Daily Dialogue — December 23, 2018

Jack Crabb: General, you go down there.
General Custer: You’re advising me to go into the Coulee?
Jack Crabb: Yes sir.
General Custer: There are no Indians there, I suppose.
Jack Crabb: I didn’t say that. There are thousands of Indians down there. And when they get done with you, there won’t be nothing left but a greasy spot. This ain’t the Washite River, General, and them ain’t helpless women and children waiting for you. They’re Cheyenne brave, and Sioux. You go down there, General, if you’ve got the nerve.
General Custer: Still trying to outsmart me, aren’t you, mule-skinner. You want me to think that you don’t want me to go down there, but the subtle truth is you really don’t want me to go down there!

— Little Big Man (1970), screenplay by Calder Willingham, novel by Thomas Berger

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Warning suggested by Lois Bernard.

Trivia: Dustin Hoffman was put in The Guinness Book of World Records as “Greatest Age Span Portrayed By A Movie Actor” for portraying the character of Jack Crabb from age seventeen to age one hundred twenty-one.

Dialogue On Dialogue: The warning Jack Crabb gives General Custer is the penultimate moment of revenge for Crabb. He tells the truth because he knows Custer will take the bait and, thus, lead to his demise.