s not my father Billy meeting with my uncle Paul, that’s my uncle Billy meeting with my father Paul!
- Up until this point, Lionel Essrog has been investigating the nightclub Formosa, a word he overheard during Frank Mitta’s meeting before he was killed. Then, while talking to Paul, he overhears Paul saying the same word.
- Mystery Road: The first half hour of the movie makes little reference to Jay's life outside of the police force. When he learns that a girl named Crystal was friends with the murder victim, it doesn't seem unnatural for him to visit her house and make awkward small talk with her mother, who he clearly knows. Then, once the reason behind his visit becomes clear, Crystal's mother utters this line.
- Mary: So, what? You're just here for work? Not here to see your daughter?
- Mystery Team: Earlier in the film, Jason overhears Leroy arguing with his employer on the phone. Later, he realizes who that was, and thus, the serial killer he and the team have been chasing:Robert: "Let's all just take a chill pill."
N-S
- A Nightmare on Elm Street
- A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
- In this entry, the characters learn of Freddy Krueger's origins from the mysterious Sister Mary Helenda. At the end, Neil follows her to a tombstone, Her tombstone, and learns her true identity as Freddy's mother:Neil: Oh my God. You were his mother.
- Another from Dream Warriors is when the heretofore heroine starts sing-songing the Freddy poem, and when she stumbles on the last line, Nancy, the heroine of the first movie, makes her entrance finishing the rhyme from the doorway.Nancy: Never sleep again.
- Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
- John Doe, whom the audience was led to believe to be Freddy's son, gets to call the old man out. Actually...
John Doe: I know why you let me go.
Freddy: Oh. Do you think I'm your daddy? Mm-mm! Wrong!
John Doe: But you let me live!
Freddy: Only long enough for you to bring me back my daughter!
- No Way Out (1987): "So did I" near the very end of the film. Not whammy in itself as much as it is for the fact that Farrell says it in Russian, which then prompts his interrogators to switch to that language as well and reveal that not only does "Yuri" exist, Farrell is Yuri.
- In Nothing but Trouble, Christopher and Diane are at the mansion of the twisted and tyrannical Judge Valkenheiser who has been secretly executing criminals who wiggled out of the legal system. After escaping, the pair go to the local state trooper's office to report this multiple murderer. They're soon showing up with almost a hundred cops and state troopers, smugly telling the judge it's over and ready to see him dragged off in handcuffs. They turn around...and every single cop smiles, waves and calls out "Hi, Judge Valkenheiser!" Too late, the couple realize not only are the local authorities aware of what the judge has been doing but even helping him.
- The short film Nursery Rhymes begins with a disheveled metalhead quietly singing "Old MacDonald" on the side of the road without context, making him appear mentally unwell. We get more context as we pan over the gruesome scene of a car crash, and finally on the scene of a crying little girl. The wham comes when the little girl tells the metalhead, "Keep singing," which makes it heartbreakingly clear that the man's not doing this to protect his own sanity.
- Nurse Betty: Bantering Baddie Buddies Wesley and Charlie's entire relationship is cast in a different light by Wesley's last word after he's shot.]Wesley: Daddy.
- In Oldboy (2003), Oh Dae-Su confronts the man who imprisoned him for 15 years which leads to this:Lee Woo-Jin: You keep asking me why I locked you up. You should be asking "Why did I let you out?"
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Mac passes a piece of chewing gum to (supposedly) deaf/mute inmate Chief and Chief says "Thank you."
- One Night in October: The woman telling Kate the story of the scarecrow killer's Start of Darkness says that what the farmer didn't know was that she was the one who killed his family, and that he entered into a blood pact with her, making him her murderous slave.
- The Ox-Bow Incident is about a Posse which carries out a Vigilante Execution of the men they suspect of murdering a man named Larry Kinkaid. When they arrive back in town, the Sheriff has this to say:"Larry Kinkaid's not dead."
- Pacific Rim: Uprising: Newt and Hermann have forced their way into Shao Industries HQ in order to deal with the little problem of the Shao drones turning into Kaiju hybrids and causing mayhem. Then things go off-track.Hermann: What are you doing?
Newt: What I've been working for the last ten years. I'm ending the world. - Paranormal Activity: The fourth film has one of these.Wyatt: My name's not Hunter!
- Paranormal Prison: From the boss regarding Shtog, who they show in one of three pictures on his office wall.Boss: The men in that picture died in a prison riot over 80 years ago.
- From Phantasm IV: Oblivion:Mike: So when's he coming back?
Jody: Jebediah Morningside never does come back... - In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, when the dreaded Kraken approaches the Black Pearl, Elizabeth realizes the bitter truth:Elizabeth: (to Jack Sparrow) It's you it wants, don't you see?
