Daily Dialogue — April 21, 2012

LORETTA
What’s the matter?

MR. JOHNNY
My scalp is not getting enough blood
sometimes.

Loretta looks at him strangely. Bobo rolls up the dessert
cart. WE SEE Loretta and Mr. Johnny through the frame of the
dessert cart. They turn and look at the desserts.

MR. JOHNNY
Have Something.

LORETTA
I shouldn’t.

MR. JOHNNY
Will you marry me?

LORETTA
What?

MR. JOHNNY
Will you marry me?

LORETTA
Bobo, take the cart away.

He does.

LORETTA
(continuing)
Are you proposing marriage to me?

MR. JOHNNY
Yes?

LORETTA
You know I was married and that my
husband died. But what you don’t
know is I think he and I had Bad
Luck.

MR. JOHNNY
What do you mean?

LORETTA
We got married at the City Hall and
I think it gave bad luck the whole
marriage.

MR. JOHNNY
I don’t understand.

LORETTA
Right from the start we didn’t do it
right. Could you kneel down?

MR. JOHNNY
On the floor?

LORETTA
Yes, on the floor.

MR. JOHNNY
This is a good suit.

LORETTA
I helped you buy it. It came with
two pairs of pants. It’s for luck,
Johnny. When you propose marriage to
a woman, you should kneel down.

MR. JOHNNY
Alright.

Mr. Johnny slowly gets out of his chair. There’s not enough
room for him to kneel down. He has to ask two off-duty PRO
WRESTLERS who are eating dinner to move their chairs. They
do so with bemused expressions. Their names are BOB and MOOK.

SHY WAITER BRINGS PERRY A FRESH GLASS OF VODKA ASKS THE SHY
WAITER

PERRY
Is that man praying?

MR. JOHNNY ON HIS KNEES ADDRESSES LORETTA

JOHNNY
So. Will you ma…

LORETTA
(interrupting)
Where’s the ring?

MR. JOHNNY
(at a loss)
The ring?

BOB AND MOOK ARE WATCHING MR. JOHNNY’S PERFORMANCE

They are deadpan mugs.

BOB
(to Mr. Johnny)
A ring. That’s right.

MOOK
I woulda sprung for a ring if it was
me.

BOBO AND EDDIE STAND NEAR THE KITCHEN WATCHING

BOBO
She’s got him on his knees. He’s
ruining his suit.

LORETTA AND MR. JOHNNY

LORETTA
You could use your pinky ring.

MR. JOHNNY
I like this ring.

LORETTA
You propose to a woman you should
offer her a ring of engagement.

Mr. Johnny takes off the ring and holds it out to her.

MR. JOHNNY
Loretta. Loretta Castorini Clark. On
my knees. In front of all these
people. Will you marry me?

She meekly accepts the ring from him and takes his hands.

LORETTA
Yes, Johnny. Yes, John Anthony
Cammareri. I will marry you. I will
be your wife.

— Mr. Johnny (Danny Aiello), Loretta (Cher), Moonstruck (1987), written by John Patrick Shanley

http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=eF6o

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is marriage proposals, suggested by Teddy Pasternak. Today’s suggestion by Summer Johnson.

Trivia: Watch the shot where Johnny kneels down in the Grand Ticino, as he kneels down and his face nearly leaves the camera with the nervous expression, you see him burst out laughing for about one second. If you listen closely, you can hear people laughing at him, obviously the camera crew.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Surprise, always a good dynamic to explore in a marriage proposal. His initial query comes completely out of the blue and shocks her.