Daily Dialogue — August 16, 2012
INT. ANNIE’S LIVING ROOM — NIGHT
THE SHRINE OF BASEBALL GLOWS — Annie lights the candles.
EBBY AND CRASH SIT ON OPPOSITE ENDS OF HER COUCH — Both men look around the room with wonder. Ebby is clearly more nervous than Crash, who’s been in some strange rooms in his minor league career.
ANNIE: These are the ground rules. I hook up with one guy a season. I mean it takes me a couple of weeks to pick the guy, kinda my own spring training. And, well, you two are the most promising prospects of the season so far. So I thought we should get to know each other.
CRASH: Why do you get to choose? Why don’t I get to choose?
ANNIE: Actually none of us on this planet ever really choose each other. It’s all Quantum Physics and
molecular attraction. There are laws we don’t understand that bring us together and break us apart.
EBBY: Is somebody gonna go to bed with somebody or what?
ANNIE: You’re a regular nuclear meltdown, honey, slow down.
Crash rises to leave, and heads for the door.
CRASH: After 12 years in the minor leagues, I don’t tryout. Besides I don’t believe in, Quantum Physics
when it comes to matters of the heart…or loins.
ANNIE: What do you believe in?
Crash at the door. Annie’s question is slightly taunting. He stops, and speaks with both aloofness and passion:
CRASH: I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman’s back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, long foreplay, show tunes, and that the novels of Thomas Pynchon are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, I believe that there oughta be a constitutional amendment outlawing astro-turf and the designated hitter, I believe in the “sweet spot”, voting every election, soft core pornography, chocolate chip cookies, opening your presents on Christmas morning rather than Christmas eve, and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last for 7 days.
ANNIE: (breathless) Oh my…
— Crash (Kevin Costner), Annie (Susan Sarandon), Ebby (Tim Robbins), Bull Durham (1988), written by Ron Shelton
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is smooth talking, suggested by David Proenza. Today’s suggested by summertime.
Trivia: Originally, after Annie and Crash have their argument in Crash’s apartment, there was a scene in which Annie and Crash go to a bar and have a heart-to-heart talk. In the talk, Crash asks Annie why she loves baseball so much. She explains that several years before, her estranged father passed away and that the funeral took place in Florida. She was so distraught after the funeral that she wandered off and ended up at the New York Yankees spring training facility where she met legendary Yankees catcher, Thurman Munson (thus explaining her shrine to Munson seen in the film). From then on, she developed a deep-rooted love of the game. According to Ron Shelton in the DVD commentary, he cut that scene out when it was received poorly during a test screening. After the scene was removed, a second test screening was done and the movie received a high score.
Dialogue On Dialogue: summertime’s observation: “This is what happens when a smooth talker meets his (or her) match!”