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End:
- During the meeting of the Brethren Court, the pirate captains vote for who should be the Pirate King. As usual, each captain votes for himself (or herself, in the case of Elizabeth and Mistress Ching). Then Captain Jack Sparrow casually says "Elizabeth Swann", giving Elizabeth two votes, where everyone else has only one, making her the new Pirate King.
- "The wind's with us". Said twice, by opposing leaders. Traveling in opposing directions. Cue the Maelstrom.
- Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Neil Page has finally reached Chicago, so he says his goodbyes to Del Griffith before taking the train home. But during the train ride, Neil remembers something about Del that seems off, so he heads back to the station and finds Del still sitting there.Neil: Del, what are you still doing here? Why aren't you going home?
Del: I, uh... I don't have a home. Marie's been dead for eight years. - The original five Planet of the Apes movies have a tendency to do this once per movie, usually with the big reveal that a character previously thought to be incapable of speech can actually talk.
- Planet of the Apes (1968): "Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" This is an in-universe example, since we the audience know that Taylor is only mute because of an injury; for the apes, though, this is them suddenly encountering a human that can talk for the first time ever.
- Beneath the Planet of the Apes: Nova simply shouting Taylor's name.
- Escape from the Planet of the Apes: Zira's outburst of "Because I loathe bananas!" Later in the film, Cornelius tells a story about the first time an ape ever spoke in his timeline's history ("He said no.") and it's clear that it came across as this.
- Conquest of the Planet of the Apes: Caesar's "Lousy human bastards!" And then at the end, when Lisa simply begs "No."
- Battle for the Planet of the Apes "Ape has never killed ape. Let alone an ape child." Not a You Can Talk? reveal, but a shocking Internal Reveal nonetheless.
- When the day is finally saved at the end of Pokémon Detective Pikachu, there's still two more mysteries left: What happened to Tim's father and why can Tim understand what Pikachu is saying? Mewtwo answers both questions with one shocking line:Mewtwo: The father you were seeking was with you all along.
- The Prestige has two: "A brother? A twin?" and the following exchange, though the wham factor is due to who says the line.Borden: You must be-
Angier: Lord Caldlow. Yes, I am. I always have been. - Primal Fear:
- Aaron Stampler has just been cleared of the murder his Split Personality, Roy, committed. He then lets something slip to his lawyer, Martin Vail, that he shouldn't have known: Roy's assault of the prosecutor:Aaron: Will you t-tell Miss Venable I'm sorry? Tell her I hope her neck is okay.
- And then, to top it off:
- Aaron Stampler has just been cleared of the murder his Split Personality, Roy, committed. He then lets something slip to his lawyer, Martin Vail, that he shouldn't have known: Roy's assault of the prosecutor:
- Primer: On the second iteration of the bench scene, "I hope you're not implying that any day is unimportant at Cortex Semi." The words themselves aren't important; what's important is that Aaron says that line even though Abe, exhausted, had failed to say the line it had been a reply to on the first iteration, revealing that Aaron had used a fail-safe and was repeating lines from memory, too.
- When Max and Leo find their guaranteed flop in The Producers:Leo: "Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp Through Berchtesgarden with Adolf and Eva."
- Prometheus: "You're pregnant." This is said to protagonist Shaw, who is normally sterile.
- Promising Young Woman:
- Cassie comes across Jordan Green, the Amoral Attorney of her best friend, Nina's rapist, Al Monroe. She fully expects him to not remember his misdeeds or deny them all together, only to find out the exact opposite:
Jordan: I remember her. Nina? Was that it? I’m sorry, I don’t remember her full name. It was Nina though, wasn’t it?.- Later, one of Cassie's earlier targets, Madison, gives her a video showing Nina's rape. While we don't see its contents on-screen, we hear a familiar voice shout "Oh my God. Whoa. This is insane." Said voice was of love interest, Ryan, who stood by and did nothing during the rape.
- From Psycho, while investigating Arbogast's disappearance, Sam sees a woman he assumes is Mrs. Bates. The sheriff, however, says it's unlikely because:Sheriff Al Chambers: Norman Bates's mother has been dead and buried in Greenlawn Cemetery for the past ten years.
- Pulp Fiction:
- "Garçon, coffee!" becomes one at the end - the first time, it was minutes away from the robbers putting their plan into action. When we hear it again at the end, it's the reveal that Jules and Vincent's last scene is in the same place at the same time.
- The scene in the apartment is relatively low-key, with Jules keeping up an air of affected friendliness even as he's implicitly threatening Brett for double-crossing Marsellus and completely controlling the conversation - everything anyone else says is in response to a statement or question directed at them from Jules, until he asks where they're hiding a briefcase, and Marvin speaks up without prompting:Jules: You, Flock of Seagulls, you know what we're here for? Why don't you tell my man Vince here where you got the shit hid at.
