But for Amos, the actor who portrayed Mr. McDowell in the iconic 1980s Cinderella-esque comedy starring Eddie Murphy as Prince Akeem, who was traveling to New York to find a bride, his favorite line is one he uttered himself: "I mean the boy has got his own money!

"Coming to America," which will celebrate its 30th anniversary next Tuesday, has become a movie staple. Just ask any cable network that always seems to have it playing. It centers on Prince Akeem, who travels with his (not so) trusty aide, Semmi, played by Arsenio Hall, to Queens to find a woman who loves him for himself -- not his crown. The only problem is that Prince Akeem and Semmi have to pretend that they're "ordinary African students."

When the film debuted June 26, 1988, it got terrible reviews. In fact, Duane Byrge wrote in his review for The Hollywood Reporter that the slap-knee comedy "flops into the blandest of sitcom formats."

But perhaps it's that very reason -- the fact that we all know Prince Akeem is going to get what he wants and marry the love of his life -- why the film still resonates today.

David Sheffield, one of the film's screenwriters, said Murphy, 57, came up with the concept, which he had scribbled out on eight to 10 pages of a yellow legal pad.

A year before the film was released, Murphy had signed a five-picture deal with Paramount, estimated in the millions, but the studio had yet to settle on a summer film. That is, until "Coming to America."

Sheffield, along with his longtime "Saturday Night Live" collaborator Barry Blaustein, wrote the script in five weeks.

"Labor Day weekend, we handed in the script," Blaustein, now a professor at Chapman University in Orange, California, told "Good Morning America." "The studio called us first thing Tuesday morning and said, 'We’re shooting in January. It was a whirlwind experience that has not been duplicated."

We asked the film's screenwriters, actors and even an executive producer to break down the film's most iconic scenes and uncover for us its movie magic. You know, for old times' sake:

Meeting the beloved and spoiled Prince Akeem

It was "The Jamie Foxx Show" actress Garcelle Beauvais' first acting role at age 19. And despite the fact that she was "a little green," she told "GMA," she auditioned for the lead role of Lisa, which eventually went to actress Shari Headley. But director John Landis still wanted the former model to be in his film as a rose bearer.

Beauvais, now 51, said she didn't mind wearing the haltered crop top paired with a matching headwrap that Oscar-nominated costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis, Landis' wife, had picked out for her. "It all lent itself to the film ... and it was really a sign of the times," she recalled. "We really felt like we were from Africa. It was very regal. It made you hold yourself in a certain way."

The actress was in one of the first scenes where viewers meet Prince Akeem, on his birthday -- as he's awakened by violins, bathed and his teeth are brushed. And although we incorrectly forgot that Beauvais had a speaking part, the actress was quick to clarify with a laugh: "Don't take my 'Good morning, your highness' away from me!"

Dancers celebrate the wedding of Prince Akeem to his (not-so) future bride

Before Prince Akeem meets the woman his parents, King Jaffe Joffer and Queen Aeoleon, played by James Earl Jones and the late Madge Sinclair, want him to wed, Imani Izzi, he's treated to a dance from the royal court. The routine, which included about two dozen dancers dressed in ornate feathered headpieces and beading, was choreographed by Paula Abdul and filmed over two days.

"John Landis is a perfectionist, and Paula is a perfectionist," Beauvais, whose character stood next to Hall and Murphy during the performance, said. "It was so huge that it definitely took a long time to get."