Daily Dialogue — January 29, 2015

HIGGINS: We have games. That’s all. We play games. What if? How many men? What would it take? Is there a cheaper way to destabilize a regime? That’s what we’re paid to do.
TURNER: Walk on. Go on. So, Atwood just took the games too seriously. He was really going to do it, wasn’t he?
HIGGINS: A renegade operation. Atwood knew 5412 would never authorize it, there was no way. Not with the heat on the company.
TURNER: And what if there hadn’t be any heat? Suppose I hadn’t stumbled on their plan? Say nobody had.
HIGGINS: Different ballgame. Fact is, there was nothing wrong with the plan. Oh, the plan was all right. The plan would’ve worked.
TURNER: Boy, what is it with you people? You think not getting caught on a lie is the same thing as telling the truth?
HIGGINS: No. It’s simple economics. Today it’s oil, right? In ten or fifteen years– food, plutonium, and maybe even sooner. Now, what do you think the people are going to want us to do then?
TURNER: Ask them.
HIGGINS: Not now. Then. Ask them when they’re running out. Ask them when there’s no heat in their homes and they’re cold. Ask them when their engines stop. Ask them when people who have never known hunger start going hungry. You want to know something? They won’t want us to ask them. They’ll want us to get it for them.
TURNER: Boy, have you found a home. Seven people killed, Higgins.
HIGGINS: The company didn’t order it.
TURNER: Atwood did. Atwood did. And who the hell is Atwood? He’s you. He’s all you guys. Seven people killed, and you play fucking games!
HIGGINS: Right. And the other side does, too.

— Three Days of the Condor (1975), screenplay by Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel, novel by James Grady

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Espionage. Today’s suggestion by Will King.

Trivia: After this spy film actor Robert Redford appeared in such other espionage movies as Sneakers (1992) and Spy Game (2001) and such other political dramas as Lions for Lambs (2007) and All the President’s Men (1976).

Dialogue On Dialogue: To The Powers That Be, it’s all just games. And the people are the pawns.

If you have a suggestion for this week’s theme, please post in comments.