Daily Dialogue — June 6, 2016
BLOOD: Your continued narrow-minded refusal to believe in Over the Hill is possibly costing us a better life, you know.
VIC: Over the Hill, my ass.
BLOOD: Well, when do we start looking for it again?
VIC: Soon as I get my heart started.
BLOOD: I mean, let’s stop procrastinating and —
VIC: I know what you mean: Over the Hill, where the deer and the antelope play, and it’s warm and it’s clean, and we can relax and have fun — and they grow food right out of the ground. How do you like that pipe dream?
BLOOD: It’s called “farming.”
VIC: Oh, I believe ya. And they also have a great crop of clothes and guns and gorgeous chicks. Now, tell me how ya saw the whole wonderful thing with your baby blues.
BLOOD: Never said I saw it. I said I heard about it.
VIC: And from who?
BLOOD: “From whom,” and you know from whom.
VIC: And whom the hell’s gonna believe a police dog? I’m sorry, Blood. I believe ya about Over the Hill. Hell, I believe anything ya tell me. And even if we don’t know for sure, it’s worth checkin’ on, right? Right?
BLOOD: Whatever you say.
VIC: And we will go, just like I promised. Right now I’m hungry and I want to get laid. So, find me a broad and we’ll go to the Promised Land.
BLOOD: That’s what you always say.
VIC: I know, I know, but I mean it this time. Find me a chick and we’ll go.
BLOOD: I’m hungry.
VIC: So am I. Well, I tell you what: you go find a chick and I’ll hustle us up some food.
BLOOD: I’m hungry.
VIC: You already said that, god dammit, now I just said —
BLOOD: I can’t do good work when I’m hungry.
VIC: You ain’t pullin’ that crap on me again! And you can shove that part about how you lost the ability to hunt for food when you learned how to talk! Ah, hell, all you’re good for is findin’ hard stringy scumbags that are just likely to cut off my goddam —
BLOOD: No food, no females.
VIC: Okay, you just sit there on your fuzzy butt while I do all the goddamn work! But I’ll tell you one goddamn thing: you better do some practicin’. It’s been six weeks since I been laid, and sure as hell ain’t been that long since you ate. By god it damn well may be if you don’t start producin’!
— A Boy and His Dog (1975), screenplay by L.Q. Jones, based on the novel by Harlan Ellison
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Dog. Today’s suggestion by Will King.
Trivia: The screenplay was started by Harlan Ellison, who wrote the novella on which it is based. Ellison encountered writer’s block, and so producer Alvy Moore and L.Q. Jones took over and wrote the script. Ellison praised the film after its premiere, to the relief of Moore, but there are rumors that Ellison later condemned the film.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Will: “Vic and Blood have an uneasy alliance, each with their own competing needs. Although Blood is a telepathic dog, Vic treats him like an ordinary one, a constant point of frustration for Blood. But Blood knows Vic relies on him more than Vic will admit to himself. Blood chooses to play the long game.”