Marvin: (raising his arm) It's over there, it's-
Jules: I don't remember askin' you a Goddamn thing! - Butch's scene looks like he's going to get away scott-free with double-crossing Marsellus, his wife Fabienne telling him what she'd like to have for breakfast as he's dressing, until he interrupts her by asking, "where's my watch?" Everything that happens to him from that point is kicked off because he goes back to find that watch.
- Rain Man: Charlie Babbit goes to Wallbrook to locate the unnamed beneficiary of much of his father's estate. He meets that man and a doctor says this:
- Rebecca:
- In a one-two punch of wham lines, when the body of Maxim de Winter's seemingly perfect late first wife, the titular Rebecca, is discovered, after the second Mrs. de Winter spends the entirety of her marriage up to that point thinking Maxim was still and will always be madly in love with Rebecca, she both learns that he covered up her death and discovers what he really thought of her.Maxim: I knew where Rebecca's body was, lying on that cabin floor on the bottom of the sea.
The Second Mrs. de Winter: How did you know, Maxim?
Maxim: Because... I put it there.
[...]
The Second Mrs. de Winter: Maxim, why didn't you tell me before?
Maxim: I nearly did sometimes, but you never seemed close enough.
The Second Mrs. de Winter: How could we be close when I knew you were always thinking of Rebecca? How could I even ask you to love me when I knew you loved Rebecca still?
Maxim: What are you talking about!? What do you mean?!
The Second Mrs. de Winter: Whenever you touched me, I knew you were comparing me with Rebecca! Whenever you looked at me or spoke to me or walked with me in the garden, I knew you were thinking, "This I did with Rebecca, and this and this!" Oh, it's true, isn't it!?
Maxim: You thought I loved Rebecca? You thought that? I hated her! - Near the end of the film, Jack Favell, Rebecca's lover, is trying to get her death ruled a murder instead of suicide by digging up evidence that she was pregnant, and probably not by Maxim, giving her husband motive to kill her; this is what Maxim believes, and though her death was an accident, he knows he still faces certain conviction if she was pregnant. The two men and the investigating detectives pay a visit to Rebecca's doctor in London, Dr. Baker, who reveals that she had visited him (under the pseudonym Mrs. Danvers, actually her devoted maid's name) the afternoon before her death - but not for the reason any of them thought:Dr. Baker: You want to know if I can suggest any motive as to why Mrs. de Winter should have taken her life? Yes, I think I can. The woman who called herself Mrs. Danvers was very seriously ill.
- In a one-two punch of wham lines, when the body of Maxim de Winter's seemingly perfect late first wife, the titular Rebecca, is discovered, after the second Mrs. de Winter spends the entirety of her marriage up to that point thinking Maxim was still and will always be madly in love with Rebecca, she both learns that he covered up her death and discovers what he really thought of her.
- Red Eye: The seemingly nice Jackson Ripner reveals his true intentions."Just keeping the focus on you and your father."
- The big twist of Reindeer Games.Ashley: Don't go getting all noble with me, Rudy. Guy takes a shiv for you and you go moving in on his girlfriend?Rudy: Wait, wait...You said "guy who takes a shiv for you." I never said anything about a shiv. How'd you know it was a shiv?...I said he died, I never said 'how''.
- Re;member: Christopher Plummer plays Zev Guttman, an elderly Jewish man suffering from dementia. He spends the entire film attempting to locate Otto Wallisch, a Nazi war criminal living under the alias Rudy Kurlander. When he finally finds Kurlander, the Nazi says his name is actually Kunibert Sturm and tells Zev, "You are Otto Wallisch!". It turns out the two men had escaped Germany by pretending to be Jews and Wallisch's dementia had prevented him from remembering his true identity.
- Repo! The Genetic Opera:
- "You have your mother's eyes, her hair. I was told you died with her." Classic Wham Line example: you don't expect it, it's a major reveal (Nathan's been dressing up his daughter like her dead mom, wig and all, and told his friend she's dead), and it comes in the middle of a song where it's practically glossed over in favor of a much less shocking reveal ("I'm your... godmom").
- Even bigger example: "He's been poisoning your medicine!"
- Reservoir Dogs: Mr. Orange exchanges a few words with his captive, Marvin Nash.
- Return to Oz:
- The seemingly kind Princess Mombi reveals her darker intentions for Dorothy."You will be rather attractive, one day, not at all beautiful, you understand, but you have a certain prettiness, different than my other heads...I believe I'll lock you in the tower for a few years, until your head is ready. And then I'll take it."
- The Nome King reveals to Dorothy how he conquered OZ."My Ruby Slippers. They just... fell out of the sky one day- you were so anxious to get home. They're very powerful: they made it possible for me to conquer the Emerald City! Thank you."
- The seemingly kind Princess Mombi reveals her darker intentions for Dorothy.
- Riddick: The second mercenary captain gives his name when he takes charge:Mercenary Captain: Name's Johns.
