Daily Dialogue — December 13, 2012

“A man becomes preeminent, he’s expected to have enthusiasms. What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy? Baseball! A man. A man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part of a team. Looks, throws, catches, hustles. Part of one big team. Bats himself the live-long day, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on. If his team don’t field, what is he? You follow me? No one! Sunny day, the stands are full of fans. What does he have to say? I’m goin’ out there for myself. But, I get nowhere unless the team wins.”

— The Untouchables (1987), written by David Mamet, based on books by Oscar Fraley and Eliot Ness

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

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is delivering bad news. Today’s suggestion by Teddy Pasternak.

Trivia: In the original script, the final gunfight had Eliot Ness and George Stone battling Capone gunmen on a stopped train. Brian De Palma conceived the gunfight on the steps in Chicago’s Union Station when Paramount decided that staging the scene and finding a 1930s period train would be too expensive.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Teddy: “Ahh… there’s nothing like delivering bad news disguised as a motivational speech and in the form of a baseball bat to the back of the head.”