Frankly, my dear… they don't give a damn! Most Brits don't recognise classic film quotes - how many catchphrases do YOU know?

Published: 00:46, 9 June 2026 | Updated: 00:46, 9 June 2026 Less than half of Brits recognise some of the most iconic quotes in cinema history, according to new research. A poll of 2,000 people conducted for Great TV found less than half of Brits recognised iconic lines from some of the greatest films ever made, including Gone With The Wind, The Shining, The Graduate and The Godfather. Around 40 per cent recognised Forrest Gump's view that 'Life is like a box of chocolates', while 41 per cent recognised Clark Gable's sign off to Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind that, 'frankly, my dear... I don't give a damn'. Thirty per cent of viewers knew iconic lines from A Few Good Men and Dirty Dancing, and a fifth recognised Bruce Willis' foul-mouthed 'yippie-ki-yay' taunt from Die Hard. Younger viewers were more likely to recognise famous lines from Disney films such as Frozen and the Lion King, as well as those said in films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But only a handful of lines were recalled by a majority of Brits. They included the iconic 'May the Force be with you' from Star Wars, and E.T.'s desire to 'phone home' as said in the 1982 Steven Spielberg classic. Less than half of Brits recognise Clark Gable's iconic 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn' from Gone With The Wind A majority did, however, recognise Arnold Schwarzenegger's warning of 'I'll be back' from The Terminator (pictured) The best known line among the 2,000 people polled was 'May the Force be with you', from Star Wars (starring Alec Guinness, pictured) A majority also recognised Arnold Schwarzenegger's warning of 'I'll be back' from The Terminator, and around 31 per cent also recognised the robot assassin's 'Hasta la vista, baby' from the sci-fi film's sequel. Among the lowest-charting lines were Marlon Brando's 'I coulda been a contender' from On The Waterfront and Heath Ledger's 'Why so serious?' from Batman adaptation The Dark Knight. Surprisingly, the final line from Back To The Future - 'Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads' - was recognised by just one in 10 film lovers.  Lines from modern day cultural phenomena such as The Hunger Games and the cinematic adaptations of The Lord of The Rings also went largely unrecalled. Overall, Gen Z recognised just 17 per cent of the lines polled, while Gen Xers aged 45 to 61 were the nation's biggest movie buffs with a third identifying all 40 movies successfully. Kate Garland, of Great, saiod: 'We love celebrating movies from every generation at Great, and it's clear that Gen X do too – they're the ones you'd want in your pub quiz team when the film round starts.' Percentages are the proportion of Brits who recognised each film. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.