- The Ring: Rachel locates Samara's body down the well she was thrown into and gives her a proper burial. Her son, Aiden, breaks it to her that by doing so, Samara is now free to spread her wrath."You weren't supposed to help her! Don't you understand, Rachel, she never sleeps."
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes: the obligatory reference to the original "Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" is followed by this:
- Later on, when Will asks Caesar to return home with him, the chimp replies, "Caesar is home," and he departs back into the woods while Will is left shocked hearing his surrogate son speak.
- Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves: Will Scarlet reveals to Robin why he hates him:"Knowing that ... our father loved you more than me."
- In The Running Man, Amber is hiding in a bunker and discovers the corpses of three men in jumpsuits. She reads the names to realize these are the previous year's "Victors" of the game, who had supposedly been seen on video celebrating their freedom on a desert island. Amber is then confronted by Fireball, whose words reveal the truth of the game being a sham.Amber: These...are Running Men. They're last year's winners.Fireball: No. Last year's losers.
- Sabotage (2014): "I took the money!"
- Savageland: "Teeth marks." This is the moment it becomes abundantly clear that whatever caused the Sangre de Cristo massacre wasn't natural.
- Saving Private Ryan: Captain Miller and his squad encounter a trio of GIs. Miller recognizes the name of one, and it's revealed he's the man they're looking for.Ryan: Yes sir, how'd you guess that?
- Saw:
- Saw: After the whole situation is seemingly resolved, Adam tries to look for the key for his shackle on the body of the apparent Jigsaw killer, Zep, only to find a tape recorder on Zep's person, which he plays. "Hello, Mr. Hindle", says Jigsaw, revealing Zep was in fact another victim trapped in another one of his games. Then comes the Wham Shot after the tape ends...
- Saw II:
- Kerry delivers one when she realizes that the Nerve Gas House's footage was pre-recorded. "It's not live."
- At the end, when Eric pushes the play button on the tape recorder in his hand, instead of Jigsaw's voice, it's Amanda's, who says "Hello, Eric..."
- Saw VI:
- Not so much the line as the one who delivers it once the voice on Seth Baxter's tape is decoded in front of Perez and Erickson.Hoffman: Right now you're feeling helpless.
- The reveal of what Amanda read on the letter that caused her Villainous Breakdown in Saw III.Hoffman: Amanda— you were with Cecil the night Jill lost Gideon. You killed their child. You know it, and I know it. So do exactly as I say; kill Lynn Denlon, or I will tell John what you did.
- Not so much the line as the one who delivers it once the voice on Seth Baxter's tape is decoded in front of Perez and Erickson.
- Scream has a few good ones when the villains reveal themselves:Billy: We all go a little mad sometimes.
- And then not 4 seconds later...Stu: (with the Ghostface voicebox) Surprise, Sidney!
- The opening scene has one as well.Casey: (on the phone with an unknown caller) Why do you want to know my name?
Caller:* Because I want to know who I'm looking at.
- And then not 4 seconds later...
- See No Evil, Hear No Evil: After Sutherland talks about how he turned off the lights to give himself an advantage during a fight, Wally asks a question that sets the scene for an evenly matched fight.Wally: How come I got the feeling I'm not the only blind person in this room?Sutherland: Because you have great intuition, Mr. Karew.
- Se7en John Doe's climactic confession clues in the audience as to who he intends his Envy victim to be:It seems that Envy is my sin.
- Serenity:
- "These are just a few of the images we recorded and you can see... it isn't what we thought."
- And the line that finalizes The Reveal:Wash: Reavers... They made them!
- Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows: "Come now. You really think you're the only one who can play this game?" As this said by Sherlock's intellectual equal, Moriarty, this serves as the audience's warning that Holmes' ability to plan his strategy before the fight won't help him this time.
- The Shining: Jack meets the ghost of his predecessor as the Overlook's caretaker, Mr. Grady, who tells him this Mind Screw revelation:"I'm sorry to differ with you, sir...but you are the caretaker. You've always been the caretaker. I should know, sir. I've always been here."
- For laughs: Mel Brooks' 1976 Silent Movie was just that, with all dialogue on title cards which gets hilariously subverted in the scene where they ask mime Marcel Marceau if he would appear in their film. In the only audible dialogue in the whole movie, we hear Marcel—whose work is exclusively silent—say "Non!"
- Sky High (2005): The Big Bad, Royal Pain, reveals their true identity.Gwen: And to mark this occasion, we've planned a special tribute to the most powerful super-being ever to walk the halls of Sky High. Me.
- Sleepaway Camp: In a flashback, it's revealed that Angela is actually her twin brother, Peter, raised as her by their Aunt Martha:Aunt Martha: Angela. Such a lovely name. Why I believe it means 'angel'! Why, yes, I'm sure it does! I know you're going to like that name, won't you Peter?
