Posted on 01/08/2002 5:19:24 PM PST by PJ-Comix
Okay, I caught a bunch of flak because I found "Lord Of The Rings" BORRRRRINNNGGGG! One reason, among others, is that I found the dialogue to be dull. I like movies with good dialogue. With good dialogue, a movie can be quite interesting even with minimal action.
One problem nowadays is that Special Effects have replaced DIALOGUE which is why there are few good dialogue movies nowadays. Most of the good dialogue movies I have to catch on the tube where they play old movies.
Here is a list of a few good DIALOGUE movies. A lot of them were directed by Billy Wilder. My favorite dialogue movie is Stalag 17. The dialogue in that movie was incredible. Hardly a thing was said that wasn't fascinating. I must have seen Stalag 17 at least 50 times and I never get tired of it. The lines in that script were CLASSIC. Remember when the camp commandant portrayed by Otto Preminger said: "Curtains would do wonders for these barracks....You vill NOT get them!"
Okay, here is my partial list of great dialogue movies:
1. Stalag 17
2. A Foreign Affair
3. Casablanca
4. No Time For Sergeants
5. The African Queen
6. Sunset Boulevard
7. Stagecoach
8. Mr. Roberts
9. The Seven Year Itch
10. Dr. Strangelove
"God! What knockers!"
"Thank you, Doctor!"
...and...
"I ain't got no body!"
Too funny!
(dean stanton to telly savalas in 'kelly's heroe's')
"Is that a bed or a parade ground? A man would have to be a sprinter to catch his wife in a bed like that!"
And, of course, Michaeleen Oge Flynn's response to seeing the broken marriage bed: "Impetuous. Ho-omeric." (Actually, ANY of Oge Flynn's lines are quotable.)
Charley Malloy: Look, kid, I -- how much you weigh, Slick? When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds you were beautiful. You coulda been another Billy Conn, and that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast.
Terry Malloy: It wasn't him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, "Kid, this ain't your night. We're going for the price on Wilson." You remember that? "This ain't your night"! My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end money.
Charley Malloy: Oh I had some bets down for you. You saw some money.
Terry Malloy: You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley.
Phil: Not a chance.
Ned: Ned! ...Ryerson! "Needlenose Ned"? "Ned the Head"? C'mon, buddy! Case Western High! I did the whistling belly-button trick at the high school talent show? Bing! Ned Ryerson, got the shingles real bad senior year, almost didn't graduate? Bing, again! Ned Ryerson, I dated your sister Mary Pat a couple of times until you told me not to anymore? Well?
Phil: Ned Ryerson?
Ned: BING!
Phil: Bing.
1)Network
2)Lion In Winter
3)The BBC productions of Similey's People and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. ( I know, these are TV serials.)
4) I Claudius (another TV series)
5) And many more I can't think of just now.
"One morning I shot an elephant in my pyjamas. H0w he got into my pyjamas, I'll never understand!"
"Whinny!"
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