Quicker
I have this friend who loves words, and she knows how to carry them. They aren't the annoying 10-centers. They fit fantastically upon arrival. They roll off her tongue, jump unannounced into sentences and never apologize as they fly across the street. I talk with her, and I feel I'm a step behind and have to break stride and sprint to keep up. It's cool.
So, two of the best movies I've seen recently were word movies. The first was Brick, the 2005 high school noir. I'd heard good things about the film when it first came out, but seeing director Rian Johnson's fun Bloom Brothers follow-up and then Joseph Gordon-Levitt's work in 500 Days of Summer piqued my Netflix list. It didn't disappoint. Keeping up with the lines, half invented slang, was difficult but rewarding. Like:
No, bulls would gum it. They'd flash their dusty standards at the wide-eyes and probably find some yegg to pin, probably even the right one. But they'd trample the real tracks and scare the real players back into their holes, and if we're doing this I want the whole story. No cops, not for a bit.
Or:
See the Pin pipes it from the lowest scraper for Brad Bramish to sell, maybe. Ask any dope rat where their junk sprang and they'll say they scraped it from that, who scored it from this, who bought it off so, and after four or five connections the list always ends with The Pin.
But I bet you, if you got every rat in town together and said "Show your hands" if any of them've actually seen The Pin, you'd get a crowd of full pockets.
The other movie with the words was Charade, and the play there was in the back-and-forth of the dialogue. How could Grant and Hepburn only have done one movie together? "Best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made" — absolutely. Turned up the volume to catch everything.
Peter: We don't know each other, do we?
Regina: Why? Do you think we're going to?
Peter: I don't know, how would I know?
Regina: Because I already know an awful lot of people and until one of them dies, I couldn't possibly meet anyone else.
Peter: Well, if anyone goes on the critical list, let me know.
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:33 AM
Hey, Patrick! Charade is one of my favorite movies. "How do you shave in there?" How many times have I wondered that? And who could ask it in a more lovely way than Audrey? Nobody, I say. If I recall correctly, Grant was like 40 years her senior in that movie, and you'd never know it…
March 2nd, 2010 at 10:46 AM
What a great line! So unexpected, it took me a second to catch up and truly appreciate it. Have you ever seen the Marky Mark version? I am now curious and scared.
March 4th, 2010 at 4:30 PM
Yo, you are SO wrong about Grant and Hepburn. Or at least THAT Hepburn. The OTHER Hepburn did four flicks with Grant, all terrific: My favorite movie of all time: Philadelphia Story (forget the later version with Kelly and Sinatra), then there was Bringing Up Baby, Holiday and the forgettable Sylvia Scarlett
March 6th, 2010 at 2:10 PM
That Hepburn, yes! Love Bringing Up Baby. But I have my preference of Hepburns. I need to see Holiday, but I need to see Roman Holiday first!