22 times Sam Jackson stole the best lines and moments in a film

"Jurassic Park" is an adaptation of a monster hit novel, full of CGI dinosaurs, children in peril and a wisecracking Jeff Goldblum in a leather jacket. Yet somehow Jackson ends up with the most memorable line of dialogue: "Hold on to your butts." A hurricane that destroyed some of the movie's set meant Jackson's death scene was never shot, so we only see Jackson's severed arm landing on Laura Dern's shoulders. The film is also rated PG-13, which is why we get toned-down Jackson expletives like "butt" and "I hate this hacker crap."

Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" was famously about interracial relationships, but when Jackson's on screen, playing Wesley Snipes' crack-addicted brother Gator, the movie is about nothing but Gator. It's an electrifying and terrifying performance from Jackson, who was only a few weeks out of drug rehab himself when the movie started shooting. He cajoles, he threatens, he dances, and he even raps about his love of getting high. For the performance, Jackson won the Best Supporting Actor award at Cannes.

Sam Jackson simmers throughout "A Time To Kill" as accused murderer Carl Lee Hailey, but the single line and scene that will outlive anything else in the film is Jackson, under cross-examination from Kevin Spacey, shouts "Yes, they deserve to die, and I hope they burn in hell! It's so memorable, it became the tagline for Samuel L. Jackson Beer on "Chappelle's Show."

"Die Hard: With A Vengeance" abandons the usual "Die Hard" strategy of John McClane working alone against impossible odds by giving him a buddy in Sam Jackson. As Zeus Carter, Jackson saves McClane from a Harlem mob and gets roped into saving the world. He's a great partner because he pushes back against McClane, even discussing his name. "Yeah, Zeus! As in, father of Apollo? Mt. Olympus? Don’t f— with me, or I’ll shove a lightning bolt up your ass? Zeus! You got a problem with that?" It's also a perfect fit because Jackson says "Motherf—er" even more than McClane. Yippi-ki-yay indeed.

With his role as Frozone in "The Incredibles," Jackson proved he can steal scenes even in animated form. Particularly when the city is threatened, and his super suit is nowhere to be found. It's not clear whether he's in more trouble from the super-villain or his wife, for cancelling dinner plans. He tries to explain, "We are talking about the greater good!" before she retorts, "Greater good? I'm your wife. I'm the greatest good you're ever going to get!"

Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" has an incredible cast of actors — Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bruce Dern, Walton Goggins — but as usual, Jackson gets the best lines, including an absolutely epic monologue where he tells a story about revenge, frostbite and fellatio that no other actor in the world could have pulled off. Still, our favorite scene was when he defended his brutal efforts in the Civil War, declaring: "I'm supposed to apologize for killin' Johnny Reb? You joined the war to keep n— in chains. I joined the war to kill white Southern crackers. And that means killing 'em in any way I can! Shoot 'em, stab 'em, drown 'em, burn 'em, throw a big 'ol rock on their heads! Whatever it took to keep white Southern crackers in the ground, that's what I joined the war to do and that's what I did!"

In the middle of "Coming To America," Jackson walks into McDowell’s, the fast food restaurant that is definitely not a rip-off of McDonald’s, and immediately blasts off a shotgun. When McDowell’s employee Prince Akeem confronts him, he really infuriates Jackson by demanding that he not use profanity. He’s disarmed by a mop handle, and Arsenio Hall calls him “diseased rhinoceros pizzle,” which may be the only insult Jackson hasn’t himself used in a film. 

"Fresh" is the story of a 12-year-old kid who runs drugs for gangsters, and he comes up with a plan to get himself and his sister out of the life. Part of that strategy is influenced by his father, played by Jackson, an alcoholic chess master who plays games — and dispenses life advice — in the park. He's a great chess player but a terrible father, and his advice does end up being useful when it comes to taking down a drug dealer: "You're playing each piece like losing it hurts. This ain't checkers. You want my king, you got to come get my king. All these other pieces are just the means to do it."

It's impossible to pick just one scene or line from Jackson's performance as philosophical hit man Jules Winfield in "Pulp Fiction." The savage, pre-murder Ezekiel 25:17 recitation? His explanation why he don't dig on swine? The delighted exhortation of "Royale with cheese!" while talking burgers and the metric system? The toned-down, merciful Ezekiel 25:17 monologue that ends the film? But it's when he furiously declares "I'm a mushroom cloud-laying motherf—er, motherf—er" while cleaning up a bloody car, it's the quintessential Samuel L. Jackson moment. Who else could pull of the rare double-MFing so effortlessly and angrily?

Jackson's voice is the first one we hear in "Do The Right Thing." As Mr. Senor Love Daddy, Jackson opens the film with an alarm clock, telling the neighborhood and the audience to wake up. He provides running commentary throughout the film (his shift is 12 hours long), playing music for lovers, name-checks every black celebrity imaginable for the We Love Roll Call and tries to calm rioters, exclaiming "Y'all take a chill! Ya need to cool that s— out! And that's the double truth, Ruth!" And he gets off one of the film's best jokes with his Jheri curl alert. "Today's temperature's gonna rise up over 100 degrees, so there's a Jheri curl alert! If you have a Jheri curl, stay in the house or you'll end up with a permanent black helmet on your head forever!"

As gun dealer Ordell Robbie in "Jackie Brown," Sam Jackson has an intimidating demeanor along with an inexplicable ponytail and long goatee. He's threatening and flattering from one second to the next, like when he requests, wheedles, orders and finally coerces Chris Tucker into the trunk of his car with a promise of chicken and waffles, though Tucker would never make it out. He also delivers a poetic soliloquy to automatic weapons: "AK-47. The very best there is. When you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherf—er in the room, accept no substitutes."

