Daily Dialogue — December 27, 2010

SHELDRAKE: Sorry it took me so long on the phone. But we’re all set.
FRAN: All set for what?
SHELDRAKE: I rented a car — it’s going to be here at one o’clock — we’re driving to Atlantic City.
FRAN: Atlantic City?
SHELDRAKE: I know it’s a drag — but you can’t find a hotel room in town — not on New Year’s Eve.
FRAN: (a long look at Sheldrake) Ring out the old year, ring in the new. Ring-a-ding-ding.
SHELDRAKE: I didn’t plan it this way, Fran — actually, it’s all Baxter’s fault.
FRAN: Baxter?
SHELDRAKE: He wouldn’t give me the key to the apartment.
FRAN: He wouldn’t.
SHELDRAKE: Just walked out on me — quit — threw that big fat job right in my face.
FRAN: (a faint smile) The nerve.
SHELDRAKE: That little punk — after all I did for him! He said I couldn’t bring anybody to his apartment — especially not Miss Kubelik. What’s he got against you, anyway?
FRAN (a faraway look in her eye) I don’t know. I guess that’s the way it crumbles — cookie-wise.
SHELDRAKE: What are you talking about?
FRAN: I’d spell it out for you — only I can’t spell.

 — Fran (Shirely MacLaine), Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), The Apartment (1960), written by Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is New Year’s Eve. 

Trivia: Billy Wilder originally thought of the idea for the film after seeing Brief Encounter (1945) and wondering about the plight of a character unseen in that film. Shirley MacLaine was only given forty pages of the script because Wilder didn’t want her to know how the story would turn out. She thought it was because the script wasn’t finished.