Can You Guess The Most Popular Movies of All Time From a Single Sentence Summary?

In The Wizard of Oz (1939), young Dorothy opens her door, leaving sepia-toned Kansas and entering Technicolor Munchkinland. Her full quote is “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Spoiler alert: Dorothy was in Kansas the whole time, except in her imagination. She was dreaming (or hallucinating) after she was knocked out during a tornado.

Gone With the Wind (1939) glosses over the evils of slavery, but Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara are fascinating characters for the ages. When the movie was being filmed, some thought they should tone down Rhett's shocking word, “damn.” Luckily, the line remained.

In the Empire Strikes Back (1980), no one ever says, “Luke, I am your father.” Darth Vader’s actual words are “No, I am your father.” The incorrect version of the quote is an example of the Mandela effect, a phenomenon in which many people misremember something.

Frank Kapra’s movie It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) is a treasured Christmas classic today, but it was not always so appreciated. Someone at Republic Pictures failed to renew the copyright for the film, so it fell into the public domain. For years, television stations aired it during the holiday season for free, and a tradition was created. We’re the lucky ones, because Christmas wouldn’t be the same without little Zuzu Bailey’s famous words: “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.”

In Back to the Future, teenager Marty McFly travels back in time to 1955, and his own mother, Lorraine, gets a crush on him. Major butterfly effect! Marty’s mom must marry Marty’s dad so that Marty can continue to exist in 1985. You can’t blame Lorraine for her feelings, though. She doesn’t know that Marty is her son, and he has such advanced taste in fashion and music.

The animated movie Bambi (1942) features one of the most heart-wrenching scenes ever, when young Bambi’s mother is fatally shot. Luckily, Bambi has good friends, Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk, by his side. Disney's animators had no computer technology to help them, so they worked extra hours to ensure that Bambi’s spots were consistent from frame to frame.

Audiences laughed nervously when they heard Roy Scheider, who played Chief Brody, utter the words “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Brody had just seen the great white shark that was responsible for many gruesome attacks. This line was ad-libbed by Scheider. It had been a running joke among the crew because the support boat that carried much of their camera equipment was too small.

Airplane! (1980) may be the best comedy movie ever made, and it turned actor Leslie Nielsen into a comedy star. Robert Hays starred as the former pilot with a drinking problem—whenever he raises his water glass, he splashes himself in the face.

The Exorcist (1973) was the first horror movie to be nominated for a best picture Oscar. Regan, the possessed girl, was played by actress Linda Blair, who was also nominated. Regan’s demonic sounds were produced by a combination of pig squeals and the voice of radio actress Mercedes McCambridge. The entire set was refrigerated so that audiences could see the characters’ breath.

The movie musical West Side Story (1961) features a love story that is doomed from the start, due to the gang rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks. Tony and Maria famously sing the song Somewhere: “There’s a place for us / Somewhere a place for us / Peace and quiet and open air / Wait for us somewhere.”

In Forrest Gump (1994), the title character meets up with a number of famous people, including JFK and John Lennon. Stock footage was digitally mixed with new Tom Hanks shots to create amazing scenes that never really took place.

Field of Dreams (1989) is surprisingly touching, despite its odd premise. There’s something so American, so sentimental, about a father and son playing catch. And who doesn’t feel bad for Shoeless Joe, who may have been falsely accused during the Black Sox Scandal in 1919? What would you do if you heard a voice in your head: “If you build it, he will come”?

Pixar’s WALL-E (2008), is among the best full-length computer-animated movies. The first 40 minutes or so contain virtually no dialogue, but we learn so much about WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter:Earth-Class) and his dystopian world. His relationship with EVA (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) is a romance for the ages.

Rocky (1976) is about Rocky Balboa’s determination to beat champion Apollo Creed in the ring. A Steadicam was used for the first time to film the iconic scene when Rocky runs up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The next time you’re in Philadelphia, visit the statue of Rocky, then jog up the steps and raise your arms in victory.

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), inmate R.P. McMurphy pretends to be crazy so he can serve his sentence in a psych ward rather than in prison. This strategy backfires in a horrific way, largely due to the evil Nurse Ratched. Only a Native American known as Chief Broom offers hope for the future.

The year 2001 sounded so futuristic in 1968, when 2001: A Space Odyssey was released. Someone wiser will have to explain what is going on with the black monoliths in the film. The evil computer HAL sings “Daisy, Daisy” as it loses higher function because the song was one of the first things it learned. In real life, in 1961, the IBM 7094 mainframe was programmed to sing the song “Daisy Bell,” better known as “Bicycle Built for Two.”

Citizen Kane (1941) is often called the greatest movie ever made. Some elements that seem cliché today, such as a calendar spinning to indicate the passage of time, were innovative in the moment. The story is loosely based on the lives of media barons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. The main character, Charles Foster Kane, whispers the word “Rosebud” on his deathbed, but no one understands why. A poignant scene at the end of the film reveals all.

The Alfred Hitchcock movie Psycho (1960) is famous for its shower scene that implies much more than it shows. It happens to be the first movie scene with a toilet, but that’s beside the point. Hitchcock’s crew auditioned a variety of melons before deciding that the casaba melon made just the right sound when it was stabbed.

In Casablanca (1942), Rick Blaine owns a nightclub in Morocco. His former love, Ilsa, arrives in town with her husband, Victor Laszlo. The Laszlos are working to defeat the Nazis during World War II. Rick helps the couple evade their enemies, and he utters another famous line: “We’ll always have Paris.”

These lines were spoken by the actor Marlon Brando, playing former boxer Terry Malloy, in On the Waterfront (1954). He had thrown an important fight in Madison Square Garden, as ordered by his brother and his union boss. Brando won his first Academy Award for this role.