Daily Dialogue — July 12, 2015

Phyllis: Mr. Neff, why don’t you drop by tomorrow evening about eight-thirty. He’ll be in then.
Walter Neff: Who?
Phyllis: My husband. You were anxious to talk to him weren’t you?
Walter Neff: Yeah, I was, but I’m sort of getting over the idea, if you know what I mean.
Phyllis: There’s a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. Forty-five miles an hour.
Walter Neff: How fast was I going, officer?
Phyllis: I’d say around ninety.
Walter Neff: Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket.
Phyllis: Suppose I let you off with a warning this time.
Walter Neff: Suppose it doesn’t take.
Phyllis: Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles.
Walter Neff: Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder.
Phyllis: Suppose you try putting it on my husband’s shoulder.
Walter Neff: That tears it.

— Double Indemnity (1944), screenplay by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, novel by James M. Cain

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Subtext.

Trivia: Co-written with Raymond Chandler. Billy Wilder didn’t really get on with the famous novelist whose constant drinking irritated the director. Wilder effectively exorcised his demons about dealing with alcoholics with his next film, The Lost Weekend (1945).

Dialogue On Dialogue: Perhaps the single benefit from the censorship dictated by the Hays Code in the 30s and 40s is that it forced writers to use subtext to traffic in racy material. This exchange between Neff and Phyllis is a classic example.