- This is followed by another Wham Line by one of the camp's counselors, Ronnie, after this reveal:
Ronnie: Oh my god... she's a boy! - The Social Network: Eduardo reveals just how much his shares in the company were diluted down to. Before he give her a number, he responds to his lawyer asking what percentage of the other Facebook heads' salaries was deducted when the company expanded with an increasingly frustrated "It wasn't," slowly revealing that he was budgeted out of his own company. But it turns out to be the wind-up to the reveal of just how devastatingly little he was left with.".03 percent."
- Some Like It Hot: Jerry/Daphne tries to shake off his unwanted admirer, Osgood Fielding III, with a Hurricane of Excuses, which finally has Jerry reveal himself as a man. Osgood's response is the legendary final line of the film.
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022): In The Stinger, Commander Walters is told of one of Robotnik’s black sites with a project that been worked on for fifty years:
- Sorry, Wrong Number: Also, a Title Drop. The murderer answers Henry’s call and says the title before hanging up.
- Soylent Green: The film concludes on an in-universe example, as while Detective Thorn finds out the secret of the titular food stuff in the climax, he spells it out to his C/O, Thatcher, in the end:"The ocean's dying. Plankton's dying. It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people."
- The Cold War thriller Special Bulletin has two of these. The film is presented as an actual news broadcast about a group of terrorists who build a 23-kiloton nuclear bomb, which they intend to detonate in the harbor in Charleston, South Carolina.
- The terrorists believe the Army has delivered over 900 detonators to them to be destroyed in the sea, only for it to turn out at the very last second that they've been duped.Megan Barclay: Oh my God...oh my God, those are troops!
- Later, when NEST begin disarming the bomb, someone slips up. A scientist commenting on the situation understandably has an Oh, Crap! moment. The bomb detonates seconds later, killing everyone standing nearby.Nils Johanssen: There is about a hundred pounds of explosives in there, geared to set off the chain reaction...they have put a match under the whole pile!
- The terrorists believe the Army has delivered over 900 detonators to them to be destroyed in the sea, only for it to turn out at the very last second that they've been duped.
- Spotlight: "Six percent of 1,500 is ... 90", in which the team realizes that there are in all likelihood far more child-molesting priests in the Boston archdiocese than the 13 they were already investigating.
- Stage Door: "It's Kay. She jumped before I could stop her."
- Star Wars:
- The Empire Strikes Back has arguably, the most famous Wham Line of all:Darth Vader: Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.
Luke Skywalker: He told me enough! He told me you killed him!
Darth Vader: No. I am your father.- Even earlier than that:Obi-Wan: That boy is our last hope.
Yoda: No... there is another.
- Even earlier than that:
- In Return of the Jedi:The Emperor: Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design!
- And during his confrontation with Luke on the new Death Star:The Emperor: Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!
- And during his confrontation with Luke on the new Death Star:
- The Phantom Menace: Qui-Gon tries to make sense of why Anakin Skywalker is so powerful at the age of ten, and asks Shmi Skywalker about Anakin's father. This is her answer:Shmi Skywalker: There was no father.
- Revenge of the Sith After just having a friendly talk with Obi-Wan, clone commander Cody receives a call.Palpatine: [over holo-com] Commander Cody, the time has come. Execute Order 66.
Cody: Yes, my lord. [to his men, pointing at Obi-Wan] Blast him! - Rogue OneTarkin: Lord Vader will handle the fleet.
- The Force Awakens:Supreme Leader Snoke: (to Kylo Ren) The droid we seek is aboard the Millennium Falcon, in the hands of your father, Han... Solo.
- The Last Jedi has a bunch, the first one being in the trailer itself.Luke Skywalker: It's time for the Jedi... to end.
- And later, during the confrontation between Kylo and Rey, when he forces her to face the truth about who her parents were.Rey: They were nobody.
- And later, during the confrontation between Kylo and Rey, when he forces her to face the truth about who her parents were.
- From The Rise of Skywalker
- Right in the first few minutes of the movie, we have this:Palpatine: My boy, I made Snoke. [Kylo passes by some unfinished Snoke clones in a tank of greenish bacta]
- Followed with:Palpatine: I have been every voice [Snoke's voice] you have ever heard [Vader's voice] inside your head. [Vader Breath]
- And later on, Kylo Ren reveals Rey has her own grandfather: the Emperor himself.Ren: You don't just have power. You have his power. You're his granddaughter. You... are a Palpatine.
- When it appears that Hux is going to execute Chewie, Poe, and Finn with a blaster, he instead opens fire on his own men.Hux: I am the spy.
- When Rey confronts Palpatine on his lair, at first it seems as though he is simply reenacting the throne room scene with Luke in Return of the Jedi. But then he reveals that he doesn't want to turn Rey to the Dark Side, he wants to become Rey.Palpatine: You will be Empress. We will be one.
- Right in the first few minutes of the movie, we have this:
- The Empire Strikes Back has arguably, the most famous Wham Line of all:
- From Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2Bill Biscane: What? Did you think I went though all this trouble just because Dad liked you best?
- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Not for us, but for Judge Turpin.Sweeney Todd: The years, no doubt, have changed me, sir. But then I suppose the face of a barber, the face of a prisoner in the dock, is not particularly memorable.
Judge Turpin: [with immense shock] Benjamin... Barker...
Sweeney Todd: BENJAMIN BARKER!!!
T-Z
- In the third and final story-within-a-story from Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, "Lover's Vow":Carola/The Gargoyle: YOU PROMISED NEVER TO TELL!
- The Tall Man:
- David recognizes his abductor:
David: (to Mrs. Johnson) Mommy! - Ten Dead Men: The only line said by The Voiceless protagonist Ryan as the Projects Manager attempts to bargain with him, offering him a place in Hart's organisation:Ryan: I killed Hart two days ago.
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day: it's near the end, but damn, is it a Viewer Punch.T-800: No. There's one more chip. And it must be destroyed also. (Points to himself)
- Eariler in the movie, when John finds himself cornered by two Terminators...T-800: Get down. (shoots T-1000)
- Eariler in the movie, when John finds himself cornered by two Terminators...
- Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines: Thanks to the name of the film, it was a foregone conclusion that the machines would take over, but you didn't know exactly when until...:John: There doesn't have to be a war! We can stop it.
T-850: There is insufficient time. The first launch sequences will be initiated at 6:18 p.m.- Near the end of the movie...John: This isn't Skynet... This is a fallout shelter for VIPs. Only they never got the warning. There's nothing here! Why didn't he tell us? Why did he lead us down here?
Kate: To live. That was his mission.
- Near the end of the movie...
- Terminator Genisys has two right after Kyle Reese first makes it to the past.
- First is when he asks a nearby cop what the date is, the same as in the original Terminator film, only to realize the cop is a Terminator.Kyle: What day is it?! What year?!
"Officer": May 12, 1984. The day you arrive. - The second is when Reese finds his role reversed as Sarah Connor saves him.Sarah: Come with me if you want to live! Now, soldier!
- First is when he asks a nearby cop what the date is, the same as in the original Terminator film, only to realize the cop is a Terminator.
- Terminator: Dark Fate has one during the plane scene. Dani is in acceptance over birthing a child who will one day become the leader of the human resistance and save the world from the malevolent AI Legion, just like Sarah Connor's situation against Skynet a few years ago. But then, augmented human Grace, who was sent from the future by the resistance to protect Dani, drops this line, flipping the script on who the future leader actually is."I've seen that look too many times before."
- The Thing (2011): It is established that the titular Thing can perfectly imitate other life forms, but cannot replicate inorganic material. When Kate and Carter are alone together after having destroyed the ship The Thing tried to use to escape, Kate reveals that she always knew he was human because of his earring. Carter feels for the earring, which is now absent."It was your other ear."
- tick, tick... BOOM!: Jonathan, having hit Rock Bottom, visits his friend Michael, a successful stockbroker, and proceeds to give him a long "Reason You Suck" Speech about how he sacrificed his integrity for money while Jonathan himself has had no success whatsoever in his dream to become a playwright. He concludes the spiel by asking how Mike could possibly have gone through anything even remotely as bad as that... prompting Mike to defeat Jonathan's whole argument with three words:Michael: I'm HIV-positive.
- When Ellen is being examined by Dr. Beckham in To the Bone, she's pretty much talking to him like any other previous doctor she's had and trying to put off a false innocence. He's having none of it, establishing his character in the film.Dr. Beckham: I talk to kids like you all day, every day. So I know that you are, as a rule, full of shit.
- The John Wayne film The Train Robbers has him and his gang pulling a robbery to help the widow of a former robber balance things for her son. They end up pulling it off, giving her both the gold and the reward money for herself and her son to start a new life. The train is starting to pull out when the mystery man following them reveals himself to be a Pinkerton agent and as the train leaves, tells them how Matt Lowe was shot in a brothel five years earlier.Agent: I was there. So was she. She worked there. Her name is Lilly, two "L's". Matt Lowe was never married.
- Trading Places: While hiding in the Duke & Duke washroom, Billy Ray Valentine overhears the Duke brothers talking about their bet affecting Valentine and Louis Winthorpe, with two major lines:
- "Here: one dollar.". When they make the bet, they simply say "the usual amount", but this line reveals how much their bet is actually worth. The fact they ruin people's lives over just one dollar make them more vile and petty than ever. This is mockingly used against them at the end of the movie.
- "Do you really believe I would let a nigger run our family business, Randolph?" cements the idea that both of the Duke Brothers want nothing to do with Valentine after the experiment (and makes Valentine aware of this fact). After this line, the plot changes from "let's watch this hilarious swapping of lifestyles" to "let's watch them take those miserable SOBs down!" The fact that both brothers also now consider Winthorpe damaged goods after his rampage sets up the final team-up between him and Valentine.
