Daily Dialogue — April 6, 2013

Elle: I’m sorry Budd, that was rude of me, wasn’t it? Budd, I’d like you to meet my friend, The Black Mamba. Black Mamba, this is Budd. Y’know before I picked that lil feller up I looked him up on the internet. Fascinating creature, the black mamba. Listen to this:

(she reads from a notepad)

Elle: In Africa the saying goes, ‘In the bush, an elephant can kill you, a leopard can kill you, and a black mamba can kill you.’ But only with the mamba — and this has been true in Africa since the dawn of time — is death sure. Hence it’s handle: “Death Incarnate.” Pretty cool, huh? It’s neurotoxic venom is one of nature’s most effective poisons, acting on the nervous system causing paralysis. The venom of a black mamba can kill a human being in four hours if, say, bitten on the ankle or the thumb. However, a bite on the face or torso can bring death from paralysis within twenty minutes. Now you should listen to this, ’cause this concerns you. The amount of venom that can be delivered from a single bite can be gargantuan — you know I’ve always liked that word, “gargantuan”? I so rarely have the opportunity to use it in a sentence. If not treated quickly with anti-venom, ten to fifteen milligrams can be fatal to human beings. However, the black mamba can deliver as much as one hundred to four hundred milligrams of venom in a single bite.

(closes notepad)

Elle: Now, in these last agonizing moments of life you have left, let me answer that question you asked earlier more thoroughly. Right at this moment, the biggest “R” I feel is regret. Regret, that maybe the greatest warrior I have ever met, met her end at the hands of a bush-whackin’, scrub, alky piece-of-shit like you. That woman deserved better.

— Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), screenplay by Quentin Tarantino

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is death suggested by SandbaggerOne. Today’s suggestion by Andrew J.B. Wainner.

Trivia: At the film’s first test screening in Austin, Texas the audience gave the film a five minute standing ovation. The reaction was so overwhelming that Harvey Weinstein did not have the research firm conducting the screening pass out response cards.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Andrew: “One of my favorite dialogues about death (or, during death) is the “Black Mamba” monologue from Kill Bill: Vol. 2. It’s notable mainly because the entire time, she’s highlighting small things, yet he’s clearly incapacitated. She then baits us with the contrasting notion that a single bite contains a “gargantuan” amount of venom. The extent of Budd’s hopelessness doesn’t fully hit home until she tells him exactly how many milligrams of venom are delivered in a single bite… and he has three.