James Chapman has created a brilliant and thoroughly shuffled supercut of a go-to screenwriting cliche: the binary beginning with “there are two kinds of people in the world.” As far as we know, the earliest use of the line comes from 1962’s “The Longest Day,” a semi-historical film about D-Day. The quote is directly from an actual general during the war at Omaha Beach, General George Taylor, who said: “There are two kinds of people who are staying on this beach: those who are dead and those who are going to die. Now let’s get the hell out of here.” However, the quote was misattributed in the film and the line was given to the actor playing General Norman Cota.
The second use of “there are two kinds of people” occurred just a few months later in December 1962 with “Lawrence of Arabia.” Unsurprisingly, the movie with the most variations on this binary is “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” with five different clips in the video.
Running the gambit from 1962 to 2012, Chapman’s supercut is one of the best we’ve seen yet. It’s got impeccable rhythm and a fantastic selection of movies (full list posted here). Check it out for yourself below.
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