"So, why don't you make like a tree and get outta here?"
— Biff Tannen, Back to the Future
The good guys have just activated the self-destruct on the Big Bad's Kill Sat or carefully laid a time bomb in the center of the Elaborate Underground Base. Or maybe they have advance warning for a natural disaster... Whatever the reason, it's time to beat a hasty retreat!
According to an official Trivial Pursuit question, this is the second most often used Stock Phrase in movies, right after "I love you."
Someone has edited together a montage of the abuses of this trope covering many of the film and live action TV examples: "Let's Get Out of Here!"
Compare Screw This, I'm Outta Here, in which there's still an objective to met but decide to let it be damned. Contrast Get Out!, where this is ordered towards you.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Said word for word in Tenchi Muyo! when Tenchi destroys Kargato's ship with everyone still inside.
Comic Books
- Deff Skwadron: Having shot the loading chains off a bus-sized artillery shell, causing it to plummet explosively back into the magazine, our heroes have this exchange:
Gimzod: Good shootin', boss! Now what we gonna do?
Ugzob: A favorite ole Deff Skwadron taktik, Gimzod, 'oned to perfektion by years of 'ard-won experience... we legs it good an' proper!
Fan Works
- In Memento Vivere, a Final Fantasy X fanfiction, Braska orders everyone to flee from the Espada and leads by example.
Films — Animation
- Pinocchio: The trope is in full effect when Pinocchio and Jiminy make their escape from Pleasure Island.
- In Turning Red, one of the members of 4*Town says this during Ming's rampage.
- Wreck-It Ralph: Said by Taffyta when Ralph comes after her group because she pushed Vanellope into a puddle of mud.
Films — Live-Action
- Several times throughout Alien:
- Lambert says these words after seeing the derelict space ship, before the alien infestation even begins. They probably should have listened to her.
- Lambert also yells it at Dallas when she sees the alien closing in on him on the motion tracker screen. It only serves to make him panic and run right into the alien's open arms.
- Lambert again (it's kind of a theme for her) after Dallas' death. Ripley has to remind her that the shuttle can't take all four of the remaining crew. Once Ash turns out to be an android, goes rogue, and reveals what "the company" wants with the alien, however, Ripley decides they'll take their chances in the shuttle with the last three of them.
- And in the sequel, Hicks yells out during the evacuation to Drake, who is hanging back, that they are leaving. It doesn't end well.
- And "I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit" does involve getting out of here first.
- Event Horizon: "We're leaving." After watching some extremely unnerving footage of the former crew gone insane and mutilating each other.
- Gwen from Galaxy Quest, upon discovering a horde of cannibalistic aliens: "Let's get out of here before one of those things kills Guy!"
- One of the most memorable scenes in The Goonies. "Let's—" "get—" "out—" "of here!" "Like, NOW!"
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: Will Turner sees Jack come running out of the jungle.... pursued by a horde of angry cannibals.
- In Starship Troopers, in the opening minutes of the Battle of Klendathu has a female Trooper from Rico's unit say this line straight-up after watching their tough-talking Sergeant Rock get torn into bloody shreds by alien bugs the size of Terran bulls. The entire unit quickly falls into a panicked rout back to the dropships. It's meant to show how the Federation military is a Paper Tiger.
- Star Wars:
- The Empire Strikes Back: Han Solo realizes that the "cave" in the asteroid in which they sought refuge was actually a giant space slug.
- At the end of The Phantom Menace, Anakin says this after he inadvertently fires proton torpedoes at the ship's reactor core, which leads to a massive meltdown that blows the ship apart.
Literature
- Sort of invoked by Lt. Blouse in Monstrous Regiment, after they used the enemy's portable clacks to send a false intel report.
Blouse: "Now we leave as quickly as possible. I believe the phrase is, 'Let us get the heck out of here.'"
Polly: "Close, sir. Quite close." - Stitches: In "Summer Graduation Trip", Naomi has only barely gotten settled into the onsen when Kazuko demands that she get out so they can leave. When Naomi confronts her about this, Kazuko says that she became scared when she saw that, although the onsen had dozens of people in it, they were all facing away from them and none of them turned around to greet them or spoke. Additionally, in the illustration all of the people are submerged up to their necks.
- Used at least twice in The Tomorrow Series, each time followed by Lee (or Ellie) pointing out that it's a very commonly used movie line.
- Vorkosigan Saga: In the story "Labyrinth", after cooking Baron Ryoval's gene banks:
"Now," [Miles] said to Taura, who was still meditating on the dial, and her hand, with her gold eyes glowing, "we have to get out of here. Now we really have to get out of here." Lest her next tactics lesson turn out to be, Don't blow up the bridge you're standing on, Miles allowed nervously.
Live-Action TV
- Doctor Who: Played for Laughs in "The End of Time" when Wilf asks to come along with the Doctor to escape his overbearing daughter Sylvia:
Sylvia: Stay right where you are!
The Doctor: You can't come with me.
