Daily Dialogue — January 9, 2012
INT. THE POKER ROOM AGAIN — NIGHT
A pair of hands shuffling. We pull back to reveal that they’re Gondorff’s. He passes the deck to Lonnegan to be cut and turns to pen a new whiskey bottle. Lonnegan takes the deck and in one lightning motion substitutes a new deck, while making it look like he’s cutting the old one.
Gondorff picks up the deck and begins to deal. As the hand is picked up, we see that Gondorff has four threes, Lonnegan four nines, and everybody else has nothing.
CLAYTON: (opening the bidding) Fold.
LONNEGAN: 250.
GONDORFF: Raise 1,000.
LONNEGAN: Raise 500.
Gondorff looks at Lonnegan very carefully for a second. Lonnegan meets his stare.
GONDORFF: (slowly) Raise 2,000.
The spectators shift a little. It’s the biggest bet of the night.
LONNEGAN: See and raise 1,000.
GONDORFF: (taking it to him) Raise 5,000.
Lonnegan fingers his remaining chips. He knows he’s won, but he wants to bleed it for every bit of suspense.
LONNEGAN: (going for broke) See, and raise the rest.
Lonnegan pushes in the rest of his chips. Gondorff, who is only required to match Lonnegan’s total, throws in all his too. It’s a showdown.
GONDORFF: Call.
Lonnegan puts down his four nines. Gondorff just stares at them a second, lets out a deep sigh and lays down four jacks. Lonnegan is aghast. This just can’t be. He glances at Floyd, who can do nothing but sit there with his mouth open.
GONDORFF: (raking in the chips) Well that’s all for me tonight, boys. I’m gonna leave ya’ some cab fare.
The other players look at each other in disgust, and reach for their wallets, all of which are well stocked.
GONDORFF: (to Lonnegan) You owe me 15 grand, pal.
Lonnegan, with a stare that could kill, reaches for his wallet. Suddenly the stare goes soft. He tries a few more pockets. No soap.
LONNEGAN: (getting up to get it) I guess I left it in my room.
GONDORFF: (blowing up) What! Don’t give me that crap, you little weenie. How do I know you ain’t gonna take a powder. (waving his wallet, which is full of Lonnegan’s money) You come to a game like this, you bring your money.
Lonnegan, having had all he can take, goes for Gondorff, but is restrained by the conductor.
GONDORFF: All right, buddy, I’m gonna send a boy by your room in five minutes, and you better have that jack, or it’s gonna be all over Chicago that your name ain’t worth a dime.
— Clayton (Robert Brubaker), Lonnegan (Robert Shaw), Gondorff (Paul Newman), The Sting (1973), written by David S. Ward
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is card games, suggested by David Proenza. Today’s suggestion by Teddy Pasternak.
Trivia: David S. Ward got the idea for this movie when he was working on the script for Steelyard Blues, which includes a pickpocketing scene. Researching this, Ward found himself reading about con artists.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Actually the more interesting note from this scene is about the editorializing Ward, the screenwriter, does in scene description: “He knows he’s won, but he wants to bleed it for every bit of suspense… It’s a showdown… Lonnegan is aghast. This just can’t be.” So to any of you who have been taught you can only write what an actor can act or what a moviegoer can see, you may kindly point your teacher or screenwriting ‘guru’ to yet another script filled with editorial comments — and this one an Academy Award winning screenplay.
Comment Archive