Daily Dialogue — December 29, 2014
INT. MACALBERTSONS’ LOFT — NIGHT
A bank of lights blinds Joe and Ratso as they enter — electronic rock blasts their ears — a bearded cameraman on a step-ladder photographs them as they stand confused — facing a monstrous collage of tabloid photos blown up, showing the murder of a hippie known as Groovy — in-huge black letters, LOVE WAS GROOVY — GROOVY IS DEAD. Joe shouts over the amplified music.
JOE: Better get a hold of someone and tell them I’m here.
Ratso points to his ear — he can’t hear — following Joe across the room. The huge loft is crowded with a random selection, gathered to serve as dress extras in an underground film. The party is the scene. The MacAlbertsons merely supply the ingredients and allow it to happen, with cameras strategically placed to record the happening…
… Hansel with tape recorder, Gretel with hand-held camera drifting through the crowd — catching words and images in a detached, whimsical fashion. Gretel turns her camera on Joe and Ratso as they approach.
JOE: Well, I made it. This here is Ratso Rizzo and I…
RATSO: Rico. Rico Rizzo.
Gretel smiles without recognition. Hansel gestures vaguely.
HANSEL: Do you need anything? I mean there’s beer and so forth. Whatever your thing is…
The twins move away together, pausing to confer with the operator of a tripod camera — focused on an emaciated flower girl with long hair and dirty feet, stretched in a sarcophagus, clutching a dead daffodil, her eyes glazed. Scrawled in huge letters on the wall over her head — LOVE!
RATSO: If you want the word on that brother and sister act, I’ll give you the word. That Hansel’s a fag and Gretel’s got the hots for herself. So who cares, right? Load up on the salami…
Ratso heads for the refreshment table. Joe starts after him but pauses, intrigued by an alcove under the balcony where a light show is in progress — surreal images of naked bodies projected against abstract currents of color and strobe light…
… a bored fat lady in a muu-muu, squatted like a Buddha at a low table, rolling joints for the guests.
She lights a joint and offers it to Joe as he wanders in to watch the show. Joe laughs delightedly when he realizes what it is…
JOE: Shee-it, this is one helluva party!
… glancing around at the others, imitating their techniques — the quick inhaler, who follows with sharp gulps of air — the deep inhalers who draw air as they inhale — the stylist who lets the smoke drift out and inhales through the nostrils — Joe puffing himself slightly dizzy, starting to laugh at the silent flick effect of the strobe light — the action around him slowing almost imperceptibly, overcranked — a veil of smoke hanging over the fat woman’s face, transforming her into a laughing witch — a similar veil around Joe’s head, relaxing the self-conscious tension of his face, spontaneously curious about the play of light on his hand, grinning at…
… a serious young technician handling the light show, scattering psychedelic stars across a sky of magenta flesh…
… Joe reaching for the stars as he rises and wanders back to the crowded loft, fascinated to see…
… a crew with cameras and lights, on the balcony at one end of the loft, photographing the scene below…
… a dark-haired lady by the name of SHIRLEY — chic in the style of a gangster’s moll — drinking beer from the bottle, predatory eyes searching the crowd…
… Ratso surreptitiously stuffing his pockets from the buffet table, glancing nervously over his shoulder, unaware of Gretel and her hand-held camera, photographing Ratso as he steals, turning away casually, disinterested…
… Joe laughing as he dances for a moment with a tall black girl — the lights swinging around them — faces swimming…
… Shirley in fleeting close-up, gone in an instant, reappearing…
INT. MACALBERTSON BATHROOM — NIGHT
… her face in the mirror smiling in a dark, provocative way — Joe standing at the bathroom door, forgetting to be embarrassed as Shirley turns away from the mirror, unhurriedly, running her fingers through her hair, boldly meeting Joe’s eyes.
SHIRLEY: I can tell, can’t you?
JOE: Yeah, oh yeah.
SHIRLEY: What’ll we do? Leave now or what? Your place or mine? Oh God, the second I looked at you I knew. Did you?
Joe grins, watching Shirley’s lips move, unable to keep her in sync, startled to hear Ratso’s voice.
RATSO’S VOICE: She’s hooked…
INT. MACALBERTSONS’ LOFT — NIGHT
Joe realizes he is back at the party, Ratso whispering hoarsely.
RATSO: … I’d say she was good for ten bucks, but I’ll ask for twenty…
But Joe is watching with terrible fascination as Hansel and Gretel lift the flower girl from her sarcophagus.
SHIRLEY’S VOICE: Did you know? We were going to make it?
Joe glances down to see himself flanked by Ratso and Shirley.
RATSO: You really want to do business?
SHIRLEY: Who’s he? Oh God! Don’t tell me you two are a couple — ?
The flower girl, hypnotically dazed, accepts a broom dipped in black paint and smears a huge X across LOVE. Joe laughs.
HANSEL’S VOICE: Why are you laughing, Joe?
Hansel holds a microphone toward Joe, who shrugs, grinning at Ratso and Shirley. Gretel’s camera moves down Joe’s body.
HANSEL: Are you for real, Joe?
JOE: Well, I ain’t a real cowboy, but I’m one hell of a stud!
Shirley glances at Ratso, who nods, whispering in her ear.
RATSO: A very expensive stud. And I happen to be his manager.
— Midnight Cowboy (1969), screenplay by Waldo Salt, book by James Leo Herlihy
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Party. Today’s suggestion by Lois Bernard.
Trivia: One studio executive sent director John Schlesinger a memo stating, “If we could clean this up and add a few songs, it could be a great vehicle for Elvis Presley.” Presley wanted to be taken seriously as an actor, and was interested in the role of Joe Buck. Presley went on instead to do Change of Habit (1969) with Mary Tyler Moore, which bombed, and became his last theatrical movie.
Dialogue On Dialogue: This scene is important for several reasons. For one thing, it cements the professional relationship between Joe and Ratso. Also it provides a strong visual as to the nature of the New World into which Joe has entered on his Hero’s Journey.
If you have a suggestion for this week’s theme, please post in comments.