<p>My son had a movie quote poster in his suite. My recollection was that there were 100 movies on the poster. I recall that he could identify about 40% of the quotes and one of his roommates could only identify about 10. He was amazed that I knew all but about 5 quotes.</p>
<p>I think some movies are iconic (very few) because they redefine a movie genre or type. I think other movies are cultural identifiers and become a shortcut to an explanation. Therefor these cultural movies are in some respects more important that even iconic ones because you may need them in everyday speech.</p>
<p>If someone says “I think we need a bigger boat”, it means that the problem is much larger than you were expecting. If you have never seen Jaws, that may not be your conclusion.</p>
<p>“Make my day” not only means that the party is pretty much at the end of his patience, but is also the shorthand name given to many gun defense laws across the country.</p>
<p>Shortly after starting his first job, my son was requested to attend a brainstorming session with some of the higher level executives. He was just sitting and taking notes and after everyone was done talking, the President of the company asked him for his opinion. The President was sufficiently pleased with his response that he put his hand on my son’s shoulder and said to the others “My date”. Two words. Pretty cryptic. But if you have seen The American President, it conveys much greater affirmation. BTW, I did not get the reference, my son had to explain it to me.</p>