- Transformers Film Series:
- Delivered by Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon.Sam: Hey, you've got to guard him, 'cause he's the key to the whole thing.
Sentinel Prime: Indeed I am. What you must realize, my Autobot brothers, is we were never going to win the war... For the sake of our planet's survival, a deal had to be made... with Megatron. - Transformers: Age of Extinction: This line, from Lockdown. "You think you were born? You were built. And your creators want you back."
- When Galvatron first speaks; it's also one for the characters, since he isn't supposed to do that.Optimus Prime: You have no soul.
Galvatron: That is why I have no fear!
- When Galvatron first speaks; it's also one for the characters, since he isn't supposed to do that.
- Transformers: The Last Knight has The Reveal that a certain bit of lore from another canon has indeed made its way to the movie-verse:Quintessa: The planet you know as Earth once had another name: Unicron.
- Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has The Stinger: Everything's all well again and Noah's is being sought to be recruited for something. The recruiter gives him a business card so he can think it over before disappearing into a large hangar room. You think it's Sector 7, until Noah flips the card around and reads what's on the other side:Noah: G.I. Joe?
- Delivered by Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
- The plot of the second segment in Trilogy of Terror II has a mother bringing her dead son back to life with black magic. The boy turns against her with an intent to kill, but in the ending, reveals that he isn't her son at all, but a demon."Bobby": Bobby didn't wanna come back, mommy. Bobby hates you, mommy. So he sent me instead.
- TRON: Legacy: Kevin Flynn reveals to his son that Quorra is the last surviving ISO.
- Also in the climax: "I fight for the Users."
- In Unfriended, Blaire tries to apologize to the ghost of her best friend, Laura, who has killed all of her other friends due to their involvement in the creation of the video that lead to Laura committing suicide, when Laura's ghost says this to Blaire.Laura: "Drifted apart"? Is that how you remember it? I think there's more to the story.
- In United 93, for the Real Life passengers when they finally realize what's going to happen to them. By this time, they know that the World Trade Center and Pentagon have been hit by hijacked planes and theirs is inevitably the next one on that list.Tom Burnett: Hey, this is a suicide mission. We have to do something. They are not gonna land this plane.
- Us:
- Jason asking "How many of everyone is there gonna be?" after finding out they are not the only ones with Tethered doubles.
- Red telling Adelaide that she could have taken her with her that night on the beach. This tells the audience that Red is the real Adelaide, and "Adelaide" was the Tethered version who replaced her on that night.
- The Usual Suspects:
- It goes from a usual heist film to something else altogether when Kobayashi walks in and says "I work for Keyser Soze." The men in the room all fall silent, knowing that he is a feared and near-mythical crime lord.
- Near the end of Agent Kujan's interrogation, he rattles off his theory that Dean Keaton orchestrated the entire scheme because he was Keyser Söze all along. The final line that hits Verbal Kint in the face is when Kujan tells him that Keaton's girlfriend Edie Finnerman has been found shot to death.
- Chillingly inverted in the Crapsack World of Visioneers, in that it's read on the back of a business card after what first appears to be the Wham Line. "Kill the thing you love."
- The Wave (1981): Mr. Ross addresses a pep rally of student followers of The Wave, one of whom is not convinced the movement's "leader" doesn't exist.
- Student: There is no leader, is there?Ross: Oh, yes there is. (shows a recording of none other than Adolf Hitler) There's your leader!
- In German remake The Wave (2008), Marco expresses his concerns to Herr Wenger about the Wave's escalation, and says to him, "I don't think you've got this under control anymore, not at all."
- Rainer at first appears to ignore Marco but calls a grand meeting of the wave the next day, at which he announces his ambitions of German political domination, to rapturous support. Marco, believing him to have gone mad, speaks out, and Rainer has him dragged up on stage, to ask the students holding Marco, "If I asked you to, would you kill him?" This is somewhat subverted however when Herr Wenger reveals to Marco and the group that the whole point of the meeting was to demonstrate that the Wave was out of control, and he never intended to hurt Marco.
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Judge Doom reveals himself to be a Toon, and on top of that, the Toon that killed Eddie's brother.Judge Doom: Remember me, Eddie?! When I killed your brother, I talked... (voice gets high and squeaky) JUST...LIKE...THIIIIIIIIIS!
- And earlier, when Eddie is interrogating R.K. Maroon about his deal with Cloverleaf Industries to sell his studio and the Acme gag factory.R.K. Maroon: I've been around Toons all my life! I didn't want to see them get destroyed!
- And earlier, when Eddie is interrogating R.K. Maroon about his deal with Cloverleaf Industries to sell his studio and the Acme gag factory.
- The Whole Truth (2021): When Pim remembers that Putt's been coughing up blood since he and Pim started living with their grandparents, and Wan made Putt start drinking milk.Pim: Grandma, what have you been giving Putt?
