Daily Dialogue — December 27, 2014

“Hello, Houston? This is Odyssey. It’s good to see you again.”

— Apollo 13 (1995), screenplay by William Broyles Jr. & Al Reinert, book by Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger

Daily Dialogue theme this week: Celebration.

Trivia: After the premiere of the film, Ron Howard asked the audience members to write reviews of the film. While most of the reviews were positive, one review stated that there was no way the crew would have survived the mission. Apparently, the person who wrote it did not know the film is based on a true story.

Dialogue On Dialogue: The ending of this movie is a classic example of the old Hollywood trope: Give ’em what they expect, then give ’em what they want. For a full minute, we experience the characters’ deflation as they think the reentry was unsuccessful. Then with Lovell’s line (Tom Hanks), the movie gives the characters — and the audience — what we want: The three astronauts returned safely home.