One of the great last lines in Billy Wilder’s filmography is at the end of The Apartment (1960): Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine are playing cards, he tells her he loves her and she says “Shut up and deal”.
What many people don’t know is that this line is actually taken from the last line of an episode of the great comedy series Sgt Bilko (1955-59). This time Bilko and the love if his life Joan are playing cards and she says “Shut up and deal”.
This may not have been a conscious thing on their part, but I think either Wilder or his co-writer I.A.L. Diamond must have seen that episode and it made a memorable impression as a great line. Either way, whether intentional or not, it is most definitely not original to them.
Surprisingly I can find no reference anywhere on the internet about this – until now!