Tall Guy...OK, OK, you want me to guess the answer. Here's my best guess:
It's gotta be either Thunderball or Never Say Never Again. I'd guess the first title, but it's been so long since I saw either of these that I'm not sure.
Tall Guy...OK, OK, you want me to guess the answer. Here's my best guess:
It's gotta be either Thunderball or Never Say Never Again. I'd guess the first title, but it's been so long since I saw either of these that I'm not sure.
Thunderball - as much as I like NSNA (and I do, even the score, sorry ) it's a pale imitation of the Real Thing.
Earlier, SBD & I cited examples of favorite scenes from Capricorn One, written and directed by Peter Hyams. Here's an exchange that opens his film 2010, another of my favorites:
DIMITRI: (Watching Dr. Floyd washing a radar assembly): Heh, heh. Neatness. It's a good quality. You'll make someone a fine wife. You are Dr. Heywood Floyd?
HEYWOOD: Who the hell are you?
DIMITRI: I'm Moisevitch. I'm here to talk about your problem.
HEYWOOD: Really? What problem's that?
DIMITRI: You were Chairman of the National Council on Astronautics. Now you are a school teacher. This was by your own choice?
HEYWOOD: Chancellor of the University. It pays better. What do you care?
DIMITRI: You were responsible for the Discovery Mission. It was a failure. Someone had to be blamed, so it was you. You like being a teacher?
HEYWOOD: I don't think I like you.
DIMITRI: Ha, ha. I just read your final report on what happened to Discovery. You left a good number of loose edges.
HEYWOOD: Ends.
DIMITRI: Ah. Loose ends. Yes, thank you. A good number of questions have remained unanswered.
HEYWOOD: You just read that report? Took you this long to steal our secrets?
DIMITRI: How long does it take for your people to steal ours?
HEYWOOD: Same amount of time.
DIMITRI (Climbing stairs): Ehhh...this is very bad for my asthma. You think you could meet me halfway?
HEYWOOD: Maybe.
DIMITRI: It doesn't take a very smart man to appreciate the risk that I'm taking by being here with you, Dr. Floyd. And you are a smart man. This is a very bad business in Central America. Very bad. Ships, other planes, buzzing around each other like angry hornets. Very bad.
HEYWOOD: We didn't start it.
DIMITRI: We are scientists, you and I, Dr. Floyd. Our governments are enemies. We are not.
HEYWOOD: Why don't you just try saying what's on your mind?
DIMITRI: I want to play a game with you, Dr. Floyd.
HEYWOOD: I don't have any time for games.
DIMITRI: This is a good game. It's called the truth. For two minutes I will tell only the truth, and so will you.
HEYWOOD: Two minutes?
DIMITRI: Two minutes.
HEYWOOD: Make it a minute and a half.
DIMITRI: One minute and three quarters.
HEYWOOD: You start.
DIMITRI: We know you are building the Discovery 2 to go back to Jupiter to find out what happened to your men up there. Also to examine the large monolith. You know that we are building the Alexi Leonov to also go up there.
HEYWOOD: I thought you were gonna call it the Titov.
DIMITRI: Ah, we changed last month. People fall out of favor. The Leonov will reach Discovery almost a year before you people are ready. My government feels it's very important that we should get there first. It's a distinction that will look splendid on the front page of PRAVDA. What other value it has, I don't know.
HEYWOOD: One minute, ten. Why are you telling me this?
DIMITRI: Because there are things we need to know. Otherwise the same thing that you let happen to your people up there, could happen to ours, and we would accomplish nothing. I have about one minute left?
HEYWOOD: About.
DIMITRI: The small monolith your people brought back from the moon, your government has been very selfish and stupid in keeping it to yourselves. You never let us examine it. What have you found out about it?
DIMITRI: The monolith near Jupiter, it is the same?
HEYWOOD: It's even larger.
DIMITRI: And the computer on board the Discovery, the HAL 9000. Can it be reactivated?
HEYWOOD: Yes.
DIMITRI: By us?
HEYWOOD: By you? It would take three to four months. You're not familiar with the system. And longer than that to comprehend the data.
DIMITRI: I thought so.
HEYWOOD: Thirty seconds.
DIMITRI: Here we have our quandary. We are going to get there first. Yet you have the knowledge to make the trip work. How much more time do I have?
HEYWOOD: You just got yourself an extension. How could you convince your people to allow Americans to go on the flight?
DIMITRI: It won't be easy. However, I'm pretty good. A Russian craft, flown by Russians, carrying a few poor Americans who need our help. That also doesn't look too bad on the front page of PRAVDA.
