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"All of life's riddles are answered in the movies," said the movie executive played by Steve Martin in "Grand Canyon" (1991).
Certainly there are few things in life that do not provide an opportunity to toss out an appropriate movie quote (like the previous one). In current politics, though, there is just as much opportunity to use an inappropriate movie quote without realizing it.
Take, for example, the campaign of Republican and Tea Party gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino in New York. His entire campaign is based on the catchphrase uttered by unhinged anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) in the 1976 satire "Network": "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore."
But, as The New Yorker's Ben McGrath points out, one could quote to Paladino one of Mandy Patinkin's lines from "The Princess Bride": "I do not think that means what you think it means":
Howard Beale, the character played by Finch, is in the midst of a nervous breakdown at the time of his quotable outburst. "Network" is not a story of redemption through anger. Beale is portrayed as a delusional tool of corporate interests who ends up getting shot on live television when he has outlived his usefulness to them. For a hotheaded political aspirant like Paladino, inviting comparison with Howard Beale, as a radio host said last month, is a little like citing "Lennie from 'Of Mice and Men' on the issue of rabbit husbandry."
McGrath also compiles several recent examples of politicians misappropriating movie catchphrases, including 2008 Salt Lake City Council candidate Paul Pugmire's unfortunate use of another Steve Martin line — "I was born a poor black child," from "The Jerk" — on a high-school reunion website.