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Well...here I am, one year after beginning this thread, composing the 280th post.
I'm so delighted that my thread has survived for an entire year.
I'm so thankful to all of you who have kept it going with your wonderful contributions.
And now, #280:
Professor Louis Levy (Martin Bergmann) expounds about life in
CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS
"It is only we, with our capacity to love, that give meaning to the indifferent universe. And yet, most human beings seem to have the ability to keep trying, and even to find joy from simple things like their family, their work, and from the hope that future generations might understand more."
HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY!
Hope I'll be back on February 17, 2015 to celebrate here again!
Thanks everyone!
-Chris
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General Ripper and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake. When Ripper explains his theories of Communist Subversion to Mandrake.
"Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war?"
(reply) "No, I don't think I do sir. No"
(response) "He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids"
http://thecinemacafe.com/the-cinema-treasure-hunter/2014/2/16/answers-to-sterling-silver-dialogue-10
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In Elaine May's brilliant comedy A New Leaf (1970), millionaire Henry Graham (Walter Matthau) has just learned that he's penniless, and he's breaking the news to his butler Harold (George Rose).
"Harold, I have something to tell you."
"Is it about your money sir?"
"Yes Harold, I've lost it. Or more accurately, spent it. In any case, it's gone."
"I'm sorry to hear that sir. Have you considered borrowing from your uncle?"
"Yes, it was my first thought. My attorney advised me against it on the grounds that it would be useless. You see the thing of it is Harold, that I have no hope of ever repaying him or anyone. I have no skills, no resources, no ambition. All I am, or was, is…rich. And that's all I ever wanted to be. I don't understand, Harold. Why did it happen to me? Why? I was so happy. What will I do?"
"What any gentleman of similar breeding and temperament would do in your position, sir."
"Suicide?"
"No sir. I was not going to suggest suicide, sir. I was going to suggest marriage."
"Marriage? You mean to a woman?"
"Yes sir. That is what I had in mind. It is the only way to acquire property without labor. There is inheritance, but I believe your uncle has already stated his intention of leaving everything he owns to Radio Free Europe."
"Oh, I can't Harold. I couldn't. I mean, she'd be there. Asking me where I'd been. Talking to me, talking. I wouldn't be able to bear it."
"Well it was only a suggestion sir, but, uh, the alternatives are very limited and unspeakably depressing, sir. If you do not commit suicide sir, you will be poor."
"Poor?"
"Poor in the only real sense of the word sir, in that you will not be rich. You will have a little after you've sold everything, but in a country where every man is what he has, he who has very little is nobody very much. There's no such thing as genteel poverty here, sir."
"How much time do you think I have before it comes out, Harold?"
"Hardly any, sir. You've already received your third notice from both Con Edison and the Bell Telephone companies. At any moment the lights may go out and the telephone go dead and when that happens, the worst will occur sir. Your credit rating will be impugned. Oh do it sir, do it. Get married sir. Take the plunge. Find a nice, suitable young woman sir. Borrow enough money from your uncle to keep up appearances. Don't become poor, Henry Graham sir, not just for your sake sir, but, well this is difficult for me to say sir, but for mine as well, I mean, how many men these days require the services of a gentleman's gentleman? How many men have your devotion to form, sir? You have managed in your own lifetime, Mr. Graham, to keep alive traditions that were dead before you were born. Don't give up the fight sir, just because the Philistines are upon thee. I now respectfully give two weeks notice, sir. Will that be all?"
"Yes."
"Thank you, sir."
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From 1997's BEAN, "Dr." Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is brought to L.A. from London to give a lecture at the opening gala celebrating an art gallery's purchase of "Whistler's Mother." Here is his speech:
"Ummm, uh, well…uh, hello. I'm Dr. Bean, apparently. And, and my job is to sit and look at paintings. Um. So. Um. What have I learned that I can say about this painting? Um. Well. Well, firstly, it's quite big. Which is excellent. Because if it was really small, you know, microscopic, then hardly anybody would be able to see it. Which would be a tremendous shame. Um. Secondly, and I'm getting quite near the end now of this...analysis of this painting…secondly…why was it worth this man here spending fifty million of your American dollars on this portrait? And the answer is…um, well, this picture is worth such a lot of money because………it's a picture of……..Whistler's mother. And, as I've learned, families are very important. And even though Mr. Whistler was perfectly aware that his mother was a hideous old bat who looked like she had a cat dislodged up her backside, he stuck with her, and even took the time to paint this amazing picture of her. It's not just a painting. It's a picture of a mad old cow who he thought the world of. And that's marvelous. Well, that's what I think anyway."
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Grecchus!
I LOVE your contributions, but you're driving me NUTZ by not revealing the titles of the movies!
(By the way…driving me NUTZ is a very short trip!)
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I hate double-posts, and this one was a stupid accident.
Sorry.
My REAL post appears below.
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I loved 42, but I think I must see it again because I'm on the fence over Harrison Ford's performance. I credit him with tremendous boldness, but I know nothing about Branch Rickey. So…I don't know if Ford's interpretation was an accurate one or a caricature (?).
Anyway, I think his performance was a very courageous risk-taking one, and I admire that.
I also loved the Methodist reference, because the Baptists say the very same thing. 
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The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
During a back room apparel conference, the fashion-challenged newbie Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is Royally dressed down by Fashion Expert Extraordinaire Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) over Andy's smirk at the comparison of two different blue belts:
"Something funny?"
"No…no, no, nothing. Ya' know, it's just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. Ya' know, I'm still…learning about this stuff, and uh.."
"This…STUFF? Oh! Okay. I see…you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select, I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that sweater is not just blue. It's not turquoise, it's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns, and then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets, and then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it filtered down through the department stores, and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner, where you no doubt fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs, and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry, when in fact you're wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room…from a pile of STUFF."
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I haven't had time yet to read all these wonderful selections, so please forgive me for any repeats from previous posts. The famous Gutman lines from MALTESE FALCON, quoted on the first page of this thread, puts me in mind of something Fred Astaire's character confesses to Xavier Cougat in YOU WERE NEVER LOVELIER:
"I opened my mouth too wide, and kept it open too long."
***
Here's another Astaire moment, an exchange between Fred and Joan Leslie in THE SKY'S THE LIMIT:
SHE: Are you poor?
HE: Church mice snub me.
***
I know I love dialogue when I wish I could have acted it myself. Here's one from I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG, first Preston Foster, then Paul Muni, (remember, this was the height of the Depression):
"Hey, what would you say to a hamburger?"
"What would I say to a hamburger? I'd shake Mr. Hamburger by the hand, and say, "Pal -- I haven't seen you for a long, long time."
***
But of course, I got a million of 'em, so maybe from time to time I'll come back and throw a few more meatballs into the stew.
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