HEYWOOD: I don't know if I could convince our people. They wouldn't mind seeing you go up and fail. They wouldn't mind that at all. But carrying Americans? I don't think they would allow that if they didn't have to. They don't have to.
DIMITRI: Have you checked Discovery's orbit lately?
HEYWOOD: What?
DIMITRI: Have you checked the orbit?
HEYWOOD: What about it?
DIMITRI: Now it's getting chilly here. This is very bad for my asthma.
HEYWOOD: You know damn well we've been checking it.
DIMITRI (Leaving): I have enjoyed our little chat.
HEYWOOD: What is it you're not telling me?
DIMITRI: You are a smart man, Dr. Floyd. You will know what to do...
One of my favorite bits of Capracorn is 'It Happened One Night.' A very sweet scene in which the wealthy Mr. Andrews (Walter Connolly) forces newspaper man Peter Warne (Clark Gable) to admit that he's fallen for Andrews' daughter (Claudette Colbert) who is only moments away from a regrettable marriage to the gold-digging 'King' Westley. (On a side note, plot elements from this film were heavily pilfered in Spaceballs.)
Mr. Andrews: I was surprised to get your note. My daughter hadn't told me anything about you, about your helping her.
Peter: That's typical of your daughter. Takes those things for granted. Why'd you think I lugged her all the way from Miami - for the love of it?
Mr. Andrews: She thinks you're entitled to anything you can get.
Peter: Oh she does, eh? Now isn't that sweet of her. You don't, I suppose.
Mr. Andrews: I don't know. I'll have to see on what you base your claim. I presume you feel justified-
Peter: If I didn't, I wouldn't be here. I've got it all itemized. [He pulls a list from his pocket]
Mr. Andrews: [Reading the list] 'Cash outlay, $8.60; topcoat, $15; suitcase, $7.50; hat, $4; three shirts, $4.50. Total, $39.60. All the above items had to be sold to buy gasoline.'
Peter: And I sold some shorts and socks too. I'm throwing those in.
Mr. Andrews: Yes, I know-
Peter: What's the matter? Isn't it cheap enough? A trip like that would cost you a thousand dollars. Maybe more!
Mr. Andrews: Now let me get this straight. You want $39.60 in addition to the $10,000?
Peter: What $10,000?
Mr. Andrews: The reward.
Peter: Who said anything about a reward?
Mr. Andrews: I'm afraid I'm a little bit confused. I assumed that you-
Peter: Look, look, look, all I want is $39.60. And if you give me a check for it, I'll get outta this joint. It gives me the jitters.
Mr. Andrews: You're a peculiar chap.
Peter: Yeah, we'll go into that some other time.
Mr. Andrews: The average man would go after the reward. All you seem to -
Peter: Listen, did anybody ever make a sucker out of you? This is a matter of principle. Something you probably wouldn't understand. But when anybody takes me for a buggy ride, I don't like the idea of having to pay for the privilege.
Mr. Andrews: Were you taken for a buggy ride?
Peter: Yes. With all the trimming. So how about the check? Do I get it?
Mr. Andrews: Certainly.
Peter: Thanks.
Mr. Andrews: [Smiling, he writes a check] Here you are.
Peter: Thank you.
Mr. Andrews: Oh, ah, do you mind if I ask you a question frankly? Do you love my daughter?
Peter: Any guy that'd fall in love with your daughter ought to have his head examined.
Mr. Andrews: That's an evasion.
Peter: She picked herself a perfect running mate: King Westley! The pill of the century! What she needs is a guy that'd take a sock at her once a day - whether it's coming to her or not. If you had half the brains you're supposed to have, you'd have done it yourself long ago.
Mr. Andrews: Do you love her?
Peter: A normal human being couldn't live under the same roof with her without going nutty. She's my idea of nothing!
Mr. Andrews: I asked you a simple question! Do you love her?
Peter: Yes! But don't hold that against me. I'm a little screwy myself!
Melvin: I've got a really great compliment for you, and it's true.
Carol: I'm so afraid you're about to say something awful.
Melvin: Don't be pessimistic, it's not your style. Okay, here I go: Clearly, a mistake. I've got this, what - ailment? My doctor, a shrink that I used to go to all the time, he says that in fifty or sixty percent of the cases, a pill really helps. I *hate* pills, very dangerous thing, pills. Hate. I'm using the word "hate" here, about pills. Hate. My compliment is, that night when you came over and told me that you would never... all right, well, you were there, you know what you said. Well, my compliment to you is, the next morning, I started taking the pills.
