Everybody knows that movies are moving pictures. And people go see them in order to see, well, moving pictures. The dialogue generally exists just to advance the plot.
But every now and then the dialogue stands out on its own. Take, from the film Casablanca, two lines: "Round up the usual suspects" and "I'm shocked -- shocked! -- that gambling is going on in here." These lines are known for their high irony. And then there's Robert Niro's scary line in Taxi Driver: "Are you talking to ME?" And then, going back to 1939, there was Clark Gable's daring line, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." It still embarasses me to repeat it, over eighty years later.
These are all fine and famous lines. But to me, the best movie dialogue ever written occurred in the 1974 classic film noir Chinatown, when John Huston, playing a scoundrel named Noah Cross, says to Jack Nicholson: "I'm respectable because I' m old. Buildings, politicians, and prostitutes all get respectable when they get old." This to me is the greatest movie line ever written because of its profound wisdom. It says that when one gets old, one gains respect because no one is fearful of you any longer. So:...enjoy your respectability because death is probably just around the corner.
This, I think, is both witty and true and the best movie line ever written. It's witty and wise at once.
So: what's your favorite?
This is Tom McBride. That's my Perspective.