- The VVitch: Black Phillip, the Billy Goat, finally speaks:Black Phillip: What dost thou want?
- Wizarding World:
- In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry and Moody at the denouement have a conversation about Cedric's fate and Voldemort's return when Moody says something that gives Harry pause, in true I Never Said It Was Poison fashion:Moody: Were there others? In the graveyard, were there others?
Harry: Um... I don't... think I said anything about a graveyard, professor. - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
- In the second part, Harry uses Snape's tears to look in his memories. In them, he finds a conversation of him with Dumbledore, who tells Snape that as Harry's mother took the Killing Curse for him, something happened that explains Harry's powers being very similar to Voldemort's."A part of Voldemort lives inside him."
- After Voldemort's defeat by Harry, the former explains to Ron and Hermione why the Elder Wand failed Voldemort: Draco, not Snape, became the Elder Wand's master after the former disarmed Dumbledore. Then, all that changed with one crucial moment.Harry: Until... the other night, when I disarmed Draco at Malfoy Manor.
Ron: So that means...
Harry: ...it's mine.
- In the second part, Harry uses Snape's tears to look in his memories. In them, he finds a conversation of him with Dumbledore, who tells Snape that as Harry's mother took the Killing Curse for him, something happened that explains Harry's powers being very similar to Voldemort's.
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The true identity of the Obscurial is revealed when Graves returns to the destroyed orphanage and runs into the only person left.Graves: Credence... I owe you an apology.
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald has the reveal of Credence's true identity in some of the last lines of the movie:Grindelwald: It is your birthright, my boy. As is... the name I now restore to you. Aurelius... Aurelius Dumbledore.
- Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: Newt overhears Dumbledore talking to his brother, Aberforth, about Credence. This line is dropped, finally confirming who Credence really is.Dumbledore: He's your son, Aberforth.
- In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry and Moody at the denouement have a conversation about Cedric's fate and Voldemort's return when Moody says something that gives Harry pause, in true I Never Said It Was Poison fashion:
- X-Men Film Series:
- In X-Men, Wolverine and Rogue have been chased and attacked several times by Magneto's band of mutants. The X-Men come to the conclusion that Magneto's after Wolverine, possibly due to his self-regeneration abilities. Then Magneto corners the pair in a train station and has Wolverine completely at his mercy...Wolverine: What do you want from me?
Magneto: You? My dear boy, whoever said I wanted you? [Wolverine turns to look at Rogue] - Logan:
- Laura's "De nada." Played for Laughs, as Logan is very annoyed that she didn't say anything before.
- When we first see Xavier, Logan walks in silently while Charles is rambling on about Taco Bell and other random things. Just when you think they're going to start playing the Scatterbrained Senior trope for comedy, Charles looks at Logan, one of his oldest friends, and says "Who are you?".
- In a more serious sense, Xavier realizing that he killed some of the X-Men is also one as we only got a hint of this earlier and it changes the aspect of Xavier being a funny old man into quite the Tragic Hero.
- Deadpool 2: Wade initially thinks the "grumpy old fucker with a Winter Soldier arm" attacking the Ice Box is after him, and tells Russell to get the hell away in order to protect him. Then they come face-to-face with the man himself, and...Cable: Hello, Russell.
- In X-Men, Wolverine and Rogue have been chased and attacked several times by Magneto's band of mutants. The X-Men come to the conclusion that Magneto's after Wolverine, possibly due to his self-regeneration abilities. Then Magneto corners the pair in a train station and has Wolverine completely at his mercy...
- A funny example from Young Frankenstein: after it's revealed that Frau Blucher note has been riling up the Monster, this reveals that she was Frankenstein, Sr's girlfriend:
- In Costa-Gavras's political thriller Z, the protagonist is a young public prosecutor of an unidentified Mediterranean country, (strongly implied to be Greece just before the 1967 coup), who investigates the death of an opposition MP. When the witnesses say that it was a "murder" orchestrated by the powerful military, he fastidiously corrects them saying that, unless otherwise proven, it must be presumed that the MP's death was the result of an "accident". Then, towards the end of the film, he is interrogating a member of the conspiracy:Public Prosecutor: Then, I assume that the fact that you were on the scene of the murder was purely casual.
Stenographer: Excuse me, Mr Prosecutor. Must I write «murder»? You have said «murder». - Zodiac has this happen twice. The first is when Graysmith is talking with a sister of one of the Zodiac's victims and trying to get the name of a man who might be the killer. Just as he is about to leave, she tells him "It was Leigh" The second occurs when he is talking to a man who is a friend of another suspect. After telling the man, Robert Vaughn, that the reason he believes this man's friend, Rick Marshall, is the Zodiac is due to some handwriting on a movie poster, Vaughn replies with: "Rick didn't draw any of the posters. That's my handwriting".
