Daily Dialogue — February 9, 2015

PROFESSOR FATE: What took you so long?
MAX: I had to go to the Rolls Royce agency. Had to steal a spare magneto.
PROFESSOR FATE: Oh, good.

Fate motions to something unseen.

PROFESSOR FATE: It’s ready.
MAX: Yes. Yes, it’s ready.
PROFESSOR FATE: There has never been anything like this.
MAX: Professor, your greatest creation.
PROFESSOR FATE: Genius, work of genius! The finest parts from the greatest automobiles in the world. The Hannibal Twin Eight! And when it comes to the blizzards and the snow storms we will continue on just as planned. Push the button, Max!

Heating element mounted to the front of the vehicle glows red.

PROFESSOR FATE: When the rains come and when the snow melts we shall continue to rise above it. Push the button, Max!

Max complies and the vehicle rises.

PROFESSOR FATE: (Gleefully cackling) Ah, Nature will chase us–we will beat her. And brigands, thieves, cutthroats of all nations may hound us, but–

Cannon appears from within the vehicle.

PROFESSOR FATE: –we are ready for them! We will blast them to Kingdom Come! We can melt, we can blast, we can rise above–we are invincible! Take us down.

Max appears confused.

PROFESSOR FATE: Push the button, Max.

The cannon fires and the garage collapses on Fate and Max and their new invincible vehicle.

PROFESSOR FATE: MAX!

— The Great Race (1965), screenplay by Arthur A. Ross, original story by Arthur A. Ross and Blake Edwards

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Elation. Today’s suggestion by Will King.

Trivia: This movie is loosely based on an actual 1908 New York-to-Paris race.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Will: “Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon) and his assistant Max (Peter Falk) gloat over the completion of their entry in an early twentieth-century round-the-world auto race from New York to Paris the long way around the globe, convinced (as all evil-doers are) of their superiority and cunning. However, Edwards and Ross never let Fate fully enjoy this, or any other momentary success. From the opening scene to the end of the film, Fate’s fate is to be the ultimate victim of his nefarious plots and devices.”

If you have any suggestions for this week’s theme, please post in comments.

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