Source: Planet of the Apes

Speaker: George Taylor

Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!

Context

This line was spoken by George Taylor (played by Charlton Heston) in Planet of the Apes, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner (1968).

When the astronaut George Taylor (from the year 1972) ends up on a planet in the 40th century where apes have enslaved humans and turned them into non-verbal play things, he is quite distressed. Also, he can't stop getting taken captive by gun-toting gorillas on horses, who want to take him to an orangutan scientist for castration.

In his stress and anger, he yells a line that would later end up being used for quick comedy instead of pathos. Old sci-fi is great for unintentionally humorous lines like that, and the line is so classic that a character in the 2011 Planet of the Apes prequel (played by Tom Felton) shouts it as well.

Where you've heard it

This line has been spoofed maybe a little too much over the years, and even if you haven't seen the original Planet of the Apes, you've probably heard this line on Family Guy, The Big Bang Theory, Futurama, or that episode of Mad Men where Don Draper is a good dad and takes his son to see Planet of the Apes.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Quoting a line from a movie that spawned a multimillion dollar franchise isn't really what we define as pretentious. Pretentious would be you quoting the French novel that Planet of the Apes was based on.

See All Quotes