Context

This line is spoken by Carl Denham (played by Robert Armstrong) in the movie King Kong, directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack (1933).

This classic monster movie is about a director named Denham who travels to an exotic island to shoot a film—only to discover that the island is inhabited by a giant gorilla named Kong. Things just get weirder when Kong starts crushing on the film's star, Ann Darrow (Fay Wray).

Things get weirder still after Denham takes Kong to NYC to put him on display. Kong's not too cool with this. So he nabs Ann and climbs to the top of the Empire State Building, where he's mowed down by planes. Of course, as Denham tells a cop at the end of the movie, it wasn't really the planes that killed Kong, it was his love of the beautiful Ann.

Click here to see the original line.

Where you've heard it

The line gets a nod in the movie The Projectionist. What? You missed that? The line is also the answer to a trivia question that characters are playing on an episode of St. Elsewhere. Not a St. Elsewhere fan either? There's also a reference on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which should come as no surprise since they've referenced every movie line ever.

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.

Yeah… it does sound a little flowery doesn't it?