Carol: I don't quite get how that's a compliment for me.
Melvin: You make me want to be a better man.
Carol: ...That's maybe the best compliment of my life.
Melvin: Well, maybe I overshot a little, because I was aiming at just enough to keep you from walking out.
[Ivan & Josh explain their tardiness to their security boss]
Ivan: Anybody else who'd save Pablo Casales - perhaps the greatest cellist in the world with the possible exception of Yo-Yo Ma - from a fiery car wreck on Sunset Boulevard would be bragging about it, but not Josh. He didn't want to spoil the 11 o'clock news for you.
Norton: Don't bulls#*! me. I'm a big cello fan! Casales died years ago! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ivan: You look ravishing and I'd like to chew on your thighs.
Samantha: I thought we had a professional relationship.
From 1980's Flash Gordon, the visitors from Earth are introduced to Emperor Ming:
KLYTUS: Who are you?
GORDON: Flash Gordon. Quarterback, New York Jets.
ARDEN: Dale Arden, Your Highness. Live and let live...that's my motto.
ZARKOV: My name is Hans Zarkov. I'm a scientist. I kidnapped them here in an effort to save our planet Earth.
KLYTUS: An obscure body in the SK System. The satellite which has been giving you so much amusement...recently.
ZARKOV: But why? We are only interested in friendship. Why do you attack us?
MING: Why not? Pathetic earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void, without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here. If you had known anything about the true nature of the universe, anything at all, you would have hidden from it in terror.
Here's another great piece of dialogue by Peter Hyams, from 2010. The clock is ticking, and everyone on the ship is feeling the intense pressure of potential disaster.
FLOYD: Twenty-eight minutes.
CURNOW: That's funny, I've been thinking. You know what I miss? I miss green. The trees and the grass. I love green.
FLOYD: I love a hot dog.
CURNOW: The AstroDome. Good hot dogs.
FLOYD: AstroDome? You can't grow good hot dogs indoors. Yankee Stadium. September. Hot dogs have been boiling since the opening day in April. That's a hot dog.
CURNOW: The yellow mustard? Or the darker one?
FLOYD: Dark.
CURNOW: That's important.
FLOYD: Dark.
CURNOW: You think we're gonna get out of this alive?
Sometimes, dialogue that touches your heart and your mind will come from the most surprising of sources. Like this one. Here is a brief exchange from The Valley Of Gwangi, a Ray Harryhausen dinosaur flick that nobody ever expected any depth from:
TJ: Tuck, I've decided. I'm going to sell out. The whole show. Lock, stock and barrel. That's what you wanted, isn't it?
TUCK: Uhhh...well, sure, uh sure...
TJ: Oh, sound happier!
TUCK: I don't know, TJ. I - I've been on my own so long...
TJ: I've been on my own too.
TUCK: I know, I know, but unlike me, I mean REALLY on my own. I've had to con and pitch, hustle my way into whatever I am now. I don't even know where that is.
TJ: Tuck, I don't care. Don't you understand?
This bit may seem entirely two-dimensional to most of you, but it isn't to me. I've been "pitching and hustling" my way all of my life. (NO conning, though. I do not con.)
McMurphy: [after shock treatments] They was giving me ten thousand watts a day, you know, and I'm hot to trot! The next woman takes me on's gonna light up like a pinball machine and pay off in silver dollars!
Mr. Incredible goes to visit Edna and they debate whether or not he should wear a cape....
Edna - You need a new suit. That much is certain.
Mr. Incredible - A new suit? Where the heck am I gonna get a new suit?
E - You can't! It's impossible! I'm far too busy. So ask me now before I again become sane.
MI - Wait. You want to make me a suit?
E - You push too hard, darling! But I accept. It will be bold. Dramatic. Heroic!
MI - Yeah. Something classic, like Dyna-guy! Oh, he had a great look! Oh, the cape and the boots....
E - No capes!
MI - Isn't that my decision?
E - Do you remember Thunderhead? Tall, storm powers. Nice man. Good with kids. November 15th of '58. All was well, another day saved when his cape snagged on a missile fin.
MI - Thunderhead was not the brightest bulb....
E - Stratogale! April 23rd of '57. Cape caught in a jet turbine.
MI - You can't generalize about these things.
E - Meta-man. Express elevator. Dyna-guy, snag on take-off. Splashdown, sucked into a vortex. NO CAPES!
) it's a pale imitation of the Real Thing.