This film also marks the first time Jackson wears a Kangol hat, which would be part of his real-life wardrobe for the next two decades. He even founded a Kickstarter to bring Kangol hat to production, an effort he called #Motherfunder.

"Eve's Bayou" was produced by  Jackson, who plays the title character's father, a philandering Louisiana doctor. It's rare that Jackson gets the girl in his films, or gets to be overtly sexy, like when one of his patients requests "something for the pain." Of course, this being a Sam Jackson film, he still gets gunned down in the end.

"Deep Blue Sea" is probably the finest film ever made about hyper-intelligent sharks. Jackson plays the corporate investigator who comes to investigate the rogue genetic engineering shark lab, and after the killer sharks take down a helicopter and flood the facility, Jackson delivers a rousing, Samuel-L.-Jackson-ass speech about unity. Before we can tell if his inspirational exhortations work, and just after Jackson explains, "First, we're going to seal off this pool," the shark jumps out of said pool and eats him. Which is why you should always monologue a safe distance from nearby bodies of water.

Jackson reunites with "Die Hard 3" co-star Bruce Willis in M. Night Shyamalan's "Unbreakable," playing Elijah "Mr. Glass" Price. It's brilliant casting to cast the powerful Jackson as a man whose bones shatter at the slightest trauma, but his best scene comes when he explains the deeper meaning of comic books, a sentiment that was much less obnoxious 20 years ago. Jackson himself would go on to make 10 Marvel movies (and counting!), so comic books have been good to both Mr. Jackson and Mr. Price. Speaking of sequels, Jackson and Willis will return in "Glass," the third movie in the Shyamalan superhero trilogy, next year.

Who's the black private dick who's a sex machine to all the chicks? In the 2000 remake of "Shaft," it's Samuel L. Jackson — who else? While the new version focuses more on detective work and less on the chicks, Jackson doesn't pass up his opportunities, declaring to one potential conquest, "It is my duty to please that booty." Right on.

"True Romance" is Jackson's first collaboration with director Quentin Tarantino, although he only wrote this one. Sam Jackson only has a small role, as one of Gary Oldman's thug cohorts, but he makes it count with an emphatic ode to his...voracious appetite. You're goddamn right he eats everything! He's a generous lover, motherf—er!

Up until the fifth "Star Wars" film, lightsabers came in only two colors: red and blue. But even George Lucas couldn't say no to Samuel L. Jackson, whose Mace Windu fights with a purple lightsaber in "Attack of the Clones." When the Jedi come to bail out Obi-Wan, Anakin and pals, Windu shows he's a badass even among badass Jedis by brandishing a purple sword and announcing, "This party's over." They've since made an in-universe explanation for the color, but in reality, it's because Jackson lobbied: "We had this big arena, this fight scene with all these Jedi and they’re fightin’ or whatever. And I was like, ‘well s—, I wanna be able to find myself in this big ol’ scene. So I said to George, ‘You think maybe I can get a purple lightsaber?'" And a purple lightsaber can take out anyone, just so long as Obi-Wan Kenobi's padawan doesn't betray you at a crucial moment.

"Out Of Sight" is a stylish romantic crime drama where bank robber George Clooney and federal marshal Jennifer Lopez chase each other, make out and eventually square off after a disastrous home invasion. The cop vs. robber conflict seems to have been resolved when Lopez shoots Clooney in the leg, but the final scene has Lopez driving Clooney back to prison — along with nine-time prison escapee Hejira Henry, played by Jackson in an uncredited return to Elmore Leonard universe. By casting a badass like Jackson, Steven Soderbergh makes it very clear that these guys are going to break out of prison again. Sequel, anyone?

"Snakes on a Plane" is one of the first truly post-internet films. There have been movies about the internet before, but never one so influenced by fan excitement and expectations — they almost changed the title to "Pacific Air Flight 121," before Jackson balked, since the title was the only reason he agreed to the film. The filmmakers even added reshoots to add the film's iconic line, which wasn't even in the original script: "Enough is enough! I have had it with all these motherf––ing snakes on this motherf––ing plane! Everybody strap in!" 

One of the only lighthearted moments in "Patriot Games" comes when Jackson, playing military instructor/sharpshooting best friend Robby Jackson, presents Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan with a joke commendation, after he thwarted a terrorist attack. It's a medal with a target on it that says "Shoot Me." Neither man has any idea of the staggering number of bullets that will be fired at Jack Ryan for the remainder of the film or that a terrorist ambush will follow when the Prince of Wales attempts to give Ryan a heartfelt award.

In "The Other Guys," Jackson and Dwayne Johnson are the hero cop foils to Will Ferrell's nebbish forensic accountant. Jackson plays P.K. Highsmith, the classic action movie cop who plays by his own rules and leaves a trail of destruction, whereas Ferrell literally plays by all the rules and cleans up after himself. Of course, he falls to his death while wildly misjudging a jump. Before his untimely death, Jackson yells at Ferrell in classic Jackson fashion, "If I wanna hear you talk, I'll shove my arm up your ass and work your mouth like a puppet!"

The second "Captain America" film is full of great action sequences, but the best might involve the assassination attempt on Nick Fury, despite him being a character with no superpowers. Fury steals plenty of other scenes as well, from his story about his elevator operator grandfather carrying a gun in his lunch bag, and best of all, when he dramatically removes his ever-present eye patch , revealing his scarred face and growls to Robert Redford, "If you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary...you need to keep both eyes open."