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August 14, 2008
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"Go ahead, make my day." "Hasta la vista, baby." "Yippie-kai-yay, motherf**ker."
These are the tough guy movie lines so near and dear to our hearts. We love them because we wish we had said them. Like that time the kid in second grade stole our milk money. Or when the boss passed us over for that promotion. Or that time when we mowed down a gang of Crips with an uzi on the way to a Phil Collins concert.
The Movie: Cobra
The Tough Guy: Sylvester Stallone as Lieutenant Marion "Cobra" Cobretti
The Situation: Renegade cop Cobretti is called in to bust up a supermarket holdup. After waiting out the baddie and drinking a sip from a nearby display of Coors, he confronts the wired gunman with his own diagnosis...a prescription for pain.
What Makes It So Tough: That a great line can still rise like cream to the top of an otherwise terrible movie. Sure, it's hokey, but it's effective. In fact, Warner Brothers pretty much built their entire advertising campaign for this Dirty Harry knockoff around the concept - "Crime is a disease. Meet the cure." Indeed, these movies were like a plague in the '80s, a new Stallone, Schwarzenegger or Seagal flick coming out every week with a new kill line for each. This line was one of the few that proved contagious.