Wilf: Oh, you're not leaving me with her!
The Doctor: Fair enough. - M*A*S*H: When Trapper and Hawkeye realize they've cut the wrong wire in an unexploded bomb.
- The cast of Red Dwarf were asked, "What does "smeg" mean?" by a young boy at an event where they were fielding questions from the audience. After a bit of throat-clearing, Robert Llewellyn looked at Craig Charles. Craig looked at Robert. ...and both got on their hands and knees, crawled behind their chairs and out behind the stage curtain, Robert glancing back to 'check' if anyone was following.
- Star Trek: This actually comes up quite often over the course of the franchise. Generally in the form of ordering a course setting and saying "Maximum Warp, Engage!"
- Star Trek: The Original Series: Captain Kirk said "Let's get the hell out of here" (which for broadcast TV in those days was almost a Precision F-Strike) at the end of "The City on the Edge of Forever" after saving the entire natural timeline and future at the cost of letting Edith Keeler die.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: On one occasion, Captain Picard simply ordered the ship to warp on any course, when trying to escape from a Negative Space Wedgie.
Roleplay
- Played for Laughs in Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, where Hyeon beats a hasty retreat from the high school after realising that he'll be blamed for the property damage that the Mass Super-Empowering Event caused.
Video Games
- The entire sinking tanker escape scene of the second Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare mission, "Crew Expendable", is nothing but this trope and Continue Your Mission, Dammit!.
Captain Price: On your feet, soldier! We are LEAVING!!
- Hostages you rescue in Counter-Strike also say this line after you get to them.
- Mass Effect 2:
- Garrus Vakarian "needing some distance from this place" after seeking revenge against Sidonis on the Citadel.
- Also Shepard's "I've had enough of this colony" after getting chewed out by Kaidan/Ashley on Horizon.
- The first level of Metal Wolf Chaos, where you fight your out of the White House take off in Air Force One through the Washington Monument reflection pool and fly away.
- After defeating Doc Ock in the PC version of Spider-Man 2, one of the thugs will drag Aunt May out of the bank in an attempt kidnap her, but not before using this phrase to the fellow thugs:
Thug: Let's get out of here! Come on, lady, you'll ride with us!
Aunt May: Help, Spider-Man.
Visual Novels
- Daughter for Dessert gives a long-term example if the protagonist chooses to be with Amanda at the end. He realizes that, if he and Amanda are to stay in their relationship, it won’t be safe for them to stay where they are, especially because Cecilia still has a grudge against him. This is especially pronounced in the “good” ending, where the two of them move to Hawaii to conceal Amanda’s pregnancy from everyone they know.
- Even before the avalanche, the protagonist of Double Homework wants to find his classmates and evacuate them, because Dr. Mosely/Zeta has all but said that she intends to kill them.
Web Videos
- In Suburban Knights, right after knocking out the owner of the house after a very poor excuse for an apology, Snob says the phrase to Spoony, and they scram.
Western Animation
- Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: Dick Dastardly says this a couple of times on his show. The first time ("Barnstormers") after the Swedish farm maiden turns her affection from Zilly to him; the second time ("Go South, Young Pigeon") after Yankee Doodle Pigeon turns a cage full of captured ducks on the Squadron.
- William Shatner uses the line again in the Futurama episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", after Fry reminds the Original Series cast that the paradise they just left required them spending eternity with the universe's biggest Trekkie.
- In Garfield in Paradise, Jon says it rather quietly at the sight of mean-looking islanders, but The Alleged Car won't start. Fortunately for him and his pets, they're a Cargo Cult and worship the car.
- This line is uttered twice in The Little Rascals episode "Yachtsa' Luck": first by Wheelhouse Willie after he and his henchman, Slats, rob the treasure chest on Waldo's yacht, and then by Alfalfa and Spanky when they're afraid of Waldo blaming them for the theft.
- Several classmates from The Magic School Bus say it in unison as blood-borne bacteria multiply in front of them. (Yes, they are in the blood, too.)
- During the "Pooh Moon" episode of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Rabbit suggests a strategic retreat from an (imagined) danger.
Rabbit: P-perhaps we should retreat and think this over...
Tigger: Never mind the retreat, let's get out of here!! - In Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, after the rescue from the snow monster's cave.
Yukon Cornelius: Let's get out of here!
- Used on The Simpsons whenever someone gets injured and, rather than do the courageous thing and help the victim, the other characters run and leave him (or her) for dead. Was used in a non–injury-related scene on "New Kid on the Block," where after Kearney (who's with fellow bully Dolph) hits on Laura with "Hey, baby, how 'bout puttin' your finger in my ear!", Laura snaps back, "Well, I dunno. Your boyfriend looks like the jealous type." Kearney and Dolph are so shocked by the comeback, they shout, "Let's get outta here!"
(Dope Slap) "It's 'leave', you idiot! It's 'Make like a tree and leave!' -- you sound like a damn fool when you say it wrong."
