Daily Dialogue — June 25, 2012
Rango: People, I’ve had an epiphany! The hero cannot exist in a vacuum! What our story needs is an ironic, unexpected event, that will propel the hero into conflict!
[just then we see that Rango is a pet kept in a glass aquarium traveling in the back of a car which swerves, the aquarium falls off the car into the middle of the road breaking]
-
[Rango spots an armadillo lying in the middle of the road]
Roadkill: I need a little help here.
[the armadillo has a large gap in his body where the car wheel has passed through him]
Rango: Uh…are you okay?
Roadkill: I must get to the other side.
Rango: The other side? You mean that…just now that was you crossing the road? That’s why the…
[he starts reenacting the car swerving off the road and him falling out of the car]
Rango: Why’d you do that?
Roadkill: This is my quest. He waits for me.
Rango: Wha…who?
Roadkill: The Spirit of the West, amigo. The one! They say he rides an alabaster carriage with golden guardians to protect him.
Rango: What are…what are you talkin’ about?
Roadkill: Enlightenment. We are nothing without it.
Rango: Nothing?! Your delusional quest just ruined my life! I had an incredibly complex social network going! Highly sophisticated friends! I was very popular!
Roadkill: Friends? I don’t see no friends.
Rango: Well, uh…the…
Roadkill: You are a very lonely lizard. Now, uh…help me up. And I will help you find what you seek.
Rango: Uh, you…you will?
Roadkill: Quickly now, I must get back to my quest.
Rango: You mean, you’ve done this before?
Roadkill: Oh, yes! Many times.
[Rango walks up on to Roadkills body]
Roadkill: That’s it. Pull my finger
Rango: Uhhh…
Roadkill: The Spirit is waiting for me.
Rango: Okay. Okay.
[Rango grabs hold of Roadkills finger and starts pulling, but he fails to move Roadkill]
Rango: Okay! That’s not gonna work.
[after Rango has failed to move Roadkill]
Roadkill: I must get to the other side.
Rango: Why don’t you just wait until there are no cars coming?
Roadkill: It’s not so easy as it looks.
Rango: The what?
Roadkill: It’s a metaphor.
[just then a massive truck heads towards them]
[lying in the middle of the road after being run over by the truck]
Roadkill: You need a little help, amigo?
Rango: I think the metaphor broke my spleen!
Roadkill: The path of loneliness is fraught with consequence.
Rango: Yeah, I’m just looking for the path to water.
Roadkill: If you want to find water, you must first find dirt.
Rango: Uh…dirt.
[Roadkill laughs]
Roadkill: Destiny, she is kind to you. Tomorrow is Wednesday, the water comes. At noon the towns people gather for a mysterious ritual…
Rango: Wow! What uhhh…a town? You mean like with real people and everything? Where?
Roadkill: A days journey. Follow your shadow.
Rango: You want me to just walk out into the desert?
Roadkill: Uhumm. That’s the way.
Rango: Okay. So you’re saying there’s a town, a real town? Not a metaphor town?
Roadkill: Go on. It’s okay.
Rango: Okay. Well, then I’m going. I am leaving the road now!
[he turns to go]
Rango: I am walking into the desert! Alone!
[he starts walking slowly towards the desert; Roadkill calls out to him]
Roadkill: We all have our journeys to make.
[he turns his face away and says quietly]
Roadkill: I will see you on the other side.
— Rango (Johnny Depp), Roadkill (Alfred Molina), Rango (2011), screenplay by John Logan, story by John Logan & Gore Verbinski and James Ward Byrkit
http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=RBz6
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is the Herald’s Call suggested by JasperLamarCrab. Today’s suggestion by Teddy Pasternak.
Trivia: Clint Eastwood is the visual inspiration for Spirit of the West. In the back of his golf cart, the “Spirit” has five Oscar-like film awards (which Rango calls “golden guardians”). Eastwood has received exactly five Oscars, including his Irving J. Thalberg Award. The voice of the “Spirit,” Timothy Olyphant, starred in the Western TV series, Deadwood.
Dialogue On Dialogue: I love this movie. It is both hugely entertaining and deeply philosophical, truly an existential story, and this dialogue gets right to the heart of it with Roadkill playing the role of the Herald.
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